Packing up Tools & Walking the New Trail

The Cheasty Trail system continues to grow with lots of hard work from neighbors and plenty of support from community grants. This past weekend a cold crisp January morning did not stop families from getting out and hiking the woods, spotting hawks and trail-breaking. This was true trail breaking using a McLeod trail digging tool- for adults only.  It was also a morning of planting: snowberry, wild rose, oregon grape and a few cedar trees found themselves planted.

Each time we make it out to the community work party days I am so thankful to be a part of a new era for this forest.  Meanwhile, I hope that some of the friendships that are developing as the kids explore the hillside together will blossom.  I am certainly thankful for the new acquaintances that I am making with neighbors.  

Umbrella fort

Two boys, three cars huddled together in the rain fort.

Evening Playtime

"It is raining!"  T announces.   "Do you want to come outside?" 

I am cozily drinking tea in the house, reading a book just checked out from the library called "Parenting without Borders: Surprising Lessons Parents around the World Can Teach Us."

I say, "In a few minutes -would you like an umbrella?" 

T smiles as he takes two umbrellas.  One for both of the boys. 

I soon see them both working on setting the umbrellas up over the outside chairs. 

 "Rain fort! " says T proudly when I come out to join the boys.  I ask whether I should bring down another umbrella for me.  "Yeah!" T shouts enthusiastically.  We add it to the fort.  

In reality the umbrella fort is only big enough for two boys and three toy cars which are being used as a game that I don't understand the rules.  S is squished between chairs and chimenea holding out cars  as T shouts them out.  S makes sounds for each care as he holds them out.  It is like a car orchestra: T is conductor and S musician.

Night has come yet the boys don't seem to get cold or hungry and continue to play outside as I go in the house to start dinner.  I am thankful that our sink looks out over the yard and  I can check on the shadows / silhouettes of the boys who are happily puttering about. 

Playing in the Dark

A life is made of moments. My greatest joy these days is watching my children truly engaged in play.  As a teacher and a mother I love to set up opportunities, but of course the magic is how children run take something and play run with it in unexpected ways.  

This weekend just as the sun was setting we made a small fire in the chimenea next to the little play house.  The boys had decorated it for the holidays with chalk and moss and other greens from the garden and it seemed to add to the festivity to start a fire.  

There was joy and excitement trying to help start the fire. Then a bit of fireside banter and even a song before the boys said, "lets go camping."  They took their fold-up camp chairs under their arms and hiked the 50 ft to the corner of the yard under the big holly tree and made a campsite with a campfire of their own (only it was not lit).   They found pots and pans and were fully cooking their own meal when I came over and interrupted them and then they asked," can we have a flashlight or candle or lantern?"  

Papa found a candle votive in a lantern and brought it to them.  Next thing they said, "lets go on a hike" and they were off walking through the small native plantings that we have in our yard (just taller than they are).  It was a great reminder that a yard does not need to be big, especially when playing in the  dark can be so magical.  

As the evening wrapped up.  The boy came to the door as I had went in to warm dinner.  They asked for water, " a few drips of water."  

I said, "Is it to put out your fire?"  They replied yes.  The boys put out their one candle fire.  Papa put out the chimenea fire.  The two hour early evening  adventures ended and it was only 5:30pm.  A reminder of how dark it is this time of the year.  

The Rain is Coming Down

It has been a while since my last post, perhaps I have just been waiting for the weather to change.  In any case, this fall has been glorious.  The leaves have only just now shed the trees.   The low sun accompanied by long shadows has been present each day and the boys have played in leaves, rode their bikes and taken long walks throughout the neighborhood almost every day.

Now the rain has come:  The grey sky a cloak.  The air full of water.   

Nevertheless, the boys are happily playing.  Their mud pit comes alive when the water falls.  Water soaks the soil.  It streams from gutters.  The boys are thrilled.  For the past two hours they have not wanted to come in even though it feels wet and cold to me.  Instead they are happily singing and busily rushing around.  They are creating inventions with string and an old cook pot.  They are floating the wooden boats they made from scrap lumber in the puddle they filling with water from the gutters.

 One moment the mud is asphalt and they are stirring it up.  They have grand visions in mind.  Perhaps,  these visions are informed by the diggers and dump trucks we have been watching excavate the land for a new apartment building that will be dressing the skyline of our neighborhood. In any case the boys are having a great day of play.     

The light of Fall: September

The month of the September is filled with clouds, sunshine and a golden-pink bright, crisp, light that I am so glad to be out in.  Each day the boys and I spend many hours puttering in the yard, walking the neighborhood, playing and conversing with neighbors and family on patios and in parks.  Although the leaves don't change in the glorious shades of pinks and oranges and yellows that one can find out on the east coast or even the midwest- there is still a sense of fall.  It is in the taste of fresh picked apples,  the orange-colored pumpkins and importantly the light.

I want my children to learn fall by the light of it.  We look out in the morning before we are even dressed.  We eat a hot breakfast outside in the crisp cold morning and we play outside until the sunset.  We walk to market through the wild gusts that blow clouds and occasional storms overhead.  The leaves and seed pods twirl down from trees.  We watch squirrels gathering seeds, the chickadees and sparrows flocking to feeders, and the crows heading home to roost at the end of day.

Fall is child sized.  Days can truly be experienced by children from sunset to sundown.  This month my boys were even able to stay up and watch the waxing of the moon as each night we checked where it was at eight o'clock in the evening- changing in size from a sliver creeping towards being full, Venus keeping on the horizon.  

September feels grand.  I imagine it must feel amazing to my boys.  I remember being fascinated as a child at new and crazy weather patterns, light, hail and wind.  My friends and I would dream up wild stories of what was causing the magical weather as we would run in delight and investigation through backyards and neighborhoods. 

The other day during a thunderstorm-- one that was not right overhead but still echoed loudly in our valley-- I let the boys continue to play in the yard, dashing in and out of their playhouse when they saw lightening- letting them listen to the rumble of thunder.  The looks on their faces showed that they were fascinated and thrilled.  My job was to make sure they were safe, but to give them as much exposure to the wonderful weather.  The next storm, when it was closer, the boys sat on the couch with their father watching the sky light up, counting seconds until the rumble of thunder, noticing there were two storms; one close (only three or four seconds between flash and boom) one farther ( twelve seconds).  The boys and their dad hypothesized where the storm might be.  We later read the story Thundercake by Patricia Polocco.

As I went to bed last night I remembered that there must be poem about this amazing month. I am not sure if this poem by W.S. Merwin is what I had in mind, but it is fitting and beautiful.  

Camping

This past weekend we made it to Lake Wenatchee State Park and despite the challenge of setting the tent up in the rain on Friday evening we had a lovely time.  The boys especially enjoyed themselves.  It seemed like even when mom and dad were the most stressed like trying to get the tent up properly and the sleeping bags in while staying dry; the boys were just excited.   When us parents would worry that bouncing against the side of the tent would let in water; they were just curious to see how the walls moved and how water would pool up inside with just a touch.   They didn't think about wetness or coldness.  In fact they only thought this was great fun since we all had to cuddle together to stay cozy.

In the end we found the proper balance of play and work and we all survived the first raining night.  When the rain was coming down the next morning the boys just happily donned their rain gear and challenged each other to bike through the puddles.  They also worked diligently on making a dam where there was a clear river heading towards our tent.  Luckily by afternoon the rain cleared and we did not have to test the dam's strength.

We also did a great deal of hiking since it was a good way to keep warm.  First by trail where we ran into the early morning horse back riders.  The boys got to experience stepping through horse poop and also watching the horses as they stood in the rain; flexing and twitching as they shed flies and raindrops.

I feel lucky that the boys are able to have this type of experience: to see horses up close, to see the gear and resources that it takes to maintain them.   Horses are a part of history and story- everything becomes more vivid as the boys experience more and more things first hand.

Later when we discovered that our campsite was on what we would call Chipmunk Mountain the boys got another opportunity to witness animals living in their homes, in the wild.  They got to see the chipmunks dodge in and out of holes.  The boys found the holes and started to understand that their was a whole other world beneath their feet.  The also noticed how the chipmunks and the squirrels would chatter.  We wondered what they were saying.

At the lake we saw a hawk circle and dive for a fish.  It had to try several times but then it flew off right over our heads with a fish dangling in its talons.

Camping at a state park can be whatever you make of it.  Some families chose to stay with many of the comforts of home and ride the paved roads versus going off on the trails or even into the woods.   We choose a rustic comfort and then get off the main pathways to soft dirt trails.  In each case people were able to experience the elements, see and hear something different from their own homes.

 It makes you appreciate the world and the universe as you look up at the stars and wonder how it is that they can glow so hot and for so long...and  you notice how we are just so small.