Conker Crazy

"I'm conker rich" exclaimed my son as he went into a conker collecting frenzy this weekend. Its October, and the horse chestnut trees are dropping their presents. Last year we missed it somehow and he only collected a handful, but not this year, no he was on top of it, eyeing up the trees since the beginning of September. There's one large horse chestnut nearby that has yet to drop the conkers, and we just have to go visit it again at week's end to collect more. Poor squirrels don't get a look in.

Conkers are not something I remember from my childhood, I guess we didn't have horse chestnut trees in the city, but I have to say that I really do like them. Some were already out of their shells, but many we had to crack open to reveal the smooth coffee coloured nut. At the Steiner kindergarten here in the village they have baskets full of conkers as part of the play things, conkers that the kids have collected through the years. My son attended an open day and ever since has been obessesed with conkers. They feel so good in your hands, rolling them about, its relaxing to feel their smoothness and observe the different patterns embedded within them. One has a spiral-like pattern, another just pure chestnut brown. My husband tried to get my son to play 'conkers' where you have to throw them at each other to break, but my son wasn't having any of it, NO breaking his conkers apart.