Olympic Mountains

To the west, the hidden sun kissed the snowcaps with a blush of pink.

Sunrise

Scatchet Head beach has a southern point.   I can look south toward Seattle and Rainier, east toward sunrise and the Cascades, or west toward the Olympics.

Beauty of nettle

This is the trail I walk to and from the beach.  As spring approaches, the stinging nettle grows and grows.  Although it stings when you touch it,  and although it would make me hesitate to bring the boys down this trail (the technical challenges in places already prevent me from doing this), nettle fills the spring with a glorious green.

This morning I slipped and inadvertently clutched nettle as I fell.  It stung, and I remembered that people use nettle to heal.  Pain dissolved,  and I was reminded of the Buddha.  When attacked,  he transformed the spears used against him into flowers.  Nettle seems to embody this possibility.

Liam at the beach

Here is the beach I can walk to from my cottage.  Tides can be very low on whidbey.  On this day there were hundreds of wet and brown sand dollars (not like the dry ones in a gift shop).

Crispin in woods

He is with his buddy in the woods.  My nursery class spends an hour each morning in these enchanted woods .  No poison oak or ivy or worries.

Crispin dresses himself

Crispin has been dressing himself of late.   He shows that he may move to France some day, or somewhere else where wearing a shirt backwards is on vogue.

Liam chose the matching shirt.

This picture is from Gedney View where we had a relaxed morning before I took them to school.

"To be awake is to be alive." -- Thoreau

"I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born." - 2. Where I Lived and What I Lived For, Walden, Henry David Thoreau

Dear Family and Friends,

The posts that follow will record the adventures of Liam, Crispin, William, and Nicolas in their new home in Cottage Glen. The home is charming, small, new with well-insulated windows, full of light, and full of comfort, convenience, and--best of all--simplicity (hence the nod to Thoreau). Expect lots of photos of the boys, occasional philosophical ramblings from me, and updates on our lives.

Warmly,

William