Our inner child and imaginary worlds...

Into the forest...

I wonder how many of you, as a child, liked to play in your own imaginary world. How many of you let curiosity get the better of you and set off to discover something new? This thought came back to me at 2:30am last night, as I woke from yet another jet lag stupor. It was clear that my mind was not going to rest until I wrote the following..so I did.

A story...

When I was seven years old, we lived in a home with a deep forest behind us- trees and stone walls stretched to eternity in my seven year old eyes. I had a merry band of travellers in my brothers and sisters and the local neighbourhood kids. We liked adventures...the forest was our playground. After school and on the weekends we would set down a path at the back of our property, starting with the stone wall at one end and meander along it’s path. There was a creek that quietly gurgled alongside it and it was there that we pretended to carry out the day to day routines of American pioneers long before us. But not before we reached our secret place under the biggest pine tree in the forest…with graceful sweeps of thick pine boughs that lovingly draped to the floor below, sheltering us from the outside world. It was heaven.. an earthy pine scented green heaven.

and into an earthy pine scented green heaven where bloodroot grows..

We took frequent trips to this tree, it was ‘our place’- we never told our parents...for of course, at that age we felt they just wouldn’t understand. It was our secret world. We kept ourselves busy-pretending we lived there, each assuming tasks, foraging for curiosities-anything that could help us create the perfect shelter. It was exciting, it was our own and I have never forgotten it...ever.

where we foraged for curiosities.

 That was nearly fifty years ago and it came back to me like it was yesterday..just last week as I walked around our property at Tahilla Farm. I was with a landscape architect, a forester and my sister-in-law, exploring the land, looking for opportunities to enhance a meadow and expand our view to a mountain on the east side of our property.

Today, a view to the east side of our property...

We walked along, creating a path as we went, talking about the beauty of the trees and the animals that lived within. As we walked... I found my steps quickening… for I had spotted it…a hidden stone wall that extended from one end of our property to another. Could it be? As we walked, the pine and hemlock trees thickened, pine needles forming a thick carpet below our feet. I looked for signs of water..I looked for the sweeping mass of pine boughs cascading from the top of the enormous trees around us. I could feel my imaginary world opening it’s door.

where a hidden creek quietly gurgles and meanders...

We stopped in silence and noticed that we were standing in what once was a meadow; long overgrown…it was the perfect spot. We talked about the pros and cons of our plan, I listened intently, all the while gazing around me…making a mental note of which direction I would head on my next adventure into the woods..to pick up the trail and explore the imaginary world that still exists within me…fifty years on. You can be sure..that when I do, you will be the first to know.

So I ask you..were you a child with an imaginary world? Were you encouraged through books, stories or did you set sail under your own steam? I know many of you will have smiled from the start of this post..I am certain we lived parallel lives in our childhood.  You are my merry band of what my children used to call my 'imaginary blogging friends'… until they discovered that blogging took my imaginary world and turned it into a reality with Tahilla Farm. They are now believers.

Do you still believe? 

Do you ever let your inner child come out to play? 
For surely, we are never too old...

never say never...
via

To help you along your way, you can start where I started last week, with a song...

Wishing you a wonderful weekend...imaginary or not!

Jeanne xx