Aunt Eleanor's spring Tangly Woods visit

As my Great Aunt Eleanor left today, she said, "I'll be back!" YAY!! I think she added that she would be back whether invited or not, which would fit her spunky fun self! I, of course, reassured her that she is already invited! After a long break in visits from September 2019 until August 2022, we are attempting to make up for lost time. Her other 3 stints with us were all late summer/fall (Aug/Sept/Oct), so it was a treat for us to welcome her to the beauty of springtime at Tangly Woods! There wasn't much to keep her hands busy at this time of year, so she kept her mind busy by reading, reading and reading instead.

Recently on one of the many podcasts that I enjoy as I go about my other daily tasks, they were talking about birthdays and asking people how old they are. They offered a suggested reframe of the question that I really liked. How does it change the feel of the question if rather than asking someone, "How old are you?," we ask them, "How long have you lived?" Aunt Eleanor has lived for 97 years and she doesn't miss much!

Our full week together was cut short by us trying to discern when it was safe for her to join us at Tangly Woods, with lingering cold symptoms still showing up here and there. We finally bailed on a "normal visit" as the snot and coughing didn't seem to want to disappear rapidly, and we experimented with a different kind of visit (us masking during any time together inside and doing as much as we could together outside). I could not feel more grateful for the weather than allowed us to enjoy all our meals together outside, either on my parents' deck under the shade canopy or around the fire ring. Sometimes when it is "just us," I bail on the tiny bit of extra effort to move our meals outside. But I'm always glad when we do it, so the week provided us with good opportunities to feast our eyes on redbuds and mountain views while filling our bellies!

Our night around the fire was meaningful for a few reasons. First, for me it started with a very satisfying ritual of ripping up one of the worst children's books I've ever read and turning it into our kindling! It came by way of a library that was getting rid of several boxes of books, but it was not one that was gonna keep circulating any longer. It was good to watch it burn!

Additionally, the day marked what would have been my Great Uncle Joe's 99th birthday (Eleanor's husband), as well as my Grandpa Bucher's 104th birthday. So we enjoyed dinner around the fire ring and Aunt Eleanor shared some of her memories. One of my favorite images is imagining Joe and Eleanor riding home together from Elkins, WV sharing a butter pecan ice cream cone! 

She joined us for a horse riding lesson yesterday at our neighbors (she chose to watch not ride!). 

I felt a bit more distracted on this visit than sometimes - both with the increase in activity of our household (soccer and ushering were happening this week) and just doing our best to provide a safe (as germ free as possible) space for her to enjoy visiting in. It's on busy weeks like this that I'm most drawn to a gift I see in her (probably more of a skill that maybe wasn't as richly honed when she was the busy mom of 8?!). Her powers of observation always amazes me - this time it was in scouting out a little tiny red bud tree that Jason dug for her to take along. I wonder if there are ways I can practice (small doable steps) taking notice more at all the things around me - does it require slowing down (probably, yes). What about listening to podcasts? Are they too much of a distraction? Hopefully it's not an all or nothing thing, but I do think of it as a practice or skill, and one I could benefit from spending more moments engaging in. I feel like every time I'm with my Aunt Eleanor, I notice more things because she inspires me to pay attention and soak in the life and beauty all around me. It's such a gift!

Well, we enjoyed our burgers over the fire the other night so much that we are doing it all over again tonight with Jonathan, Christen and Luca. So I'll close this for now with a few more of my favorite moments from our time together! 

There was one day all five of us were gonna be away for a few hours. I had Aunt Eleanor promise me she wouldn't try climbing any trees or anything and she reassured me that she'd be just fine. When I went up to check on her and say goodbye, she was snoozing in the sunshine on the deck. 

While Kali and Alida were in Staunton ushering, Terah hung out and learned some new fun folding techniques from Eleanor. We'll see how long it takes my parents to find all the additions to their house when they arrive home from Florida tomorrow!

We always park a walking stick at each door to accompany her on her meanders around the farm. I love hearing about or seeing what she finds on her walk abouts!

Another favorite spot!

I found some black walnuts in the freezer so I could make a favorite snack - homemade caramel corn!

Her visits to Tangly Woods usually include some kind of first. I think this time it was playing with the marble racer. :) Oh, and eating stinging nettle rolls and biscuits (I was trying to give her a new more positive association with stinging nettles than her former one of being swatted with them by her brother). 

Kali stepped in for a little tech support at one point!

Alida with some puzzling help!

How could this not be a favorite?! Glad we had freshly hatched chicks to welcome her.

It always warm my heart when I peek outside from our place and see Aunt Eleanor comfy in a rocking chair on the deck - often reading one of Mom's photo books or our blog book. I gotta keep blogging so there is fresh reading material for her visits! And even if we didn't get to do quite as much with each other this time, she got to read all about the activities that keep us hopping through the seasons. Maybe next time there will be beans to snip or tomatoes to chop. I also dream of a winter visit where we are all moving more slowly, with longer evenings by the wood stove! Spring, summer, fall or winter, we consider each of our times together a gift!