Today I took the children to my parents’ house, or should I say garden. I don’t think they came in the house for more than something to eat. They lay in the daffodil beds, played hide and seek in among the bushes and made daisy chains. They hunted for ladybirds and dug up parsnips.
The garden is large and broken up into different garden rooms. I was still able to show them places in the garden they had not discovered and where I had played as a child. There was another pond and a stream that they had not seen before. I have promised to take them back with wellington boots and nets next time.
I took them into a barn that they had not been in and showed them where the swifts make their nests each year. The swifts aren’t back yet, but you can see their nests tucked up in the eaves from previous years. I’ve promised to take them up in another barn, next time, to see the bats in the evening.
We found this pigeon nest in another area. It had been in the eaves above an outside staircase for years. The staircase had to be repaired in the winter and the nest was removed. One lonely unhatched egg was in there. It was good to explain to the children that not all eggs turn into a healthy chicks. So easy to forget when you see fluffy chicks at this time of year. Life may be springing up everywhere at the moment, but not all of it makes it.
On a totally different and more colourful note. I have been fascinated by these Russian clay toys, ever since I saw them here. I was born just after my parents returned from two years in Moscow, so although I’ve never been there, I grew up surrounded by Russian culture. Every year these Russian toys would come out at Easter and I took them as part of the general colour of the season.
This visit I looked at them afresh. I love the way the mother hen is protecting her chicks under her wings and the people all have round mouths. They are so colourful, but are far too fragile to ever be toys. I was glad my Mother had put them away. I’m still working on the old “Look with your eyes and not your hands,” with TF. Tough when you are not yet 3 and everything is calling out to be examined closely.
We visit my parents often, so it seems strange that I have not shown the children the swifts’ nests and the stream before, or the Russian toys. I think it is because these have become part of the scenery to me, part of life. I am now seeing it all through their eyes and it feels like a new place to explore. This is fun. I wonder what else I’m going to notice.
your parents home sounds AMAZING!
Amanda – Splitting the garden into rooms means you can’t see the whole area and becomes even more magical in the children’s eyes. I’d love to do something similar in our garden.