a gypsy caravan

wisdom from frank lloyd wright

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright told how a lecture he received at the age of nine helped set his philosophy of life: 

An uncle, a stolid no-nonsense type, had taken him for a long walk across a snow-covered field. At the far side, his uncle told him to look back at their two sets of tracks. "See, my boy," he said, "how your foot prints go aimlessly back and forth from those trees, to the cattle back to the fence and then over there where you where throwing sticks? But notice how MY path comes straight across, directly to my goal. You should never forget this lesson!" 

"And I never did", Wright said, grinning. "I determined right then not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."

more bird drawings

Here are some recent drawings the kids have done during our casual bird study.  

Mary's Red Winged Blackbird

 

and Bluebird

 

and American Goldfinch

 

Chris' Northern Cardinal

 

and Goldfinch

Ben's Goldfinch

 

and Bluejay

 

burton wetlands nature preserve

 

Lake Kelso is a glacial kettle lake, home to many rare species of animals, insects and plants.

 

Mary sketching the bog

A "yiddle baby turtle" that Annie spotted

 

Annie's renditions of above turtle

 

Ben on the lookout.  There are many osprey in the area but we didn't see any on this trip.

Cinnamon fern growing around the bog.  I like the way they slowly uncurl.

Mayapple

and their hidden blossoms.  This was a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.  We have quite a lot of local marshland as well as many small lakes in the area to explore.  I am looking forward to getting to know them all with the kids.

there was a child went forth

There was a child went forth every day;
And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became;

And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of  

the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

 And the early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,

And the Third-month lambs, and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the mare's foal, and the cow's calf,

And the noisy brood of the barn-yard, or by the mire of the pond-side,

 
And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there--and the beautiful curious liquid,

 
And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads--all became part of him...

The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of him;

Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow corn, and the esculent roots of the garden,

 And the apple-trees cover'd with blossoms, and the fruit afterward,

and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road;

...These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day.

--Walt Whitman

red winged blackbird drawings

The kids and I will be very casually studying birds this summer.  We last studied them when Ben was in about second grade.  My plans are simply to read about a bird from the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock once or twice a week, try to spot one in nature and then sketch the bird in our nature notebooks.   Our new home is such a great source for bird watching, because of the woods, pond and creek. We have several feeders around the property so it shouldn't be hard to spot a variety of species at any given time. 

For a little inspiration to start off our bird sketching, I read aloud The Boy Who Drew Birds which is a picture book about John James Audubon.  As usually happens with this type of study, we also learned a few other things and got to talking about migration, bird banding and the art of John James Audubon.  

I will probably post their drawings each week, just for my own enjoyment and record keeping.  I hope you enjoy them, too.

parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

 

I have always found it to be very therapeutic to dig in the dirt.  I have a great love of gardening in general, whether it be perennial flowers, vegetables or little pots of pansies on the front porch.  Yesterday, Christopher spent quite a while planting herbs in a divided basket.  I used to have an herb garden at a previous home but the soil here is fairly shallow with a thick layer of shale beneath.  There are a large number of tree roots to work around so we thought pots might be a better choice. 

 Parsley, sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, chives and cilantro

Benjamin took care of planting several sweet basil plants in pots for me.  I have a favorite recipe for basil pesto that I make quite often in the summertime. 

  
Mary chose a flower to plant that she could care for.  We picked a sunny spot in the yard where she could watch it grow.  She planted in memory of two goldfish pets that have died since we moved here.

  Seashell and Treasure Box's little grave that Mary made.

Annie chose a Dahlia to plant.

 As I mentioned, the property is rocky so we have pots anywhere we can find a bit of sun.  I kind of like the way the yard is beginning to look, kind of whimsical and colorful with little niches and growing spots.   There is a beautiful, magical garden center/family farm nearby that has tiny flower fairies to put in the pots and little teeny dollhouse sized wheelbarrows and garden tools for only a couple of dollars.  I may try to sneak over there on the sly and get a couple to put in the girls' pots to surprise them.  I think they would like that.

Have a beautiful day! 

belly shots :)