A walk in the woods, and why grandparents are the best

Since I was confined to the sofa for a whole week (my back is much better now, thanks for asking), and since it has been dumping record rainfall for weeks, I hadn't gone outside for a while.

So when the sun came out the day after Thanksgiving, my sweetie and I went for a walk in the neighborhood, which consists mostly of trees, rivers, and mountains, and a stack of firewood here and there.

Before I tell you about our Thanksgiving, why don't you come along for a walk?

As soon as I stepped outside, the winter sun warming my face, fresh air streaming through my lungs, wind ruffling my hair, something deep inside of me relaxed and let go.  

I NEED to be outside, which is easy to do in the summer, but harder to pull of in winter.  Do you guys realize how much rain we get here?  It's like a rainforest, except colder and muddier.

Being outside with the trees and the open sky is like going to church for me.  Here, I find spiritual sustenance and feel the bigger picture of life, gain perspective on things that are going on around me.

Outside in nature, my anxious worrying seeps into the earth, my troubles float down the river, my negative feelings poof up into the air, and I feel renewed, ready to love and forgive once more.

My best friend Lindsay is a psychotherapist deeply connected with nature, and she has studied in depth all kinds of interesting research.  She once told me that people who have had abusive childhoods and weren't able to attach to people instead might attach to nature.

That's me.  That's totally what it feels like.  The term "Mother Nature" literally feels true for me.  I never felt emotionally nurtured by my German family of origin, but instead spent time in nature, where I felt truly happy.  I spent hours walking the German countryside with my dog, even when I was quite young.

I've been feeling quite sad lately about my family of origin, the disfunction and disconnection of it, the bad blood.  

In stark contrast to that side of my family are my husband's parents.  They are visiting us from Minnesota right now and are some of the most non-judgemental, loving people I know.  They LIVE for their grandchildren.

I keep thinking 'When will they get impatient or sick of my kids?', or 'Should I keep the kids quieter in the house?' or 'How come they don't get tired of playing games with the kids all day?', but all I have seen for years is the deep love and commitment they show for our kids and for us.

Before they arrived, seven-year-old Eva asked, "Mom, are Gramma and Grampa gonna spoil us?"

Why, yes, little girl, they will, and they are, and they have since you were born, and don't you forget that you are very, very lucky to have them in your life.

Here we are giving our dog Raka her birthday present.  She just turned one.

Let me leave you with images from some of our critters in our backyard.

So, so thankful for this amazing life.

What are you grateful for?  Leave a comment here.  Let's spread some positivity around, shall we?

Images from our morning walk - an enchanted world

A miracle happened this morning:  The sun showed herself for more than two hours!  Steve, the little wee one, and I went for a walk just behind our house.  Here is what we saw:

It's gonna be a white Christmas!

Looking to the South.

Methusela's beard.

More Methusela's beard, hiding a little cabin in the woods.

The wee one playing in the moss.

Water, water, everywhere.

Magical forest.

Bear track.  There are lots of bears around here, and they don't hibernate.

Eva and me hugging a tree. She likes to do that.

Rotting maple leaves on cedar, backlit by rare sunshine.

Mushrooms and different mosses on a tree.

More mosses.

A hill of sword ferns.

Heading back home again.

Although this winter wonderland is very magical, it's also very wet and cold.  And the sun doesn't make lots of appearances in the winter.  We get 100 inches of yearly precipitation here.  That's a lot of rain!  So this year, we will flee this wetness and cold.  In January, the whole family will embark on an adventure of epic proportions, namely a camping trip to the Californian Redwood Forest, and then to Arizona, where the sun shines!  We found wonderful house sitters, and we will be gone for about six weeks, exploring and adventuring, and hopefully not killing each other in the process.  We will spend a lot of time with five people in close quarters.  But we kind of like each other (most of the time), so it should be great.  Whatever happens, it will happen in the sun, which will make everything easier!

Here is our RV:

I will keep you posted on the road!  There will be some great stories coming up, I hope!

Happy holidays to you all!

Homeschool nature class in the wild

Yesterday's nature class for our home school group was a smashing success - soggy and cold, but a smashing success.  Despite the weather, there were a lot of smiles...

We walked out to our debris hut camp, where the kids gathered leaves and fortified the debris hut roof.
See how cozy and dry little Eva is inside the shelter?

We then did a fire challenge, where two teams had to light a fire with materials they gathered (plus some dry cedar we supplied), but it was really, really hard with all the wet materials.  The competitive spirit roared, if not the fires....  Here is a happy girl scraping cedar to start the fire.

Which team will burn the string first?  None.... It was too wet!  They all put in a great effort, though.
Steve assisted in the fire building, and soon it was nice and warm, ready to roast sausages, trout, and fry an egg on the keyhole fire pit, which is a way to cook on heated rocks.  The kids (and adult assistants) were duly impressed.

The kids have been playing a number of awareness games (owl eyes, deer ears) to help them slow down and expand their senses in the wild.  They also did a "sit spot", where they find a quiet spot in nature and become very quiet and aware.  You would be astonished to witness some of the younger kids actually sitting down quietly without complaining.

The kids are having so much fun romping around in the wild, learning new skills, bonding with their friends, while we grown-ups gently guide them, but let them be wild and happy.
You can find out more about it here.