The places we go

Last Friday, after visiting the Elkton bur oak, we spent some time in Shenandoah National Park.

This is early spring on The Big Meadow.

Silas, who is walking these days more than he’s crawling, took his first steps on the meadow.

We hope to return in late May to see the baby deer that should be arriving soon.

I have been planning to give away a copy of Style, Sex, and Substance here ever since I read it a couple of weeks ago. My Catholicness (that is a Beatrix term–she adds -ness to words) makes me a bit of an oddball sometimes. This book reminded me that I am far from being alone, while also challenging me to be the best Catholic oddball I can be. I had the book in the van with us on Friday, and was struck with the idea to get a photo of it on Big Meadow. This was possibly a dorky move on my part, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Dorky or not, I am excited that Hallie Lord, editor, and contributor to the book, offered to give one of my readers a signed copy. ~~If you are interested in winning, just mention so in your comment on this post and I will randomly choose a winner on Monday.~~

I was merely pretending to read in my photo. On the other hand, If you will notice Jonny’s bowed head in this photo: He later confessed that while I was taking photos of the kids he was sneaking a peek inside the book. Were I the betting type, I’d bet he was reading from chapter four. If you want to know what chapter four is about, I guess you’ll have to read the book.

I did not ask Beatrix to pose, but did turn to find her holding my book just so from her seat in the grass. I am guessing that she was “reading” chapter five, “Single and Seeking God’s Plan.”

After our fun on Big Meadow we decided to torture ourselves with a downhill hike to see Rose River Falls.

The falls were beautiful and worth the torture of the uphill hike back. Jonny carried Beatrix on his back, and I carried Silas on mine. But at some point, I started thinking that I might just have to spend the night in the woods. Jonny offered to carry Silas in his arms in addition to the B-Rose on his back claiming that it was good training for the Tough Mudder. I took him up on his offer, but still barely made it back to the car.

Silas insisted on getting down and walking a bit himself.

On our way out of the park we saw lots of does. I branded them all “Mama Deer” and hung out the passenger window with my camera speaking to them in my sing- songy- talk- to- animals- love- language. I was convinced that all of them looked pregnant and thanked them in advance for the sweet little spotted babies that we will hopefully see next month.

The last wild animal we spotted, (after stopping in the middle of Skyline Drive so Jonny could gobble gobble at a male turkey for a few minutes) was this raccoon. I had never actually seen one in a tree in the wild before. I am more accustomed to seeing raccoons shoveling cat food into their mouths as fast as they can while maintaining eye contact with me through the window.

~~Don’t forget to mention Style, Sex and Substance in your comment, if you would like to be entered in the giveaway!~~

The winner is Misty:

“Hi Ginny,
We drove from Charlottesville south through the Blue Ridge Parkway for our Easter vacation and saw some similar sights. It was so refreshing to be in the mountains and just experiencing nature firsthand. I cannot believe how grown up Silas looks in that photo – wasn’t he just born?!

Also – I would really enjoy the book as well. Thanks for offering it on your site.”

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As we did two years ago, this year we decided to spend our Thanksgiving day hiking. The first time we did this, we were at one of the hardest places in our lives thus far, and the hike was Jonny’s way of making me get out of bed and keep moving forward. It was a refusal to let grief and loss cripple our family; a way to surround me with beauty, forcing me to give thanks. This year, there wasn’t sadness, just the continuation of a new tradition. Thanksgiving will always be a reminder to me that by the grace of God we do indeed survive the hardest of times.

Larkspur started the hike with a good pout, because we wouldn’t let her carry a doll. You know how that sort of thing goes: child starts out carrying item, parent soon thereafter ends up carrying item for the rest of the hike.

Beatrix was pleased because she loves getting to ride.

Larkspur soon perked up, realizing that if she didn’t she was going to get left behind.

I wanted so badly to capture the light bouncing off the bare branches. There was the illusion that all those little twigs were coated in ice, but it was simply sunlight.

I think that Jonny is maybe teasing me at this point, because we have been walking for less than half a mile or so, and I am already hurting. Walking downhill can actually be very difficult after awhile. This trail was downhill the entire way to the falls (which of course translated to uphill the entire way back. Hello, nearly 1000 ft. elevation change.) Jonny planned this hike without mentioning to me that it is rated moderately strenuous. I am not in good shape, and remarked to Jonny that the strongest muscle in my body is my uterus, and that doesn’t get me too far when hiking. I confess that I got a little cranky on the uphill portion of the hike (Silas of course on my back,) but not too bad. I was just seriously feeling like I would not be able to make it back up the mountain. It’s kind of crazy to take these strenuous hikes with a bunch of children, two of whom require a ride!

We chose not to hike the additional half mile or so down to the bottom of the falls, so I didn’t get any great pictures. The light was getting pretty low anyway.

On the other hand, we watched the lady wearing these “not made for hiking” boots head on down the mountain with her partner. That means she hiked around four miles in those shoes. Insane, brave, tough? I don’t know.

Beatrix walked for about fifty yards.

With help, of course.

Keats decided to do a little bouldering.

And soon required rescue, in typical Keats fashion.

We took a little break because Silas got sick of riding on my back, and because Seth threw a handful of big burs into Larkspur’s hair. Those were a challenge to remove. I’m sure that Larkspur would say that sometimes it’s a challenge to live with older brothers.

Finally back at the picnic grounds, we ate our Thanksgiving barbecue, cole slaw, and potato chips in the cold. It was actually really, really fun.

And of course there was cranberry sauce. Because it was Thanksgiving. And cranberry sauce and cole slaw totally go together, right?

p.s. We hiked to South River Falls in Shenandoah National Park.
Beatrix is wearing her blueberry cardigan, and Larkspur, her raspberry. I haven’t really posted much of either of those sweaters yet. I love the way they turned out, and they are worn almost daily.
And the hat that is supposed to belong to Larkspur, but was mostly worn by Beatrix on this day:

I cast on the night before Thanksgiving, and then Keats and I took turns knitting it on the way to the park. He did all the decreasing, refusing to let me help at all. Do you remember Shannon’s Kickstarter Project? This hat was knit with the first skein of yarn I have received as part of my reward for donating to her new business. It was a lot of fun to knit with! (more of her yarn here.)

I hope that those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a great one!

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