forest hike

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This summer while Sky traveled cross country on a retreat with Amma, Gary and I spent some quality time with our youngest two kids...

Of course we took to the forest.

And yes, Annabel and I frolicked in the meadow.

corner view~rejuvenation

What is it about being with trees that gives me so much rejuvenation?

Or working in a garden all day long?

Or pulling out my paints for a few hours with nothing I have to do, but play and have fun with color?

I go somewhere when I do these things.  I go somewhere else.  I am transformed into a newer, fresher me.  

holiday hike

Over the holiday break, which ends today, our kids had a few gatherings with various friends.  I am the mom who invites kids over for movies, takes them to the beach, and on hikes.  I am the mom who makes soup.  We are the family who hosts teen parties.  We put two six packs of canned juice in the fridge and they are free to help themselves.  They love this.  We make "dirt cake" and serve it in flower pots.  We sit at the table and eat together.  Other parents think I am brave to do this.  I would rather the kids are under my watch and in a home with ground rules than left free to roam around town.

One day we took a few kids up to the forest where other friends joined us.  As we drove up the mountain it was raining, but as Annabel's friend Maggie predicted, by the time we got to our destination, it stopped, and the sun was bright in the sky.  "Don't worry Mrs. Marks, it always stops in time," she had told me as she sat in the passenger seat, chatting nonstop to me about her life.  I love it when kids call me Mrs. Marks, it reminds me of my childhood when we wouldn't dream of calling a parent by their first name.  

We walked in the forest, we smelled the moist air, we saw caves, and jacksons, and piles of pine needles that had fallen in clumps on the bare branches.

Then we walked around an old cowboy town and all went out to lunch afterwards.  

The kids, ranging in age from eight to fourteen, got along well.  I got to talk to a couple of the moms who joined in.  The parents are so busy, everyone feels they are behind the eight ball.  The kids are free, they are on break, they have not a care.  But for a few hours we all joined in that freedom.

mountain home inn, muir woods

What do you do when for the past few days there has been a stifling heat wave with no end in sight, and you have plans in two days to meet friends and stay on their houseboat where temperatures are expected to rise to 108? You get smart.  You change plans.  You get lucky on July 3rd and 4th to find any place to rent -- but you find one place in town that has space.  And so you book it. And then you throw in a few loads of laundry, pack up your belongings and tidy up the house you have been staying in for two and a half weeks.  You don't have to deep clean it because you arranged ahead of time for that to be done by professionals.  You smile at them as you walk out of the door, flipping on the air conditioning for them.

Then you get in a car and drive, sweating it out as the car temperature gauge reads 100 degrees.  You drive up the mountain, winding through Mill Valley to a beautiful inn.  By the time you arrive the temperature has dropped into the 70's.  The air is magic, oxygen like no other, and you can smell the eucalyptus trees and the pine trees.  You take a deep breath and realize that now, yes, you are on vacation.

boys hike

700 year old tree

photo by Shawn

We walk through magical places with friends.  The photos serve as a reminder -- they bring us back, because the experience quickly fades to a memory.

corner view ~ out & about

Today my friend Kapua and I took Shawn with some boys to a native forest preserve that few have entered.  We drove way up into the clouds where everything was cold and crisp and wet.  Kapua and our guide did a native chant before we entered the preserve.  We hiked for three miles, breaking for a picnic in the misty rain.  We saw trees that were 700 years old, and learned all about plants and birds that only exist in this forest, in all of the world.  We saw a flowering plant that is close to extinction, and I was happy to see that people have planted more of it, to try to keep it on the planet.  We looked for birds with binoculars, the boys all took photos with disposable cameras, and we sampled wild berries and tender fern shoots.

We had a great time.

the adventure i never get tired of

Taking the kids up the mountain to see our friends and explore the forest.  I am part elf, I have come to accept.