Walking by the River

Almost a month ago now the kids and I went for a little ramble between the River Ure and the canal with some friends from church.  It was a homeschool day, and I had been reading The Wind and the Willows aloud while the kids colored, so it felt a little bit like we were entering the world of Ratty, Mole, and Toad.

The willows seemed to be some of the first trees to get their leaves back.

The change of seasons feels significant this year because it's our first spring in Boroughbridge.  Everything is new.  Every flower and every green thing is a surprise.  I pulled some weeds in our garden yesterday afternoon, and I won't lie, felt a little bit like Mary Lennox.

Thinking about new seasons made me start thinking about children growing and ageing and being in my 30s, but all of those thoughts didn't seem to have a place with photos of happy children on a walk, except to say I think I should spend less time brooding and more time enjoying and counting blessings and saying, "Thank you, Lord Jesus."

I really love that my kids are having chances to walk beside rivers, get muddy, and make toys out of sticks and feathers.  It took me a little bit, but now, as long as we have wellies, the mud seems but a trifle, and those mud stains I couldn't get out of Ella's pants/trousers?  Oh, well.

And there were lots of mole hills to poke their sticks into, so I think we were as close to our afternoon reading as we could get.