Sunday, September 20, 2009

Coconuts... the difference between age and youth



This blog is not about coconuts..... it's about acorns. (My four year old grandson calls them coconuts.)

The grandsons stayed overnight yesterday. This morning they wanted me to come to the playground and see their stash of acorns under the play set. They were so excited about those acorns. They wanted to collect more, so I gave them a bucket and tried to talk them into cleaning off my deck. There are thousands of acorns on the back deck. (Actually, hundreds of thousands of them.!) The little girl up the street got into the excitement of it all and the three of them were out back squealing with delight at every acorn they found. (I was wondering what the neighbors were thinking.) The porch acorns didn't excite them enough though (darn!) So, they went in search of acorns in their natural state...... under the tree.

To me the acorns are nothing more than a big mess that has to be swept off the deck. I can hear them bouncing, banging and pinging as they hit my deck, table and chairs. When we are trying to sleep, it sounds like WW II out there. That big oak tree by the deck literally throws them. (The little neighbor girl started to throw them back.) We take our life in our hands when we venture onto the deck. Haven't been hit by one yet, but I don't imagine it would feel very good. There is nothing to get excited about when it comes to acorns.

I remember when acorns did excite me. One of my first pieces of jewelry when I was a kid was a bracelet I made by stringing acorns and pearls. I used a long needle and threaded a string through the acorn like it was a bead, alternating it with pearls. (Don't know how I did that. Don't think I would have the strength now to push it through an acorn.) I would wear that bracelet for a long time until it fell apart. I loved that bracelet. Sometimes I think I should make silver acorns and make that bracelet again with the pearls. Not sure though that the contrast of brown and white, raw nature and shiny pearly nature could be captured in silver.
I'll have to give that one some thought.


The grandsons wanted to know if they could go around the neighborhood. The three of them wanted to try to sell their precious acorns. Maybe I'm a millionaire and don't know it!