Nature or Nurture?

Or to nurture nature!

Our daughter is now a first grader! It is possible we will never be parents of a kindergartner again. We celebrated with some ice cream and then played in the back yard. The kids have a hideout in the bushes, it even comes with it's own stone Bambi. Judy and I took the opportunity to prune a few things that were bugging us, like the four leaves left on one of the totally butchered rhododendron bushes. If it's going to be a giant twig sculpture than it needs to be all twigs. No need to throw the fact that it's supposed to have leaves in our face. Ruby was a fantastic help with the yard debris. It was fun to just get out there and play. Judy found and gave them a slug that they decided was too slimy. He went on his first solo flight through the air (not an adult sponsored disposal). Then Ruby found a worm that she was carrying all over the yard. She climbed up in my lap while I took a break with her worm and announced that she was "nurturing the worm". Wow! Good to know. I really hadn't thought that was possible. The dynamic duo went off to find Eph a worm and instead Ruby found a potato bug. As Ruby ran across the yard with her potato bug in search of Phil the flying slug, Ephraim explained that the potato bug was "doing yoga"! Where do they get this stuff? I sure do love them! Kudos go out to my lovely wife Judy! She may be temporarily triumphing over the blackberry bushes that were trying to take over the back of "Judy's Sanctuary" (aka. the laundry and storage room).

Exciting discoveries in the back yard.....

1. the baby plum tree has furry fruit which means correct me if I'm wrong it's a peach or apricot.

2. the big tree (really big tree) in the yard is covered with 10 million plums! Woooooo Hooooo! Judy wants to know if we can freeze them in slices. I'm thinking we'll have to google that one. Plum pudding anyone? Oh and you'll all be getting plum jam for Christmas. Please send me your best recipes.