Every visit to the lake precipitates some kind of nature walk or treasure hunt, as the jewels of the natural world litter every inch of the woods as far as we can see. Usually we just amass a collection on the porch and over time toss them back where they came from. Today we got a little more creative and experimented with our finds as "paintbrushes" on a big sheet of newsprint. Liam was especially fond of the green circles he could make with the acorn top; I loved the little bursts from the needles of the baby pine bough and the wings made by the maple seed pods. Most of all, I loved how intimately we interacted with each item we found: identifying it, delicately turning it over in our hands to see its every groove and texture, finding just the right spot to dip in the paint and ever so gently pressing the paint-dipped treasure onto the paper. It isn't often we do anything as deliberately as we did this painting today. I think I even breathed a little, and smiled.
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