Mushroom Village

Earlier this week, when the rain stopped for a few days and we were able to get outside again, we were pleasantly surprised to find a little mushroom village had sprouted up in the mulch bed under the Crepe Myrtle trees. There must have been 40-50 mushrooms making up this quaint little village ~

We spent some time looking at them closely and feeling how soft and squishy they were. I especially like the fanned underside of the mushroom. We got out paper and sketched them for our nature notebooks ~

It was fun to imagine little people (Michael is reading “The Littles” series) living in the mushrooms, or at least maybe some wayfaring insects who might need a little shelter from the raindrops ~

I always feel like mushrooms are a special treat, because they pop up without notice and are always a fun surprise!

Blessings,
Nancy

And finally the sun!!!

After days and days of cloudy skies and rain, rain, rain the sun is finally shining brightly today. I’m not complaining about the rain – it has been a welcome change from the hot temperatures that preceded it, but after a week of gray, the sun surely is a lovely sight.

We have been learning about the Sun this week, and making weather charts, which were getting a mite repetitious with the clouds, but I think I’ll run outside today and do all of those shadow activities that we were deprived of doing all week.

I think that I am not the only one who will be enjoying the sun today ~ the kitties have been taking turns in the open windows all morning !

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,
Nancy

Our Creepy Night-time Guest

Every night, when darkness falls, our resident spiders start their nightly work around our patio and yard. Last week when we were out watching the meteor shower, we found a number of these guests busy at work. Their webs are so amazing to look at, and this particular spider treated us to a demonstration of what it does to the helpless creatures that manage to get stuck in the web. We watched the spider wrapping up it’s dinner – you can see it in the picture to the left of the spider.

I really don’t care for spiders at all, especially when they build webs and sit in the middle of them right in my walking path, but I do enjoy looking at their beautiful webs and watching them spin them – from a distance of course!

Blessings,
Nancy

We saw them!

Image courtesy of Corbis

Well, we didn’t see as many as these people are seeing, but we did see some great ones! Tuesday night the clouds were too much, and we weren’t able to see anything (although Tommy thought he might have seen something once), but last night the skies were perfectly clear, so we went outside around 11 pm and watched and waited.

We were soon rewarded with some spectacular meteors shooting across the sky! It was very exciting every time we saw one, and I was glad that each of the kids was able to see one – most of them for the first time ever. David was asleep, but Anna, who was afraid of missing out on the big kid fun was allowed to stay up and watch with us, although her patience with waiting for them wore out pretty quickly.

We stayed out for about an hour, but then it was time to get them all to bed ~ plus, our necks were getting sore from looking up for so long. It would have been much better if we had been laying flat on the ground on a blanket to watch, but we were all sitting around the edge of the hot tub by the pool, due to the presence of several large spiders who had built their nightly spiral webs in very inconvenient spots ~ literally taking over the area, except for the spot where we were.

The stars were spectacular in themselves, a beautiful sight and enjoyed by all. The meteors were like bonuses on top of it all. I think that maybe next year I will try planning an overnight campout in the yard (weather permitting) and we can spend the night (more comfortably) watching the sky. That is if I can work up enough courage to face the spiders, snakes, and other nocturnal creatures that inhabit our yard at night ~ ah, life in the country ~ but the stars are amazing and worth the effort.

Did any of you get to see them this year?

Blessings,
Nancy

A Garden Visitor

“Peter heard noises worse than ever, his eyes were as big as lolly-pops! He was a step or two in front of his cousin, when he suddenly stopped.”

~ from “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny” by Beatrix Potter.

This little guy stood very still for a long time while I took many pictures of him trying to get a good one!

Blessings,
Nancy

Perseids Tonight!

photo courtesy of Corbis

Tonight and tomorrow the Perseids Meteor Shower will be at its peak. They say that you may be able to spot 50-80 meteors per hour! We were getting all excited about it around here, but, sadly, it looks like we will be socked in under clouds and possible rain, so I guess we’re going to be missing it this year.

Hope you’ll get to see it where you are!

Blessings,
Nancy

Crawdads and Kissin’ Cousins

While out looking over the pool this morning the kids discovered a few visitors, who most likely got lost on their way to the pond or the creek. Here are some photos of the poor wayward souls -

Lest you think that this guy was hugely intimidating to us, you better see this picture, which puts him more in perspective -

And here he is staring at us from his temporary jar home, where he will stay until transported back to the pond -

But our pinchy friend wasn’t the only visitor lurking in the pool water. We also discovered these -

And look at them now! -

Isn’t that sweet? Well, I thought so too, until Sarah informed me that she posed them that way on purpose for the picture. Oh well!

A few minutes later, another friend was discovered to add to the mix –

I love their beautiful markings, but will leave the holding of them to the kids. Here’s the whole happy family -

Blessings,
Nancy

Hidden Treasure

One of our Rose of Sharon bushes by the front porch. It will soon be covered with beautiful lavender flowers for the summer – certainly a treasure. But look more closely . . .

A lovely and amazing nest – a treasure in itself. But look more closely . . .

What a treasure indeed! Sarah discovered these beautiful eggs last week and couldn’t wait to show me.

What a treasure we have in the beauty of God’s world all around us.

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” ~ Isaiah 6:3

Blessings,
Nancy

What’s So Interesting About This Stick?

That’s what I thought when Sarah brought it to me yesterday on the front porch. She found it on the trampoline as she was cleaning off debris from our recent storms.

Then she turned it around and I saw this scary sight . . .

What was your first thought? Was it blood? Well, that was my first thought, too. But after studying it more, I decided that it probably was not blood, but some type of fungus. The other end of the stick looks like this . . .

I told the kids that it looked like a stick pretending to be a bone! The outside of the stick looks like this . . .

Now, isn’t that interesting?

Blessings,
Nancy

Apple Trees

Last month we planted apple trees over by the barn. I hadn’t set out to have apple trees, but when Jeff found the Dewberries at the nursery, he mentioned that they also had apple trees that were being cleared out. I love the idea of growing our own apples for cobblers, pies, and just plain ole eatin’!

So he brought one home – A Granny Smith -

No, it doesn’t look like much now, but just wait a few years! Well, in reading up on apple trees that night, we discovered that apple trees need a friend to help them pollinate, so we went back to the nursery and came home with two friends – a Red Delicious and a Jonathan.

Red Delicious -

Jonathan -

So far they have withstood several severe storms and winds and are doing fine. They are sprouting new leaves, as well. These are dwarf versions, so they won’t get as tall as a normal apple tree, and are supposed to fruit sooner – yippee! So, our adventure with apple trees has begun, and I hope that we can keep them going long enough to reap the harvest!

Blessings,
Nancy