This year’s “nature tree” happened serendipitously while on a walk with the kids yesterday. We were looking for “good shells” to glitter, when I found this great silvery branch just begging to be decorated. Thus our search shifted to shells with holes and whatever else we could find: crab claws, feathers, etc. The eel grass “tinsel” was particularly inspired.
For me these kinds of projects with the kids are the most special. I love teaching them to find extraordinary beauty in ordinary things, to be inspired by and have fun with the natural world, to think outside the box, and to create magic wherever they go. Whatever my children grow up to be, I hope that moments like these will inform how they look at the world. More than almost anything else, I hope that these adventures in creativity will be my legacy.
gathering the “ornaments”
a scallop shell
above and below: decorating the tree
close up with crab claw
our “star”
the finished product
the beach tree stands sentinel on the shore
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Loved this. Very stylish idea. Reminds me of Derek Jarman’s garden in Dungeness, England.