“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Like his brothers and sister before him, David has read The Hobbit.  In fact, he just finished it.

He’s a big fan of  hobbit-holes.

It’s hard to make your own actual hobbit-fort, but he and Ethan made the next best thing yesterday in our woods by the stream.

It took them all day and then they slept in it last night, just the two of them.

The fort is in a secret location so that their siblings can’t vandalize it (not that they actually WOULD, of course).

With honor, I was ushered to the secret location so that I could admire the finished project.

It really is impressive, and picturesque, too.

I’m not feeling well.  I think summertime chaos is getting to my system, I feel tired and shaky.  Not sad or depressed, just deep down very tired.  Please pray for me, as I have lots going on.  Tonight we have a big dinner and Bible study at our house, tomorrow morning I leave bright and early with Jacob, Emily, Grace, and Sarah to drive four hours to NY for Cassandra (my future sister in law)’s bridal shower.  We are coming back home Sunday evening and then that week Rich has a business trip.  (so on and so forth)

The children are helping me get the house picked up for tonight and I’m going to rest at nap time.  I’ve felt like crappity crap since Tuesday…exhausted.

Anyway, after I admired the fort, I went for a short walk, thinking that the beauty of God’s creation would soothe my aching head.

I saw a yellow mushroom.

And, wild morning glories.  Seeing them triggered a memory from childhood.  Morning glories just like this one used to grow in the bushes by my Grandparents’ large pond.  As children, we used to pick them and smell them right onto our noses…..so I did that yesterday, again.

Then, I taught Seth how to do it.

And Caleb.

Continuing with the theme of “if I get away from the house, nature will heal me”, I asked Grace to go outside with me to watch the evening birds.

We saw a lot!  I think I will take up a new active interest in birding because with the ponds, the forest, and the stream, we have a lot of birds.  We quickly counted up about 10 different ones.  My favorites to watch were the hairy woodpeckers.  They are so industrious with their hammering, and it was fun to watch the wood chips fly as they pecked away.

Then, I caught a big grasshopper that had hopped over my foot, and held him until we got back up to the house.

I showed him to Seth and Sarah; their faces crack me up.

Isn’t it interesting?  It worked it’s mouth around to ooze out some “tobacco juice”.

“The grasshopper has some means of defense as well as of escape; it can give a painful nip with its mandibles; and when seized, it emits copiously from the mouth a brownish liquid which is acrid and ill smelling.  This performance interests children who are wont to seize the insect by it’s jumping legs and hold it up, commanding it to ‘chew tobacco’.”  ~ Handbook of Nature Study  (a handy book to have, indeed)

We let the grasshopper go (with many thanks) and then I walked Grace up the road a little bit to see the berries that were ripening.  We quickly picked a couple of handfuls and took them home to give to Dad.  Grace was funny and made me laugh a lot (dear, dear girl).

Grace wrote down everything we saw in her tiny book.  (which she was given by my Mom)

This morning I was able to get away for a couple of hours to get my hair done. I stopped at the grocery store on the way to get myself some fruit and nuts.  Getting my hair done was so relaxing I almost went to sleep in the chair.

When I got home I asked Grace to take my picture, and as she took it Jacob came walking down to show me yet another learned card trick.

Have a great weekend, my friends!

you are loved