Thursday, June 14, 2007

Summer Evening

Rebecca Sower's blog recently exhorted its readers to do "pick one" of a list of simple pleasures to "savor the raw beauty and simplicity of the process".

Last night I played in the sandbox with my daughter (not on Rebecca's list, but definitely on mine).




I had a sandbox just like this when I was a kid. Actually, it was at the neighbor's, but we didn't have fences in those days, so it was as good as mine. It had wooden sides just like this one. We would spend hours in that sandbox building forts. I remember we each would take one corner and pile up the sand. Then we would put in a moat, a bridge, windows (finger pokes) and various designs. We had to dig down into the "wet sand" to make it work. I think we just had our hands. I don't remember any shovels or other tools. We would get in trouble if we turned on the hose to wet the sand or fill our moats. That would be wasteful.

So last night Margaret and I made some of the sand into "wet sand" and made a fort. I had the sprinkler going while we did this, and as we were digging and carving, we saw many birds (mostly robins) come to pick for worms. We also saw a cardinal sitting in the "rain" on the fence. And a woodpecker in the apple tree. It was so fun to just sit and dig and listen to the sprinkler and the birds. We even had some towels and clothes on the clothesline. It was just like childhood... except for the planes on their landing paths close overhead.

This morning when I got into the shower I realized I had a tick! on my belly! I don't remember ever getting ticks in the sandbox when I was little. Got it off with the tweezers and then checked Margaret for ticks carefully. Luckily she didn't get any. Oh well. A small price for a little piece of childhood last night.

4 comments:

Chris said...

I loved playing in my sandbox when I was little. And nice to see that you ahve an "old-fashioned" one made out of wood- no turtle or other plastic shape for you.

I wouldnt' correlate the ticks to the sandbox. They were probably just out in the yard. I got 2 ticks this weekend on me and my husband had 3. Must be a busy tick year.

ChristyR said...

okay that looks like the same sandbox i had when I was a kid! Love it!

Leah's Crafty Life said...

Sounds like ya'll had a great time in the sand. I can remember playing lots in the sandbox too. I think it's a high tick season as well.. DH has already had 2 on him this year.. ick!!

Anonymous said...

i loved the sandbox too! i didn't have one at my home (we lived in an apartment that had a playground but i wasn't allowed to go there by myself). but my grandparents had one for me...it was a huge old tractor tire laying on its side, filled with sand, under a big oak tree. On the other side of the oak tree was my swing. i remember being mesmerized by the sand sifter toy i had. it was so cool to watch it as it got close to empty and the exodus of sand left behind those funnel-shaped puckers where the holes were. thanks for the memory. you'll be glad you have a new one with your daughter, too!

michelle