a tale of bare feet and squishy, icky mud...

My younger daughter always has bare feet, always, unless shoes are required to get in - like school and stores. She never liked shoes, even as a small child. If she has to wear shoes for some reason, any old shoe will not do, they have to be super fabulous - colorful or sparkly - they really have to be worth wearing and the minute she can take them off, they're off.

Mark has been working on a landscaping project in our yard and he had the dirt all smoothed out and ready for grass seed, when the rains came and when it cleared up, I noticed some large footprints in the mud - bare footprints. Now who would walk through the mud like that? The squishy, icky mud. Erica just smiled and said, "Yeah, it was me, that mud just looked so good, I couldn't help it." And yes, those are her feet above - even butterflies love her feet. Here's a little quote for her. My little nature girl.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

-Kahlil Gibran-

and rain makes applesauce...

...not really, but it does make some really beautiful plants grow... it rained cats and dogs, poured down in bucketfuls, all night long...but around noon the sun came out and the itsy bitsy spider began to climb the water spout again (i'm feeling kind of nursery-rhymish today) and I snapped these pictures of some lovely plants in our yard, including these green beans that Jake grew for a science project...he's so proud of his plants, but he has made it quite clear that he will never, ever, ever eat a bean...not ever.

yum-a-licious...

In case you are wondering what this coconutty confection is...it may be the best cake I have ever eaten. My daughter made this for Easter and it was so, so good! The cake was very dense with a nice almond flavor and the frosting, made with cream cheese, was to die for and all that coconut - yum! I managed to snap one picture of them all looking at the camera, not an easy feat, teens are camera shy. Hope you enjoyed your Easter...

ode to the earth...

...on Earth day...

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is imagination itself.

-William Blake, 1799, The Letters-

playing with fire...

I let them build a nice fire. There were big plans to sleep in the tent all night, but somehow they wound up inside...watching movies, sleeping on the couches...But not because they were scared...no...not those brave boys...

boredom...

they're off school for the entire week, bored already... but she let me take some pictures...

the home of your dreams...

a little box ...

...of dreams