A Mother’s Journal

We had another absolutely amazing fieldtrip yesterday at the Piedmont Wildlife Center in Durham!

Our group was split into two classes, divided by age:  10 and younger; 11 and up.   The program was split into several parts:  learning about birds of prey ( raptors) by way of a question and answer session, examining feathers and talons, and talking about how birds of prey differ from other birds.  I don’t have a lot of pictures of this session as it was in the woods with a lot of dappled shade and the photos actually did not come out so great.  Anyway, I knew you’d enjoy the next part of the program where we actually met some raptors.

Oh yeah, we examined pellets too.  Here are some hawk pellets.  You can tell that these hawks are mostly fed white mice.

We first met a dove, which is NOT a bird of prey at all, but it was fun to meet this delightful little bird called Miracle that hatched unexpectedly from an egg in a library!  It was a good lesson to compare, again, how raptors differ from other birds.

We met this beautiful barred owl, and I’m sorry, I do not remember its name!

We met little Screechie, who had been hit by a car and was so damaged on one side that she’ll never be able to fly properly.  Screechie is a screech owl, of course.   The center helps with rehabilitation of animals that have been hurt.  One thing we learned that I had never thought of was how it’s not good to throw apple cores, pieces of bread, etc., out a car window onto the side of the road.  While it’s not really litter, it does draw rodents to the roadside, which in turn draws raptors.  The raptors are brought dangerously near to the road by this practice (many people do it) and sometimes get hit.

In between our first two classes and then meeting a hawk in training, the children played a really, really fun game!  The lady in the middle with the green shirt was one of the instructors at the center.  In the game, she played a raptor and all of the children were prey.   There were boundaries set up all around this big field (I made up part of the “south boundary,” thank you) that kept the children (or the prey) within a designated place for the purpose of the game.   The teacher would screech really loudly, which was the sign for all the prey to go flying to the opposite side of the field.  If the raptor tagged you, you immediately became a raptor for the next round when the remaining prey would try to get across the field again.  Of course, the more raptors there were, the harder it was to be prey and make it across the field.

Michaela has become a raptor and it just waiting to tag this poor little creature running toward her!

The broadwinged hawk was beautiful!  It had, unfortunately, been raised from a baby by humans who allowed the hawk to become imprinted as a human.  It thinks it’s one of us!  It ended up bothering (scaring) people in a local park, but it was only trying to visit and get food, so it has ended up living a good life at the center where it’ll be trained to interact appropriately with humans.  We all had to stand very still while the instructor walked the hawk back and forth past us and then held the bird on her gloved hand while we formed a crowd. 

Just wanted to show one more picture of the barred owl.  We heard a car pulling into the center and I thought it was so funny that most of us had to turn around to look at the car, while barred owl here just turned her head around backwards!

After the classes, we all spread blankets out in the lovely field and had our picnic lunches.  I always look forward to that time of friendship — chatting and comparing notes and just being reassured again that Michaela is in a good spot right now.

I have to work today and I sure don’t want to!  I try to be thankful, however, for my job.  It provides wonderful insurance for us, and actually once I get started, the day goes by very quickly!

I’m spending a bit of time this morning cleaning and organizing my tiny art studio — the little art cove I’ve created at the bottom of our staircase.  Hot tea, art:  Does it get any better?  Well, maybe art in the garden, but it’s cloudy today.

Enjoy this day.

I don’t have many words for today as it’s a work day for me and I think the pictures speak many words. If you visit the Occaneechi Tribe website you’ll find a lot of interesting information.

Our fieldtrip yesterday…

Michaela gets her picture made after learning a circle dance.

I just can’t emphasize enough how extremely nice these people at Occaneechi are.  This was a very information-packed and interesting fieldtrip.  I found that the more I heard the more I wanted to hear.  We’ll definitely be doing some follow-up reading about the indians who lived (and live) right here around us

The dress above weighs 45 pounds!

Simple Math: 
a bunch of boys + a table full of homemade weapons = overwhelmed table attendant

Is this a ferocious weapon or what?

We love seeing our homeschooling friends.

We learned about many contributions to society made by our Indian friends.

If you get a chance, go.

Also, an organization that has done a lot to find and mark old trading paths and historic villages  in the Piedmont:  Trading Path

And the blog:  Trading Path Blog

Happy Friday,
Lynn

Thursday was a fieldtrip day and it was just what we needed.  I needed to visit with the other moms in our homeschool group and get my homeschooling (and “mommy” and “housekeeper” and “chef”…) battery recharged. 

Michaela really enjoyed the class on birds and being with her friends. 

We were able to hold an emu egg…

and an ostrich egg.

We also had the opportunity to examine a hummingbird’s nest.  I’ve seen many hummingbirds in my garden, but I’ve never yet found a nest.

Durant Nature Park in Raleigh has some gorgeous nature trails that take you through the woods. You’ll love the sight and sounds of the water.

Lynn

Yesterday we spent a few hours at Pullen Park in Raleigh on a fieldtrip.  What fun we had kicking off the new school year with our wonderful homeschool group.

You didn’t know I was best friends with Andy Griffth did you?

And he’s crazy about Michaela.

In fact, you’d think she was Opie’s big sister the way they act together.

We all like to hang out in Pullen Park.  If you haven’t been there, you should go! I’m sure Andy would like to see you!

There’s a beautiful pond where you can get on a pedal boat and pedal around with the ducks.  Well, they paddle.  You’ll be pedaling.

It was HOT yesterday.  The high was predicted to be about 100.  That’s a lot in this North Carolina humidity. I never looked at a gauge, but I think it probably got to 100.

The little ducks were some on the water and some up on the banks. They looked pretty unbothered by the heat out on the water.  Me?  Well, it was a bit toasty.

It was quite picturesque, coming toward the bridge and wondering about what was around the bend.

There was an immediate sense of cool under the bridge. I loved the way the sunlight sent reflections like dancing diamonds off the water and onto the bridge-ceiling as we pedaled under.

Around the bend, I do believe the temperature dropped.  We quit pedaling and just floated easily around, enjoying the cool shade and our company of ducks.

It gave us just enough energy to come out on the other side and make our way back to the dock.

The life jackets were, shall we say, less than cool.

But I still got a smile from my girl.  She did a lot of the work and told me just to relax. 

Later we rode the little train.  You’ll know you’re on the right train if everyone screams when you go into the dark tunnel.  I remember when I rode it years ago with baby John (yes that was quite a few years ago) and when we came out on the other side of the tunnel, his eyes were like saucers!  But no crying and no scared face.  Just amazement.  He always loved trains after that and we had to buy every engine on the Thomas the Tank Engine crew.

Pullen Park is really nice.  There are other areas that I did not photograph.  I should have. They have lots of sand to play in, swings, little tiny boats that go around in a circle for the toddlers, a place to get snacks and sno cones, and a very nice, very old carousel. It’s free to go in and then tickets are 1 dollar apiece.  Most rides are one ticket and the boats are 6 tickets per boat.

Happy Friday!
Lynn

This morning I want to share a few more pictures from our Yorktown trip.  This part of our trip is from walking through Historic Yorktown where there are quite a few homes and buildings dating from the 1700s.  They survived the Battle at Yorktown and now many of them are private residences.  Can you imagine living in waterfront Historic Yorktown?

I noticed this wonderful backyard garden.  Oh, I wanted to just go back there and sit down and take it all in.

The brick, the shutters, the flowers!  Isn’t this just a 10 on the adorable scale?

If you ever wanted a pretty neighborhood in which to walk, this is it.  I don’t think I would ever tire of walking and remembering things I’ve learned about our country’s history.  There would be NO excuse for not getting my exercise if I lived here.

We noticed these purple flowerheads all over the place.  My sister and I wondered about them.  We recognized them as being in the onion family, but we weren’t sure what kind.   A local told us that they were the Yorktown onions, as in THE Yorktown onions.  You know I want to find out more about them and buy some seeds or a plant or two to have some here in my own yard!

These onions are exceptionally pretty growing in this large expanse of yard with the old white building and fence as a backdrop.

I’m looking forward to putting our pictures into our school notebook and doing some sketching from one of these pictures.   Soon…  Today is a work day so it’ll have to wait until at least tomorrow.

As an aside, that’s one of the hardest things about working.  I loved my trip last week so much, and I would not trade the time with my sister for anything, but I got in Thursday evening, had to get straight to my desk for Friday and again Saturday.  Friday is an extra long day because we have karate on Friday nights.  Sunday of course was our day for our church meeting and basically just a family day, so the house had become void of groceries, I’m still not totally unpacked, and it will be tomorrow before I can breathe a sigh of relief and get my life in order again!  We’ll be jumping on some spelling lessons this week as well, so I know my days off will FLY!

This makes me want a picket fence somewhere in my yard.  I know the perfect place!   Around my vegetable garden in the backyard.  I wonder if big furry man is up to it?  Maybe if I start building it by myself he’ll feel sorry for me and pitch in.  Let’s think about that for a bit, shall we?

Beautiful!  I wish I had had more time, but I am planning to go back.  It really takes a couple of days or so to go through Yorktown and gather up all the details, like the owners’ names of the original homes in historic Yorktown and who they were and how they contributed to the war efforts.  (For example, The Moore House.)

Here is the beautiful view from Historic Yorktown.

The girls ran and ran and ran.  I finally got Michaela to run back my way for a picture, but she was poised to run off again and catch up with her cousin.

The day was a bit gray so the pictures aren’t as bright as they could be, but I actually think we had perfect walking weather — not too hot and a nice breeze to keep us cool as we explored and walked and talked.

More later.

Happy Monday!
Lynn

Today’s Quote:

“Every path hath a puddle.”  ~George Herbert

Ah, it’s good to be back home, and yet where did those two amazing days with my sister and niece go?

Michaela and Best Cousin in the Universe

The days went by as all days do, but they were magical-fun and so full of learning about history, I did not want them to stop.  Everyone should see Yorktown.  And laugh as much as my sister and I do when we’re together.

Bladder campion growing wild around Yorktown Battlefield

I loved walking around the Yorktown Battlefield and looking at wild herbs.   There were some herbs that would qualify as kitchen-garden herbs and I enjoyed pondering over how they came to be there in such quantity. 

I also enjoyed strolling along the waterfront streets around the Victory Center  and taking in the scenery.  It was a little bit like going back in time.  The houses were old and oh so beautiful!  The gardens were lovely.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Yorktown Victory Monument.   It took my breath away.  We went over Tuesday evening and looked at Lady Victory standing atop her pedestal beneath a dark, cloudy sky.  We went again the next day and enjoyed her in the daylight.

There’s so much more to share, but I must get to bed.  Tomorrow is a work day and it will take us days of journaling and pasting things into our school notebook to get our thoughts and memories together. 

Lynn

Miss Priss and I are leaving for Yorktown.  We’ll be back Thursday p.m.  Maybe I’ll post between now and then. 

Lynn