Into the woods
It's all cold rain and wind today, perfect for staying inside, making cookies and soup, reading, playing games, and napping. It's a chance to live a bit of late-fall up here in Maine, where we've only known summer, before.
The last day all of us were together here was hot and sunny and perfect, and we took a long walk to a path through the woods, at the end of which lay the spectacular expanse of the sea.
Having reached my limit of near-death experiences for one vacation, I quickly ushered us all away from the cliff and back into the woods, where the kids commenced making fairie houses.
It's a hard and fast truth of life that if we had planned to have the kids spend a happy two hours in the woods building structures out of sticks and moss, it probably would have collapsed into a whine-fest. But when they fall into an activity organically, they get into a rhythm of their own making; they laugh more, complain and criticize less, encourage and collaborate with each other.
It's a beautiful thing. And when it happens, I'm grateful for every minute of it. I know right then that this is what we'll all remember.
These are the days. Thanks for reading.
tt
The last day all of us were together here was hot and sunny and perfect, and we took a long walk to a path through the woods, at the end of which lay the spectacular expanse of the sea.
Having reached my limit of near-death experiences for one vacation, I quickly ushered us all away from the cliff and back into the woods, where the kids commenced making fairie houses.
It's a hard and fast truth of life that if we had planned to have the kids spend a happy two hours in the woods building structures out of sticks and moss, it probably would have collapsed into a whine-fest. But when they fall into an activity organically, they get into a rhythm of their own making; they laugh more, complain and criticize less, encourage and collaborate with each other.
It's a beautiful thing. And when it happens, I'm grateful for every minute of it. I know right then that this is what we'll all remember.
These are the days. Thanks for reading.
tt
Labels: I really need to work on lables, kids, Maine, Tara, Walking
posted by Tara Thayer at
11:07 AM
6 Comments:
people who build fairy houses in the woods are my favorite kind. and these are the days. xo.
I love this post Tara, and I was just reading an article today about the importance of children and unstructured activity outdoors, so they can explore their own interests. You validate it's importance in this post.
you all do the coolest things. i love those fairy houses. sounds like a delightful couple of hours in the woods.
oh heaven...heaven
Oh fairy houses! I need to go send Deb from Sojourner over here to see. She is the master of fairy houses!
i adore the fairy houses.
i will say that in looking at the cliffside pic, it did cross my mind that all those girls with heads bent were frantically texting on their mobile phones...but perhaps that's just me. :-) i hope so anyway!
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