Visit to the Pond

This morning we took a much needed trip to the library.  It's one of our favorite places to go.  I love that the kids love it as much as I do.  After story hour and stocking up on books, we headed home for lunch.

Later, the sun beckoned us outside.  There was still a slight cool breeze outside, but the sun was warm, so we took a walk down to the pond.  We fed the duck.  (We were hoping there would be more, but alas only one was around, and he turned out to not be too hungry.)  We saw our first redwinged blackbird!  What's so neat is that Miss Dainty recognized the call before we even sighted the bird.  She couldn't recall which bird it was, but knew the call from her bird book.  How cool is that?  We walked along the bank and watched some turtles sunbathing before accidentally startling them into the water.  Then we tried to feed them, too, but they also weren't hungry.  So we sat and pretended to be turtles soaking up the warm sun.  The girls loved it.  Eventually, we headed over to the playground. 

Such a great way to start the day.  Notice their shawls?  =)  We received a box in the mail yesterday from Mr Hubs.  The shawls were made in Turkey.  They've been wearing them nonstop.  They were so excited to get something from him. 

A Good Start to February

Our first stop today was the grocery store to pick up a few last minute additions to Mr. Hubs and his friend's care packages, and then we were off to the post office:

Then during Baby D's nap, we did a bit of schoolwork.  Later, because it was a beautiful afternoon, we headed back outside for a nature study and some play:

Don't mind the dead grass...  I'm really not looking forward to all the work it's going to need in a few months!

This was Miss Dainty's first official entry into her nature journal.  I've been meaning to start doing this with her for forever, it seems, and just hadn't gotten around to it.  Well, remember that undone to-do list I mentioned in my last post?  Well, the  motivation is returning.  I suppose I just needed a few weeks to feel all "blah" about the deployment and to just sulk around the house.  But now that's done, and we can get back to doing what we need to do.

We studied our backyard's pine tree today.  Miss Dainty drew her own picture of it, although the perspective was really hard since we were basically under it.  But it was so neat to watch her draw how she saw the tree and her pine cone.  I joined her in this activity and drew on my own paper.  I'm not good at drawing at all, but I think it will be fun to do this alongside her.

These are Miss Dainty's two drawings:

I find her pine tree so amusing, it makes me smile.  From where she was sitting, that probably is exactly what she saw the most: the main trunk and the lowest branches.  The objects to the bottom right are the bird house and bird bath.  Apparently, she thought they needed more color than what they actually have.

Back to the photo:  the flock of birds was hilarious to Miss Dainty.  They were noisily squawking the entire time we were outside and they made her laugh.  The rabbit was an unexpected guest.  Miss Dainty startled it while she was running around, and he shot across the yard.  He was pretty big!  and gorgeous.  We put out some lettuce for him, and Miss Dainty sat by the backdoor eating her snack after we came inside, patiently waiting for him to come back.  (He hasn't yet.)

It was a great afternoon.  I love days like today, they are very uplifting.  And I'm so glad to be done with the "blahs."

On Nature and How I've Missed It

With all the reading challenges, you can probably tell I've missed reading.  Baby D has been a fairly demanding baby, and only recently has she become a little more independent and self entertaining.  I almost don't know what to do with the stretches of free time during the day as she and her sister play.  ("And you want another one?!" I can hear Mr. Hubs saying in his usual dramatic way...)

One evening last month, Mr. Hubs stayed with the kids while I ran to the library.  I had intended on only picking up a knitting book, but of course I got distracted by the rows and rows of inviting titles and covers, which led to many books being opened.  I think, that after being with my family, being in a library aisle, with books to both my sides, is my favorite place to be.  I happened across the book Bird Songs of the Mesozoic by David Hopes.

The title caught my attention first, quickly followed by the cover art.  I love birds.  I love watching them, feeding them, listening to them.  It's fun and relaxing.  Miss Dainty's learned a lot by studying them, too, so that doesn't hurt.   When I realized it was more of a memoir or collection of essays, I almost put it back on the shelf.  I don't particularly enjoy memoir type books.  The few I've read seemed to drone on and on, with no specific plot, and that bothers me to no end.  I need a conflict, and I need a resolution.  But the last part of the title:  A Day Hiker's Guide to the Nearby Wild convinced me to at least give it a try.

When I read that, I instantly thought back to our time in Florida.  Mr. Hubs and I used to hike a lot back then.  Even after having Miss Dainty, we managed to be outdoors more often than not.  We would just put her in the backpack carrier and be on our happy way, enjoying the forests that we thought looked more like jungles at times, with friends who equally enjoyed the outdoors.  The Jacksonville area was awesome when it came to outdoorsy type activities.  They had numerous parks and forests that beckoned hikers, bikers, campers, photographers, and birdwatchers.  I loved it.  I've missed it.

 

**In the top left pic, I was pregnant, but we hadn't found out yet.  In the picture to its right, I was 7 months along and did a 4 mile hike.  =)

I've missed being out in nature, and looking at those pictures from Florida makes that feeling sink in even more.  I've tried here in Virginia, but it seems in our area (at the parks I've visited at least,) the trails are an after thought.  The boat ramps and playgrounds seem most important, and even Frisbee golf takes precedent over the trails at our nearest park.  I have to distract my kids away from the playgrounds for them to even notice nature, and even then, Miss Dainty constantly asks if it's time to go play yet.  I miss just being in nature. 

So, back to the book, I started it that night, and indeed it's been a slow read for me.  I have enjoyed some parts of his writing, especially where he speaks of his interaction with nature in his every day comings and goings.  I share in his appreciation for nature, yet we appreciate it for different reasons.  I'm not sure he really knows why he appreciates it, just that he does.  For me, spending time in nature observing creation, its beauty and intricacies, helps me connect to the Creator.  It's like spending time at a museum and observing a favorite painter's work.  You get to know the artist through his creation, and I feel that way about God and nature.

It reminds me of this passage in the Bible:
Romans 1:19-20 NIV  "since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

On the other hand, the author alludes to a struggle with this concept, and I'm not even sure he meant to.  He first says on page 28 while hiking, "I stop in the road and ask myself, 'What are you afraid of?' Of staying forever the way I am.  Of dying alone and friendless.  Of fighting with God so much that he turns away from me."  I found this an interesting peek into the author's innermost thoughts and struggles.  But then he goes on to say, "None of those things is here.  None of them is coming at me out of the shadows of the forest."  And that is where he was wrong.  His struggle with God would be coming out of the forest, simply due to God's presence in His work, and the author's struggle to acknowledge it.

Later, on page 66, he expresses a struggle with the idea of evolution.  Talking about the evolution of the dragonfly from a larvae type creature, he writes, "What I want to know is, how were they summoned into shining air?  How did it cross their unimaginable little minds even to commence such a journey?  Yes, I know how it's supposed to work, but all the time there has been since the beginning of time should not be enough to turn the one thing into the other."  Exactly, Mr. Hopes.

The book is not meant to be spiritual in the least.  It's a collection of essays on how "nature finds you wherever you are."  But honestly, where there is nature, there is God, naturally.  I am only about halfway done with the book, and I will probably finish it in hopes of more insights and epiphanies on the author's part concerning nature and God.  I'm curious to see if they are in there.  If what is on the cusp of his understanding will click, if what is on the tip of his tongue will be professed.

The book has served as a gentle reminder of how much I missed being outdoors, though.  Sure, I notice things while I'm out and about.  I always do.  The changing color of the leaves, a flock of birds singing as we get home, an interesting bug to point out to the girls, a lizard or turtle sunbathing.  But I miss being immersed in it, in His creation.  Of course, God is always with us, but I enjoy that visual and physical presence found in nature.

Luckily for me, after realizing this, I remembered our Girl Scout troop would be doing a hike, but couldn't recall the exact day (although I knew it was to happen soon.)  When I checked my notes, would you believe it was the very next day?  Good thing I was prompted to check, or we would have missed out on it.  Instead, we went, and enjoyed it.  Miss Dainty ran off on the trails with the girls, while I (with Baby D on my back,) enjoyed, with a renewed appreciation, the scenery, the fresh air, the crunch of the leaves, the sun's warmth (a last farewell before the cold hit.)  And I reveled in it and so did Miss Dainty, and that made me happy. 

Even if I end up not finishing the book, it has served a purpose for me: a reminder of something I love and miss dearly.  Of something I've always wanted to share with my children, and yet haven't been as much as I had intended.  Living in Sicily got us into the habit of not going out with the single purpose of enjoying nature, there was nowhere nearby to go to do so, but now that we are back in the States, I want to change that.  I'm looking forward to it.