Smith Family: Morning Walk

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Morning Walk

Can adventure and serenity coexist in harmony?

I decided to take my camera along for my morning walk yesterday and capture some of the scenes along the way to share with my blogger friends. Maybe you will get an idea of why I don't mind braving the harsh winters here...

Our neighborhood is on the outskirts of town where mother nature keeps things interesting.

Although most people do try to tame her a bit.

I spotted a girl carrying a big box and asked if she needed help, she said she was just taking care of her pet frog that she found by the pond. I was impressed at the little habitat she had created so I asked if I could take a photo. The frog is in the bottom left corner.

Of course, frogs are not the only critters hopping around -- I found this guy sitting so still on somebody's porch that I mistook him for a statue at first...

It's also not unusual to see squirrels, deer, birds, raccoons, chipmunks... and although I still haven't seen one, my friend had a bear in her backyard not long ago. Some people even have reindeer on their roof.

And some proudly bear the symbol of freedom.

Whispers from the past leave you wondering what happened...

And who was there...

Some roads are less travelled by...

And some are frequented more often, leading to the saltless sea against the horizon...

Or to the hills,

Or to home, where I find the house still asleep...

So I journey on, this time with an eager friend...

We venture through the woods where waters abound -- from the babbling brooks...

To the placid ponds...

But not everywhere...

Others have paved the way before me...

But left some places undisturbed...

I forgot to eat breakfast, but no worries...I made do with some fresh raspberries, much sweeter than the storebought variety...

Just a little bit of heaven every morning...

9 comments:

Dan, Pam and Family said...: Amazing!
:-)
Pam; August 20, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Cindy Smith said...: my mom edited most of the photos on her photo editing thing sierra saw her and she does it to all the photos on her blog. she says it is because her camera stinks but that is not the case. so dont be tricked into thinking its really pretty up here because it is NOT; August 20, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Cindy Smith said...: by the way the last comment was me (solei); August 20, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Debbie Hadley said...: I want to jump into those pictures. Absolutely Breath-taking! Thanks for sharing.; August 20, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Sarah said...: oh solei, you crack me up!! it is absolutly incredible there.. just beautiful!; August 20, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Leslie said...: Was that all on ONE walk? Wow! That was amazing....even if the photos were a little edited (Solei, you can crop and enhance, but the photos don't lie *wink). Thanks for helping us "visit" MN.; August 21, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Me, Myself and I said...: Beautiful pictures.....and beautifully stated!; August 21, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Fairy Godmother said...: I was thinking the same thing...you covered some territory! It is simple beautiful there! Oh the things you must be able to grow. Like Redding, it's hot here. Limits, somewhat, what you can grow. But that was just gorgeous...like a movie! We are all so lucky.; August 24, 2009 at 2:01 PM
J and A said...: Oh, I miss that beautiful part of the world! Thanks for sharing a walk down memory lane.; August 31, 2009 at 9:48 PM

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The Mind of a Child...

When Solei was a toddler, she found some bark that was lying at the base of a tree and said in disgust, “Ooooooh! Tree poo-poo!”

When the girls were little, we were taking a walk with the dog who was bombarding Sierra with her friendly but slobbery kisses. Frustrated, our sweet little Sierra yelled out “NO KINA, I'M NOT YOUR ICE CREAM CONE!”

Telling Ella how to crawl, Caden explained “But I’m four, so I crawl standing up.”

I was sitting with Caden one day and I told him that the couch used to be a cow (it is leather), and I said (half jokingly) “did you know that cows turn into couches?” To which he replied, “No they don’t, they turn into pies!”

Watching the Tabernacle choir sing during conference, Solei (who was 8 yrs old at the time) said that they should sing “Do as I’m Doing” (with all the motions, I’m sure).

We put in an underground fence for the dog and Caden (age 5) saw us burying the wire. We then put up little white flags to mark where it was. A few days later he went outside and turned on the hose. When I saw him, I asked him to turn off the water. He looked at me questioningly and asked, “Until when? Until the fence grows?” He thought it needed watering!

Taron (2) looked at the varicose veins on grandmas legs and said, “owy... lightning!”

When Caden was 5, he would ask if he could go play with his friend in the morning, and I would sometimes reply, "No, it's too early". Well one day he finally asked me "can we not play on 'too early's? Can we play on 'one early'?"

Sierra told me one night that when she was little, she used to think the word “couch” came from the word “cow”, and that our couch had a cow inside (partially true since it is leather). She would try to sit down carefully so it would not run away. She thought the wood parts inside were it’s bones and the black pegs on the bottom were the feet.

Sometimes Taron (age 2) would find dog poop and say “Eew! Dog poop!” and then proceed to stomp on it as if it were a bug.

Caden (age 5) and I were talking about the sounds letters make and he asked if I knew what the sleepy letter was. I replied that I didn’t and he said, “It’s the Z... when you go to sleep then the Z’s come out of your head. And there’s a big round white thing too but it’s invisible. Maybe he had been reading too many comic books...

Sierra (age 8) made a Halloween card for her friend and wrote ENSTINE (meaning Einstein) on it, I thought it was an odd thing to put on a Halloween card so I asked if she knew who Einstein was and she said "Isn't he the guy who made Frankenstein?"

Caden (age 5) asked if it was a ghost who said the sacrament prayer because he couldn’t see anyone at the podium but he could hear the voice.

When Taron was 2 he would always respond to an “I love you” with “Much”.

Taron (3) woke up one morning, started to play and when I asked him if he wanted a pancake, he said, “Oh yeah, I was supposed to be hungry!”

Dad was singing “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and Taron said “Jesus likes sunbeans, they’re delicious!”

I was teaching Taron (5) how to read, and came upon the word "loose". I told him, "the two O's say "oo" and the E is silent. Slowly and deliberately, he sounded it out........"Loooosssilent".

Caden had been learning to tell time in school and was asking me about the big hand vs. the little hand on the clock. Apparently Taron was listening somewhat because he held up his right hand and asked "is this the big hand?"

Ella (4) came up to me with some of my reading glasses and said "Mom, when I put glasses on, I still don't know how to read!"

At a restaurant, Ella was impatiently waiting for her food and, looking for the waitress, she asked "when is the human coming back?"

One morning I said, "Ella, come look! There's a wild turkey in the backyard!"
Ella (excitedly): "Can we kill it?!?"
What kind of daughter am I raising???

Ella mistook another guy for Chris and was about to follow him to his car, but soon realized her mistake and said, "I was about to follow the 'not dad'".

Smith Family

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Morning Walk

9 comments:

The Mind of a Child...

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