Summer's lease

Fallen petals.

Football boots.  Apples and blackberries.  I know what it all means.  The last day of summer has come all too soon.

Just for a moment we paused.  To play in the sun, to swim, to climb, to explore, to laugh, to scrape knees and bruise legs, to scratch arms and to turn brown, to walk, to see - big things and tiny things, to make, to draw, to be inspired, to be a bit bored, in a good way, to be sweaty, to be tired, to live, to feel joy, to love life.

In the woods today it was cool.  I used my cardigan to make a teepee for the littlest boy, which he loved.  We had a seat for him, a table and guest seating.  Then we made a cooking station, which I forgot to photograph, and we hung up a pretty dingly dangly thing made out of string and pine cones.  The biggest boy made his own den, helped by his second-in-command.  We wondered what we would eat if we had to stay in the woods.  Pigeon and blackberries we thought.  With some nice leaves.  Maybe just leaves and blackberries for the vegetarians.  It wasn't made clear exactly how the non-vegetarians would convince the pigeons to fly down and be eaten.  We went home for tea in the end.  Other half heated up some fish fingers and oven chips.  We're not quite Bear Grylls yet.