Gourd-eous

I've never fancied fancy-sparkly-diamonds. I've no desire for jewels carved to catch light and eyes alike.

But, oh, I wish I had a place to display every single one of my favorite stones & river glass. My collection grows, and perhaps one of these days I'll build with it a rock pathway in my little flower garden. Or Could I figure out some artistic way to display?

I do love a good stone. The great news is that they're free.

Just ask the crazy lady running with her black doggy on the river trail carrying a large stone meant to border the flower garden.

Our veggie garden is pressing it's borders. The ornamental gourds are thrilling. They're amazing. I have little squat white pumpkins, round green & white speckled on top, yellow on bottom and another I haven't yet identified. Oh, and some plain old green gourd. We are going to have us a fabulous display this fall. I can see no reason not to put them everywhere....we will have enough.

My little teepee is growing. I think I'll reconstruct next spring, but I'm pleased that my honeysuckle is blooming and the morning glories are bringing their glory, too.

The sunflowers are the star of the show. Every day we walk into the sunflower house and see new flowers, new growth. I am so grateful for the house, I already have new ideas in mind for next summer.

I can't encourage you all enough to try out one of these little projects I found in Sharon Love Joy's book "Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots." You could find it at the library, I'm sure. She also writes one on Sunflower houses. She has wonderful input on what to grow in your garden. I'm making my list of "wants" for next year already.

Our time outside in the yard is a treasure. Right in front of our eyes the season is leaning, waning. Today Eli and I watched as a stealthy squirrel clenching a walnut in his jaws scrambled down the tree just feet away from us. He wasn't worried about us, just watching out for the sleeping dog nearby. He found a perfect spot, expertly dug a hole in the ground, dropped the nut in and carefully buried and patted the ground to be sure his stores were safe. It was a delight, to be sure.

I see the change of the sunlight on the house, lighting walls it hasn't touched in a year. I love the changes of the sunlight.

It's occurred to me that the boys and I spent much more time at the river in the fall, winter and spring months. Our yard has been a haven from the heat and crowds over summer.

We have plenty right here at home. Plenty to keep our eyes, ears and hands busy.

The fragrance of honeysuckle & sweet grass, the taste of plump tomatoes and corn just picked and stripped & steamed. The greens, golds, pinks, purple, lavender, sky blue and ahhh....

I don't need any fancy jewels.

Our Sunflower House

I've been excited to share this little hide-a-way with everyone who walks in the door. After reading through Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Sharon LoveJoy, I knew I needed to grow this little place to play in our yard.

Thankfully, I got the seeds in in time, and we have flowers! This is a shot looking in the doorway. Morning Glories are planted with the Sunflowers to climb up, up and maybe even cross to other flowers, creating a roof.

But do you need a roof on a playhouse that stands 12 feet in the air? My heart swelled with kid-joy (I still have it sometimes) today as I watched Nate walk out there after our camping trip weekend to inspect growth. He wasn't even 1/3 as tall as these flowers. He looked so, so small!

When I planted I used a variety of heights, colors, types of Sunflowers. I cannot tell you that I know the types, only that I adore each of them, and they smile out at the neighbors every day.

The Reds have been earliest to bloom, quickest to loose their petals.

A few down low make for great inspection for little eyes and fingers. Yes, you may pick.

Another beautiful thing, the bees! We can see them, hear them, watch them collect, but they really stay up high, allowing the kids to feel safe from them. Another interesting thing...it could just be me, but it seems that since we have honey bees the yellow jackets have disappeared. I'd prefer to have bees anyday!

A squirrel, birdies, & graces

He's as happy as can be, enjoying the challenge of getting the seed out of my feeder. Though my intent is to draw in the birds, the boys and I truly enjoy the antics of this Fox Squirrel in our yard. There are several that run back and forth on the power lines over our back yard, safe from the lusty jaws of our dog. I have watched these squirrels sit on a stump or fence post and shake their long tails at the dog. I believe that this is a challenge, or maybe even a tease. "Come and get me, go ahead!" They seem to say to Juneau. Taunting little monkeys, they are.

Here you can see he's perched on our feeder, he squirrels down and pulls out the seed for a little morning snack. Fox Squirrels can grow up to 27 inches, their tail is 13 of those 27". They're one of the largest species of squirrels. I have also learned that they tend to mate in December and have babies in February, so we'll be watching for the rituals and signs of nests.

So many people think squirrels are pesky, my husband is not too far from that. Perhaps I can create an affection for them through our studies so he won't develop too much of a desire to rid our yard of them. They can be a bit pesky.

Back to the birds....I set feeders out in the yard and was disappointed to notice that only the squirrels were interested. Then I had a duh moment. I was chatting on the phone upstairs, looking out the windows and saw 5 or 6 birds up in the Sycamores. These are Northern Flicker Woodpeckers, they were poking around under the bark finding bug and spider snacks. I had the epiphany, we have mature trees in our yard....the birds already have home and food here.

Male Northern Flicker.

He is so large, and fun to watch as he pulls pieces of bark away from the tree to find bugs.

Females to match him.

And so this made me realize that there were, indeed, many sparrows living in our line of Cedars, I scooped up a some seed and planted it on the ground next to the Cedars. In no time at all the happy birds discovered the food.

A Dark Eyed Junco (or is it an Oregon Junco?)

...and it got me thinking about Our God, how He loves to pour grace-gifts on us for us to find, gifts to fill both tummy and spirit.

Let's dine friends, on God's Grace in our lives...

Counting God's Blessings...

1. Snow Days
2. Teeny buds on my Christmas Cactus
3. A warm Fire
4. Blog-Inspiration; Ann, Barb, Angie
5. Construction (my bedroom is larger today!)
6. A kind husband to a wife with a cold
7. Alka-Seltzer
8. "Come and snuggle me, Mama" at bedtime
9. Another year to read those 'young' reader books
10. A whole world in our backyard

The Woodsies

A little hard work for some little boys is a good, good thing. I find that it keeps them content.

The results sometime give way to plain old fun. (Do you see two faces in there?)

We walked up and down the streets with a basket in search of treasure.

Basket of booty for boys! We tossed it all out on the table, I grabbed my glue gun and googly eyes. (I make it sound so easy...I had to go to the craft store to get the eyes, mine are packed away somewhere. I found my glue gun in my hubby's workshop. It's never that easy)

Introducing: The Woodsies

below is hockey-playing Woodsy

Nate's little Woodsie family


Eli, minus a shirt. Yes, I KNOW it's November. I know it's cold. I know they should always have shirts on...but they say they're hot! Good grief, here I am in my long johns...I have to stay on top of the shirt thing or they disappear. My boys!!
This trio Joey crafted are an American Indian family, complete with teeny rock papoose.



Our craft/keep your boys happy, interested and busy time is only complete with a little nature dance.

Autumn Outdoor Hour

The boys and I hit the river again for our Outdoor Hour with Barb. This week we were challenged to observe both the weather and the change of the seasons. We bundled up in our warmest and packed up some hot chocolate & sketch books and headed down.

The boys are so content just to go to the river, they didn't need to have a task or challenge. I kept them close long enough for us to make some observations.

Eli's took notice immediately, and saw that the sun was hidden by the fog and clouds. Fog was an item of great interest. When we looked it up: While fog is a type of a cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes)

Summer or Autumn, rocks abound & are treasures for our pockets

We've discussed how the fog hovers over the river oftentimes in the morning and burns off as the sun rises.

We observed that the leaves in the trees are thinning and the rocks were covered, and that they make the gravel more comfortable to sit on.
The day's stats: 9:00 a.m Nov 5

47.8 degrees

Wind blows off the river, to the West

Dew on the rocks near the river, from the fog?

I printed out a simple weather chart, and contemplated investing in a barometer and rain & wind gauges. I know my husband will love these things. I plan to post the weather chart by the back door, with hopes that the boys will take readings as frequently as they like. (Thanks Barb, for this inspiration!)

Hot Chocolate, mugs abandoned

The boys stayed at our beach spot long enough to get warmed by hot drinks and visit, then they were off to explore. I crept up to the river trail where I could catch a view, reading from The Handbook of Nature Study about weather and the historical development of the study & prediction of.

Summer/ Autumn Contrast: Green tree leaves are now golden, yellow and brown ground leaves. The air is cooler, when the sun is out it's warm but not hot. We haven't been here long enough to notice where the sun is rising...that will come. Autumn has fewer bugs, snakes, critters but we still hear the birds in the nearby trees. The air smells wet.

Dandelions revisited; we didn't find a single blooming dandy, but many have gone to seed.

Before Eli blew these seeds off, I heard him whisper "God, I wish for sisters. Amen" Too cute!

Perhaps our favorite season monitor so far, the Sycamores in our yard. Beauties!! When we got home, the boys added treasure to our nature collection & sat down to nature journals to sketch. I regurgitated what I read in the Handbook, we discussed the chapter more.

What little boys are made of.

These little ones, the joy of my heart!

A Friday

Sometimes the the days all run together, streams running into a building river. The river, whose current pulls at me until I feel I'm flying by every moment without a chance to stop. To stop and see color. To see detail.I creep out of bed and wander down to my bright-eyed-boys. I scoop them up, those boys wondering what is just so special about the sunrise. It comes up, it goes down. Every.day.
And maybe that's just it. Up it comes, and each morning I catch a glimpse out of my bedroom window. Then in the bathroom, that sun, it keeps coming. And I look at the mist on the river and think "I really should go down there." But then that stream of duty and things-to-be-done pull me hard and fast spinning down the river.

And I tell those boggled boys that today is different because today we will stop and watch that sun rise over the river. In jammies and sweatshirts we hike on down and discover a perfect beach, a perfect place to sit and linger over coffee....
Directions: Warmly dress boys, add nature and let simmer. Sit and sip coffee and look at every.little.thing around me.




Watch sun rise, see the effects. Play with stones, feel the weight of them in your hand.
See color. Then just try and drag little bold and curious boys home, home from the sunrise. From the moment of the day. I am never, ever sorry for stopping. Never, ever sorry for climbing up to the river bank to look, to listen and love life. Never Sorry.