Back in April I posted about L.D's discovery of a magical place in the forest called "Fern Gully". At the time I mentioned it was nice and green, but there weren't many ferns. Well, almost exactly a month later, on the Saturday of this weekend past, we decided to head outside on such a beautiful day for a picnic. We packed a ramshackle lunch of veggies and fruits and crackers and dips and peas and sandwhiches and headed outside. When we were talking over where we'd set ourselves up, or rather, down to eat, L.D. again suggested Fern Gully, so off we went. Though we did have to stop for a second to admire the blossoming trees in our yard. Look at that would you! These blossoming trees are such a limited time offer, and I didn't get out in time to get pictures of the apple blossoms, so I was determined not to miss getting a few shots of this one. I believe this is a flowering crab apple, but I could totally be wrong (I'm telling you, the flowers/gardening gene skips a generation, and my Dad is shaking his head while reading this in complete exasperation that I don't know the kind of tree that this is. Leave it in the comments Dad, if you would be so kind.)
Anyhow, whatever it is, it is just gorgeous, and absolutely full of the sound of buzzing bees who are swarming all over it with such concentration that we don't even worry about them, as they pay us no mind. The Baby was very happy to reach up and touch the branches, and one of his new tricks is 'smelling' flowers with a big stagey "sniiiifff, ahhhhh...." So cute.
Anyhow, enough dilly dallying and we were off to Fern Gully. So look back at the picture of that early spring Fern Gully, (third photo down in that post) full of green grass and not much else, and then feast your eyes on this. Is that crazy or what? A whole new layer of lovely growth.
Again, never mind my general ignorance about the specifics of plant life, but I believe these are the kind of ferns that, in this early curled up stage can be eaten as Fiddleheads. I had planned to come out and pick some, but most of them were uncurled, or at least uncurled far enough that it did not seem to make sense to harvest them.
Its so interesting, they are not spectacular in a colourful flower kind of way, but at the same time Ferns are just so lovely. You can tell why the Arts and Crafts movement was all over them as a motif. There is this lovely arcing symmetry to them. And every angle on them gives you something different.
Anyhow, after ooohing and aaahing over the ferns, we hunkered down to have a proper picnic. I had my trusty and lovely thrifted picnic blanket along, which is really the perfect thing as it is wool, so nice and thick and you don't feel the damp through it at all. And so pretty in pictures. And then, as you can see, completely spoiling the aesthetic in the background is a large, plastic hunk of kid crap. Namely the wagon. This is where I fail as a blogger, since I cannot seem to master the perfectly styled family picture. In a perfect blogger world, that would be a vintage wooden wagon, and no one would be wearing their very practical, but not at all attractive hats. (Especially Hubs, he knows I hate that white trash camouflage hunters cap. If you can buy it at a store where they sell lawn mower part and ammo, it is officially not a style item) Serioulsy, that is an ugly wagon. But you know why we own it? Because Hubs got it for free. Probably out of someone's trash pile on garbage day. He promised me we'd never use it as a wagon, he was just going to take the wheels off of it to make something else with, but as with so many ugly, plastic albatrosses, it has worked its way into our lives. And though it fails miserably at being attractive, that wagon came in pretty darn handy for our picnic. Not only did it haul the boys and the food and stuff...
...but it also functioned as a high chair/playpen. Though I have cleverly cropped its offending plastic-y-ness out of this photo, it is the thing that kept the Baby happy, eating, contained and out of the adjacent creek all through lunch.
The piece de resistance of our little lunch was this pint of raspberries. They stayed wrapped up in a tea towel until all peas, carrots, lentils, sandwiches, and yoghurt had been consumed, as I knew that once they appeared on the scene, all other options would be thoroughly rejected.
And as soon as we busted them out, there was thought of nothing else.
Yeah, just a little closer....
As you can see, the Little Dude has his favourite raspberry eating technique down pat. We call it a bad case of the raspberry fingers.
The berries went so fast that Hubs had a hold a few back for me, as I was busy taking pictures and almost missed out on my share. And I finally decided to take off the Baby's hat so I could get a better picture of his raspberry eating glee.How 'bout that? That enough glee for you? Though the stylist in me was pissed that as soon as I got rid of the dorky hat, I had an unsightly cowlick to contend with. Though really, there's not much that can mar this baby's cuteness.
Ok, ok, just one more 'baby eating raspberries' shot. Managed to smooth down the hair too. Used the good ole' "mom's hand with a bit of spit" technique. That's better.
And then we let 'im loose to stomp around in the ferns, and pick up sticks and snails and chirp and squeal and point.
You may wonder why L.D. is not in these photos. First of all, he rarely stands still enough for a picture, and second of all, why bother with ferns... ...when there is a creek and a boat on a stick to sail in it. And rocks to climb on. And mud to step in. And water skeeters and little fish to throw bits of sandwich to. Who has time for pictures when there is all that to be done?
But after the picnic was cleared away, and the mosquitos were making their presence felt, we decided it was time to head home for naps, and off we went with our ugly wagon full of happy boys, back through the magic doorway of Fern Gully.
Wishing you all a lovely day today, with at least a little bit of green in it. Go outside if you can. Find a cool place and close your eyes and breathe. If you are in a city, look for the weeds that come through the cracks. There's always a bit of green somewhere. You'll find it if you look.
can't stay to talk
going outside
:)
Posted by: Marcia Van Drunen | 05/16/2012 at 01:32 PM