Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Intrepid explorer



On Sunday morning, we all took a walk to my favorite place in Columbus - the Prairie down in Whetstone Park. It's a lovely meadow on the edges of the park where wildflowers grow, bees hum and ephemeral ponds glisten in the sun if you come at the right time of year.




I took that picture back in March on a crazy warm day when all the snow had melted leaving behind these vernal ponds.


Early March morning
Bloated worm bodies floating
Vernal ponds return

I had hoped to get back to document the change in the prairie over every month, but sadly never made it back in April. By now, a lot of peridot green new growth and early wildflowers have begun to push aside the dry, gray brush of last year.




We loved wondering through, soaking up the morning sun and saying hello to every dog that passed our way.




The going was a little slow. Taran was decidedly not thrilled about being in his stroller




and preferred this mode of travel.




or occasionally even consented to this mode of travel




He's not tall enough to reach the handle from the ground, so we strolled for over an hour and half mostly doing this. My arms hurt just thinking about it.


Along the way, we saw all kinds of interesting things





like this circling vulture




some sort of tent caterpillars



And lots of dandelions,






which you may not find all that exciting, but Taran would beg to differ. Every time T sees a dandelion with all the seeds blown off, he looks at me very earnestly, nods and says "Mama, dandelions all done", and then after this statement he'll pause, think, think, and nod again for extra emphasis.


Somewhat mind-bogglingly, he's sick again. Normally he's a pretty cheerful, sweet guy, but even when he's feeling great he has incredible will and determination. Not the temper-tantrum type, but the dig-his-heels-in and imitate-an-ox type. This gets incredibly intensified when he's not feeling well. I tried to get a picture of the two of us, but this is the best I could do as he was slipping out of my arms.



I was a bit more successful with my portrait of Joe and Taran


I love being with him outside because even when he's feeling like an absolute yuck-ball, he still maintains his sense of wonder about the outdoors


and his impish good humour


This video was taken back in March on our first trip of the Spring to the Prairie


He was a little less wet and dirty after this adventure..... but not much.


8 comments:

  1. great pictures! just got back from our vacation and finished looking through the 300+ crappy photos we took with our point-and-shoot (though not sure having a better camera would really help us!) Love the photo close-up of Taran looking towards the heavens. Give him a squeeze for us.

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    1. Hunh. I responded right away to you and my comment seems to have disappeared. Having seen your pics this morning, I didn't think they were crappy at all. The girls get more lovely every day and I swear, Jessie's are at least twice as big as they were the last time I saw her. As for a better camera helping you out... my camera does it's own work and I just enjoy the benefits. I loooove my DSLR camera. I feel like it's kind of revolutionized the way I see the world and I take more pictures because it's very gratifying to actually be able to capture what you wanted to. The delay on my point-and-shoot meant that I was so often 2 seconds behind the great shot and it was so frustrating that I found myself often not bothering to pull the camera out of my pocket. Downside of my DSLR is that it is waaaaay heavier/bulkier. But to me, totally worth it!

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  2. what a wonderful place to explore!!! i love the photos of the dog coming around the corner, the dandelion, that sweet face looking up and those dirty toes. And your self portrait and Taran pushing the stroller made me laugh out loud! Maren used to do that and it was so tiring to push her and control the stroller from crashing. haha!! another great post ladybug - so glad you are sharing your life with all of us!! xoxoxo PS; tent catepillars - crazy!!!

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    1. Sarah,
      It's the best! Lot's of scope for the imagination as Anne Shirley would say. When are you coming to visit so we can tromp around with the kiddos and chase some bees and make flower chains for our hair. :)

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  3. What a beautiful blog; I felt like I was reading a poem but even better because I had the visual photos to go along with the lovely descriptions. What a breathtaking place, and such beautiful pictures of you all. I love the ones of Joe and Taran together - the one of their faces forward should be in a frame! The pic of you and Taran also is priceless and precious as it totally captures the lunging toddler! Love seeing Taran's face so full of wonder wherever he is -- but the outdoors does seem to really call to him as you said (not surprising given his genetic loading!).
    Big smooch for Taran for me, and all my love to the 3 of you!

    Karen

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  4. Hi there!
    Stopping by from The Salad Days Selfie link up. Adore your blog! You have quite a beautiful family, love. Looking forward to following your families adventures :)

    xo,
    Allison
    http://barretts1234.blogspot.com/

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  5. Hi back! How fun to have a new face that isn't a family member or very close friend. I love it. Thanks so much for leaving a comment here. I saw your blog for the first time last week thanks to the "selfies" link on Sarah's blog. I loved reading about the carpentry projects that you all have been working on and I can't wait to see how the farmhouse table looks. It's going to be soooo beautiful. When Joe and I got married, we saved all the money we received as presents towards a furniture fund for when we bought a house. We thought it would get us pretty far until we fell in love with a beautiful dining room table that has a farmhouse look too it. There went half our furniture budget right there. After that, we couldn't even afford the matching chairs so we have some 40-year-old folding chairs that I found in my father's basement and a couple of $20 Ikea chairs thrown in the mix. It was so worth it though. I think of our kitchen and dining table as the heart of our home and the table makes me happy every time I look at it.

    But your table is going to be even more special for your having all made it together with your own hands. I would love to learn some basic carpentry. I've gotten as far as checking out the schedule of local classes, but that was 3 years ago and I haven't gone any farther since.

    Oh, and I really love the picture of your daughter blowing dandelion clocks. Beautiful!

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  6. So special, so beautiful. This is what you want to develop and expand.

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