Ok, well, they aren't really IN the woods.....its just our backyard. But it is a wooded area of sorts. There are trees and shrubbery and leaves and pine needles and such. Much like in the woods. However, there is a dividing line between the real woods and our yard. Its called a chain link fence. It clearly defines "woods" versus "yard" by its mere presence.
The fence however seems to have failed us on more then one occasion. First there are the deer, who don't even give the fence a second thought when they gracefully hop over it to eat our grass. In fact, the word hop implies too much effort for the action the deer take when coming over our fence.....they sort of "plop" over it, as if our poor excuse for a fence it doesn't even merit running start. They have the same reaction to the dog barking at them, they don't bolt or dart or scurry or take evasive action. They simply plop back to the other side. They seem completely aware that the dog will not pursue them into the safety of the "woods", even though it is only our sad excuse for a fence the marks the boundary.
And now there is the Tree-that-fell-down-while-no-one-was-looking tree. This old rotten tree decided its time had passed. Here the tree had two choices: One was to fall in the WOODS where it would not bother anybody. The other was to fall OVER the fence and in to the yard where it could bother, uhm, Me. And although my husband posseses a chain saw I think the tree knew I would not be capable of weilding it in order to chop up its remains. Spiteful tree.
I came to realize this tree is just a symbol of my year so far. Things keep falling down and making a mess. A mess which I can neither predict nor prevent and most times cannot clean up. Now I just count myself lucky when the things don't fall directly on my head.
I am learning to, as they say, roll with it.
We played in the yard anyways. On the tree. Around the tree. Whatever. You can see little Hannah, standing on her own, pondering the wonderfullness of something she found in the dirt. And her very sweet big brother Jude giving her a gentle kiss on the forhead. And all three of them cute as can be sitting on the fallen tree. Cause if its going to be in the yard anyways I might as well make the best of it.
