No, for once, this isn't an email about the Directory! As I may have mentioned, I have suffered through a horrible change of season cold. But I have also had a very difficult two weeks at work dealing with domestic and international auditors - long days, fast food, little sleep and no quilting! But on Sunday, none of that mattered!
On Sunday, I took my grandson and DD to a local produce farm where there were barn yard animals for him to feed (no worries - he couldn't touch them). There were pigs (oink, oinks to him), pigmy goats, chickens and roosters, baby horses, llamas, and pheasant. The farm had double fencing around each pen. Then they used angled PVC piping from the outer fence to the floor of the pen. This is where the animal feed was placed. So the kids got to feed the animals without having to worry too much about ecoli. Plenty of kid-height sinks with soap and water were there for the using as well.
After the barnyard, my DD wanted to take him on a hay-ride. Since it was a large cart pulled by a "John Deere" tractor, there was no need to bribe him - he is in his "tractor" phase right now. We were having a grand time and then we stopped in the middle of an apple orchard where we could pick all varieties of apples. He not only wanted to pick the apples, but he thought he could pick up all the apples that had fallen from the trees. He has been taught very well at home and at school to "clean it up" and so he kept picking up the apples saying "clean it up, Mama, clean it up!".
We convinced him that he didn't need to do that now since there were pumpkins waiting for him in the pumpkin patch so back on the wagon we went and off to the pumpkin patch. I just stood there in amazement as this two year old little angel hunted for just the "perfect" pumpkin for Pop-Pop (my DH). There was a storm a'brewin' off in the distance so we were urged to hurry, but he wanted to make sure he found his pumpkin. Once he found it, he picked it up and hustled back to the wagon with the pumpkin that weighed almost as much as he does. So proud he was, with an "I did it!" smile on his little face. He held onto that pumpkin for the whole ride back to the farm yard. "For my Pop-Pop" he kept telling everyone!
The skies had opened up by then and we needed to run for the car, but it was a wonderful day. I had a wonderful time with my DD and watched her have a wonderful time with her son! I had no room in my brain for worries, troubles or angst of any kind. So the next time you have a bad day or week or month, find a kid and go pick a punkin!
Feed the animals - $2.50 Peck of apples - $8.50 Smile on his face while he held his pumpkin - PRICELESS!
Alice in NJ, Royal Cybrarian