10 Minutes of Beautiful

John and I went for a hike today.  It is the activity that comes to my mind when I really want to be with him.  On a trail, I know that I will feel nourished and full and able to appreciate him without daily-life distractions.

We escaped to the ever-dependable beauty of Chautauqua and trekked across the low-lying trails for... about 10 minutes.  At that point, he was ready to head home to his trains.

Mind you, I took pictures that will capture those ten minutes for eternity.  (Hint: my blog so easily blurs  the time : impression ratio.)  But even just today, those 10 minutes defined my entire feeling about the day.  The experience of being in such a beautiful spot, moving in the fresh air, and watching my 3-year-old run against such a backdrop - it is like a work of art.  In the same way that just looking at a certain painting for a moment or reading a particular poem can change a person, being in that beautiful scene even for 10 minutes can change everything for me, too.

I do feel fortunate to live so close to such natural beauty.  Maybe we all do, in one way or another.  However, I do remember days living in Washington D.C., driving hours to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a day hike.  Carbon footprint aside, that trek was always worth it.

I am not sure that John will grow up to be a big hiker, or to have a deep love of nature, but hopefully our 10 minute hikes give that passion a chance.

Halloween - Best and Worst List

Halloween is always the toss-up holiday for us.  It can go either way - success or disaster.  Actually, it's usually both.  I'm a little slow pulling it together, but as a reference for next year, here is what went well, and what didn't:

Best of Halloween List:

• shaving cream pumpkins
• subsequent shaving cream fight
• trip to pumpkin farm with cousin
• equal opportunity pumpkin carving - everyone designs a body-part
• imagining costumes - a dog, a mirror, a tree, and whatever free association struck #4 in that moment
• making costumes (note:  not always on the "best" list)
• John's "bat-dragons" (basically a piece of black felt)
• a visiting cousin-aunt
• dinner with friends

Worst of Halloween List:

• a lost knight's helmet, resulting in a 45-minute scream delay before evening activities began
• stressed trick-or-treaters
• one said stressed trick-or-treater's distant cry from a pile of picturesque kids, gathered with open bags at a candlelit doorway:  "These people are so annoying!!!"
• missing old neighbors, as expressed by said stressed trick-or-treater: "But, nobody knows us!"
• repeated tripping over costumes
• smelling a freshly-eaten snickers bar on my 6-year-old's breath when she climbs into my bed the next morning.

Halloween's Eve

The night before Halloween, I really wasn't thinking.  Will scheduled a class, a "Tasting Session."  Before I knew it, he had his siblings, one by one, behind closed doors.

Classes are not new to Will.  Periodically, a sign-up sheet will appear on a refrigerator or bulletin board, with attention-grabbers like:  "Learn to speak Natonian" or "Experience the Symphony of Smells."

When it came my turn for the "Halloween Tasting Session," I wore the designated blind-fold, and began.  The first taste was familiar:  a vanilla wafer.  The second was most certainly a hit: a handful of chocolate chips.  The third was a peanut butter cup, and the fourth was his own chocolate creation.  (Recipe:  melt chocolate chips, pour them into a homemade foil mold, add lots of turbino sugar.)

I walked out and immediately understood why John was bouncing off the walls, well past his bedtime, on a chocolate high the night before Halloween.  Not ideal planning.

Will charted our results.  Jeff and I were congratulated on our perfect scores.  (A planned distraction from the massive chocolate consumption?)

So everyone wins: Will is the hero, his siblings got sugar infusions, and his parents let it all go, graciously drowning in praise.