Garden Party
After two gloomy days here in NH, it is a bit hard to remember that the start of the week was beautiful! We spent Monday at Mrs. Sharp's home, exploring her pond, playing with bubbles and hula hoops and taking rides in the homemade wagon. A wagon that Mr. Sharp pulled out and had belonged to his own children.
These crafty critters were a bit hard to spot, all camouflaged amongst the grass, but we could hear them, and knew they were there. Determined, kindergarten eyes did not need long to flush them out! Luckily for the frog, he was beyond the reach of our nets! However, the children are sure if they had their muck boots, they could definitely catch him!
After all of the discovery at the pond, discovery that included the capture of one LARGE bullfrog tadpole, we moved down to the brook to cool or toes and look around. The brook, here, is very shallow and flat, the children could have spent the entire day just exploring along its banks. The air was just the perfect temperature for exploring, no real worries if you mistakenly squatted down too low, to investigate, and got up with a wet bottom. It was refreshing and would dry fast!
I can't speak about older children, but I know for certain that children of this age LOVE playing in brooks. I would encourage you to take a minute this summer and just pull over near a rocky brook and let your little ones out. We are always so rushed and busy in our daily lives, we always have a destination in mind - treat yourself and your kids to a few minutes of peace and discovery in a brook! (There are great spots for brook play along the Kangamangus Highway).
We brought our picnic lunch with us out to the Sharp's and ate it away from the bugs, in the screen house. Yes, that sugar shack in the background is indeed the screen house and it is the cutest, most inviting little spot around. The brook lays right behind it, I could just imagine a summer morning, a cup of coffee and a Chris Bohjalian book in my hand (can you tell summer vacation is so close I can taste it?) The sugar shack was the perfect lunch spot, we ate, listened to Mrs. Sharp read us a story about little rabbit's lost tooth (many of us are missing our front teeth these days) and had dessert. Our Mrs. Sharp is an amazing host, and this day was no different. After lunch she pulled out a flower pot filled with dirt and announced dessert! (You should have seen the faces!) Dirt and worms! It was delicious, made with Oreo cookie, chocolate pudding, and gummy worms!
The reason for our visit was to pick up our mini gardens that we had been working on this spring. The children started seeds at school and later transplanted them into mini garden boxes. The garden boxes spent some time in the classroom under the grow lamp, but then were ferried out to Mrs. Sharp's home to be hardened off and cared for until they were strong enough to be sent out into the world with the children! I was amazed when I saw the gardens flourishing so on the deck - The children were thrilled with the fruits of their labor and perhaps new gardeners have been born! I know they love to eat basil right off the bush!
A very special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Sharp who let us invade their beautiful and peaceful space for a few hours on that warm June day! I am not sure Chocolate the cat knew what hit her, as she hid under the bed and six little bottoms stuck out from the bedside peering after her. Despite this invasion, Chocolate did return to the kitchen to display her skill with the scratching board and allowed for a few little pats from the children, very close to the security of Mr. Sharp's feet!