Summertime

We found shade in this old apple tree on our walk to see the Belmont goats. I thought that seeing the goats would take all of five minutes as neither goats nor girls were interested in one another. But, all that changed when we started offering dried madrone leaves to the goats; they loved that, and so did the girls. Then the girls began playing in the quiet, cool shade, while Eric and I mostly rested against the big maples. They made bracelets and crowns of clover blooms for over two hours. It was magical; you could see their brains and bodies relax into quiet play. Never an impatient sound, never the word "bored," sometimes one would coax us to join in, sometimes they'd be off a ways in their own solitude. Every girl should get hours of this kind of summer time.