Collecting Spring

As I have mentioned before, one of my favorite blogs is SouleMama. Though she fully cops to the fact that it’s far from the case in her home some days, her blog resonates a serenity I crave many days with my three and the comings and goings and nonstop noise-noise-noise of it all. So, nearly every morning I spend a moment with my coffee and Amanda Soule, who is a special kind of teacher in many ways. She’s younger than me, but I want to be her when I grow up. :)

One idea of her ideas has been fully incorporated into our home. She calls it their Nature Table, a place where the odd pine cone, shell, rock, etc. finds its way inside to be enjoyed. We refer to the idea as “Collecting.” We collect each season, taking time to really notice the changes brought to our little part of the world, and attempting to create a little bit of beauty indoors in a nonconventional way.

Spring is coming upon us in fits and false starts this year. The sun and warmth are playing hard to get, and rain seems reluctant to give up its hold. Don’t get me wrong: I much prefer this knowledge that we will have water this summer, that our community supported agriculture share will supply our family with a bountiful variety of local, organic produce—not just kale, kale, and more {sigh} kale--, and that maybe, just maybe it won’t be in the 110+ degree range as much this summer. I am not complaining much about the rain we’re getting this spring!

So, yeah… spring. We’ve been bringing all manner of fresh flowers. My boys are oh so eager to bring me bouquets of all sorts, much to my delight and often to my husband’s dismay because he has been nursing a few plants along during the past two bone dry summers. The three of them are trying to reach a detente, agreeing upon good '”picking candidates” and trying to remember which plants are verboten. In their gusto, the boys see them all as good, and there are little arrangements all over our home brightening up the kitchen sink, and other unexpected areas.

At this time, my favorite objet is the bird’s nest Carter made at preschool. The “nest” is only a paper bag with a bit of this ‘n’ that, and some eggs Carter made out of play dough, but it’s precious to us all and has been a bit of a mobile installation, finding its way all around the ‘front’ of the house, with a little help, or course. My bird-loving fellow beams with pride over his creation, as does his mama.