Clay

February 24

It was a gorgeous spring day today. After the cold and the rain rain rain, today was just glorious. We opened all the windows, turned on the fans and let the house breath while we spent the afternoon outside. After plenty of swinging and chasing we headed up to the deck and I brought out a brand new tub of air dry clay. Yes, just good old clay. It's about five dollars for 2.5 lbs, packaged by Crayola, sold at Target and all over. Just a tub of mushy gushy clay. The idea here is all process and no product. We just want to get our hands into it, mix it with water, roll it, spread it, mush it, and gush it. We are outside, it is clay, no worries about the mess, it will wash way (I promise). I get each girl a bowl of water, a plastic plate and a plastic fork. They don't even need that much. Just squeezing the clay between their fingers is the main event. As they have done in the past they decide after a time to rub the clay/water mix on their arms, which leads to a clay beard, a hand print on a tummy, clay covered feet . . . you get the idea.

We roll and squish for over an hour. I join in and love the leisurely feeling of slick clay on my hands and the sun on my arms. We chat about this and that, we turn to check out the birds busily tasting our newly filled feeder, and we just enjoy the immensely satisfying tactile experience in front of us.