The Once Upon a Time Far Far Away Little Straw House.
Was this actually seven years ago (and isn’t there some sort of magic associated with seven years)? Give or take, I guess. This is the little straw hut we built to shelter and entertain our four children (Nora, our fifth, wasn’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye yet) while we worked to build our house in Washington (the one we sold and said goodbye to, last July). The frame house project was in its earliest stages when this photo was taken, probably Septemberish. We would be building on 3.68 acres (yes, that is a detail I may never forget) out in the country, far from the home we were renting, and winter was on its way. We wanted the kids with us as much as possible while we worked. Ultimately, the straw got wet and sprouted wheat. Also, it sprouted mice, which lent an eerie, fairy-tale drama to the whole hut experience, and provided fodder for outlandish tales that Maurya (our second daughter) still likes to shock us with. We were not quite finished with the big white house when we dismantled the little straw house; eventually, all that straw enriched my gardens. A lovely cycle, really.
