Sometimes nothing soothes the spirit like a day spent in the outdoors – away from the computer monitor and keyboard, the desk and lamp, the debilitating radiation of the television. But this doesn’t always require a journey into the wilderness. This afternoon, after Isobel got up from her nap, Kris and I took the kids walking down paths that run along the west side of the Piscataquog River, and picked up a few vines and other dried autumn fauna to with which to make Christmas ornaments. And simple as the task was, it was the happiest and most companionable the kids were all weekend. 
They love scouring the trail for nuts and pretty stones, and when we got back, they spent hours weaving vines into wreathes and gluing acorn caps back on acorns (go figure) with the hot glue gun. I was moved enough by the spirit of the day that I even broke out the Christmas music, which typically I reserve until after Thanksgiving. (This is sort of akin to giving in to the temptation of eating your lunch sandwich at your desk at 10:45 a.m.) After they went to bed I headed out for a frosty 14-mile long run – which I’d been put off all day rather than miss the forest treasure hunt. On a dark, deserted walking path that runs through a wooded greenway right through the middle of the city, my headlamp startled two whitetail deer that bounded along in front of me. They soon outpaced me and vanished in the darkness – no speed workouts for me tonight. Not that I could have caught them even if I were sprinting. Not long after that, two eyes glared at me out of the darkness on the trail ahead. They held perfectly still as I ran toward them. I never did get a good sense for what they belonged to, or how big the animal was; could have been a squirrel or an opossum, cat or dog, rhino or yeti, chupacabra or wolfen. But whatever it was, it ducked away from the trail and dashed into the brush before I came up to it, and we parted on friendly enough terms – two runners nodding a greeting in the dark, in the wildest wilderness of downtown Manchester.
Tags: crafts, David, deer, Isobel, long run, Sofia, winter running
Great post. Hope we get to see the kids ornaments. I, too, “broke out” the Christmas music a little early this year. Actually it’s more that I bought the new Bob Dylan Christmas album and have been enjoying playing it in my car. So far no one else is as charmed by it as I am. I’ve been asked to turn it off once and Jemi can’t stop laughing and accusing Dylan of sounding like an old wino who crashed the Lawrence Welk Christmas party.
Thanks Rick. We’ll have to make sure they craft an ornament specifically for you. And I had no idea that Bob Dylan had a new Christmas album, but now that I do, I’m getting it. Like today. Solely on the implicit recommendation of Jemi’s critique!