Mama's Morning Walk

It was one of those mornings...one of those mornings where it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong does - from missing jackets...scrambling for socks... to the car needing to be jump started! After a hectic time helping Ed get all four children out of the house in time for orchestra rehearsal this morning, Mama took her own little walk.

The picture shows what is known in our family as the "Pump House". In recent years it has been locked, but inside there is an old water pump that used to provide water to the neighborhood homes years and years ago when this was a little community of summer vacation homes in the 50's. No one had indoor plumbing in their little summer cottages, in fact, when we first moved into our house (which did have indoor plumbing at the time) an outhouse still stood on the hill in our backyard.

The Pump House was the destination for walks when all the children were under age 7. We would all toddle down to the little house and pump the handle until the water came gushing out. Then it was time to return home. Everyone took a turn with the handle and it never ceased to delight my small children. We never visited much during the winter. One spring, on our first visit after the winter, we pumped and pumped and pumped and finally a mouse in a jumble of leaves tumbled out!

Now that I am thinking about it, Aidan, age 5, may have never heard that particular story - I'll have to share it on our next walk down that direction. Off to enjoy a glorious morning of uninterrupted Spring cleaning!