"Never be within doors...

Spring is in the Air!

2011-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just ask the birds! We have a very popular yard with really big, juicy worms!

Lake Tahoe

2011-05-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Although down here in the valley we are snowless there was plenty going over Mt. Rose summit! I was so surprised to see how blue the lake is!
There is some sandy beach but we mostly found rocky beaches (we did not want to $$$)!

The water was beautiful!

In amongst the brown of early spring the moss was beautiful!

And the litchen was neon!!

Shudder...

2011-05-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

Western Black Widow

Sierra Nevada/Great Basin

2011-04-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

We got to start our exploring of the area, it is beautiful! Most of the pines here are Jeffery Pines, but there are some Ponderosa Pines. The smell was wonderful!

With the little bit of snow patches we found a couple animal tracks, the kids thought that was very exciting!

2011-03-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

See the pretty snowflakes
Falling from the sky;
On the walls and housetops
Soft and thick they lie.
On the window ledges,
On the branches bare;
Now how fast they gather,
Filling all the air.

Outside there is a Pine Tree
Standing straight and tall.
It needs no decorations
Nature’s done it all.
Pinecones on its branches
With icicles glistening bright
Snow upon its needles
And birds at rest from flight
I see it from my window
And take the time to say
Thank you for your beauty, tree,
On this winter day.

Catch & Release

2011-03-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

Nevada!

2011-03-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

Nevada Desert...
Nevada Mountians...
LOTS more to explore!

Solace

2011-03-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

~ Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of time. ~
H. P. Lovecraft

This is my place of solace, my Grandma's beach. It is the thing I miss most when we leave, and what calls me when I'm gone.

New scenery with our new adventure coming soon!

Light in the Dark

2011-02-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.

~ Persian Proverb

Backyard Today!

2011-01-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

Virgin River Gorge

2010-12-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Every time we drive through The Gorge I am in awe, it is so beautiful! This last time we stopped for the first time at the campsite on the north side and had a picnic. It was so windy (as it always is driving through) and a little cold (it was November), but oh so beautiful!

Late Fall...

2010-12-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

in San Diego looks a little different than late fall in Connecticut.

Summer Fun!

2010-07-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a very strange July here in San Diego, cloudy, and pretty cool. But we have had lots of adventures and plenty of outside time, even if the quality of outside time is a little diminished in this more urban environment.

We enjoyed lots of sun in Utah visiting grandma, the first two are from grandma's backyard. The spider web was in our neighbors yard, we can see it from our kitchen sink, the lizard we found at the local botanical garden! And the last, well I don't know what they are but I am scared of them and fascinated by them all at once, luckily the poison wielding men in this house keep forgetting about them and I'm not as concerned now that the window has new screening on it! :)

What are you enjoying outdoors this summer?

Summer!

2010-06-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

I know a place where the sun is like gold...

~ Ella Higginson

Happy Summer!

2010-05-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Art is mans nature, nature is God's art.

~Philis James Bailey

The Colorado Dessert

2010-05-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

In March we went to see the wild flowers in the Anza Borrego State Park! It was beautiful! In Coyote Canyon the ground was just covered in flowers!

The yellow is Dessert Dandelion, the other two I am not sure!

This is a Dessert Lily, they were really beautiful!!

This an Ocotillo tree, they only have leaves during the rainy season, and of course flowers only if all the conditions are right!!

Ocotillo leaves!

Brittlebush.

I LOVED this flower, so delicate compared to most desert flowers! I think this is the Desert Mallow!

Not sure about this one...

Beavertail Cactus.

This is half way up Palm Canyon!

Male California Quail, it was fun to tell the kids this is the Calif. state bird!

Another one, there was actually a couple but I was not fast enough to get the female!

Barrel Cactus!

The ocotillo's flowers!

Teddybear Cholla.

I thought this was a type of sage, but I can not find it in my field guide!

I thought this was just beautiful!! It is a Fairy Duster, in the pea family! Funny hu!!

We got this great book, Cactus Desert check it out!

If you ever have the chance to see the desert in bloom TAKE IT!!!!!

What a Treat!

2010-04-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

We decided to go out to the Elfin Forrest Reserve again and we were met with everything blooming! It is crazy to think in just a few more months the plants will all be in survival mode with the heat and dryness. They are beautiful now!! California Lilac

I was really taken with it!!
The hillsides were spotted bluish purple with them!

The flowers are not as big as the ones that grew in my yard in Connecticut, but beautiful all the same!!

Miner's Lettuce

So tiny!!

Maybe - Red Columbine

The reservoir, we've had LOTS of rain (for here anyway)!!

Same as the maybe Red Columbine!

Some kind of Lily!

Half way back down from the reservoir we got a nice view of the ocean!

This looks like some kind of Morning Glory, but I am not sure which!

Pacific Pea

I love mushrooms, so cute!! My husband teases me about photographing fungi!! :)

What we call mustard plant, it is everywhere here because the Padres planted it along the trail to lead from one Mission to another up the whole coast of California. Now they are everywhere!!

And how could we be in California without the California Poppy! So pretty and cheerful!!

Watch for our next batch of photos, we went out to the Anza Borrego Desert to see the wildflowers blooming!!

And I found this on another homeschooling mom's blog, it is a live cam of a mama barn owl and her babes. It is broadcast from the next town over from us. When I was growing up we often had barn owls in one of out tall palms, and occasionally a baby would fall out. The mama could not get it back in the tree so we would get it in a box (no small feat, there mean!!) and call a local man who took care of wild animals and then released them. He had a pet mountain lion that would follow him around like a dog!!

New Places...

2010-04-02T09:04:00.001-07:00

First Trip to Elfin Forrest, it was nice to get away from the track houses!
Spring in San Diego is my favorite, all the dry places are completely beautiful!!

And you find green where there is usually not so! Especially this year as we have had an El Nino weather system.

The flowers where just starting to bloom (this is late February).

Even mushrooms! I love taking pictures of mushrooms!

More little mushrooms!

These hills make me feel at home! Just the sight of them can make me sigh. :)

This is a Coastal Live Oak, it is an oak tree, just not what most people would identify as an oak!

The oak's canopy.

I love the way the coastal oak will grow into a tunnel, it is magical to walk into and the temperature instantly goes a few degrees down!

Water sure is attractive, have you noticed that?

There will be more trips!!

Some of The Last From Here...

2010-01-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

End of the Season Finds!

2009-11-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some weird ants that were coming out of the ground in droves and flying all over, the ground was black with them and the air filled!
I was in the kitchen one afternoon and looked out the slider and found this guy! When we opened the door he make a break for it, he wanted to come in! We got some good pictures and the kids got to see their first praying mantis!

I have always enjoyed looking at the moon, it is so beautiful!

Don't these turkeys know they should be in hiding in November!!

Turtle Adventure!

2009-09-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

So just the other day as we were driving through town Riley spotted a turtle about to go into the road! So we pulled over and mom rescued the turtle... a baby SNAPPING TURTLE!!! We brought him home, caught crickets, and named him, Spike! But much to everyones cringe, mom would not hear of keeping him. But we did keep him for a few days before relocating him to a nice pond!

Here are some pictures from his release party! Look at those claws!
So little!

Spikes new home!

Bye Spike!

Backyard Wildlife!

2009-08-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

With the new babe we have spent so much time in our backyard instead of gallivanting around the country so we are finding LOTS of critters we have never seen (or maybe not noticed) before! Every summer we listen to the song of the cicada, and this year we have actually found a couple of their shells! They are now residing in our nature basket!
The boys found this snake in the more wooded part of our yard (the part they call "The Hiking Area"), it is an Eastern Ribbon Snake!

And this cool find! These are salamander eggs, and then they started hatching! They were put back right where they were found!

Any wildlife in your backyard?

Morning

2009-07-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

Look who we found out back this morning!!

A Groundhog also known as a Woodchuck or an Eastern Marmot!

Needless to say it has started quite a few rounds of, "How much wood could a..."! :) We watched him and found out he is living under our shed, he must have scared off the opossum that use to live under there!!

The groundhog was neat to see but look at this beautiful sight we also enjoyed this morning!

So beautiful!

Summer!

2009-07-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Our summer has been mostly about the backyard, but there are always wonderful things to find there! Dandelions in our nature journal!
Blueberries in our tummys!

And the Heavens in our hearts.

Lucky?

2009-04-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well Riley did not find a four leaf clover (he has the notion they are easy to find because my husband has found three in his lifetime), but we did discover the first dandelions of the year! Now we just need to wait for them to appear in our yard! I am so glad spring is here!!

The Crocuses Have Waned...

2009-04-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

But the daffodils are beautiful!The ones in the front bloomed a few days ago, but today was the first day we have had sunshine since.
I love daffodils, they are one of my favorites!
~
You do know how they got THEIR name right?
And the famous POEM too!

Sunshine!

2009-04-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

The sun was just too beautiful the other day to not roam around the yard and take a few pictures! Plus it was 72 degrees F.!! Now if it would only stop voling back to the 40's in between the warm days!! :) Here are my crocus's again, soon there will be daffodils to show (my favorite)! :)
We found this bird house discarded and thought we'd put it up and see if we got any takers! We will be watching!

And you know it is spring when the skunk cabbage is returning! At least it is a pretty green, there really is not much else nice to say about it! I mostly just remind the kids to NEVER mess with it!!

I am so happy spring has sprung!!!

I know!

2009-03-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? Mostly hibernating inside with the spring fever ever increasing! But LOOK it is coming!!

Feathered Finds!

2009-02-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Well our little feathered friends have been pretty sparse the last few days and are now today only starting to reappear. I was wondering if the neighborhood cats were being too noisy or if the kids were, but then we spotted...
This guy! Way up in the tree, the tree closest to our house (the one with my clothes line attached to it). Thank goodness for cameras with zoom!! :)

Look at that! Beautiful! It was pretty windy this day and I took many pictures all with a branch right in the way. And then just at the right second the branches parted, he looked right towards me and my camera cooperated! Look at those talons!! Now for the bummer, being from the west with different feathered fliers, and my seemingly major ineptness to using the field guide I have no clue what kind of hawk this is. Dan suggested a red tailed hawk (he has not seen it) because they are common here so I looked that up but I really do not think so! So any suggestions? Kathy? You know the neighborhood birds pretty well! :)

One of Our Visitors!

2009-01-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well our make-shift bird feeder has attracted quite a few different birds!We have seen SO many of this bird that I thought I'd give you a shot of it! :)
From looking at our field guide we think they are Darked-eyed "Slate-colored" Junco!
We have also seen a wood-pecker, cardinals, black caped chickadee, and a few others! What birds do you have in your yard?

BURRR!

2009-01-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

This is how we do nature study in the winter, through the window! :) The trees looked beautiful!

The poor birds though, it was a solid two inch block of ice in their feeder covering their food!

This ice stayed around for three days without melting!!

This frog has the right idea! This is one of the frogs at the Children's Museum, hibernating under the soil, but right up front where we can see him!! I wish I could live under a heat lamp these days!!

And three frogs on the wall! :) I thought these guys were funny!

Happy Nature Studying!

Bringing Nature a Little Closer!

2008-12-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

It is a bit chilly these days but we thought we could get a good view of some of our backyard neighbors if we offered them a little treat!

We just nailed a pie-tin to one of the posts on our deck and filled it with wild bird seed. And for part of Jake's fun for the week we have been reading Cranberry Thanksgiving, so we made a cranberry string for the critters to enjoy too!

What critters do you see during the winter?

One of The Few...

2008-11-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

enjoyable things about having no leaves during the winter is getting to see the moon MUCH earlier! During the summer when we have so much beautiful foliage we can not see the moon until it is almost directly over head, which is usually pretty late! So it is very enjoyable to be able to look out my back door in the kitchen and see the moon rising through the trees.

I love to see the moon (especially if I can stay warm inside)!! Remember it is past my threshold for chilly temperatures now!! :)

What is outside your winter window?

The Last of Our Fall Leaves!

2008-11-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Kent Falls State Park

2008-10-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

All of these photos are from Kent Falls State Park (except the last), Kent was organized as a city in 1739! Can't you just imagine the Native Americans fishing and working near these falls?! The falls at the bottom, going up!
Can you see the perfectly round holes burrowed by the water?
Part of the falls!
Now up close, look at the right of this photo, see the one round rock in the hole? Neat hu!
Mushrooms growing out of a tree!

I LOVE canopies!
One beautiful red leaf!
The peeking mushroom growing inside a hollowed tree.
Perfectly white mushrooms peeking out!
Today on the town green, I love canopies!

Fall in Full Swing!

2008-10-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

On the way to the airport yesterday to drop of Dan we snapped a couple fun photos! This pond is so pretty, but with the added fall foliage it is just breathtaking!
These guys have been eluding my camera for a couple weeks, but we finally caught them... barely! Wild turkeys! I remember the first time I saw these was at my in laws house in PA, it was so foreign to me! :) Do you see the baby?
This one is a bit clearer!

For a good turkey story try Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey!

Happy Fall!

Today!

2008-09-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

We spent most of our day outdoors, or in the car! :) Here are some nice fall pictures!Apple picking in Cheshire!
Hubbard Park in Meridian.
The view from Craig Castle in Hubbard Park.
Hubbard Park.
On a walk near the Lock #12 in Cheshire. I love to look up through the trees on sunny days! (The rest of these photos are from our walk along the canal near lock 12.)
The fall colors are beginning to peak out!
On this maple tree on ever branch most of the leaves were still green but there would be one on the tip that had changes already! So pretty!

Wild flowers!
Clover and wild flowers!
Too bad this is a bad weed that I took out of my flower bed, it has such pretty flowers!
We even saw some wildlife, ducks, squirrels, and a sign that said Caution Nesting Swans Attack! EEKK! :)
In one part of the canal there were quite a few lily pads, too bad there was also trash, it was tricky to get a shot without trash showing. :(

SPIDERS!

2008-09-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well it is pretty obvious that fall is creeping up on us as the spiders come creeping too! I found these three big ones when I went out to hang my laundry, the first two were on my line and the third on the ground and moving fast!

Creepy!!

Today in our Backyard!

2008-09-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Mom's nature journal for today...
tall sunflowers...
baby pumpkin....
black eyed susans...
and a grasshopper!

If you make this photo bigger it is truly amazing!
~
Recently my cousin Nancy was perusing our nature blog, and was so thoughtful to send me a CD she enjoys where all the songs are inspired by bugs! So here are a couple videos for you Nancy!

Did you see him jump?

And here he is walking around a bit!

Beach fun!

2008-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

"... The nicest part about the sea

Is feet beneath it, wiggling free.

So in the soft white sand I sit,

My toes deep-buried, loving it."

~Maureen C. Meadows

Maybe not "white" sand but still just as enjoyable! :)

There were not rocks on the beach, but shells...LOTS of them!

If you look at the middle then just a finger over to the left there is a light colored little crab! To the right is a hermit crab who was bugging the crab!

There are several sea snails on this rock, then the next picture is an up close of the oyster shell that is fused to the rock in the middle left of this picture.

If you look into the oyster shell there are a couple more sea snails in there!

And this was the first hermit crab Riley caught, he caught quite a few of them. But mom was a spoil sport and said we could not take them home! :) But it was a fun activity that kept him engaged for a couple hours!

These are all from the Light House Point Beach in New Haven, CT. on the Long Island Sound! :)

Our Beautiful Country!

2008-07-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

On our recent trip across a good portion of the country I got to take a few photos, definitely not as many as I would have liked to! :) Crossing the Mississippi, It is amazing how wide it is!
I think this was in Iowa, I was driving but wanted the photo so bad that I had Dan taking a million to try and get what I wanted! :) Thanks Dan!
Here we are leaving the Denver area headed into the Rockie Mountains! Yes those are buffalo, we had just been at the Buffalo Bill museum.
There were quite a few streams and small waterfalls through the mountains, and still plenty of snow to feed them!
Do you see anything odd about that mountain? Here's the hint, what is in the bottom of the picture but not on the top? (answer at the bottom of this post)
The Colorado river was very pretty, we got to drive along it for quite a while. But I do have to say East bound is better, you are right down next to the river instead of above.
After Grand Junction, Co. until Salina, Ut. there is NOTHING, no services and no cell phone service! There are not too many places you can go like that anymore! Plus it is about 150 miles between the two! But is was beautiful, sometimes when you are living in all the beautiful green of the East you forget just how beautiful the dessert can be! And so geologically stimulating! :)
This is 4th of July night, we were waiting for the fireworks to start when I noticed Heavenly Father's own light show, the clouds parted for us to see the crescent moon!

*Answer to the odd mountain, there are no trees on it, it was above the tree line! Crazy hu!

Last Night!

2008-06-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

We have the "Let's Read and Find out Science" book called Flash, Crash, Rumble, Roll! I am sure you can guess what that is about, anyway the kids loved the page on counting after you see the lightning until you hear the thunder to see how far away the storm is. So last night we had a huge thunder storm come through just before dinner, when we first started counting we would just barely get to 10 sec. (1 mile away), we counted all the way to when it was just 3 seconds away! Then we had a while of it shaking the whole house when the flash and the cracking were together! It was wild! And then we started counting it again until it was 10 sec. (1 mile) away on the other side of our house!

Here is a video out the back door, the rain was so heavy and you can hear the cracking of the lightning!!

Nature Study on Vaccation!

2008-06-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

No silly we are not taking a vacation from nature study, we are nature studying while on vacation!! :)

This last week we were down in the Caribbean and boy do I have quite a few photos for you!! But I am having a hard time identifying many, does anyone know a good online source for international nature guides? A new creature!! Look at those observing skills!!
Here was the fiery little crab we met on the grass just up from the beach, he did NOT like us!! :) Unfortunately he was the only seaside creature we met all week, we mostly met mosquitoes. That is one creature I do not feel bad for killing, especially in our room!

I LOVE SPRING!

2008-05-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

It is so amazing after the long winter! Here is another Jack-in-the-Pulpit we spotted in the "hiking area" as the kids call it, it is the wooded part of our yard. I thought it was neat it has two flowers, most of the ones we find only have one!
And our canopy is filling in!!! If you click this picture to enlarge it you will see the sun and shadows of the leaves on each other! So beautiful!

More Backyard Flora!

2008-05-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Spring in Connecticut!!! Common Blue Violet, Viola papilionacea
Common Lilac, Syringa vulgaris
A closer look, I wish I could capture the sent! So wonderful!!
Spinulose Wood Fern, Dryopteris carthusiana (I think!!)
We found another Jack-in-the-Pulpit, this one was so small and it faced away from the yard so that I had to climb into the bed to get a picture. I just find these fascinating!

Late Evening in the Back Yard!

2008-05-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Our blueberry bush has flowers!!
Our strawberry plants have flowers!!
The Purple Trillium in our yard, it is of the Lilli family but does not smell sweet! The field guide says, "foul-smelling flower with 3 purple-red petals alternating with 3 green, pointed sepals".
The "treasure" of our yard, we search for these and have found a few, Jack-in-the-pulpit of the arum family.

Under the canopy! One of my favorite places that I miss in the winter! I am so glad it is back!!

Outside... finally!!

2008-05-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

We are so glad to be outside again!!! Here are a couple good pictures I have gotten lately! Last full moon it was so warm outside that I went out to take a couple pictures and just enjoy the night air before it is swarming with mosquitoes! It is interesting to see the dramatic rotation of the earth with the change of seasons. It is just not something we see so dramatically in Southern California. During the winter the moon rises strait out my back door, this picture I had to turn to the right (almost completely) to see the moon.

We have had some beautiful sunny weather, now it is raining. Oh well you have to have the night to rejoice in the morning and I guess the same goes for having rain to rejoice in the flowers on sunny days! :) Can you see the green sprouting here and there?!?!
Last year my tulips bloomed before the daffodils, this year my daffodils were boomed and mostly gone before the tulips showed. Weird!

BIRDS!!!

2008-04-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hooray, can you believe it we found a pair of birds and their nest to observe and it is in our back yard!!! They are "Black-Capped Chickadees", according to our ability to identify! :) Look strait in the center of this photo, do you see the hole? That is their nest!
The other day Riley and I were out watching them and drawing in our natures journals, since we did not have the little ones it was quiet! Along with all the neighborhood sounds we could also hear them pecking inside the hole to make it more roomy.

This tree is actually a dead one we did not take down because it was so stuck in the one it is leaning on, now I am glad we did not!! :)

The two kept coming back and forth, but one was never far, here is one of them on the outside.
You can see his black cap well in this photo.

And then, after quite a few photos of empty branches....

I got lucky!! I am so pleased with this photo, it is so hard to photograph birds! But I am completely contented now, I at least got one really good shot of a bird while doing our bird study! :)

Frogs & Ants!

2008-04-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the Children's Museum after shopping at Whole Foods, we usually do both on the same day because they are 40 min. away from our house. They are across the street from each other, very convenient! :) Here are some fun we had with nature today! This is my favorite animal in the Children's Museum wildlife area. It is an American Bullfrog, look how wide he is! He just cracks me up, we have never seen him do anything other than what you are seeing him do, but I just think he is hysterical!

Back home we have a great experiment going, and it is actually working!!

Yesterday Riley found an ant hill in one of my flower beds, he decided he wanted to keep it. So he found a container and scooped them in, I was not sure they would stay or if they would do anything, but they are!!
Can you see their tunnels? This is the cheapest ant farm by far!! But the only downside is I wont let Riley bring it inside! :)
Here is the top of it, Riley planted a few plants to make it more "homey"! :)

So to do this fun project all you need is a clear plastic container (our came with salad in it), then find an ant hill preferably one with nice ants (no crazy African fire ants!!). Then just scoop up a good portion of the soil around it with a garden shovel put it in the container and set it somewhere it will not be disturbed, and watch! You may need to add a little water occasionally, not a flood, just a few drops, and it is great fun to give them some cracker crumbs and watch them march off with them!

If you do this we'd love to see yours!!

Hop Brook Lake!

2008-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Their coming!!! I am not sure what kind of bush this is but they are beginning to sprout new growth all over the park!

Here is the "brook" I guess the park is named after, it was so beautiful to hear the rushing water and stand in the sunlight I thought you all might enjoy it too! :)

We're off to go back there right now, unfortunately it is not nearly so sunny and warm today. Yesterday it was in the high 70's and today it is in the mid 50's! What a change, I want to go back to yesterday's weather for a while longer!

The only unfortunate thing about our hike yesterday is that we were hoping to observe a few birds since it is what we are currently studying. We did not see even ONE! It seemed a little weird and a bit creepy to me, maybe the highway noise keeps them away?

Nature Study

2008-04-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

We have left the rocks behind us in search of our new subject, which is always to be seen but just about impossible to photograph. Mainly because I have 1 loud husband, 3 loud children, 1 curious cat, 4 neighborhood stray cats, and 1 mama who just can not seem to find the time to wear her camera and sit at the window! I know you are all shocked! Oh well!

I found this poster at All Posters, I wish they sold it in a slightly smaller version so that I could have it and the winter one on my wall with out having to wallpaper my walls in bird posters! We have quite a few robins, a beautiful blue jay, lots of sparrow-y things, occasionally crows, an owl I can hear but have never seen, and the other day what looked like a pair of turtle doves. I thought that was a little weird, but that is what they looked like. :)

What birds have you seen lately?

It's Coming!!!

2008-03-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

Spring that is!

My daffodils are coming up, also the tulips. And there are many robins about sunning there red breasts in the sun. I am looking for warmer temperatures but it sure is nice to see the sun!

This week we are starting a new nature study topic, BIRDS! Perfect timing! I once saw a poster of all the local birds, I would love one now. So if you have any ideas on where to get one let me know!!

HAPPY EASTER!

Snow!

2008-03-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

Boy am I itching for Spring to come! I am hoping we have seen about the last of the snow, but we will see!

Here is what happens to snow men when it turns warm, they turn into snow cats!! Too funny hu! We read the book "What Snowmen do at Night" a few times as this snowman slowly melted! :) Between daylight savings starting THIS weekend and Easter being so easily this year it seems spring should come early too, it would be nice! Is spring springing around your house?

4 Months!

2008-02-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

It is different to live somewhere with 4 seasons again, not that I had lived in a 4 season climate much before this anyway! But here is the difference in my back yard in 4 months!Out my back door this morning...
...and the top of my yard last October!

Crazy!!

ROCKS!!

2008-02-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well as we are studying about rocks and such we got lucky, they Children's Museum just opened a new exhibit on Dinosaurs, Rocks, & Fossils! Along with this exhibit on CT. rocks, the fossil dig, and mining where you got to keep one of the pretty rocks you found (pictures below) they had taken an old chest of drawers with a ton of drawers that were not too deep and they put different rocks in each with their names and then a bit plexi glass covering it so you can not mix them up. It was fun, we only got to open a few drawers (and could not take a picture) as the line to sit in the jeep was over running the chest, crazy people more interested in some old stationary jeep than cool rocks!! What were they thinking!! :)

Nature Study

2008-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

So since I could not deicide where to post about our nature study activity, I just choose one and so you'll have to jump over to our schooling blog to read all about our Rock and Minerals fun! :) What are you studing this term?

Good Night Moon!

2008-01-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

We have had the most beautiful full moon the last couple nights, and combined with the snow on the ground it has been SO bright outside. If it was not in the single digits (-with the wind chill) you could have played ball outside with out an additional light!

This is the moon tonight rising out our back door, we have a few clouds coming in as we are expecting snow tonight, but it was so pretty!!

"And God made two lights; the greater to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also." ~ Genesis 1:16

Duck & Cover!

2008-01-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

So most of the day yesterday we had a thunder storm, at one point I looked out the back and saw this! It looked like a bump on the tree, but I knew that tree did not have a bump! So I got the binoculars out!
And look at this little guy! He has his tail over his head like an umbrella. His eyes were wide, the poor thing looked a bit scared! In between showers and thundering he did make it home! He is a grey squirrel, yes he is black in color but in this area we only have grey squirrels!

Fog!

2008-01-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

~ Carl Sandburg

I can remember learning this in elementary school and the teacher explaining haunches! It just goes to prove that when someone teaches about something they love it is much more memorable!

Outdoors & Indoors!

2008-01-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Last Saturday we had a very mild day, it was 50 degrees F.!! So we headed out to enjoy it! We went over to the Hopbrook Dam recreation area, we mostly stayed to the main road since Dan was not with us and the rangers are not there during the off season.
We saw ferns growing up through the snow!
And we had snack next to the lake, the ice had receded a few feet from the edge, but the kids were excited that they could throw a stick to the ice.
We found this HUGE paper wasp nest, it was bigger than a basketball!

And then there is the indoors, which is were I AM STAYING!!
Here is the sliding door in our kitchen this morning, it was 5 degrees with a wind chill of -10 when I got up! Even now 3 hours later it is 8 degrees!!! Every window we have not gotten plastic on was icy!!!
Here is the ice on the bottom of the door, this is crazy.

A Warmer Memory!

2007-12-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

I know I have been terrible at identifying, I just so enjoy looking, plus it is rather hard to identify mushrooms. At least for me!! I thought I would post from when we could play outside (and not freeze). Actually the boys went out to play for a bit today, it got all the way up to the low 40's!! I am cold in the house in the mid 60's. Maybe I should move back to the beach! :)

So here is a cute bunch of mushrooms from the Roaring Brook Nature Center, some where out on their trails! And here is a poem I read over at Earth is Crammed with Heaven that I fell in love with, so much so I added it to my common place journal!

The mushroom is the elf of plants,

At evening it is not;

At morning in a truffled hut

It stops upon a spot

As if it tarried always;

And yet its whole career

Is shorter than a snake's delay,

And fleeter than a tare...

Emily Dickinson

Fern!

2007-12-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

Popping out of the 5 inches of snow! It just amazes me that they can survive!

An Icy Morning!

2007-12-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

"Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky..."

~William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Lessons in Nature!

2007-12-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the fun times we have had in nature. Sadly we are at the end of me going outside, I am just unable to be in the cold. So we are trying to keep warm yet in budget this season!We learned about gravity!
We saw a really COOL bug at Aunt Donna & Uncle Jody's Farm. They found it while splitting wood, it is called a click beetle. It layed on it's back most of the time and did make a clicking sound!
And we learned what happens when the road gets too snowy! :)

Back Yard Nature!

2007-11-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

Can you guess what critter was on our back porch the other night getting into the trash I left out? One more clue... he wears a thief's mask! It is the same kind of animal that stole all my corn out of my garden this summer!!
We have been having AMAZING sunsets that my camera (or lack of skills with my camera) just can not capture. But here is a try. This is out the front window of my house then I ran out the back door and...
Took this picture, it was AMAZING, the whole back yard had this pink glow to it! All the leaves on the ground and in the trees were on fire with this pink glow, it was so beautiful. I wish I could share it more with you!

As for the snow poll, well we still have not had snow, we are chilly but no snow. They are forecasting snow for mid November on Accuweather.com, man I love them! We will wait and see!

The Sun.

2007-11-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pictures of the sun during the fires in Southern California. I took these in Laguna Beach, there was the San Diego fires to the south and the Irvine fire to the north east. This is the sunset, isn't the glow on the water amazing!
Joel 3: 15.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Makes you wonder hu.

Fall Is Diffrent Everywere!

2007-10-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back after a week and a half in Southern California, yes you are correct, bad timing! Being a native San Diegian this is not new, but it is always hard. Hopefully being back in CT. my lungs will begin to function again! This is what we woke up to last Monday morning, I was standing in my Dad's driveway when I took this, this is the fire they later named the Witch Fire. We were under a voluntary evacuation order at this point. We did end up evacuating, falling ash and all can be frightening. We did get back in a couple days later and all was well with the house, just LOTS of ash!
The night before we were to come home we went up to Orange County to have a last family dinner with my sister and her family, as I was driving through the intense smoke my hubby was shooting the camera, yes we are crazy! This is out in Camp Penelton, the Marine Base.
Now we are home and fall is in full swing, here is the leaf update!
And the second!

Here are a couple pictures I took of our back yard the day we left for California.
Leaves just barely starting to turn!

Flowers, and grass!

And here is this morning!
Trees in full swing, also getting a bit sparse!
Look at our new back yard carpet!! Dan has his work cut out for him!!

Fall!

2007-10-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

The continued update of our fall foliage! But it will be a bit over a week before I update again, I will be away off where there are no colorful leaves! :) Although I am dreadfully scared I will miss all the colors here!!

Here is our new adventure, Jake's caterpillar wound its self into it's cocoon! I hope he does not unveil while we are gone! Here he is when we found him!

More Colors!!

2007-10-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well here is the third instalment, I took these on Tuesday the 9th.
We have had a bit of rain and are now expecting a good size storm with rain and high winds. So it may kill our fall colors. We will see.
A few more of my poor sunflowers are trying to come out even though it is in the 60's. Here is a Mexican Sunflower or Tithonia Rotundifolia.

5 Days Later!

2007-10-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

As promised I am keeping up with the leaves, somewhat! I wish you all could be here and just go for a walk with me. Today as I was driving up our hill through my favorite part, where all the trees come together and make a tunnel like canopy over the road and as some of the trees have been changing there were a few leaves softly falling, it was all quite fairy tale like and I wished to capture it in a way to share. But there is nothing that would even begin to justify it, so you all will just have to come visit! :)Wednesday October 3, 2007

I spy with my little eye the first color in our back yard!! Can you see it?

Sunflower

2007-10-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

Jerusalem Sunrise Lemon Sunflower (stunted a bit from too late planting).

Sunflowers

Sunflowers always face the sun. In the morning, they face east. By evening, they have turned west. They follow the sun as it crosses each day's sky, so they can gather in as much light as possible. We can be like sunflowers, and turn to the Son, Jesus Christ, and gather spiritual light from Him.

A sunflower seed will grow almost anywhere. You, too, can bloom and grow where you are planted. By desiring to believe and by studying the scriptures prayerfully, you will nurture your personal gospel seed.

As the sunflower grows, small buds soon appear, surrounded by protecting leaves. Like those leaves, your parents, leaders, and teachers surround you, and love you, and protect you, and help your budding testimony grow.

As a sunflower grows taller, its stalk grows thicker, for it must support the large flower that will soon be full of seeds. So your spiritual stalk must grow, and your testimony will grow stronger as you prayerfully read the scriptures that teach of Jesus Christ.

When the sunflower bud opens, bright yellow petals form, and its head becomes a golden crown. The blessings of its growth at last begin to show. And having been born of a seed, it now produces seeds of it's own that nourishes people, animals, and birds. Your testimony will likewise produce its own new seeds, and you will nourish family, friends, and others who will see the Son reflected, like a golden crown, in you.

So turn to the Son. Open your heart to His light. Seek it first thing each morning, follow its warmth across each day's sky, and let its comfort be the last thing you feel each night. Then, when the evening of your life's last setting comes, you will arise to a glorious new morning, and turn again to Him.

~author unknown.

NEW BLOG, NEW SEASON!

2007-09-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well here we are, I decided to start a whole new blog (because I have nothing else to do of course)! This is completely devoted to our findings in nature, all our own pictures, hopefully with identification! I will not post here everyday, just everyday we find something good. Although I have quite a few to post from our summer findings!

The picture in the header is of some toad stools we found on a nature walk last week at the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, CT. We had a great time there and got some GREAT pictures!

Here is my first project, watching the fall foliage appear here in our neck of the woods! Here are the first two photos, taken in the same standing place, one to the right (below) and one to the left (above). I originally thought I would take photos weekly for this project, but the leaves are changing so fast that I will try to take them more often.
These are on Sept. 28, 2007.