Sugar and Spice and a few Snails thrown in

A sweet little girl made me a mud pie with grass sprinkles on it today!
It has been a very long time since I have had a mud pie.
It has been a very long time since I have even thought of mud pies.
But, she was cooking up a storm.
After a few minutes, she came back and took the untouched plate,
Happy as can be that we had eaten her creation!

The imagination of children amazes me.

This event started me remembering....
my childhood and the childhood of my girls!

I loved see saws all the way through high school.
Trying to adjust your seating for the perfect balance,
or seeming to fly higher than the treetops,
only to come soaring back to earth.
And then there were always the purposeful jolts, you gave each other!

Merry go rounds held the same excitement for me.
Running as fast as you can and jumping on at the last possible moment!
Scouting to the very center with legs wrapped haphazardly around the bars
so you wouldn't slide off of the twirling top!
Even laying on my back with my head precariously off of the end,
watching the clouds and trees, and pusher going past!

I remember picking flowers from my mother's garden,
and other neighbors gardens, on May 1st.
From a babysitter, we had learned how to make paper vases...
and paper balloons...
we put these bouquets in the vases,
laid the flowers on a favorite neighbor's porch,
ring the doorbell and run away, hiding to see their expression.

The neighborhood kids would gather in my front yard to play games of all kinds.
One of the favorite was each team would walk along the street going opposite directions.
When a car was spotted, each team had to run back and sit in the yard before the car passed. You were out if the car passed you before you sat down.

Pogo sticks, chinese jumprope, and roller skates were high on the list, as were monkey bars and slides.

Capturing lightening bugs was always such fun.
I sometimes collected the perfect shaped stones and painted animal faces on them.
Hours were spent with just my thoughts and I seemed to notice nature more then.

I can't remember the non fear of being a child.
Do you remember swinging as high as you could then jumping into the air...
always landing safely....well, most of the time, safely.
I am terrified of such things now.
I am terrified of doing a head stand, or a cartwheel.
There was a time when all I did was take chances.

Maybe the reason I love gardening so much
is all the joys in the garden as a child!
Hollyhock dolls, snap dragons, bathing beauties in the bleeding hearts...

I love watching little ones playing,
and dream of someday having grandchildren
to share all of the lessons I have forgotten about playing
with them.

But until that happens, don't be surprised to find me in my garden
making dolls and laying under the trees
trying to get a glimpse of a fairy or an elf.
And the possibility of mud pies for lunch with grass sprinkles on top
is HUGE!