A Yellow Bonnet

Wooly Ragwort

It did not take me as long to settle in as I first thought it would. They were delightful and we soon fell into a routine. I felt as if I was one of the family. By the first week's end, I was very fond and attached to them.

Anna and Jacob were rather reserved, shy and quiet, but Caleb turned out to be quite a busy bee. He chattered like a squirrel from dawn until dusk with endless questions.

"What color is the sea?"

"Do you have dogs in Maine too?"

"What's a boat?"

"How big is the ocean? Is it as big as the cow pond?"

These were just a few, but the most frequent one was, "Can you sing to us, Sarah?"

The days were filled with chores and discovering new and exciting things about the farm, or for them, about the ocean. In the evenings, we gathered on the front porch. I would tell them stories about my childhood, about the people from my hometown. How I missed my home telling those stories! I would often let my mind and gaze wander. But on returning to reality, I would find the children watching me worriedly. The poor dears. After years without a mother, they worried I would up and leave them. And even though I ached with homesickness, I had made a choice and I planned to stick to it.

One afternoon, I tied on my cheery, yellow bonnet and basket in hand I proceeded to go exploring. On stepping outside, Caleb, who'd been playing with the dogs, Nick and Lottie, bounded over. Anna sat on the step petting Seal and watched on.

"Where are you going? Watcha doing?"

"I am going to pick flowers. I'll hang some upside down so they dry but keep their color."

"Why?"

"So we can have flowers all winter long. Won't that be nice, Caleb?"

He grinned up at me, the same charming grin like Jacob, "It will!"

He skipped over to Anna, exclaiming, "She said winter, Anna! Sarah said winter. That means she'll stay!"

"Hush, Caleb!"

"Can we come too, Sarah?" he slipped his hand in mine.

The affection from a child is heartwarming. It could soften the hardest of hearts, was my belief. The most joyful feeling welled up in me. I couldn't help but beam. I squeezed his hand and clasped Anna's in my other, the basket swinging on my arm.

"Of course you can come! The more the merrier!"

We spent a glorious morning in the paddock picking flowers, laughing, chasing each other, and singing.

At long last, we flopped down under the shade of a tree and I looked over the flowers while the children watched the clouds. I held up a lovely white flower that looked like a lily.

"What is this one, Anna? I have not seen anything like it."

"Bride's bonnet," Anna replied.

Caleb winked at me. I returned it.

"We don't have these by the ocean."

"What do you have, Sarah?" Anna asked.

"Well, let's see," I ruffled Caleb's curls, "we have seaside goldenrod, wild asters, and–and wooly ragwort!"

Caleb laughed, a bubbling belly laugh, "Wooly ragwort!"

He leapt to his feet and chanted, "Wooly ragwort all around, wooly ragwort on the ground, wooly ragwort grows and grows, wooly ragwort up your nose!"

We laughed and sang his song as we returned to the house hot and happy.