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Husband (wearing sweatpants and a fleece jacket, reading in bed late this morning): What did you have in mind to do with the children today?
What did I have in mind...hmmm....well, not letting them continue their screen orgy, for one...
So, armed with some grocery sacks, a bucket and garden gloves, we bullied the kids out of the house. The eldest disappeared quickly, but before we could get to clearing the woods behind the house of trash, Miles and Sophia needed to reaquaint themselves with one of the Eastern Red Cedars. Bruce and I busied ourselves fetching scraps of plastic and styrofoam cups as they climbed.
They became much more interested when we drifted in the direction of the creek. They scrambled down the tree and crept along the bank and pounced upon the litter there. At one point, Sophia needed a bit of a boost to her backside (more due to panic than any actual danger), but other than that, we got a depressingly hefty load just from the closest spots. Bruce and kinder circled back to the house, but I kept on, pushing my way through the dried weeds and tree branches for each sliver of detritus as if it were some treasure.
Odd, though. I moved through thorny locusts branches and wild gooseberry with nary a scratch. Normally, I am not a cautious outdoorswoman. I do not fear mud. And generally I would return from such an outing proudly bearing my war wounds. Today I threaded my way at my leisure. I took the time to step around the new plants--even the common wild tobacco and cow parsnip. How much healthier would I be if I did this every day? How much better would the world be? I know myself well enough to tell you that this experiment is unlikely to come to a conclusion.
And yet, without prayer or spiritual thought, planning, worry or intent, I brought more from the woods today than trash. I brought calm. Or a message to slow down a bit and see the dried leaves crusted against a stone. Nature, in its many forms, is not always what I consider beautiful. But it is interesting. I am somehow compelled to witness it, to be with it, and perhaps, to love all of it.
Kate
What did I have in mind...hmmm....well, not letting them continue their screen orgy, for one...
So, armed with some grocery sacks, a bucket and garden gloves, we bullied the kids out of the house. The eldest disappeared quickly, but before we could get to clearing the woods behind the house of trash, Miles and Sophia needed to reaquaint themselves with one of the Eastern Red Cedars. Bruce and I busied ourselves fetching scraps of plastic and styrofoam cups as they climbed.
They became much more interested when we drifted in the direction of the creek. They scrambled down the tree and crept along the bank and pounced upon the litter there. At one point, Sophia needed a bit of a boost to her backside (more due to panic than any actual danger), but other than that, we got a depressingly hefty load just from the closest spots. Bruce and kinder circled back to the house, but I kept on, pushing my way through the dried weeds and tree branches for each sliver of detritus as if it were some treasure.
Odd, though. I moved through thorny locusts branches and wild gooseberry with nary a scratch. Normally, I am not a cautious outdoorswoman. I do not fear mud. And generally I would return from such an outing proudly bearing my war wounds. Today I threaded my way at my leisure. I took the time to step around the new plants--even the common wild tobacco and cow parsnip. How much healthier would I be if I did this every day? How much better would the world be? I know myself well enough to tell you that this experiment is unlikely to come to a conclusion.
And yet, without prayer or spiritual thought, planning, worry or intent, I brought more from the woods today than trash. I brought calm. Or a message to slow down a bit and see the dried leaves crusted against a stone. Nature, in its many forms, is not always what I consider beautiful. But it is interesting. I am somehow compelled to witness it, to be with it, and perhaps, to love all of it.
Kate
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