{Keeping} :: My Commonplace

Think of a place you have traveled to that was the most amazing, enthralling, wondrous, breath-taking sight you have witnessed. 

Perhaps someplace unexpected, or even not-so-far from home...maybe a destination you had excitedly planned to visit, 

but experiencing it first-hand was even more awesome than you could have imagined.

Do you have it in your mind? 

Do you remember those feelings?

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Although there was no enemy or other danger to be perceived, 

they felt the apprehension and doubt of those who have come unawares upon some awe-inspiring place where they themselves are paltry fellows of no account. 

When Marco Polo came at last to Cathay, seven hundred years ago, 

did he not feel

--and did his heart not falter as he realized--

that this great and splendid capital of an empire had had its being all the years of his life and far longer, 

and that he had been ignorant of it? 

That it was in need of nothing from him, from Venice, from Europe? 

That it was full of wonders beyond his understanding? 

That his arrival was a matter of no importance whatever? 

We know that he felt these things, and so has many a traveler in foreign parts who did not know what he was going to find. 

There is nothing that cuts you down to size like coming to some strange and marvelous place where no one even stops to notice that you stare about you.

Watership Down

Richard Adams

p303

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I can just imagine what Hiram Bingham felt as he came upon this forgotten Incan city in the clouds.
And after clearing away all the over-growth, what a spectacular fortress for all to see and wonder about.

Davy Crockett Birthday Fun

I can't believe I have a 9-year-old now. 

Royal, as you may have seen in previous posts here, here and here is my wannabe frontiersman. He is always talking about guns, trapping, fishing, hunting and longing for about a million acres of his own on which to roam free and wild. ... His own private frontier.

Several months ago he decided he wanted a Davy Crockett birthday.

I obliged with simple, practical festivities.

After morning muffins and the "big gift", we invited friends to a local outdoor museum where frontier life could be imagined, complete with wagons, an old one-room schoolhouse, jail, office and teepees.

We had a campfire cake...

...and passed out bandanas with basic food supplies for a long day's hike inside (nuts, popcorn, jerky and candies)

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Some of the more revered and Crockett/Frontier-specific treasures:

A fun day's celebration in honor of a great kid!

{Handicrafts} :: Father's Day Gift

This week for {Handicrafts} I wanted to share a fun, out-doors-y gift for Dad (or Granddad!)

I am not the best at planning handicrafts as gifts ahead of time. I usually fail in this department. Most of the time it's a mad dash to get it all together, then a big flop. I was hoping this time would be a success. I think it was! (or will be since we haven't gifted these yet). So I thought maybe I would share this in case any of you needed a last-minute idea for Dad too :-)

I found a couple of candle holders at the dollar store that were fairly heavyweight glass.

Then we went around and picked up sticks in our yard...

...cut them at differing heights with pruning shears...

...and hot-glued them around the candle holders. Jute twine added for final touches :-)

Voila! 

A cool candy jar for Dad to set on his desk at work for a sweet pick-me-up during the day.

{Nature Study} :: Mosquitos

As is typical this time of year in the south, we are dealing with mosquitos...especially after all these rains we've had. On our yard walks, we normally stroll by the bird bath to check for mosquito larva swimming around. If they are present, we dump the water out so as to help minimize the ever-abundant mosquito population. 

One day, however, we decided perhaps we should study these little insects for our nature study.

Royal scooped up a specimen for closer inspection and observation. 
We then proceeded to read a little about the mosquito and its life cycle in our Handbook of Nature Study. 
We also used hand lenses for a more up-close and personal look at these tiny creatures.

Royal's nature journal entry about the mosquito larva:

It is small (about 1cm long) and hairy.
It has a greenish-brown body, a black head. Little hairs stick out the back.
Found in our front yard bird bath.
Egg sac floats on top of water.


Alice's entry:

It has bumps on its body, and hairy spikes.
We found it in our bird bath and we caught one.
It has a black head and it wiggles.

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After leaving the larva in the vial for a few days, we came back to see it had transformed into a pupa. How cool was that?!?

Thus, another entry into our journals...

Royal's reads:

It is small and shrimp-looking.
It has a hairy tail.
It is about 1cm.
It has a big head with hairs sticking out.
It has a small eye.
It has about 3 hairs on each body section.
It is wiggly like the larva.
It stays at the top of the water a lot.
It breathes out of something called a trumpet.


Alice's reads:

It has a tail.
It is a little wiggly.
In 2 days it's a mosquito.

Yep! That's a mosquito, folks!

A.MAZING.

{Keeping} :: May's Firsts

If April weren't busy enough, May was the craziest month (nature-wise) that I have ever experienced!!!

Here's a quick run-down of our May here in Texas...


7 - mama cardinal not on the nest so much today; thought we saw a tiny crack in one of the eggs; first baby hatched! 
     (For more on our Northern Cardinal nature study, read this post.)

   - earthquake at 5:20pm (4.0)



8 - the other two baby cardinals hatched; mama ate eggshells

Aren't they precious?!?

11 - Glory seen feeding babies; later brought food to mama, who in turn shared with her brood

The whole family :-)

15 - only see two baby birds now in the nest 
     - Carolina wolf spider spotted in various holes in our yard; they like to bring their large white egg sacs to the surface. (More on our Carolina wolf spider study here.)

     - large tadpoles in pond



17 - fireflies



18 - only one baby cardinal in nest

     - tomato plant blooms
     - empty nest :-(
     - cactus bloom

23 - wolf spider babies - eek!

28 - house finch visited our yard :-)



29 - wettest May on record; major flooding this month; river is at its highest level today at over 28' gauge height!

     - Standing Cypress flower blooms

31 - officially just over 20" of rain this month! Although May is usually the wettest month of the year, the average is only a bit under 5"

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I can't believe I just started keeping a Calendar of Firsts in January.

Now I am seeing so many things I never knew about and am excited to have record of when I can expect to see these same nature-wonders next year!

How is your Calendar of Firsts coming along?

{Handicrafts} :: Leatherwork with Nana

I love that the grandparents live just up the hill from us. It is so convenient for a variety of reasons! One of those reasons is that they have a good supply of handicraft materials, including supplies to make things out of leather.

As Royal is completely enamored with the frontier lifestyle (namely Davy Crockett) and Alice enjoys her fair share of Little House play, they love any opportunity to work on a project that involves leather.

Nana supplied all the materials AND the helping hand :-)

Royal designed a sheath for his pocket-knife.

Grandpa did all the hole-punching with the leather-punch tool, then Royal worked at sewing it all up.

Alice practiced some hand-sewing up each side of a long piece of soft leather, with Nana making final touches, including the strap and some butterfly bling :-)

Now it's time to go out and shoot a bear...

Royal, donning his leather bullet pouch, canteen, coon-skin hat and moccasins.

Nature Calls: Out & About!

It is summer vacation for most. 
Down time. 
No school. 
Free to play all day...

Around here Dad's job is actually busier now than at any other time. And it's ridiculously hot outside these summer months. So we school!
But when he gets a couple of days off, we join the majority and enjoy some end-of-spring and summertime fun.
This week we had two glorious days of nature-loving activity around here.

Day 1: a local state park

Due to the insane amount of rain during the month of May, we couldn't hike any trail except to the spillway (which, in our opinion, ended up being wonderfully refreshing and enjoyable altogether).

Our noses were greeted with a fantastic sweet aroma, of which we soon discovered was coming from the Basket Flower. I always thought these were thistles, but they only resemble them in appearance. They are not at all prickly like a thistle. This is where Miss Mason's sanctioning the close observation of nature pays off!

Basket Flower

Besides the Basket Flower, we also were inspired to find the name of this pretty purple bloom, which turns out to be a Lemon-Mint (also having a nice fragrance). Interestingly, it contains an oil from which cintronellol is obtained. The dried and crushed leaves rubbed on the body can serve as a modest insect repellant!

Lemon-Mint

A glowing red mushroom...

Hiking atop the dam, we came to the spillway and were amazed by the sight of water rushing down several falls, something we had never seen before due to the drought of years past. It was so invigorating...

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Day 2: hiking up the creek near our house 

Again, it is amazing how the presence of water changes things. Appearance. Attitude. Animal-life.

Our usual creek scene, due to all the flooding, had been changed because of mudslides and movement of rocks to where at times it was difficult to remember where certain points of interest were previously located.

But the massive amounts of water also cleaned up the look of the creek. It was so delightful to walk through smooth shallow pools and over modest, refreshing cascades.

And on our way home, we gathered some wildflowers for a pretty table bouquet, consisting of the Lemon-Mint, Meadow Pink and Mountain Pink.

A pleasant reminder of our days out & about in nature.