A Day in Nature (Green Hour Assignment #8)

After what seems to be weeks of rain and cold and clouds, we finally get a break. It's not supposed to last very long, just a few days, but it is enough to send spring springing on its way!

So out the kids went. Back they came for binoculars. Out they went. Back they came again and again with things for their nature boxes and more things for the nature table. Out I went with my camera... and back again for the blog :)

Our Nature table (there are more things in the boxes ;)). It is inspired by the one linked in my sidebar over there---->
Ours is not quite so exciting... we have a dead hornet, not a dead wasp. I am supposed to be mailing it on though ;)

A peek inside Rebel's recently finished box. :)

Rebel's observations: "I saw my first dragonfly of the year!", "Look, how much would this lichen cost if I sold it?" (he wanted to sell it as a dyestuff). "These violets are beautiful!"

M'Lady: "Wook!" **waving a large old stick at me**

A pine 'flower'. These things produce copious amounts of pollen, which make the cars very yellow at this time of year. Later the centre part will turn into a pinecone.

Then there were the unspoken observations... does shaking the pine tree to make the pollen fall off all over them count? Or using their binoculars to find more lichen? :) It was an informal week for nature study, and if we can find the booklet, the 3 dragonflies and other things will be noted!

There is the robins nest we watched being built:
And as we watched later, a crow tore through it, looking futilely for eggs.

Or perhaps my rapidly growing peas:
Which don't quite make up for the loss of at least one of the giant pumpkins. I planted two more seeds in the hope that they will sprout, only this time I put them OUTSIDE in the ground.


Along with onions.

And carrots and radishes planted from seed.
The kids watched as I hilled over some sprouted potatoes. Not the small one you normally get, but ones I bought to eat which sprouted :)

There are the budding roses:
Getting ready to bloom next month. Or our beautiful lilacs, or the creeping phlox in our circle.


There is the fig tree which is leafing out.

I have hopes of seeing fruit this year. I suspect they are futile, but I hope anyway :D

And there are the insects, our favourite helper bugs are reflected in my daughter's chosen rainwear:
I'll have to show you her raincoat another time :) There were pollen-speckled periwinkles:
Which are quite dusty with pine pollen in their habitat around the mailbox. The local dogs fertilize them regularly for us (since urine is almost pure nitrogen, these plants often get quite a lot of it!).

Indeed, there was a lot to see in our garden today, and the kids loved it. Even if they were coated with pollen.

So our Green Hour for the week went. I make a note to buy a few magnifying glasses. OK they have only been on my list for a couple of months now, but perhaps I'll get them this time!

Enjoy your time in the garden this week :)

Furry Little Friend

Nature study often begins in our back garden, as is the case with this little friend... The Yellow Bear Caterpillar, the larval form of the Virginia Tiger Moth.

He was a feisty little thing, and he did not want to sit still for a the camera, so this was the best shot I got.

M'Lady was not exactly happy with having to let him go though!

But not all of nature study takes place in the garden. Some of it takes place on a daytrip... like our recent jaunt down to Yorktown, which took us along the Colonial Parkway, at sunset.

View of the sunset over a branch off of the main James River.

The pink sunset reflects in the James River.

Ground level view of the sandy river beach and cliffs of the James River.

More Pink Water.

Another sunset view.

OK So I am not certain whether it is the James or the York River, deduction suggests James River :) But anyway, we all stood beside the warm river, watching the sunset, some geese and picking up blue quartz :D

Sudden Weather

Autumn is a time of change... from the beautiful calm, colourful weather... where skies are blue as can be, and leaves show the many hues of the rainbow, to the mottled greys that accompany a dull rainy day. Not that all rainy days are dull as such!
Take a look at the photos.
One day I have pictures galore of sunny skies (mainly because it was warm so I took myself outside), insects...
This chap was a rather large, charcoal grey thing. He was a good 1.5 inches long, if not longer. The kids were very taken with him and begged me to photograph him. He flew off not much later, much to the disappointment of DD (2).



But back to the pictures... sunny skies, insects, gumballs from the sweetgum tree (affectionately... or rather not so affectionately known as 'those sticker balls' around here, they are responsible for a large number of sweetgum saplings that spring up in March)


and the occasional flower... a slight harkening back to spring, when I saw these speedwells as the harbinger of the warmth to come. Now they are the last to go!
My son (7) discovered them, hidden amongst the foliage of our plant... beneath the rosebush.
These tiny beauties tend not to bloom in the summer at all, but in spring and autumn, they provide a welcome burst of blue colouring!
But again, I digress.
Back to the pictures... beautiful blue skies... large black bugs, autumnal seed pods and colourful flowers... followed by this.
Torrential rain, flooding, overflowing ditches, roads rutted and destroyed!
The garden is drenched, the soil virtually unworkable, and the grass in the paths seems to be the only thing that really likes it. Which is hard because it is the one thing that grows really fast where we don't want it!
The neighbours driveway directed the waters right at us... washing all their gravel into our ditch, which then overflowed and ran down the road beside us... and running off into the hollow at the bottom of our garden.
Between us and our next door neighbours, we

have a road full of gravel in our gardens!
But, like I said. That is the nature of autumn...
Now if only we could manage to go a week or so without rain... but wait... it starts again tomorrow.
3 days is not enough of a reprieve!