exam tomorrow, so Sean and I took Wendy down the Leas cliff to the
Lower Sandgate Conservation area. Some places are so steep that,
apart from mine, there is only one other scooter on the market that
could cope with those inclines, so I was thinking happy thoughts about
the expenditure having been worth it ten times over.
Aren't these Daffodils beautiful?
Sean helped Wendy get rid of the sand in her shoes
Sean and Wendy in the Play Area
After Sean and Wendy were exhausted in the play area, we went off to
one of the picnic spots down there, mostly so that Wendy could run
free. And something rather special happened. You'll see in the
photos that it was a beautiful day, and we found just the place for
her to run.
There were some French kids there, and the little girl was making
daisy chains. Wendy went up and joined in, then when she got friendly
signals from the kids, she kept running off to pick daisies for the
girl to make daisy chains. It was enchanting and so innocent and
sweet. They played for ages. Just before they left, the French kids
Dad gave them a KitKat and the little boy and girl came up and gave
Wendy some.
With the French kids
Daisy Chains
Loving Life
Even Brakkie had a good time
There was a magical, garden of Eden quality to it, and we ached with
the sweetness of it. Sometimes we forget how beautiful innocence can
be, and what a lovely wealth of God's Art is there to see and feel.
I have been asked why she isn't wearing shoes. Well, she was, as you will see at the top of the post where Sean was helping her to shake sand out of them. She hates wearing shoes though, and takes them off as fast as she can. If conditions warrant it, we force her to wear them sometimes. We looked at the grassy area where she was playing and felt it was safe enough, so we let her run free, as she wanted to do. We put them back on her when we went home. The shoe issue is a tricky one. As she is so young, adults need to make judgements about her safety, as well as allowing her to interact with the world around her as she wishes. There is a tension between keeping her safe and not wrapping her up in cotton wool.
When we lived in South Africa, kids went barefoot as a matter of course. Lots of primary schools let kids go to school barefoot. There was a famous South Africa Olympic runner who used to run barefoot, Zola Budd. It took me years to get used to English ideas concerning shoes, and I have every sympathy with Wendy needing to be free.
When we got home, Dolly was tired so Wendy settled her to sleep.
isn't it funny how children copy their own experience? She is putting her doll to bed in just the same way her parents put her to bed - all snuggled up with a cuddle and a lullaby.
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