Home Run

hurry

Grace (the girl in the drawings of the past few posts) has been roaming the woods for weeks now.

Grace has been happily exploring. Her actions have been inspired by the "topic of the week" on the Illustration Friday website.

She was at home in the forest, comfortable. I could have kept her out there for a while. There are endless possibilities in a playground of trees and wildlife.

My ten year old daughter has been watching her progress.

Last week my daughter said, "The next picture should show her home. I want to see where she lives."

I think she wanted me to prove that she did have a home.

The "topic of the week" is "hurry".

Hurry home, I thought and sent her on her way.

Same as It Ever Was

faded

Spring comes late around here.

Last week it was 50 degrees and drizzling.

I was starting to regret my decision to put my parka away for the season as I sat on the damp bleachers of the misty Little League field.

The next game I went to I had short sleeves, sandals and was worrying about getting a sunburn.

My favorite part of the late Spring is the green.

Sometimes you don't know how much you miss something until it comes back.

The color of the new leaves and grass are so bright it hurts my eyes.

This weekend my tired, grey little town was full of people and traffic and cookouts and noise.

It happens every year.

It is still a surprise, just when you think it will never come it does.

Makes me realize that the same old can be new again.

And so can I.

Mrs. Rice and the Brats of NIHM

kernel

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week.

This always makes me think of the teachers who made a difference in my life.

One teacher came to mind this week when I was showing my daughter, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.H.M." at the library. 

My daughter asked if I had read it. I had not.

My fifth grade language arts teacher, Mrs. Rice read it to me and our class.

I wasn't that big a fan of the fifth grade. 

Art class with the beautiful Ms. Fisher and Mrs. Rice reading aloud made it bearable.

I had a second thought about Mrs. Rice this week when I was thinking about "kernels" in the woods.

I remember pig nuts (hickory nuts) were fun to open when the outer husk got dry enough. 

I also remember going out and collecting about a hundred acorns an crushing them on a rock in an attempt to make acorn pancakes just like the boy in, "My Side of the Mountain", which Mrs. Rice also read to us.

I barely got a tablespoon's worth of acorn flour, so I never made the pancakes.

I did get a love of books and an appreciation of teachers.

To all my teacher friends,

Remember that you are making a difference, if fact the little things you do could make all the difference in the world.

Grace

hitched

Sometimes the right thing to do is to not try to figure what the right thing to do is.

Keep on moving forward.

With Grace.

Afraid of the Wolf

silent

When I was a kid the woods were my backyard. It was easy for me to picture all those fairy tales that took place in the forest.

I was a quick study of the lessons from the stories that often ended in children meeting their doom.

I wasn't scared of these stories. I took them as useful information and filed them in my mind for future reference. This way I would know what to do if I came upon a house made of gingerbread or a talking wolf while I was playing in the woods.

Get locked in a tower? Grow my hair long. Got it.

White rocks, not breadcrumbs. Don't give directions to Grandma's house.

I still find much of the advice useful because I know that if you make the wrong choice you will get eaten by the wolf.

Illustration Friday-boundaries

Illustration Friday-shadows