We’re having a beautiful week here, so warm that I have barefoot children. We’re doing our best to finish our work early enough each day so we can spend the last couple of hours before dark outside. Well, my work is never done, so I’m doing my best to ignore it for at least an hour a day. Seth has been studying our trees, and knows which are the largest on our property (the one that he is pictured in front of with Silas on his shoulders is #2) and where nice specimens of different species are. I commented to a friend the other day that it’s really gratifying when you teach your child something, and given a few years for that knowledge to grow, find that they know more than you on the topic. (As an aside, I thought about this some more, and the fact that it’s only neat when what you are teaching is something good. Because they pick up more than what we want them to, the good and the bad. There’s nothing more humbling than seeing one of your negative traits show up in one of your children. We won’t talk about that….) I’ve been teaching my children how to identify trees since they were little, and Seth is now better at identifying them than I am. I oftentimes find myself asking him questions, though I am the one who went to forestry school. This makes me happy.
A funny thing happened this week: we discovered two plants in the swamp at the back of our property that I bought specimens of earlier this fall to plant around our house: winterberries and buttonbushes. I laughed when I discovered the buttonbushes. My local nursery special ordered one for me, and evidently they are already well established here! The swamp can’t really be accessed in the summer months, so I hadn’t noticed. There are huge patches of winterberries and they are really gorgeous. You have to wade through the mud to reach them, but it’s worth it. I love tromping around in the swamp this time of year! You only have to stand still and quiet for a minute before the birds start working and fluttering and talking. Then, walking again, there are beaver lodges, and cattails to see, and pileated woodpeckers flying overhead. Jonny sighs when he sees a tree girdled by beavers, but then we talk about the fact that beavers mate for life, and at one point were hunted to near extinction. We’ve both been affected by reading David Kline’s essays in Great Possessions. Jonny reads them over my shoulder at night. I’ve finished up the autumn essays and those that aren’t tied to a season, and am doing my best to save the winter ones until winter actually begins. Mr. Kline feels like a kindred spirit.
I wound yarn for two projects last week: a shawl I plan to knit using yarn I dyed with dahlia leaves and flowers from a friends cutting gardens (the green and the beige), and a bonnet for Mabel using yarn I dyed with the madder root I grew back in our old garden. These are special projects, tied up with memories. The very best kind.
karen says
I could do with chillier weather but I’ll take what I have so far. Lovely photos and a peek into your life!
Elizabeth says
It’s definitely winter here in the UK: bitter cold and snow! Perfect knitting weather! I’m excited for you to have beavers!
Teresa says
Can I just come and be your apprentice?
Lana says
Glorious weather here in SC, too. Friends came for coffee one morning and ended up staying for lunch outside on the deck and we all got a much needed dose of sunshine.
thecrazysheeplady says
Beautiful series of pictures. Always a treat.
Jody says
I love the colors of your yarn. They’re beautiful.
Amy Marie says
I felt like I was right there with you on your walk. I’ll have to check into those essays even though my TBR stack is massive. You made me realize that I’ve been drifting too much into sending my children out instead of going with them. Thanks for the beautiful reminder.
Margaret says
Thank you for taking such beautiful pictures. They help me to exhale after a crazy day. What camera do you use ?
Marion says
Thank You for sharing the beautiful photos. Your children are so lovely.
Marion
Helen Albans says
I agree about how lovely it is when children become even more expert than the parents. In my case my son was about 9 when l found myself asking him for help reading particularly tricky rhythms in whatever music l was practising.
(Now, having married a fellow musician, he is father to our one and only grandchild and l look forward to her becoming more expert than me too!)
Karla says
Reminds me of when I was wandering around our yard (not big, but still) and found Lady’s Slippers up on a hill – I was so delighted! I saw what I THOUGHT were elderberry bushes and got so excited… only to find out they’re poisonous pokeberries. SIGH
Teresa says
Oh bummer! I would love to have elderberries too.
CHRISTINE A JEMMING says
Beautiful pictures.
Jennifer Bauman says
I love the dusky dark winter light in these photographs, and I envy you your berry cache. Is Seth familiar with “the Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben? I am just reading it, and find it a fascinating look at the forest and the life within
Elizabeth says
lovely moments! God bless you this week!!!