Life: Idiotropic

The vibrant yellow rape is taller than my girls now and taller than me in some places, so I know the time will come soon when it is cut. With that in mind, I took the girls on a walk tonight to Cafe am Rodebach where we could walk around a large patch of yellow - one of many that are brightening up the landscape in all directions.

Kirk is in Poland. Tiara left for Amsterdam today with her 7th grade class and her friend who is staying with us for 2 weeks. So, it's just "the littles" and I. I had my camera ready and was soaking up the sun. Elise was whining every 5th step, but instead of being irritated, I remembered just a year ago when Luci whined every time I made her walk. She skipped ahead with Arianna today motivated by the big balls of dandelion fluff lining the side of the road.

Our reward was a small scoop of delicious home made ice cream - only .50 a scoop - best deal in Europe. The kids managed to eat it without mess and we all enjoyed a leisurely walk home - a walk that made me laugh listening to Arianna and Luci.

Luci - my nature girl intrigued by everything and disgusted by nothing. She picked up an ugly bug, carried it around on her finger most of the walk, found a bottle cap to shade it if she thought it got to hot and talked about keeping it forever and taking care of it. The photo of her is one that I took when the bug had climbed into her hair. She was not bothered a bit, but simply wanted me to take it out so that she could cuddle it in her hand again... gently, of course.

Arianna asked me about the big hearts on the many houses we passed, so I explained about May day here and how the boys buy the hearts for the girls that they love. Her first question,
"Can the girls do that for the boys too?"
"No, it's just for the boys."
"So what do the girls do?"
"Wait and be patient."
"Aaaargh. I am tired of being patient. Girl have to wait for answers. Girls wait for cake. Girls wait for EVERYTHING!!! I'm TIRED of waiting!"

And she's only 6.

[This is the May Day heart on Cafe am Rodebach. It says Daniel which means that Daniel is the boy who is giving his heart to one of the girls who lives there. Daniel also gave her a small crepe paper streamer covered birch tree that was carefully fastened to the corner of the house. Smart boy for not climbing the roof like some of them do.]

Anyway... a good walk. A beautiful day. Lovely flowers. And an endearing village. I love it here.