<\/a>#46.\u00a0 Search For Boy And Dog<\/p>\n\u201cLet\u2019s start looking for them down by the pond,\u201d Grandma said and plopped her broad brimmed straw hat on her curly gray hair. She held Sarah\u2019s elbow as they stepped off the porch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect Liam would try to catch a few frogs and I know Peyton loves to swim,\u201d Grandma said. But after they\u2019d walked down the lane to the pond, Liam and Peyton were nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeyton, come,\u201d Grandma called, but Peyton didn\u2019t come.<\/p>\n
Sarah and Grandma walked on past the pond, swatting mosquitoes as they took the path around the bog.<\/p>\n
\u201cM-m-m-m\u201d Grandma said, taking a deep breath. \u201cJust smell that bog. Be careful to stay on the path. I\u2019d hate to smoosh any of the little wildflowers. Some of them are really rare.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many yellow flowers here. They don\u2019t seem rare. What are they?\u201d Sarah asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are Marsh Marigolds. Granddad and I call this our Golden Valley. If we take the path to the right, it will take us to the drumlin woods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah and Grandma entered the trail in the woods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you know we were in the woods?\u201d Sarah asked Grandma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I smell the decaying, wet leaves from last year and feel the coolness of the budding Maple and Beech trees. Do you see Liam and Peyton or their footprints in the soft earth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeyton, come,\u201d Grandma called again. They both heard the dog\u2019s single bark and Liam\u2019s faint, \u201cOver here.\u201d As Peyton bound into view.<\/p>\n
Liam\u2019s tear-stained face looked up at them from the nurse log he was sitting on. \u201cI tried to catch a chipmunk and slipped on the leaves, hurting my ankle. I tried to get your dumb dog to go home, but she wouldn\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma knelt down and gently felt Liam\u2019s ankle. \u201cIt\u2019s a little puffy, but there doesn\u2019t seem to be any breaks. Let\u2019s peel some cool bark to put on it. Your sock will hold the splint in place. Sarah, can you find a thick stick with a V at one end?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Liam was really disappointed that his sprained ankle kept him from going into town that afternoon. He sat stewing in Granddad\u2019s smelly, over-stuffed chair with an ice bag on his ankle when Grandma came in to see him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you doing?\u201d She asked as Peyton, wearing her harness, led her to his chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Liam replied sullenly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went to wash your muddy shorts, I found these in your pocket, \u201cshe said. \u201cWhat are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re my Ultimate Trading Cards,\u201d Liam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo they have pictures on them? Do you trade your doubles or play games with them?\u201d she asked. \u201cI wonder if they\u2019re like my old Yew-Go-Wild cards?\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam and Grandma were deep in concentration, trying to remember where the matching wildflower cards were hidden face down on the table, when the others came in from shopping.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, Sarah,\u201d Liam said. \u201cOnce we find all the wildflower matches, we add up the points to see who won. Some of the wildflowers are excused\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you mean extinct?\u201d Grandma said smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, extinct,\u201d he agreed. \u201cThat means they don\u2019t grow here any more, like the dinosaurs. They\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the morning, Grandma soaked his ankle in baking soda water and it felt a lot better, so he, Sarah, and Grandma took Peyton out for a walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma, are any of those wildflowers on your cards around here?\u201d Liam asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s start at Golden Valley,\u201d Grandma said. \u201cMarsh Marigold is one of the wildflower cards. Because of the glacier activity many, many years ago, this area is a bog and several special wildflowers grow here. Do you see how close together the mounds of plants grow? That\u2019s nature\u2019s way of keeping out the weeds. The Marsh Marigold is also called Cowslip.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, no,\u201d Sarah laughed. \u201cNow I know why Mom laughs every time she says: I\u2019ve seen \u2018Cows Slip\u2019 under the fence!\u201d<\/p>\n
They came near the edge of the drumlin woods and Grandma said, \u201cNow look for a little plant that looks like a balcony with a roof over it. Don\u2019t pick it off the stem, but gently lift up the flap. Do you see Jack-in-the-pulpit?<\/p>\n
\u201cI found one, but it looks like it has two things, Grandma,\u201d Liam said excitedly. \u201cWhat\u2019s that called?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother used to call it Jack-and-Jill-in-the-pulpit\u201d, Grandma laughed. \u201cIt is rare to find two of them that have grown so close together that they look like Jack-and-Jill-in-the-Pulpit. She often said that if two people are true soul-mates, they\u2019ll come back to the place they love, growing so close together that they look like one.\u00a0 Sometimes, their family and friends will circle \u2018round them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGranddad and I call this Trillium Heaven,\u201d Grandma said as they went deeper into the woods where the ground was speckled with sun-light splashing through the tree branches. Sarah saw googles of white trillium and red trillium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Red trillium or Wake Robin is also called the Stinky Trillium,\u201d Grandma said, hoping she didn\u2019t sound like she was back in the classroom teaching Botany.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma, why are there so many colors?\u201d Sarah asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome think it is because of a disease that turns them different colors. Others say it is just the flower passing its prime,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah,\u201d Liam hollered. \u201cLook at this one. It has three leaves and three white petals. There\u2019s no stalk, Grandma, and it\u2019s almost all green.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLiam, you\u2019ve found the rare Sessile trillium,\u201d grandma exclaimed. \u201cIt\u2019s also called the Toad Shade Trillium.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the last morning of their visit, Sarah, Liam, and Grandma went hiking. This time, they brought along the wildflower cards. They found matches for Squirrel Corn, Rattle Snake Fern, Skunk Cabbage, Hepatica, Trout Lily, Pitcher Plant, False Solomon\u2019s Seal, Spring Beauty, and Wild Ginger.<\/p>\n
On their way back to the farmhouse, a sudden spring downpour came toward them from across the valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s run for that shack!\u201d Sarah hooted, grabbing Grandma\u2019s elbow. \u201cIt\u2019s rather dilapidated, but it might keep us dry.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the shower had passed, the sunbeams came through the tree branches to form a brilliant rainbow blessing the Golden Valley.<\/p>\n
Later in the car as they made the long trip home, Sarah was deep in thought as she read the book Grandma had given her about Jane Colden, the first woman botanist in Colonial America. Sarah knew she\u2019d treasure it forever.<\/p>\n
Liam stuck on the last sticker in his new Wildflower sticker book and sorted through the Yew-Go-Wild cards Grandma had given him. \u201cLook, Mom,\u201d Liam suddenly said and shoved a Yew-Go-Wild card at her. \u201cHere\u2019s the Dutchman\u2019s Britches. Grandma said:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dutchmen\u2019s britches hanging in a row.<\/p>\n
On tiny clotheslines you grow;<\/p>\n
Rain and dew will wash you,<\/p>\n
soil and dirt will go away.<\/p>\n
Sun will dry you<\/p>\n
on a sunny day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd look at this one, Mom. Grandma said the Native Americans used to use the juice from the Blood Root to paint their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d he said with a yawn, \u201cWhen can we go back to Grandma\u2019s? She said we\u2019ll look for a Lady\u2019s pink Slipper and she told me where there is a really cool, hollow tree I can explore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another yawn and Liam slumped in his seat belt, fast asleep. His wildflower cards slipped off his lap and scattered on the floor of the car, just like the wildflowers in the bog and drumlin woods of Wayne County New York.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There? By Kate Chamberlin As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they\u2019re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1157,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}