Aug 15th

& Five Nubian Goats from Blackberry Moon Farm

So far, we’ve made s’mores three times, and read aloud by candlelight,  most of The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown, rotating between Char, Papa and Nanny as readers. We’ve walked in the Trustlands, the South Whidbey Park, (the one with the “throne”, ) Double Bluff, and the bridle trail across the street. Every once-in-a-while, (usually under the influence of “Naughty Uncle David,”) the kids disappear outside with sticks and eye protection for various events combining fencing  with hide’n-seek. We caught glimpses of them darting about.

Aug. 14^th — In another kind of memorable, this day is one we  won’t forget.

Perhaps strangely, the actual details of why we remember this day will remain hidden. It’s not simply that we did a lot of walking in beautiful places, but more the extreme measures necessary to deal with frequent lamentation, a need for chocolate, and slowness and tiredness on my own part, let alone that of the kids.

 In spite of our difficulties with an inaccurate sense of  the passing of time, Finny turned 6 yesterday. We began celebrating BEFORE breakfast with a gift opening; a full official 2024 Liverpool Kit, a volcano lava lamp, NYC Pigeon & NYY’s shirts, “The Floor is Lava” game, a real Swiss Army knife, etc. and several books that fit Finny very well.

After breakfast, we took a morning walk in the Trustland Trails, and then came home to rest up for the afternoon walk. (“Rest up” being a euphemism for tablet time.)

Around 4 pm, 11 Camp PapaNanny campers and their guests gathered for the Goat Walk in the Trillium woods, with Dave Jacobson and 5 Nubian goats from the Blackberry Moon Farm. We entered this South Whidbey forest, at its best on a gorgeous day, and met with intimate contact from five goats who investigated each of us closely, while freely eating and eliminating. We, who knew nothing at all about goats, were graciously informed  by Dave, the goat guy, as to some of the basic attributes and ways of these gentle, interesting, social creatures. It was nothing at all like anything any of us had ever done before.

This was not some “perfect” day: it was a real day. There were challenges here and there:  beauty, excrement, joy, tears, fears, tenderness, doubt, learning, tiredness all mixed together over two hours. Some didn’t feel well, or couldn’t keep up with the others. (It was 6 weeks since my fall. I was the caboose.) This weaving together of place, goats, people, beautiful day  marked us deeply. With the goats the challenges didn’t matter.

At the end, we returned to the trailer the goats had arrived in, to meet the three baby goats waiting for us. Finny got to bottle feed the youngest, Tinkerbell. The rest of us petted her.

Being together with these people and creatures in that way was so very much NOT how the world feels right now. A great joy. Peaceful, Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this day.