Miscellany :: A Hodgepodge of Happenings

This week Royal has been at RA Camp, which turned out to be wonderful timing in our school year since last week he had his Exam, which left my schedule more open. I had the whole week to do all sorts of things I have been needing to do, and even some things I have missed doing for awhile, namely getting outside with my camera.

:: I gave Alice her Term 2 Exam, so now when we jump into Term 3 in August everyone will start off at Week 1 together :-). I just love it when things work out neatly like that!

:: Speaking of Term 3, I was able to hunker down and spend some much-needed time firming up plans for the fall. It will be a trial Term with this schedule, but I am hoping to glean some benefits with a time-based schedule rather than a check-list only schedule. Maybe it will help keep me from feeling pressured to get it all done and just enjoy the learning journey more.

:: As part of this new schedule, I also hope to get outside for a short bit once a week (aside from our Nature Walk time) during the morning with the kids and just begin to open our senses to all the beautiful sights and sounds this time of day beholds. I feel I have been in a dry spell as far as nature observation and study is concerned. I think part of that is due to a little school-life burnout, which is another plus for having this week off from normal school routines. And just look at a few of the things we experienced when we got outdoors this week:

     ~I took Alice and Almanzo down to the river for an hour one morning just to play in the water and see what we could see.

The sand bar is pretty barren as far as greenery goes; however, as I was sitting and looking around at the rocks in the sand, I spied a small caterpillar. Then another. And another. And another! They were everywhere!!! So I called the kids over to see, and of course they had to hold them.

   























~Alice happened to look through our kitchen window one afternoon at our empty Cardinal nest ... except that it wasn't empty. But it wasn't a Cardinal (or any winged creature for that matter). It was a frog! I guess he just wanted some alone time in a cool, shady place for awhile. Maybe even frogs need a break from the routine?

     ~We still get lots of visits from our Cardinal friends. They come to our feeder daily. We have noticed various juveniles in the mix as well. It is interesting because we hear their high-pitched chirps, see their tousled coiffure and observe them still being fed from time to time by their mother and wonder if they are our Cardinal babies. Yet they are obviously not babies. They are quite big now. We even see the juvenile males, their coloring mottled ... somewhat like an adult female; however, their breast has reddish hues, altogether different than the opposing sex. 

     ~Oh, and a cool dragonfly. We have seen numerous of these this month! The common whitetail, I just found out.

This is a female. The male actually has a white tail.

:: Purging & prepping for a garage sale has also been going on around here. I am motivated to trim down on our stuff. Less can be so much more satisfying. 

:: Next week will also be another week off from our school-life routine. I am looking forward to it. We will be traveling to Wimberley and I will be attending the wonderfully planned retreat that Silvia and Heather {et al} have been working on over the past several weeks. I pray it is refreshing to us all and a blessed time with new friends.