The beauty that surrounds us

Might I share a few of the moments from our weekly trip to the country yesterday, where we gratefully picked up milk and eggs and marveled at the peace and quiet, and gorgeous natural world all around....

The thistles had me amazed, I find them so beautiful and fierce, and so magical

Kaleena called me excitedly over to revel at the Luna moth she had found, it was truly an amazingly beautiful creature, and it was for Kaleena a moment of tenderness as it was obvious that the moth was coming upon the end of its life cycle

While Keenan revisited a friend, Zoe the baby cow, who is growing up so quickly

We found a place in the woods where a couple of weeks ago the bears had retreated. It was cool and calm, with dabbled light filtering through the trees. It was a paradise for the children and they found a special spot and gathered feathers, crystals and acorns. Climbed trees and balanced on fallen over logs

The signs of autumn approaching is everywhere, and each day more. And while there is certainly no hurry; we still have weeks of warm weather while the mornings and nights gradually cool down, there is for me a certain comfort in the fact that the cycle continues, and as surely as we are now approaching the darker days and colder months, just as surely will we again welcome spring on the other side. I find this cycle so wonderful and life affirming

And I remember to each day marvel at the beauty that surrounds us, (except of course when I get myself stuck somewhere in my own tangled mind), and give thanks for this present moment.

~With love and gratitude~

A hike

To escape the heat today we went on a hike in the mountains, we went up to 3600ft, and it felt like a mild fall day up there. When we arrived the mountains were covered in fog that then slowly dissipated as the morning wore on, there was a cool breeze and it was nothing less than delightful to actually feel a bit chilly for a moment. 

All of my reference books are in boxes, does anyone know what this little flower is, so mystical looking?

The high meadow

 Kaleena found a climbing tree, they both climb so high now, thankfully they are very safe climbers with attention to their grip, and I adore to observe their agility and confidence growing with each tree they climb

we even found some blackberries and also a few blueberries:)

The children found concentrations of Mica, a beautiful shiny mineral common in these mountains

 and Kaleena who would run far ahead would find a spot to sit and fiddle with leafs, sticks and straw, so at home in nature, ahhhh

These mountains are indeed, even on a day like today with low visibility, so beautiful!!

~a very happy evening to you~

Little boats

Yesterday while at the farm, we all decided to gather some sticks and make little boats to float in the pond. This pond was in spring time a favorite swimming hole and frog watching spot, however now that full summer is upon us, all around it is overgrown and in it full of algae and not at all inviting to swim in. As it turned out, it was even to algae filled to float the boats, but we didn't realize this when we started:)

we started with the sticks we had gathered, broke them off in to somewhat even straight pieces, and gave one side a few spots of hot glue to keep them together while we weaved the ends.

We tied a piece of hemp string to one end a weaved over/under three four times back and forth from side to side

as you can see it was a casual weaving, it did however do the job, and worked wonderfully

We added a mast right in the middle, Kaleena said she had made boats before where the mast was placed to the side, and this had made the boat tip over, so they went in the middle. It was also Kaleena's idea to add the little support beams on the side, she thought it would hold better and also look pretty. I do believe she was right! We attached these pieces with the hot glue. She picked a few flowers for the maiden voyage, 

and we used a sunflower leaf as a sail.

 Ohh yes, and we added a long string for the children to hold the boats by.

Aren't they gorgeous..so simple and primitive, yet so functional

(well except for the leaf, which withered quickly)  

while we were getting ready to set sail, our friends told us that a mama bear with her two cubs were spotted on the ridge above us, so of course the sailing was delayed as we all ran to the top to see if we could see them, our friends got a nice shot of one of the cubs, but by the time we got up there, our doggie had scared them into the woods, ohh well.... Happy to know that they are around though.

So back to sailing, where as I mentioned the pond turned out to be to gunky. 

Back at my sisters, we set sail in the creek and this turned out to be the perfect spot.

The boats sailed beautifully, and the children really enjoyed them. At first they(the children:)) stayed at the edge, but being my children they were obviously soon in the creek with their boats, they build dams and splashed with them the rest of the afternoon.

such a lovely simple project..

~thanks for stopping over and happy sailing~

Butterfly Magic

We went to the country today, ahh my favorite day of the week, I just love it, 

I am a country girl what can I say.

On top of the simple joy of being surrounded by nature we were also blessed with yet another abundant amount of butterflies. They were everywhere, and especially seemed to love the flowering Joe Pie weed.

It was truly magical and the children, Kaleena especially was mesmerized.

She would catch them gently in her hands and promptly release them again, as they flew off they would leave some of their magic dust on her hands, and she believed that this dust would make her lighter and that she could then run faster and jump higher. The magic she put into her experience was absolutely beautiful, a magic that only communion with nature can bring, for these moments I am beyond grateful.

Keenan, a devoted brother, was happy to simply encourage her magic.

After a while she got concerned that perhaps she was taking too much of the butterflies' magic powder and we let the beautiful creatures in peace to enjoy the sweet flower nectar.

Such Beauty!!!

~with love and gratitude~