Picking Up Pinecones

Pinecones proclaim their announcement of autumn as they find their way to the forest floor. Memories of past winters bring visions of baskets of pinecones by the fire-both beautiful and functional. Walking through the woods looking for just the right pinecones leads to hours devoted to nature. Listening to the sounds of the breeze, basking in areas of sunlight filtered through colored leaves, and crunching with each step helps set the world right. Reveling in the beauty of endless nature helps put our harried life in perspective with eternity.

Each walk brings a harvest of a few pinecones to take home and drop into the appropriate basket; one basket is for pinecone crafts with the kids and another basket for the less-than-perfect group headed for the wood stove. By the time winter fully arrives and the autumn walks are just another memory, I am ready. We have enough pinecones to keep the kids busy with inexpensive crafts on the days they need to stay inside all winter. There are enough less-than-perfect pinecones stored to light the fire all winter.

When the evening chill sets in and darkness envelopes us, the time is right to toss a few pinecones into the stove

Maybe it is our modern world that leads us to whoosh by pinecones at the side of the road without a second glance. Could be the colorful packaging of prefab logs that leads us to believe they are better for starting fireplaces. Gas burning fireplaces are certainly tidier. But somewhere within us stirs a need to interact with the bounty of nature, to appreciate all our world holds out to us. Something we can hold in our hearts as home.