We've waited forever. Marked X's on the calendar. Counted days.Watched the weather
man.
Ta! Dah! This is it!
Hippie Camp-out Night! Kimbies and I and our elfin little grandbabies goin' Woodstock for the night..... And feelin' the love......
My little heart-n-souls rode backseat, buckled up for 400 miles to spend the night in the latrineless green castle in the back yard. They came toting pillows, fuzzy blankets, yoo-hoo's, flashlights and smiles the size of martini moons. Kim's little Alana packed her Cinderella sheets, a sippy cup, and Me'Me's beer and we were off! To never-ever land, 18 steps from the back door. We played AARP Twister......Kimbies and I moaning, groaning, stretching, hoola-hooping our bodies into "left hand on green" pretzels.....tumbling in a pile of laughter. For every beer we drank (Hippie gramma's are allowed!) they ate a cupcake, a chinese fortune cookie, a puff of cheese popcorn....We built a cardboard house big enough for two......We colored, we painted, we glued, and ran barefoot in roundy-rounds through the backyard! We stayed up until 2:18 (That was the exact time according to Stone, the keeper of the battery operated clock!) and we never chickened out. The winds blew left and right and in mighty circles, 60 MPH, and we waited for the house to lift and send us flying.......we laughed, and oohed and ahhhed, and achoo!ed, piling under covers......
We woke this morning, to the same magic we fell asleep too. Alana saw it first. "Look she's fwying, dancing....... the yewwo buttahfwy...." We stretched our camp-out necks, squinted towards the window...."Where?" we chorused......."There!" she pointed...... And then we saw her......
The first ray of sun, glittering through the window.......
30 comments:
Cheers to you, yours, and the hardest working butterfly in show business.
Your words have set me shiverin,
What yellow butterfly in its right mind could stay away
from such a carnival of love,
a playground of joy.
... and now you've got me lookin out my window...
for yellow butterflies, reflected wonder, refracted joy...
May the world be yours, (and theirs)
love, M
It sounds absolutely magical; I would love to do this with my little ones; guess we'll have to do it indoors, though, as right now, there is a 30 degree below windchill howling outside right now!
suchacoolcat.....We had such a good time! No trip to Disney could have topped it! Memories a million years long made in one night, and probably, a few new traditions born! Gotta love, love, love those babies!
Maithri....Ahhh, that little Alana, the baby with the old soul, never stops with the magic. With giant sleepy eyes, wide open, she saw the perfect butterfly,
the perfect hello dancing through
the window pane, fairy dust sparkling in it's ray.....
And we learned something new....
standing there in sockfeet watching
her butterfly dance....
They're everywhere,
when you believe
with eyes wide open!
No...."The latrineless green castle" is inside, too! No tent-pitchin' for these old hippies!
"Gimme Peace" is a little wooden
castle
condo
cabin
cottage
in the back yard. Just big enough for the five us to pile in for a night of make-believe.....And the cardboard house....Well, in it's first life, it was a giant stroller box....., but not for long! You can't see it in the picture, but there are two youngin's and a siamese loungin' inside that little rainbow!
Peace~love my friends
It grows
I need to start looking after people's kids so I have an excuse to camp out in the back garden without seeming outlandish.
Now this is truly sweet beyond measure. It seems you've trained their imaginations well. Yellow Butterfly!
what fun - and into the memory bank of those tinies great !!!
ultra....What the hell! Just be outlandish! It's good for the soul and it'll give the neighbors something to talk about!
Shimmerings....OMG! I'm still basking in the magic....they're chubby little fingers making paper flowers, their chocolate smiles, the endless parade of expressions....eyebrows raised, brown eyes, green eyes, hazel eyes wide open....And the giggles, God bless the giggles.....
Ibeati.....I know you know....you had Mara Grace for the holidays!
Peace~love my friends....
And Magic....
Aw, how sweet. Wish I could've been there. Sounded like a magical time!
I haven't been camping in years. The last time I went, it rained and was freezing cold in the morings. Go figure...
Not to mention we couldn't get far enough away to not hear I 75 thrumming with it's Key west to the Upper Peninsula enrgy.
I miss your warm words and our porch parties, Singleton. I hope to catch back up with you soon.
Peace and love and kiss a butterfly for me...
Orhan....
It was a fairytale....
Come true! :)
Eric....Ah! It rained, and the winds whipped and zipped, and for us little Florida jaybirds, it was freezin'..... 45 degrees (I suppose we are a little spoiled with our handful of days of cold!) But it was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.......And inside the little green castle, "Gimme Peace" it was perfect! I miss you too, the telephone tag on a rickity tickity wire..... Take Care sweet friend
Peace~love, my friends,
It's free......
You've got great energy Darlin'- you could bottle, and sell it; as it is you give it away for free- a real Hippie.
Oh, so beautiful! And sounds like so much fun too! Wish I could've been there. Having my own camp-outs of sorts, the kind where I wake up in an ivory tower far up in the sky to beautiful reds and oranges against a pale blue sky....those are nice too. :)
singleton... ((hugs))
i've missed you, and what a beautiful story...brings back memories of not so longago pretzels in the living room, left hand yellow, right foot green...
you take the smallest shard and refract it back to the universe in gigalumps...i luv it..
k;)))))
hey girl.. today, the weather here is in the 20's and teens. BUT, i got a little sunshine from florida in the mail. i love them. thank you!
clink!!!!
Sean...Peace~love, it's free! They've been tryin' to sell it for years, but it just doesn't work! Your little piece of the pie went out on Friday! Watch for the mailman!
karma....Oh, girl, I gotta catch up with you! Ivory towers.....:)
karoline....Hugs! Yup, that's what I have to say to you....Hugs! If it hadn't of rained on our little parade we coulda added some-mores to the night, and the traditional gather around the campfire and sing "come on people now, smile on your brother...." They're never to little to learn those words "Everybody get together, try to love one another, right now...." :)
Mindy....Clink! So glad they made 'em there! They get much,much,much better with age.....
you'll feel the love, I promise!
Peace~love my friends
Share it......
hahahaha love those soulful little cheeto-toes poking out! What a great time...catatonic Sundays are always worth when they follow such a spirited Saturday!
xoxoxoxox....gawd, do i miss you guys!
PRECIOUS! i'm re-reading before i continue on my rounds
droppin off a blue ribbon before i go.. a cold beer, a hug, a kiss hot cocoa and a box of crayons
much love, ~s.
This is so cool! A friend speaks of a similar 'camp out' with her Grands.
Of flashlights and ding dongs, story books and blue toenail polish. Sneaking back in the house to retrieve a tattered and worn out Elmo Sleeping Buddy the smallest one hadn't thought she would 'need'.
All in the back of her SUV,,,,,in the garage.The physical 'where' doesn't count,,,it's all magic.
I plan future camping trips for my Jack and me,,,he's just turned two.
Wonderful post,,,,THANKS!
~~Babs
My housemate might get angry if I start drilling pegs into the patio...
"Your only little once".... but, may we stay young at heart forever! xoxox
skinny
skinny....Ha! Yup, I was in a coma Sunday....! It was glorious, and yup, those are cheeto toes! I so wish you could have been here, sweetie! We'll have to build cardboard houses at the beach! :)
she.....Ha! We need you to pack for every campout! That's all the best stuff:)
Babs....i love that story! That's the bomb! And I'm sure you and little Jack will have tons of priceless spend-the-nighters to come, great joy! i've never camped out in the garage, but last year I went to the drive-ins in one! That was a blast, too!
Ultra....OK! Pitch a blow-up tent~! :)
Skinny....Amen, darling! Amen! ILYSVVM
Peace~love my friends
Coolest grandmother alive you are.
Lovin life.
Teaching the little ones to love it too.
xo
Gillian
You make me miss houses made out of giant boxes and searches for snail shells...
I am so very glad that there are still people out there who can still just enjoy this precious gift of life. I love Twister: I can either be sober and good at it, or buzzed and falling about. The latter's much more amusing, of course!
Isn't recapturing childhood a large part of what hippie life is all about? Children embrace nature, notice beauty in life, take their time (at least mine does) and focus on what is truly important in life (getting dirty in the sandbox, of course!) Oh, and they usually LOVE animals of all sizes- especially butterflies!
I thought of you when I found the tree story I just posted...I think you'd appreciate it.
Thanks for the magic.
What a completly beautiful post! Reminds me of the Renaissance fairs of my childhood, peace out!
YES, AS YOU KNOW i GOT IT, BUT I THOUGHT TO SAY THANK YOU AGAIN-BEAUTIFUL!!!
I could almost picture it- click.
Very nice.
Blue....Thanks sweetie! The coolest Gramma ever was ours...."Nana" in her go-go boots and got~get~'em spirit! Her tapestried carpetbag always full of surprises, mischief and magic, her free spirit a contagious gift! And funny, I still feel her, hear her.....know she's watchin', waiting, goin' "Go on girls, you can do it, feel the love......"
Princess....And if we only had steps, we could have made cardboard sleds! How cool would that have been? :)
Electric....Ha! There are some games that just don't go outa style....Clink! I think it's a good thing these old Mimi and MeMe's had a few beers under our belt before we pulled out the ole red,yellow, blue green.....Ah, yeah, loosey goosey makes being "bendy" a little easier!
lizard...I've gotta come over and visit, play catch up, life has just had me by the shirtails lately, flying! And yup, kids, that's what it's all about....magic, they know how to find it anywhere!
DJ....Thank you, Renaissance Fairs of your childhood, how cool that must have been....wow!
Sean....Awww, your most welcome! Enjoy them, friend!
And wow, those pics....unbelieveable....I loved the subterrainean (And geez I know I'm not spelling that right), it had an other-worldly ghostly but come hither-to look about it, the photos are beautiful!
Peace~love my friends
Let it rain everywhere!
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