This last weekend Anne-Marie was very upset! She wanted acorns,
whole acorns. She wanted these acorns so she could draw them.
Now, we have a
lovely oak tree in the back yard, and this oak tree produces a lot of acorns,
so finding a few whole ones should not be difficult at this time of the year, you
would think.
So there she is, out the crisp morning air, rummaging around
in the fall leaves (yup, we haven’t done our raking yet). I was in another part of the garden. After a while, I began to hear her ever louder frustrated mutterings. She was
upset she could not find any whole acorns on the ground. The squirrels, who being
nefarious furry little thieves, had been feasting on our so valuable acorns, leaving
her only the empty acorn husks in amongst the carpet of fallen leaves. She
demanded that I must do something about it! This was not acceptable, she stated,
not acceptable at all. I asked her what I should do. “Climb into the tree and
collect them”, before the squirrels could devour them,” she demanded. Uh, I did
mentioned that, as winter was soon approaching, the squirrels needed all the
nourishment they could get, and the acorns were an important food for them. I also expressed my not inconsiderable
concern, that to reach the outer branches for a few acorns might be a bit
dangerous. Faced with this, grudgingly, she allowed that she would have to find
another source for her acorns.
The squirrels have food for another day, and the passionate
artist remains acorn-less.
... and now about those nasty little garden snails who have
been eating her grape vines and hostas.
