First Day of School

 

 

First Day of public school, that is, we spent with another homeschool family at the park--ice blocking on our favorite hill.
It wasn't as glamorous as Not Back to School Disneyland, which is apparentely cancelled until further notice, but it did the trick. It was just something fun to do together, and look forward to.
It only cost 8 ice blocks--and all the energy of 6 active kids....perrrfect.

Nature Journal Notes

Inside my nature notebook I like to--

Transcribe conversations:

July 20, 2011

Between a 3y/o Kingfisher and his 5y/o Mockingbird as we are working in our journals-him in a coloring book.

 

 "His face is blue cuz he ate a lollipop" as he colors.

"Was it a lollipop-or was it ice cream?" his sister projects.

"Both...It was both. He ate so much it dripped all over his coat," as coloring book person is covered in light blue pencil.

"I just love [my brother] --even if he did eat all my makeup." (matter-of-factly)

"Yeah. I was a baby then and didn't know any better....And it got all over his eyes!" --more blue.

"What's your favorite thing about my picture, mom?...What's your favorite thing about my picture mom?...Mom! What's your favorite thing about my picture!" as I finish recording their interchange and eventually look up.

Hermetically seal botanical specimens in Scotch tape:

(because it's easier than drawing, right? If it all fits, it's all good.)

Sketch environments and obliterate them with arrows of memories:

Note things We've Learned:

"April 2012
common dandelion  dent de lion-french for "lion's teeth" referring to teeth on the leaves; orig. from Europe."

Somehow makes more sense than the "Dandy-Lion" I'd always explained it to myself as...when I was 5, I mean. I don't. talk to myself. anymore.

Illustrate creatures that will stay still long enough:

only to later spend 2 hours tearing the house apart when they decide they are still feral-no matter how docile and cute the earlier act was. (much panting----and I sit down.)

Document events:

Like just when the cherries along the path, plums around the chapel, and apricots at the park are ripe for gleaning (lucky for us 1. this neighborhood used to be one huge orchard and 2. apparently no one looks at trees anymore).

and Take note of the seasons:

May 2, 2011 
My husband and children "went to the abandoned 'flower house' at the end of the path & brought these [Grape Hyacinth & Wild Rose] back and a bouquet of tulips (early Mother's Day Request!)"

- isn't the 'flower house' so much more picturesque than its other name- 'the crack house'? sigh.

Outdoor Time is Unpredictable Time

Unexpected Turns while Outside

You just never know what you'll walk into.

A beautiful morning at the "Wilderness Park" with an icy pond we threw rocks in, river we threw Pooh sticks in, and gazebo we found food wrappers and a crumpled old sleeping bag in. I quickly tried to shoo my children away from the homeless homestead, wondering who else was lurking around the "Wilderness" edges. But my 5y/o was trying to make sense of it all.
 "Oh! I know what happened! Someone had a sleepover then their mom called them for breakfast and they had to hurry before making their bed."
I didn't argue, knowing that my explanation would come up in mixed company at some inopportune time in the near future and perhaps put the kibosh on Nature Time without an escort.
"That's right dear--Oh look the swings are free and it's only 9am!"

Or the time we went to a nearby canyon trail to enjoy some peace and be at one with nature and all the rest. So we start to get out of the van and I hear this yelling from a house down and across the street.
Dropping the expletives I was able to make out that some poor thing was madly in love with "him" and some evil mother apparently didn't get "her". I thought it would blow over, but no, it continued and probably echoed off the canyon walls for even the rock climbers to hear.
Fortunately my kids were too young to really notice anything but "these sticky little yellow flowers". Still, I think we left early.Now  we visit a nearby park where a frequenting dog with no leash has taught us to close our

My Favorite Nature Journals



Variations on a Nest in Watercolor

 

 

The Canson 5x7" spiral bound hardback is my all-time favorite field sketchbook for  Nature Journals.

 

Yes, it is a little small-but when we go out I can snap a big rubber band around all 3 (now 4) and throw them in our Nature Backpack, so they travel well. The paper is only 65 lb and warps when we paint on it, but the price is right for children who like to tape inside full-on dandelion heads and Elmer's glue in fairy dresses of layered fall leaves...whatever floats their boat. The spiral binding allows for expansion for all that. When they are older a book with alternating watercolor and sketch paper would be a dream come true. 

 

These are some other Nature Journals for inspiration:

Sketching in Nature

and in case you have some wheat paste lying around a

 19th Century Naturalist Notebook and specimens

Want to see something that will blow your mind!? Take a peek at

 John Muir's Journals.

 

These books come highly recommended:

 Keeping a Nature Journal

How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook

 

 

 

 

 

Epiphanies in the Mother's Lounge

A short while after i had  had a new baby, I was in church, in the Mothers (nursing) Lounge, with my baby. There are speakers in there so I could still hear the service. It was Fast & Testimony Sunday; a time when members of the congregation will fast for a specific purpose and the meeting is open for individuals to uplift others as they bear testimonies of Christ from the pulpit.

So I am listening, and i hear these two darling children get up start to talk, and I have this conversation in my head;

"Wow, they sound so sweet- sounds like one sister is helping the other know what to say. Awwww. They talked about how their family reads the scriptures. Geez, we need to really do better at that, my kids would never say that about us. I wonder what family they come from? I bet their mom is really together...who are these kids? Probably really pretty too-together moms always are...I'm the Primary (children's organization) Secretary, I should really know who they are...Ugh, there are so many things I need to do better..." and my mind went on and on and on at my inadequacies. Which, by the way, is the anti-thesis of what Fast & Testimony meeting is all about, but, like I said-I  had a new baby and I'm sure that plays into it.

So I start with my baby back to the chapel and just as I'm about to go through the door, another mom turns to me and says "Did you hear your girls--they were so adorable up there helping each other".

I blinked twice, turned around once, and started bawling as I walked away. (not normal for me--new baby-remember?).

 I didn't even recognize my own children's voices...I was feeling terrible comparing myself to--myself?

It doesn't get anymore absurd. It makes me cry now-over a year later. We can be so hard on ourselves. I consider that day a sort of slap-in-the-face gift from God, showing that I--all of us--are doing good enough, should cut ourselves some slack, and enjoy the simple gifts right before us in the form of our families. We are enough. We are OK. We are better than OK.