Newts

Yesterday, in keeping with the rest and recuperation goal for the week, the family and I headed up to Bloom Lake for a newt hunt. It was a fabulous success! We expected rain and mud -- and there was plenty of the later but no rain to dampen our spirits. The kids learned how to identify raccoon and deer tracks, found newts in rain puddles and listened to frog songs. Mama happily traipsed behind her clan, camera in hand. I think the find I was most excited about was the little snail on the side of the path. It was as if I had found a secret, miniature world . . . with beautiful alien beings. 

I was thinking about how childlike we all were together in the forest -- delighted with tiny little newts with their orange bellies, hunkering down on a log hushing one another so that the frogs would sing again, slipping and sliding in the mud and singing our own silly songs along the way. It was good for the soul! This week I plan to join my children in more of their play.