A Little Sand In Our Shoes

We took the afternoon off and headed to the beach. A little sand in the shoes, a little saltwater behind the ears, a little wind in the hair, just the ticket. I am still so new at identifying all the little things we find at the shore. I think I know more than last year but never enough. So many little glinting mysteries in the sand. So glad to watch the boys pawing around on the edge of the sea just as curious as I am and never ready to leave.

The Nature Table

We came through Hurricane Irene with hardly a wound. Our property is high and so we stayed dry although there is some flooding on the shore nearby and in some low-lying areas. The big old trees around our house all held and though we have leaves and few branches to clean up, there were no major collapses. We got lucky and I'll take it.

That said, lots of people were hit harder including the farmers at our new CSA. I was pretty shocked to see these photos of the damage on the farm. Hard to say what the rest of the season will look like as far as food stock goes.

But in our corner of the world all is well and the outdoors is still our friend. We are gearing up for schooltime learning season and my maiden voyage into the world of kindergarten homeschool instructor. One of the big changes we've made in our homeschool room/playroom in anticipation has been the creation of a Nature Table.

We've had a Nature Shelf for years now, (see this post, this post and this post for mentions of it) just a little spot on the bottom level of the corner cupboard, china cabinet but I think we've outgrown it. We are to the point where we can sustain a larger collection because there are some older, more conscious children emerging from the baby/toddler world that used to be our family, not to mention with three small collectors (not to mention a collecting prone mama!) we just make a larger collection without trying. And so A's grandmother's beautiful desk has become our larger space for displaying outdoor finds. We have a Nature Table!

 It's also really exciting to have a place where we stash all our guidbooks and identification manuals, right next to the treasures we're examining. I hope to add some magnifying glasses or jeweler's loops to the stash and a set of binoculars for hikes and bird watching out the window.

 I am trying to get the boys and myself outdoors every day, even if it is just for a few minutes of mania running around the big rock in the backyard before dinner prep. I feel like daily contact means connection and relationship with the natural world and in some tangible way it means stress relief and health too. During the "school year" I am hoping to get out for a serious outdoor outing once a week...a hike, a sledding expedition, a fort building, a long lay on the grass watching clouds, a big leaf raking...something. And I am planning to have take along our new art journals and do some kind of art work that reflects some small thing we saw together....a leaf, a bird, a cloud.

I am planning to pick the medium ("Today use these oil pastels to draw what you see.") on a rotating basis and set a time limit for sketching out our art so that it doesn't get to feel like a huge unwieldy project. I have never tackled anything quite this ambitious before and am not sure I will actually do it, or if I will do only sometimes or if it will be a huge success. We'll just have to wait and see!

Happy Learning Season to all of you perpetual life students out there who will be sharpening your pencils along with us...and if you see a guide on identifying insects, send it our way...we suddenly need one!

Forget-me-nots and Ice Storms

I am not sure what the weather is doing outside right now as it is dark and I'm avoiding looking out the windows. It is after all doing it whether I notice or not. The weather man says we're getting an ice-storm just now and that we can expect to be covered in a glistening layer by morning. Here's hoping we don't lose our power.

That's a car.

This afternoon we starting getting a little spitting of fine, sleety rain and the world became very grey indeed. There are waist high snow banks and narrowed driving spaces on every street in town and some places they have taken to hiring front end loaders to come pile the snow in mega-heaps, mountains of ice balls and snow so high that that they will still be melting in April and May, far past when we usually have any sign of winter. It is a different year altogether, no question. I was asking some elderly neighbors the other day about their weather memories and I heard resoundingly that this winter has brought more snow, and more frequent storms than anything they can remember. Pretty darn impressive.

A street I run down when I exercise...not too far from our front door.

The bonus to this much grey, icky weather and the snowbound conditions are the cozy indoor times we're having. We are having long discussions about how different machines work, "Today Mommy lets talk about what makes a snowplow go and then tomorrow I want to hear about how a washing machine works." (That's Ru.) and we're also having snug fires in the fireplace, lots of storytime (We finished the first Little House book...EEP! I need to quickly find a copy of Little House on The Prairie which I thought I already had but didn't.) and I have been keeping up on the housework fairly well which is a big deal.

Happy boys, sledding.

Yes, and there has been some painting. I bought an easel so that I can set up serious shop in the studio/sunroom and today I gave it a trial run. I think as long as I crank all the appropriate bolts tight enough it is super fun and very helpful and I kind of like the active feel of standing while I paint as opposed to sitting at a table which, I didn't expect. Fun to notice these little things.

Messy studio, happy painter.

Most of my paintings are at the framer's because I'm having a few things framed and I accidentally left everything there while I was at it so, I have only two recent things to show you this time. Long time no share on the painting front so once my new display-ables are back I'll share more.

A rocky ocean shore we saw in California with me and Ru on the right side.

Forget-me-nots....also a California scene...flowers in the gardens one of the Missions we visited.

A and I are taking a drawing class together, on Monday nights for the next 10 weeks and I am very excited to see what we learn there and will hopefully have some drawings to share soon. Hooray creation!