Collect
We have been observing the bull thistles in our field during each morning walk before symposium. We exclaim in delight when the purple crowns appear, and the kids have chosen the thistle for drawing in their nature journals a couple times (though they are hazardous to handle).
Connect
I found the above quote from an essay by Mary Oliver, because Mary Oliver always says what needs to be said about anything, profoundly, I might add.
If that isn’t quite enough for you, how about the beauty in this poem?
The singular and cheerful lifeof any flowerin anyone’s gardenor any still unowned field–if there are any–catches meby the heart,by its color,by its obedienceto the holiest of laws:be aliveuntil you are not.Ragweed,pale violet bull thistle,morning glories curlingthrough the field corn;and those princes of everything green—the grassesof which there are trulyan uncountable company,eachon its singular stemstrivingto rise and ripen.What, in the earth world,is there not to be amazed byand to be steadied byand to cherish?Oh, my dear heart,my own dear heart,full of hesitations,questions, choice of directions,look at the world.Behold the morning glory,the meanest flower, the ragweed, the thistle.
Look at the grass.
Mary Oliver, The Singular and Cheerful Life (Evidence: Poems)
I’m a little partial to the thistle because I am part Scottish (my maiden name is of Scottish origin), and the thistle is the national flower of Scotland. But why?, you might ask. Why the thistle? I didn’t know, so I had to do a little research. Legends, heraldry, poetry. Good stuff. But what I loved most was the Latin Motto of the Order of the Thistle:
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
(No one attacks me with impunity)
This led to a search for the definition of impunity. No one has impunity (freedom from punishment) where a thistle is concerned, that’s for sure.
And Latin. Ah, Latin. My eldest son immediately translated “nemo” into “no one” and said that Captain Nemo of the Nautilus in 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea specifically took that name because of its Latin meaning. (And, of course, the Nautilus also has Latin meaning.)
Create
The kids sketch in their nature journals while I read aloud from Shakespeare Stories after our quick morning walk, but I felt like I needed to join them on this one, even if my sketching leaves much to be desired. I’m setting the example that it is okay not to be excellent at something. We do it anyway, with a cheerful attitude…
