Collecting Winter

Collecting Winter, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

We've started a new family tradition of 'collecting' seasons in our home. Essentially, this means we notice more... appreciate more... look up, look down, look all around as we bustle through our days.

Fall was an easy season. Everywhere we looked, and everyday we went out, there was a new treasure to add: a leaf, a seed pod, some bark. There was so much, it seemed, that it was hard to contain the kids' enthusiasm, lest they drag all the great outdoors inside.

Winter is trickier. We have a winter--really, we do! And it is winter that brings life itself to our area--water. It is gray. It rains. It rains a lot if we're lucky. The hills transform from their usual Tuscan hills gold to "Irish Spring" green as annual grasses pop up. Wildflowers will follow by end of February, and meadows will pop and crackle with color.

A 'good' February--from a water table point of view--means 20+ days of rain out of 28. We moms become a bit nutty from it... from all the being inside.

How do you collect rainy days?

Carter knew. He's a literal thinker, but not without his creative bursts. Frogs and ducks love rain, or so he reasoned, as they're water creatures. His beloved stuffed duck and frog slingshots were just the thing to decorate the mantle until we come up with something else. Kids always know. Sometimes we moms are smart enough to listen, too.