Orchard Play...

Last weekend we visited a friend's farm and pecan orchard.

Living our "city life", I hadn't realized how tense I had become until we came here.  I say "city", where we live feels like a town really, though it is a fairly large city.  Regardless, we were out among those trees and the kids could just play... just run.  There were no sidewalks, no road bordered park, just dirt and trees.  I didn't have to be hyper vigilant.  We could all just relax and play, walk through the sunlight speckled paths and pick up fallen pecans.

I can't really express in words how truly free it felt. 

It made me long for a house in the country.

We loved observing the pecans.  Here they are green and in the trees.  They won't harvest them until sometime in December. 

Here are some pecans we found on the ground that showed their growth.

The dry riverbed and hot desert is just outside this cool, shaded orchard.  Here we found a tumbleweed that had made its way to rest. I laugh whenever I see these tumble over the road like some old wild west movie.

Owen pretending to fish in the irrigation canal.

Our friend showed us her garden and the worms she's attracting with coffee grounds and egg shells.

They even took us on a bus ride to show us a spot on the dry riverbed to play.  

We will certainly be heading back... often.