as cozy as spring

Signs of Spring

Inspired by Alice.

A little walk ended up being the best part of our Monday.  I desperately need to do some work in our own garden, but I can't coax myself out of my chair by the window.  People keep asking me if I'm tired.  I'm not very tired, just tremendously lazy.  I do try to walk a few miles every day so I won't completely turn to mush but then it's back to the chair by the window with my knitting.  I'm glad I made the effort to get out and see the first signs of spring yesterday.  I even spotted a single bluebonnet - in February!  

Creepy

We awoke to heavy fog and dew. It was perfect spider web hunting weather (and super awesome timing since I had planned on a spider lesson today). I sent the children out to look while I prepared breakfast.  But there were few to be found.  Next to none, really.  Is this connected to our recent drought or due to the surge in our lizard population that we noticed in August?  Neither?  Both?  We can't say for sure, but we have our theories.  We went looking for webs and we found a myyyssssstery...

Really, I just like this picture and all things creepy and crawly this week!  Tomorrow, on to bats!

Last Walk of Summer

There is little more exciting for a heat weary Texan than the first real cool front in the autumn.  High winds brought cooler weather and gray-blue clouds to us this morning.  My children wrapped up their lessons early so they could play outside.  They came running back in almost immediately asking to go hiking down by the creek.  I normally say no because I just like to be at home as much as possible, but I couldn't think of a single reason not to go.  It was all too perfect.  I even had freshly baked pumpkin muffins to pack up for a snack.   

So we packed up our wildflower guides and water bottles and headed out.  It was gorgeous.  Usually we don't get fall color until November, but the drought has brought on showers of reddish brown leaves quite a bit earlier.  The fields were strewn with goldenrod, ageratum, and black swallowtails.  We explored for a few hours before heading back home.  I can't think of a more pleasant way to say farewell to summer.

My son holds my daughter's hand to help her down the steep path.  He is a seriously charming little boy.

Wildflowers

I think the one job I would love above any other, save homeschooling mom of two, would be wildflower photographer for a guide book.  True, it takes me ten shots to get one good one and I still haven't really figured out how to use my camera, but I love hunting them down.  I love messing with the settings until I capture the color exactly.

My husband gave me this most amazing gift of watching the children while I went hiking by myself last week.  It was freeing and surprising.  I had no idea what lengths I would go to in order to snap a photo.  I was surprised and amused to see all the scratches and bruises on my legs that I acquired in the process. 

It was a dry year for the entire southwest and the lupines in particular looked a little worn.  I didn't discover much I hadn't photographed before.  I thought about inserting all my wildflower photos into this post, but after I looked at the list, it would include about fifty photos.  So this is just a handful, not even necessarily my favorites.

 

This little beauty was new to me though. Mountain Gentian.  It seemed fairly common on our hike, but we were in a spot we'd never been before.  

A wild geranium.  Also fairly common, but very charming.

Oxeye Daisy (with asters in the backgroud).  There were huge fields of these flowers.  

Scarlet Gilia.  Look at the purple at the base of the flower.  Isn't it lovely?  I made my husband stop the truck so I could jump out and get this one.  

Monskhood, my favorite.  These grow in a tangle alongside mountain streams, mingled with wild raspberries, ferns, and mosses.  Despite using two cameras and a wide variety of settings, I could not capture the blackish purple of the flowers.  This is the most accurate, but not exact.  The sky blue of the flax flowers is also tricky and came out way too dark in most of my photos.

I still have so many to sort through, but it was another great year for hunting mountain wildflowers.

Ultraviolet

Larkspur, found growing in a damp meadow on one of our mountain hikes.

It's so hard to write again after taking a little break for our annual camping trip.  On top of that, school is starting this morning and I really do need to focus.  

So this has nothing to do with anything, but I mentioned reading I Capture the Castle (really enjoying it Chris) and the best passage so far has been "After a while I heard an owl hooting and camled myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields - and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice.  I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian."

Me too, Cassandra.  Me too.

Saturday Morning Book Post

Good Morning friends!  It's super cool here for May (54 degrees) and we are going to go out and take a long bike ride in the "woods" (that run beside and under the highway).  I'm elbow deep in cake for my husband's birthday and I can't think of what we've been reading this week!

I did end up ordering America's Prairies and Grasslands.  I paired it with Draw Write Now: Animals of the World, Dry Land Animals (It's Book 8).  We're studying prairies right now.  It's been such fun.  

thinking....

thinking....

Yup, that's about the only thing to report.  We're rereading a lot (Little Town on the Prairie - never gets old) and tons of picture books.

Wildflower of the week: Antelope Horn Milkweed  We've seen these growing all over.  Isn't it just lovely?  I have a soft spot for lime green flowers. 

Morning Hike

 

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn." 

— John Muir

 

My daughter stumbled upon this quote earlier this week and it just perfectly describes the way I feel when I step outside.

And OK, this is only sort of related.  I love this pattern.  I stitched it onto my daughter's jeans earlier this week.  I'd show you a photo, but my mediocre embroidery was not enhanced by the mediocre photo I took during our walk.  

Added for Elisa: 

My embroidery work is far from neat, but it won't get any better by moping about it so I stitched this on a pair of last year's jeans.  My French Knots definitely improved towards the end of this project.

In God's Hands

Perfect Easter eggs in a Northern Cardinal nest.  Happy Easter friends!  (I miss you!)

It's a Magical World

The glittered world Martha couldn't manage in her wildest dreams.

Playing Snowflake Bentley on my plaid pajamas.  I need to work on this!

A snowball destined for his big sister.

Not pictured: The romance of the Northern Cardinal couples in our backyard and the clear, sweet song of the Carolina Wren.  The snow is gone now (courtesy of Mrs. Thaw), but I'm so grateful for what we received. It was beautiful. Now, it has come to my attention that fingerless mittens don't really cut it when the temperatures dip down into the teens.  Must get knitting before the next storm arrives.

Forest Therapy

I saw a link on Facebook mentioning a study of something called Forest Therapy.  I think Amy linked to it (Amy always shares awesome links on FB).  The idea of this is both something I would instantly dismiss as very new agey and also something I have seen to be true on countless occasions.

We live in a very suburban area. There aren't many "forests" here, but we do search out little pockets of wooded areas.  And instantly, as soon as we get out of the car, my children cheer up and I relax.  They run through the trees and I breath in the smell of damp earth.  

We can only fit in a few minutes of this lately, but it works just the same.  It is the best part of our days.

I always wondered if I loved camping just because it was vacation and all vacations are inherently good.  But I've been on many other vacations and there's not one that compares to the joy and harmony my family feels while in the woods.  This makes me so happy that we've found a place where we are all at peace... and so sad that we aren't there right now. 

 * I just need to point out that the reflection in that last photo isn't of my legs.  It's a tree.  I don't have weirdly asymmetrical legs.  That is all.

** Except that now that I mentioned it, you are all picturing those as my legs and laughing, aren't you?  I should have just let it go.