Mudspark Life Learning

So today my kids have learned (or at least encountered, no one really knows what a person has "learned," though you can be sure we are all learning all the time): How to clean mud off the floor. That while you may not care about the broken sword, you care about the person. Take a moment to  imagine what that other person feels like before saying you're sorry so that your being sorry is genuine and expresses some compassion. Egg whites don't whip when you get a little yolk in them. That some email accounts block certain kinds of emails and you have to contact Help to get your account going. That cookbooks can be wrong, recipes can be adapted, and then you learn from the finished product. But it still tastes good. It generally makes more work for yourself when you do things quickly and hyperactively. That imbalanced washing machines make great percussion instruments. It's harder to roller skate while holding dolls.

My daughter's riding lesson wasn't until 2, and it was a gorgeous spring day. 62 and sunny. We decided to pack a picnic and go to the lake just north of where our riding instructor lives. This took some doing, as I am not eating any sugar, starch (like white rice), gluten, or dairy. I made brown rice balls rolled in sesame and a little salt, and a kale salad with apples, raisins, and grated carrots. I threw in the gluten free banana pancakes left over from breakfast (they have potato starch and white rice flour in them so I didn't eat any) and some fruit. We were ready to go. When we arrived at the lake, it was WINDY. The kind that takes your breath away. We hadn't dressed for the wind, which can make a warm day really chilly in dry Colorado. So we hiked down the hill, over horse prints pressed into the dry mud, and discovered a little hollow with a pond just off the main beach area. To the kids it was a secret haven to play in, but the first things I noticed after