Fun with Fungus, Fiddler Crabs and Fireflies

Last week the newspaper reported that June 14 was meant to be Play-Outside Day.

At our house, that day comes every day.

There’s a garage full of bikes, cars, balls and bats

There’s a playhouse for stirring up messy dishes with mulch and rain barrel water

And then there is outdoor play that transcends toys and play equipment:

Feasting on mulberries and honeysuckle

Finding the funny fungus on an early morning walk

Startling small bunnies and goldfinches in the coreopsis, or passing time with baby birds.

Chomping on sorrel leaves (oxalis) while waiting for the butterfly bush to bloom and attract a tiger swallowtail.

Feeding your baby doll a tasty meal of green money plant pods and shelled seeds (lunaria).

Taking the wagon to Lucas Creek Bridge to see muskrats, great blue herons, and fiddler crabs.

Waiting all day for dusk so you could catch 40 fireflies in the front yard and let them go again.

Yes, today and every day, in this place, it is Play-Outside Day.

 

Susan Yoder Ackerman is a writer and gardener in Newport News, Virginia. Both her writing and her gardening are enhanced by tending a century-old family farmhouse and eight grandchildren that come and go. You can email Susan at [email protected].