Rain

This was the scene out my window this morning.  It was the sort of day that conjures up images of soup and tea.  Maybe a fire.

But the girls' nature class meets in any weather.  By the time we pulled out of the driveway it was raining hard.

There were lots of puddles, Clementine told me. There was a live newt and a dead newt.  The dead newt's head was crushed by a car and its brains were spilling out.  The live newt was in a stream by the road.  They put it in a puddle to observe it for a while.  It half swam half walked in the shallow puddle for a while and then they released it into the stream where it swam under a log.

Unlike me, at home, they did have a fire.  A big fire.  The counselors brought some logs.  And Evelyn, who is knife certified and Clementine, who is newly hatchet certified, helped make kindling.  The kids took turns with the hand drill to start the fire.  One started at the top of the stick, running her hands back and forth, moving from top to the bottom.  When she had reached the bottom the next person started at the top of the stick.

Running down a slick muddy hill Evelyn slipped and slid 12 feet along the ground.  She had mud in her hair.  She took off her shoes to climb a tree (it was too slippery to climb with shoes on) and got her feet muddy.  She ended up with more mud on the inside of her socks than on the outside.

I inferred from the fine freckling of mud on Clem's cheeks that someone near her had been stomping in puddles.

They spent six hours outside on a rainy day and came home tired, muddy and happy.

No cabin fever here today.

And how about you? Are you cozying up and watching the rain and snow or venturing out?