My youngest daughter, now in middle school, reminds me that we must paint acorns again! For the past six years, we’ve gathered acorns. We bring out all the old nail polish in the house, and we spend an afternoon painting acorns with beautiful patterns and bright colors to display in a bowl in the kitchen.
I’ll post pictures when we actually begin painting.
But it’s not quite autumn yet, so I tell her we can at least begin gathering the green acorns we find to get ready for the craft we’ll complete in a few weeks. I still feel amazed at these traditions that children remember and insist upon (even while I see them as just another craft). They grow into teenagers and still want to do things like paint acorns with you.
So you gather acorns in the blazing heat of this long summer.
That’s what we’ve been doing: gathering, getting ready, preparing for cooler days.
I take a little bag around with me as I walk through campus today to collect the biggest acorns I can find. It transforms an ordinary work day into something whimsical as I deliberately travel under enormous oak trees and hope they’ve dropped an offering for us.
I remember that I put beef stew in the crockpot for dinner. It’s nearly 90 degrees, but I’ve officially started my transition to another season. So have my children. They want to paint the acorns on Friday–no matter what the weather.