It's my job as a Mimi -- to introduce my city-raised grandgirls to scrounging around old homeplaces for special finds.

Can you see the fern growing inside that old jar? A nature-made terrarium, it is.

 

 

Yesterday, on the first day of their spring-break visit to the farm, we started the day's adventures with a visit to this old house -- she shelters glorious treasures in the weeds and brambles and tangled vines that grow in what was once a yard. We came away with a basketful of discarded trash that we will turn into something special -- stay tuned for updates!

 

 

No, we didn't go in the old cellar but we peeked -- nothing roared or growled at us. Whew!

 

 

Poking around builds appetites in girls, so we had lunch on the banks of Brixey Creek.

 

 

We implored the sun to shine for us -- it was quite chilly near the cold water.

 

 

Our next task was to gather ye daffodils while ye may...

 

 

These old places have such stories to tell. This one told us, "I'm Molly's cabin. Molly and her little dog, Maxine, lived here a long time ago. Molly's parents built the cabin, but they caught the dreaded smallpox and both died, leaving Molly a lonely young woman with only Maxine for companionship. But one day something wonderful happened! George came over the hill, followed by his faithful coondog, Jack (I had a mule/dog, his name was Jack -- I rode his tail to save his back). George and Jack lived two hollers away, and they were lonely, too. So that morning, way before daylight, they'd climbed to the highest overlook and had scanned the horizon for signs of humans and dogs. And sure enough, George and Jack had spied the smoke curling upward from Molly's chimney. So they made a beeline for her place and introduced themselves. After Maxine decided Jack was an okay dog, Molly decided George was an okay fella. And they went on to live happily ever after, eventually raising 15 young 'uns on George's farm two hollers over. Yes, Molly moved away from her snug cabin when she married George. But every spring, she hiked over the hills to pick herself a bouquet of her mother's daffodils -- it was Molly's way of remembering. The End."

 

 

Did you know old abandoned cabins had so much to say?

 

 

Next stop -- the trail to Blue Spring.

 

 

It's a magical place....

 

 

...with a cave to peek into...

 

 

...and so many things to discover.

 

 

This is the view from the bluff above, looking down on the bubbling spring.

 

 

These city girls really love the country places I love.

 

 

What a joy to have them for a few days, to share in the things and the places I love.

 

 

They're great little troopers.

 

 

Mimi, what would you do if this tree fell in the river?

 

 

Mimi, can we please come back in summer and jump in the spring??

 

 

Time to head home -- Mimi, what can we do tomorrow????