Hello, 2009!

Today was lovely. Most notably, we went to the Woods to get the girls outside and to get Richie and I jogging a little.

We go to some woods I've known well since college. We wind between the tennis courts and meet the trail near some antiquated and broken-down fitness equipment that I suppose is the reason the trail is called "The Fit Trail." The girls can be happy playing with sticks, rocks, and leaves with minimal supervision while one parent goes to run. Richie ran first. The girls and I played, "Is it alive or is it dead" with sticks, all of which looked dead upon first inspection. Many were alive. They bounced on low trees and climbed a little and dug in the dirt a little. Richie came huffing back, and we traded off.

When I got back, there were happy voices coming from down in the hollow beside the trail. I came around to see where they had gone, exactly, and Vivian coached me down to join them. "It's okay, Mama, you just climb down like that." It turns out they had been collecting trash since I left. They had a huge pile accumulated in less than 20 minutes. Joy shone on their faces. Mazie and Vivian really do have industrious spirits. The girls were wearing mittens - perfect for trash collecting. We collected trash together for about 10 minutes more, then photographed our pile and went home. We'll go back tomorrow or Saturday with a bag. And for those of you worried about sanitation (I had to keep reminding myself not to balk because outerwear is washable, after all) we did a load of outerwear laundry after we got home.

But by the time we got home, I had cold finger again. I took the opportunity to photograph it so you can all see why I felt the need to investigate it the first time I got it. Striking, is it not?