The Empty Nest

My kids are all grown now. After having three of my own plus the thirty or so "adopted" kids filling every corner of my house for the past umpteen years, the place feels sort of empty. (By adopted kids, I mean all the friends of my children that spent nearly every weekend here.) I am truly happy that my children have grown to be such wonderful young people and usually I tend to think that I have adjusted well to this. Still during certain times of the year, it seems that kids should be bustling about this old house. This is one of those times of the year..Halloween..the start of the full swing of holidays. I love to decorate for each and every holiday that bounces around and as you can tell, Halloween seems to be a favorite. Not for any other reason than there is so many possible ways to decorate. But still..there is not a lot of reason to do this when there is no one to appreciate it. The empty nest syndrome strikes again. I was wandering around the hill again today on one of my daily hikes when I came across an empty birds' nest. Judging by the position of the nest, I believe it to be either a mockingbird's or a wood thrasher's old home. I thought about these birds..when their young leave the nest for good, they never return. They go on about their business and do not think about their mom any more. I am so blessed! My little birds do come home when they can and when they cannot, they call or keep in touch other ways. I will count my blessings!

In an earlier post, I talked about the Red Buckeye Tree having the seeds or nuts that were about ready to pick. This morning they were dropping to the ground one by one. As I gathered them, I noticed just how beautiful the nut really is. When they first pop out of the husk, they have a gloss to them and feel almost "oily". There are usually two to three "nuts" that are about the size of a walnut in each husk. The "wood" of the nut is very smooth and has beautiful markings or swirls. These, I will plant in pots and hope to sprout a dozen or so for future trees.