Category: Nature

  The older kids are going to Junior Naturalist camp this week. The class is for 9-13 year olds, so Mark is too old to go as a camper. However, he is able to go as a volunteer.  He is going to be the camp photographer this week.

After we dropped the kids off, Adrian, Megan and I took a walk around the park.  It had rained last night and was still drizzling some. It was beautiful out!

When it was time to leave, Megan had a really rough time. She did not like the idea of leaving the kids behind!

 

The kids and I have been watching a Robin’s nest for the last few weeks. I don’t remember who discovered the eggs, but since found, we have been peeking inside every few days.

Today, we asked Mark to move the ladder for us for the last time. Audrey ran inside saying that four birds just fell out of the nest. She told me two ran into the woods, but two were just sitting there.

Even though Momma bird kept shrilling scolding us to keep away, we took a few pictures.  We never saw the little ones fly, but we laughed at how they ran!  If we go by the nest, Momma bird scolds us still, so we know that fledglings are around somewhere.

We don’t think the babies will return to the nest.  We will keep watching for them though.

 

Audrey and I continue spending lots of time searching out new flower picture ideas. We are discovering the flowers seem extra pretty this year.

Spiderwort

 

When we have a few minutes from school, Audrey and I have been searching for unique flower pictures.  I enjoy comparing the pictures to see how differently they turn out. It is amazing how we can see the same things differently.

I gave myself the challenge of trying to capture a dandelion seed as someone blew on a dandelion. This is the idea of what I want, but it is not what I have pictured. Since we have tons of dandelions, I just need a willing helper  to try again.

The kids have been wanting to learn how to edit their pictures. We use The Gimp, and I really like it. It has been a challenge to learn the different functions, but as I practice, it gets easier.

For their first lesson, we attempted to change photographs to look more like a painting.  They all know the basic idea and had fun playing with different settings to get the picture they wanted.

I experimented with using different techniques for mine. Of all the pictures that I tried, this is my favorite. I won’t use this effect often, but it was fun experimenting with it.

 

Today Audrey, Adrian and I went on flower hunts. We roamed the back yard looking for different spring flowers and took pictures of them. Adrian picked a bouquet for me.  We were going to pull a flower apart and look at all the different parts, but we had so much fun hunting for the flowers, we never did dissect any. Maybe tomorrow.

I took these pictures with my “old” camera, a digital camera Allan bought when Adrian was a baby. It is falling apart and eats batteries very quickly. But it still takes wonderful pictures.  I don’t have a macro lens for my new camera, but until the old one stops working, I do not need a new one.

Today while we were roaming the park, I noticed something strange in the bushes. It looked like someone has wrapped some belts around branches.  I thought I knew what it was, so I went and looked.  There were at least four Garter Snakes all snuggled together in the bush.

Since the kids were getting ready to start a science class we called their teacher over to look. She said that they probably climbed to get up off the wet ground.  I mentioned that one of my “urban myths” has been destroyed. I always have told the kids that snakes around here do not climb, well, here is proof that they do!  She also said that they may be a family or just friends who all shared a warm spot.