Lake Keowee, how do I love thee, let me count the ways

Sabbatical has begun.  If you'd like to read about what my Sabbatical will be about, click here.

We're camped out at my parent's lake house on Lake Keowee for the first 3 weeks away.  Here we are right before leaving on our trip to Seneca, SC

I'm focusing a lot of time away on play - how to be about serious playfulness and playful seriousness.  I'm still trying to decompress - haven't responded to any e-mails but have found myself reading some and thinking, "I need to make sure so-and-so knows about this" or "I wonder if I remembered to tell so-and-so about how to link the weekly reminders to facebook".  Happy to report I have not acted on those thoughts and really not planning to.

On our way to the lake, we stopped in Gaffney to eat at a restaurant that is right next to the big peach.  Every time we've passed the peach in the past, we have looked forward to seeing it.  It was good to get to stop and see it and take a picture by it.

          

                (we're under the G in Gaffney)        (close up pic by the peach)

Since we've been here, we've played in the lake a ton.

We've played the noodle game (you get to choose easy, medium, hard, or extra hard in terms of how far away the noodle is from the dock and you have to jump over it).

We've ridden the "quasi-ski" on the back of the boat (real skiing is coming soon).  We've pretended to be swimmers in the Olympics.  Daddy has to say "take your marks" and "boop" (sound of the horn, signaling it's time to jump in).

We've been playing the board game Sorry (we've not had any throwing of pieces or yelling as of yet)

We've also been playing the all-too-popular game of seeing how far we can throw pine cones off of the deck.  I haven't reached the lake with one yet - may require surgery on the throwing arm if I keep trying to. 

    

Today, we went to a local farm to pick some blueberries.  Thought it would be a great family outing.  As we were getting our instructions from the head honcho lady, West began to whisper to me, "don't let Mattie see it, don't let Mattie see it".  Pretty soon, a chicken comes waltzing up beside us.  For those of you who don't know, Mattie is very, very afraid of most animals that move quickly - rabbits, lizards, chickens, squirrels, chipmunks.  Not really sure where her fear comes from, but this is a fear that isn't a "hide-behind-daddy-because-I'm-shy" kind of fear but a "blood-curdling-screaming-if that thing comes any closer I'm gonna faint" kind of fear.  I'm sure the woman working there thought there was something very, very wrong with her - and with us!

After walking tentatively past the chickens, holding Mattie's hand all the way, we got to the blueberry bushes.  We began picking blueberries and thinking we were going to have a fine day

and we heard the all-too-familiar scream that pierced my ear drums.  "There's something in the bushes; it's moving", screamed Mattie.  This time, it was a woman who was working for the farm, picking blueberries.  Pretty soon, though, a chicken comes walking down from her home.  That was it.  Mommy and Mattie were off to the car, leaving Marian and West and me to pick any blueberries we were going to get for the day.

West was a trooper - picking a lot of good blueberries that I've already consumed.  I had to remember that I was the sole responsible adult (yikes!) for our little Marian.  There were times I got too engrossed in picking the lucious berries and not watching our 20 month old almost get into the blackberry thorns.  After about 15 minutes, West had had enough.  He had been picking in the hot sun and was thirsty and tired.  Marian had squooshed enough blueberries.  We walked back to check out.  As we checked out, I asked, "you take credit cards, right?"  Of course they didn't.  Thinking we didn't have any cash in the car, I asked her to hold our manna from heaven and I'd be back to pay her (we did end up having some cash in the car, and I enjoyed some sweet berries for lunch). 

As we were walking back to the car, Marian stopped to look at some little animal statues - rabbits, bears, cats, etc.  She was pointing and saying something - have yet to crack the code on what she was saying.  I found myself pulling her, telling her to come on. 

It finally dawned on me - I have time to stop and let Marian look at the animal statues, I have time to get down on her level and listen to her babble-speak, I have time to learn from her about how to dance and play, and all I could think about was my frustration that I didn't get to pick several gallons of berries and that they didn't take credit cards. 

Who better to learn from about play than a child - and I have 3 teachers at my disposal.  If I am to learn from them, I have to slow down, go at their pace (tidbit of info:  force yourself to walk at your child's pace, not force your child to walk at your pace - don't care how late you are to work or how frustrated you are with them), listen to them, see with their eyes. 

I've written enough - off to play Sorry.

Teach me, O wise ones.