Renaissance Academy

In "Summery"!

2011-07-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

We've taken a bit of a blogging break this summer. So much to do and so little time to write! I don't have time to even write a summary, but I wanted to update with a quick "summery"--a brief hello before I submerge back into our summer.

We built a new back deck--all by ourselves using mostly child labor. Just kidding! The kids only did about half of it. But we all learned a lot about letting things go. The original project was to repair the deck!

We've been doing art projects, and when I say "projects," I mean "things we really need and can use." Like books. Tony has taught himself the art of bookbinding through watching videos and trying different things. His goal is to bind his brother's drawings into a large book (or books) for safekeeping.

Beau has been mastering the fine art of cartooning. He's figured out how to make things look like they're in the process of moving. He also has become pretty good at copying famous cartoonists. He can draw a mean Bugs Bunny, can do most of the Peanuts characters, and is taking some cues from Maurice Sendak's work. Check out this chicken: Doesn't it look a little like the chicken in "A Kiss For Little Bear?"

We've also been studying clouds. We've been visiting the Cloud Appreciation Society web site, and bought their fieldguide, The Cloud Collector's Handbook for cloud identification. The upshot is that we've been looking up a lot.

On July 14, we were on the way back from the hardware store, having gone to purchase paint brushes so we could paint clouds on the largest mural we've ever attempted, when we saw this in the sky:

It looks like a double upside down rainbow, doesn't it? We had the distinct impression that the sky was smiling at us. We did a little poking around and found out that the bottom "rainbow" is actually a "circumhorizontal arc" which is quite common in the US in summer, and we just happened to catch a 22 degree circular halo around the sun at the same moment. Here is Tony's picture of the halo using a pair of sunglasses as a filter.

It looks like the halo is doubled or something, but truthfully we don't know much about all this sky phenomena, and are just learning ourselves. It's possible it was a trick of the lens, but I don't know. Any way you slice it, it was an interesting sight.

And of course, we've been taking lots of nature walks, and creating lots of images. This dragonfly was injured, and Tony gathered it off the pavement and placed it into the grass so it could recover.
It's not often that we get this close to a live dragonfly.

But the big event of the summer (so far) has been Tony's 18th birthday! He's finished his high school work and is focused on his future. Now if he can only figure out which way to point the camera. . . .

That's all for now. We want to thank everyone who has been supportive of Jim's Etsy shop!

Tree frog!

2011-05-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

We finished planting our new gladiola bed about a week ago, and were looking for something, anything to emerge, but we were delighted to find something altogether different from a gladiolus: a tree frog! Here in Michigan we don't see too many of those, at least in our area. (Or perhaps we don't know where to look!) But we have never seen one in our backyard before, so this was quite a big deal to us.

According to the Michigan DNR, there are only about 13 species of frogs and toads in Michigan. With all of our lakes, rivers and wetlands I would have thought that number would be much higher. And of those 13 species, only two of them are tree frogs: The Eastern Gray Tree Frog and the Cope's Gray Tree Frog. The only sure way to tell them apart is the number of chromosomes, the size of their red blood cells or the sound of their calls. Since our little guy never let out a peep, we have no way of knowing which one he was.

Of course, he was a little wary of us, but never showed a moment of panic even when he got into some really strange positions. He stayed in this particular pose for almost a full minute! At one point he jumped into a small arbor vita and played the part of a "real" tree frog.

But he was just as happy clinging to the front of Tony's T-shirt. . .

. . .I was a lot more worried about him falling than he was!

There is something amazing about the way little creatures like this one are so calm around us; perhaps they're not completely at ease, but they're certainly not as frantic as if they believed that we meant them any harm. Every time this happens, we become more resolved to be the good stewards of the earth that humans are meant to be. Maybe then we'll have more species of frogs and toads living in Michigan, eh? It could happen!

We're not looking under rocks anymore

2011-04-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well--maybe not as much! I wrote last about the destruction we've seen in the trees as a result of the ice storm combined with high winds. But the violent rearrangement of nature has brought some interesting opportunities as well.

We were recently at Beechwood Nature Preserve in Indiana, enjoying a bright spot of warm weather in the early spring. We didn't find many insects (except for midges) until we came to a wonderful opportunity right next to the trail. A very large tree had fallen, exposing the underside of the roots, and offering an impromptu pond.

It was interesting to see the roots of the tree; for some reason I have this persistent belief that tree roots grow straight down, like the branches, underground. But of course they don't. The roots fan out around the base of the tree, near the surface, to soak up rainwater. This is one reason why trees offer such good protection against erosion.

But I digress. Both boys immediately dropped to the ground and began looking for signs of life. This spring we've spent several days around wetlands, photographing life in those areas. Some of the reason for that is because we're desperate for wildlife, and life seems to begin in the water. But also because we haven't explored wetland habitat much before--and the mosquitoes aren't out yet!

So speaking of mosquitoes, we found plenty of their larvae, squirming around in the water spasmodically. They look like very tiny white worms. They make a jerking motion, then sit perfectly still and sink a little bit, then squiggle around again frantically. I wish we could take underwater pictures (movies) because they look so funny.

But aside from the mosquitoes, Tony got some pictures of water bugs that had taken up residence in the "pond."

Water bugs rest on the surface of the water and wait for a meal, sometimes living, sometimes not. Not sure what kind these are, but we think they are some kind of water strider, possibly genus Limnoporus. (Thanks Bugguide.net!)

Sharp-eyed Tony also found a millipede next to the boardwalk.

He moved really fast. Jim put a shoe in front of him to slow him down, but he just went up and over as quick as you please, not hesitating for a moment.

Back in the water, Tony also found what appears to be a queen ant, but she wasn't having a good day.

She may have been unable to fight the water tension. It is amazing to realize that even ants, which are renown for their strength, struggle against the force of that tension. When you watch an ant drink from a drop, they literally have to push the water away to avoid getting sucked in. (For some awesome close-up pictures of insects reacting to water in the environment, watch the wonderful French documentary Microcosmos.)

Tony then found another possible queen ant, in some kind of interaction with a smaller, darker ant. Not sure if this was love or war.

As a side note, we didn't even get close to going through the whole preserve. If you are in the area, and are looking for a nice hike into the wilderness, this one is really fun. It's very hilly and combines meadows, forest and wetland habitats, so something for everyone. A few years ago, hikers spotted bobcats in the preserve. Bobcats were previously endangered, and are now "of special concern", so their numbers are coming back up. Here's a link to the story.

Our finding on April Fool's Day was no joke

2011-04-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

April first was such a beautiful warm day that we decided to take advantage of the weather and visit one of our favorite places, Goll Woods, in northwest Ohio. We've written several times about this place, celebrating the wildness and beauty of it.

But what we found on our last visit was sobering. I'm not sure if the damage was from the February ice storm, or if tornado winds did some of the damage, but many, many trees were on the ground. Here's a sample of what we saw.

As you can see, it looks as if some of the trees were just snapped off pretty high off the ground. Some of the trees were rather large in girth.

It's a little awe-inspiring to know that wind and water did this kind of damage. But not all the trees that were stressed were killed. I found this younger tree that braced against a neighbor and appears to still be living.

All in all, every tree fall gap in the forest provides a way for new growth, as more sunlight reaches the forest floor. And even more inspiring was the view straight up--thousands of trees are still standing, still purifying the air and and water and providing homes to a vast population of wildlife.

A piece of living history

2011-04-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week, while in Auburn, IN, we stopped by the movie theater to see what was showing. Boy, did we get a show! We forgot all about watching a movie and circled the "main attraction": A 1947 Hudson Commodore eight!

None of us had ever seen one of these in person, so seeing it in a parking lot was quite a thrill. We spent some time just looking at this beautiful automobile: It's a piece of living history.

The first thing I thought of was the character of "Doc Hudson," from the movie Cars. But then I thought about how seldom I see any Hudsons on the road, and I decided to do a little digging.

I discovered that the Hudson Motor Car company was started in 1909 in Detroit, MI by Joseph L. Hudson, founder of Hudson's Department store. He provided the capital, and thus the car company was named after him. Eight Detroit businessmen formed the company with the goal of producing a car that would sell for under $1,000. The Hudson 20 was one of the first lower-priced American cars and sold 4,000 the first year.

The Hudson claims a number of "firsts," including a balanced crankshaft, which allowed the Hudson straight-six engine ("super six") to work at a "higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power for its size than lower-speed engines." (Thanks Wikipedia!) Hudson also was the first to introduce dashboard warning lights for oil pressure and generator (alternator). Dual brakes were also first introduced on the Hornet. Hornet also made innovations in the shifting system, introducing the "electric hand," an electro-mechanical automatic shifting mechanism, and an optional vacuum-powered automatic clutch.

And then, of course, there's racing. In 1948, Hudson introduced their famous "step-down" bodies, which sat below the level of the chassis, allowing passengers to sit inside the frame. This was much safer, and provided a lower center of gravity and much tighter handling. Thus, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, with a smooth six-cylinder engine, competed with eight-cylinder models and won.

Hudson also gave an opportunity to the first American woman automotive designer. Betty Thatcher Oros, a graduate of the Cleveland School of Arts, designed exterior trim with side lighting, interiors, trim fabrics, and the instrument panel on the 1941 Hornet.

At the start of World War II, Hudson stopped producing cars and began to produce parts for airplanes, including the "invader" engine, which governed landing gear. I also found a wonderful site with a vintage advertisement detailing Hudson's contributions to the U.S. Army's Marauder Bombers, which were famous for not being shot down. The ad was titled "Nazi's shot her up, but they couldn't shoot her down!"

Cars were produced under the Hornet name from 1910 to 1957.

Taken by surprise!

2011-03-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we were walking through the woods to look for more wonderful spring surprises. What we found was that the air temperature was much too chilly for the flying things to move about, and the frogs could only be heard at a distance, quickly falling into silence at our approach. As a result, we moved much faster than our usual gait, covering almost two miles in as many hours. After the first hour, we were simply trying to find our way out of the wood. The trail was covered by leaves the same as the surrounding forest land, and most of the markers made no sense to us. We seemed to be traveling along one called "4" only to find another called "2" or something. The sun was getting ready to set, we were cold, and it was with great relief that we saw the roof of a building through the bare branches and were able to orient ourselves so that we could find the path out.

We were no longer looking for anything but a warm vehicle as we rounded the next to the last bend in the trail before we came to the parking lot, when I stopped suddenly. I had the distinct impression that I was looking at a large hornets' nest which had been thrown to the ground and was partly torn open. With my hands in my pockets, I asked everyone else what it was, and when I turned back, I noticed that the "nest" had an eye that blinked.

"Don't move." I said. But they had already frozen. We stood there like four statues and stared at the thing on the ground, trying to work out what it was.

Experienced outdoorspeople probably already know what this is. But we had no idea. It took a great deal of effort and focus to even see it realistically. It kept turning into something else that looked almost like an animal . . . but those markings, the long needle-like beak/bill thing, the lack of a neck . . . we had no idea. Jim pointed out that if you took away the beak and added long ears, it looked a little like a rabbit.

We stared at it for quite a while and exhausted our picture-taking abilities from the angles we could photograph. Then we decided to try to get it moving so we could get some idea of what it was. Jim walked around behind it and tried to flush it out while Tony and I got ready to take a movie.

We expected it to bolt up and fly, but it just sat there for a long time, completely still. If I hadn't seen the slightest movement of its eyes, I would never have know it was even alive. Finally, it began to move away, slowly, in a way that baffled us. It kept its head perfectly still, rose to its feet, keeping its eyes upon us at all times, then put one foot out and felt the ground. The foot was similar to a chicken's foot, but it was infinitely thinner and more delicate. It began to rock back and forth in a roundish fashion: up, forward, down, backward, repeat many times. Its head was remarkably still the whole time, its eyes never leaving us. It bobbed away, freezing and nearly disappearing right from under our noses, then resumed, finally getting too far in the undergrowth for us to follow.

We took our pictures and movies home, warmed up, got some supper and did some research. Immediately, we found a flood of information and even some videos that showed exactly what we saw. This is the American Woodcock, and we interrupted its mating dance.

The First day of Spring!

2011-03-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

February weirdness

2011-03-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

What's the weirdest thing you've seen all day? I bet this tops it! This post may be a little out of order chronologically, but we're hoping to find some more information about this thing we found. This winter we've been walking in the woods; in January I wrote about our New Year's Day walk in a preserve near Fremont, Indiana. Part of the reason we went out is to just be in nature, but another reason is because we were trying to catch glimpses of different "overwintering" creatures in their natural habitat.

On February 16th, we went for another one of those walks, again at the same preserve in Indiana. We looked at the bark of various trees (for hibernating moths, etc.), but didn't find much. We did find some strange-looking cocoons, but weren't sure if they were inhabited or not. It was pretty brisk, and the wind was whipping up, so we had just decided to call it a day when eagle-eyed Beau noticed something quite interesting on the ground.

This is what it looked like:

It was definitely alive. It was partly translucent, and could actually move directly across the snow. It seemed to be hairless and was covered with a sticky substance similar to a snail. It had at least six sets of legs. On the front of its head were two blackish spots that sat atop the skin, and we assumed that they were some kind of eyes. It had a stiff spiny-thing on its opposite end. We watched for quite a while to see if it was frass, but it appeared to be a part of its body. You can click on the top picture for a closer look. If anyone is interested, I also have video of it moving around.

We have just never seen anything like this before, and we checked around our usual places online and didn't find much information. If anyone has any ideas, we'd love to hear 'em! What is this weird thing?

As a side note, we also found spiders moving freely across the snow. This is one we found that day, but since then, we've found several more, and they were very different from each other.

Weird enough? It's intriguing to see cold-blooded creatures like this moving across the snow without freezing or even slowing down. My fingers were getting stiff just holding the camera and taking pictures. How do they do it?

Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe!

2011-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we made a trip up to DeWitt, Michigan to visit the Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe. There's a little history here . . .last fall, my dad brought me an article about the bakery that was in American Profile. We were both excited to see a Michigan business profiled in a national magazine, but even better than that, it was a bakery!

See, I love to bake. Bread, cake, pies, muffins, cookies . . .I actually bake so much that sometimes we just can't eat it all and I wind up throwing some away. I'm trying to restrain myself, but I really, really love to make delicious food, not necessarily so that I can eat it, but just because I love to do it.

I also happened to read the Midwest Living holiday issue, and they featured some pie recipes from the owner of the Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe, Linda Hundt. I made a couple of them for Thanksgiving, and they were a huge hit. So needless to say, I was eager to visit her bakery and possibly meet her.

So yesterday we hit the road. DeWitt is almost two hours north of us, so it was quite a trek. Grandma and Grandpa came along to round out the party.

Imagine our surprise when we got there and found ourselves in the middle of a television show! Tom Daldin, the host of Under the Radar in Michigan, was there interviewing, Linda Hundt, and we had to squeeze past the camera crew to get our free cookies. (Amazing cookies. Glazed with lemon. Yum.)

It really is a very small place, so we shared a table with another couple who was just finishing up their lunch. We had sandwiches and soups (more yum), and decided we had to have a whole pie to take home. While my dad spoke with a lovely woman behind the counter, getting the low-down on the "best" pie--her favorite was the Cherry Berry Berry--I got a chance to speak with Linda.

She was just finishing filming a segment with Tom Daldin at the table next to us, and she came over to thank us for coming. I explained that I'd seen her articles and tried her recipes, and then my eyes wandered behind her and I saw all the articles on the wall from all the different publications in which she had been featured. But her eyes didn't glaze over; she talked with me quite generously, telling me that while it was difficult to start a business, she had the support of her family and friends, and that the most important help she received was when she prayed for strength every day. "This isn't a good business for people who like to take vacations!" she joked.

We wish her the best in her business; she is such a sweet person, and if anyone deserves success, it seems to be her. If you would like to know more about her or her wonderful bakery, you can visit her charming website, or better yet, visit the bakery in person.

By the way, the Cherry Berry Berry pie was incredible. And no, it didn't last long.

Ice Storm, February 20-21

2011-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of ice back in 1976, and at that time I can remember ice skating on the dirt road, which had become as smooth as any skating rink. But the storm that we had this last month was a close second. I'm sure we didn't get as much ice, but the way the ice formed created some interesting visuals.

The damage was substantial, of course. I spent a good day and a half documenting the snapped power poles; the tree limbs resting on power lines, cars, and houses; the power lines snaking across the main road, etc. But somehow, all my pictures are lost.

Luckily, the better photographer of the family, my son, Tony, took many pictures as well. He focused on the beauty of the ice and the interesting formations it made. He was gracious enough to allow me free access to his pictures, so that's what I've used here. I'd rather remember the beauty of the storm, anyway.

This shows the unusual way the ice formed. It simply coated everything in a thick blanket of ice, then froze over the top in which ever way the wind happened to be blowing.

This was a wire fence. Guess what happened to the power lines? We lost power from Sunday night until Wednesday, and a power crew from Indianapolis finally got us back online. Thank you!

We wandered through a surreal landscape for several days. It was quite beautiful, with sparkles no camera could ever reproduce.

Maple syrup time--another first!

2011-03-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

Well, a first for us, that is. This year we finally did it. We tapped our maple trees. We'd been talking about doing it for a few years, but every time we thought of it, we were too late. The sap begins to flow from the roots up to the crown of the tree in mid-February, and we would always think of it after we began to see the buckets on the trees of nearby farms . . .too late to order supplies, since the season only lasts a few weeks.

This year we were on it. We found spiles (taps) at our local Rural King store, and read up on the process. We couldn't spring for the covered metal buckets, but we had plenty of good buckets at home and figured we could improvise. Then on February 13th, the four of us set out with our cordless screw-driver, the spiles and the buckets, and we selected the place for the first hole.

We drilled at the recommended angle and depth (slightly uphill and about 2 1/2" inches deep), and set the four taps on two large trees. We used milk jugs instead of the buckets that we had planned to use (another useful piece of information we got online), because it was easier to control what went into the jug, and we didn't have to fuss with rigging up a cover. If the sap had been flowing when we first set the whole thing up, it would have worked wonderfully.

When the sap finally started running a couple of days later, it came out at the rate of about two drops per minute at the most. An entire day's supply was only about an inch at the bottom of the jug. We kept checking, especially on days when it had dropped quite low the night before, and the daytime temps were in the upper thirties/lower fourties, but never got very much sap.

Then the ice storm hit. I'll write about that later.

So we gave up. The wind was blowing the jugs and later the buckets around and knocking them off the trees, so we took them down. Then the boys were outside playing earlier this week, and put a beach bucket on the tree. By the next morning, it was on the ground. I walked out there to get it, and found that it was full of sap! The handle had snapped, and the bucket had fallen to the ground, still upright, and was still collecting sap. We threw out the ice on top (which was only the water part of the sap) and took the bucket inside to process. (Strain, strain, and strain again to get it clean, then boiling away the extra water.)

We boiled for two days, adding more sap when we collected it, and finally finished it. When the sap reaches the correct concentration, the temperature will rise just 7.1 degrees above boiling. 7.5 is too far and will become candy, so you really have to watch it at the end. We caught it just in time, and tasted. I just can't describe it. It's definitely maple, definitely sweet, but has a different flavor from the 100% maple syrup we bought in the stores.

In the end, we got just about one cup of syrup from 7.5 quarts of sap. So yeah, two days of work for one breakfast. But I'm sure that with the right equiptment, the amount of work and attention would be less. (An evaporator in a "sugar shack" would be a big step in the right direction!) But now we know what our great grandma meant when she wrote about tapping the "sugar trees." That syrup must have been like gold to them!

It is a lot of work any way you cut it. But the flavor is totally different, and the experience is so amazing. It's kind of mind-blowing for me, someone who was raised on Mrs. Butterworth's artificially-flavored corn syrup, to taste that which came from the tree in our backyard--the old tree that pulled that water from deep in the earth, purified it in it's body, and allowed us access to it through her bark--to work for two days over a stove, watching, adding a little more sap, stirring, checking the temperature, and to finally taste the real maple syrup we'd made. We're all a little awestruck at the authenticity of the experience!

Incredible sunrise after the full moon

2011-02-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

We rose to meet the sun yesterday, and what a glorious meeting it was!

The golden-red light of the sunrise affected everything for a few minutes, and it felt magical, as if we were living in a beautifully illustrated fairy tale.

The beautiful sunrise kicked off an incredibly spring-like day, with the temperature reaching 55 degrees under mostly sunny skies. The Star of Bethlehem shoots are already an inch out of the ground.

The groundhog may have predicted an early spring, but the weather man is predicting a winter storm watch for tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see, but for now, we're thankful for the warm beautiful days this week. And for the sunrise!

An apology, and a clarification

2011-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

I really have to apologize. My last blog post was everything that I hate to read. It was a preachy rant, and I'm not sure why I felt compelled to post it, except that the ideas in it have everything to do with why I teach my kids at home. I wasn't keeping my core readers in mind as I wrote; instead, I was just responding in anger to some things I had read. I wrote for a very long time, rewriting, trying to say what it was I was upset about, and I ended up sounding insulting. I know my blog followers think for themselves. I was talking to a different audience; but I addressed my comments to those who will probably never read this blog.

But even then, the communication wasn't respectful. If people don't know how to think for themselves, it isn't their fault. It's the fault of the environment in which they were raised. I know, because I was raised the same way. And ironically, I was yelled at the same way for not thinking critically when I should have done so, and I felt angry about it at the time. It isn't right to blame the victim, and I know better. So I'm sorry in total for the whole thing.

What I meant.

Teaching our children to think critically is the most important thing we can do. I almost wrote, to "think for themselves." But that is a little different. I don't mean that people should only consider their own interests; I mean that our children need to learn to do a combination of skills: consider the source, consider the motives of the speaker, and know how to check the facts. This skill set is not taught in general; only the elite are educated this way. We teach these things to children whom we believe will grow up to become "leaders." Most kids are taught to obey quickly and quietly, and not to make waves while they wait for instructions. They are taught to be factory workers and soldiers.

The same ideas ripple through our society. Our schools and sometimes our churches imply that there is only one right answer, and that questioning authority is the same thing as rebellion.

It happened to me the same way.

I had to think that through when I was quite young; I struggled when the ideas I was taught went against my conscience. I felt trapped in between two evils: being a "rebel," and believing a lie. I wrestled with my own understanding, thinking that part of the problem was that I just didn't understand it well enough. (In fact, that was something I usually heard from adults when I spoke my ideas out loud. "You are just too young to understand the whole situation.") We may say that to a young child when they question us about an adult relationship, but I heard that in response to moral questions like "Why is everyone so mean to the person that we used to treat like family?"

When I was in school, there was only one right answer to the question on the test. I was forever accused of "over-thinking" my answers. This relates to the former post because one of those answers had to do with why the Civil War was fought. I was taught that the "War Between the States" was fought because the South wanted to secede, and it had nothing to do with the issue of slavery. Even as a ten-year-old child, I recognized this as a snow job. Yes, the reasons behind the Civil War were complicated, but at its heart, the issue was slavery. But I had to write something different down on the test so that I could pass.

I was given a second chance.

As an adult, I have had to learn to listen to my children with respect, because I was not respected as a child, and my instinct was to treat my own children the way I was treated. I have changed because a chain of circumstances in my life helped me to see things differently. I have been blessed with the opportunity to halt destructive behavior before my kids are grown up, instead of regretting it all years later. I'm not saying that I am always able to halt it, but that the ability to see has given me more opportunity.

That chance started with education.

I took Logic in college, and learned to identify false or misleading arguments. In Oral Communication class, I learned how to read body language to understand what was really being said. In my English classes, we read stories and analyzed them for truth-telling (or not.) I remember how eager I was to expose error, and how thrilled I was that I understood. It was like someone gave me a key to a secret library or something. Later, I attended a conference at which the keynote speaker was Naomi Haines Griffith. One thing she said stood out to me, "The greatest source of lying, is lying to ourselves."

Honest liars.

If that is true, then it means that most of the people whom I can see are obviously lying are doing it "honestly". They think they are telling the truth, but it is because they have fooled themselves first. Knowing that concept is a game changer. How can you be angry with someone who believes that they are just telling the truth?

But the lies are still dangerous. Once lies are taught from the podium, or preached from the pulpit, to an audience who has not been taught to think and question, what defense does that audience have against false teaching? They simply accept whatever the authority figure says, and they go on to perpetuate the lie.

How I think we can fix it.

How do we stop this cycle? Not one of us is perfect, and every one of us has probably taught something to someone that wasn't true--not meaning to, but because we don't understand that we have unwittingly swallowed a lie.

There is no "perfect" environment for a child, so we have to teach our children to think critically. They are listening to us as parents, and as teachers. I often worry that I'm teaching something inadvertently that is not the whole truth, but rather the truth as I see it. So I invite challenge. Sometimes kids can see past the baloney a lot faster; if we listen to their unprejudiced opinions, we can learn some fresh truths that were right under our noses the whole time.

This doesn't invite children to be arrogant; instead, it models humility and being teachable. It demonstrates that even teachers make mistakes and that we all need each other if we are going to get to someplace new. We are all explorers together. Some have more experience, but sometimes, preconceived ideas stop us from seeing the truth.

If children learn at an early age to consider who is speaking and what motives or prejudices they might have in saying whatever they're saying, then they may be able to pull us out of the repetitive mistakes that we make as families, as businesses, and even as a nation. They will be able to detect what's wrong so much faster that those of us who had to learn to think critically as adults. And as adults, we have to learn to listen to them.

I know this is long and I appreciate those of you who waded through the whole thing. I'd love to know what you think about this.

Rewriting History

2011-02-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just don't know who to believe.

For the last month, I've been working on a drawing of Abraham Lincoln. He appealed to me as a drawing subject because of his interesting face, but also because I've always held him up in my mind as a hero. I admired his humble beginnings (raised in a log cabin), his reputation for honesty (doing pro bono work as a lawyer), and his courageous stand for what he considered the truth.

So I've been reading about his life. And I've been finding some strange articles, books and documentaries. People with axes to grind are accusing the Great Emancipator of being a racist. Some homosexuals are portraying him as gay because he slept in the same room with a man, something that was common at the time. Next thing you know, I'll be reading in Martha Stewart's Living that he was secretly a fabulous interior decorator who just never had the opportunity to exercise his repressed talent in matching wallpaper to couch cushions!

I recently found this Geico commercial on YouTube utilizing the reputation Abraham Lincoln had for honesty: It's worth a chuckle, but the comments posted after it where what interested me. Some people actually wondered if this was vintage footage.

When we rush to believe something negative about someone, and then repeat it without checking if it is true or not, then we participate in the slander.

We have this incredible ability to mass communicate now, but we have to remember that "with great power comes great responsibility." For me, this means being extra careful before I blog about something, to try to make sure I've got my facts as straight as I can. But another part of this is the responsibility that each one of us has to care for each other, to protect each other's back.

There are lots of falsified claims floating around out there, particularly concerning those in history who cannot rise up to defend themselves. We must rise up to defend them. The unscrupulous may believe that today, those long-deceased will easily become pawns in some modern culture war, but all the original documents (diaries, letters, primary sources) are available for anyone (who has access to a computer) to consider. The biographer is simply offering an opinion on those public facts. Blindly listening to and accepting their opinion is akin to visiting the Grand Canyon and then asking a stranger to describe what it looks like instead of looking with my own eyes.

When I was a kid, fact-checking was difficult. I either had to go to a library and check out a book in order to find the truth, or I had to find an expert and ask them. It may have taken days, weeks or even months to get the answers to questions, especially if someone didn't want me to know the answer. But now we can check anything at a moment's notice.

When was the first petroleum well drilled? Look it up. What year was Mark Twain born? Google it. What is the chemical composition of cholesterol? Check out the Wikipedia article. If you need more detailed information, it only takes a few minutes longer to look up doctoral dissertations and scholarly papers on almost any topic under the sun. What did George Washington really think? Check out his letters in the Library of Congress website. They're scanned in in his own handwriting.

OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. But before you believe all the "new" information out there, I urge you to do a little research. Understand though that the search for knowledge is addicting.

Land, ho!

2011-02-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Look what sailed into our harbor this week: The Dawn Treader!

We got a ton of snow last weekend, but it wasn't the "packing" kind. So we piled instead, hoping that we could get it to compress and hold together enough for a "subtractive" sculpture. After a few hours of piling it on, we began to shape it. One of our neighbors came over to help, and with a pile that big, we certainly needed it! It was about 16' X 16' X 7' tall.

We left it overnight and started again the next day, refining the shape, creating some of the details (the standard and the mast), and coloring it. Since we had trouble with details, we decided that an authentic standard might help identify her. C. S. Lewis described the old Narnian standard as "green, with a red lion," so we went with that.

One man stopped to ask "when we were going to put her in the lake?" That was awesome, because we were afraid that no one would even recognize it was a ship. (Everyone kept asking if it was a dragon.) We were limited to large, chunky shapes because the snow simply wouldn't stick together, and any fine detail quickly fell to pieces. The head was really beautiful before a snowball shattered it . . .

We're only a few days away from above-freezing temperatures, and that means that she won't last long. But what a ride, baby!

Last year's snow sculpture was Optimus Prime; the year before that we did Lightning McQueen, and before that, Darth Vader.

Michigan baseball

2011-01-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

Is it Spring yet?

Science in action

2011-01-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

I'm reaching an interesting stage as a home schooling mom. My youngest child is now at the age my oldest was when he first started to learn at home. Well, actually they're not at the same age, but rather at the same stage. So I have the feeling that I've actually done some of this before, at least once.

Beau is studying force and motion. We're using the DK book as our jumping off point, and then supplementing with other sources as needed/desired. Some may question the wisdom of using a sampler book as curriculum, but I've found that if it's short and intensely interesting, the foundation of learning (motivation) is securely in place and the whole process of learning becomes an adventure and even somewhat of a mystery.

So far Beau has built a system of pulleys, compound and simple, to test the formulas for mechanical advantage laid out in the book. He built an inclined plane to test its ability to move heavy objects to an elevated destination more easily. (He also found that lighter objects such as toy cars go much farther when using an inclined plane and a similar amount of force.) He even tested out Archimedes' principle: The amount of upthrust on a floating object is equal to the weight of the liquid it displaces.

OK. Here's where the "been there, done this" came in handy. I let him do it all by himself, only giving him access to the things he needed and directing him to document what he was doing, and being with him while he did the experiment. (Well, not all by himself, but close. I'm very excited about duplicating these experiments and doing real science, so it's hard for me to keep my hands off!)

He chose an apple, weighing it and documenting the weight. We found a glass that would hold the apple without touching it. Then we filled that glass completely with water. Beau weighed the glass with water in it and documented the weight.

He placed the full glass inside a bowl (to catch the overflow) and put the apple in the glass. Here's where I butted in. I had the idea that the water overflow would match the weight of the apple that was under the water (instead of the whole apple.) We wasted a lot of precious time trying to mark the water level on the apple while it was floating in the glass, cutting the apple precisely, and then weighing the submerged part of the apple and comparing the weights. No match.

We went back to the book. OK, so it was supposed to match the weight of the whole apple. But now the apple was mutilated and partially eaten, so we had to start over. I believe that some of Beau's delight in this experiment stemmed from the fact that he got to show mom where she was wrong. And isn't that one of the precise roles of the scientist? To expose error?

So we did it all once again, weigh the apple, weigh the water in the glass, drop the apple gently, catch the overflow, and compare the weight of the overflow with the weight of the apple. This time it was very close. We decided that the difference was probably due to the imprecise nature of the scale (since we had to keep resetting it every time it was used), the weight of the bowl we caught the water in, and the few scattered drops on the counter that were spilled when we removed the glass from the bowl that caught the water.

How is this scenario different from the way it would have been ten years ago? Exprience has made me much more quick to acknowledge my own error. Back then we probably would have mutilated several apples, exchanged words, and punctured any enthusiasm for the experiment in the process. (But back then it would have been during the school science project.)

So here's what I'm hoping: As I begin to learn humility and to understand the limits of my own understanding; as I try to respond to correction--from any source--positively; and as I retain my curiosity and enthusiasm for learning on into my fifth decade of life, I hope to pass these qualities on to my children. Mistakes like the one I made above are the basis for concrete learning because they are memorable. They also reinforce the principle that honest observation is where all education begins.

The Time It Takes to Say Goodbye--short film

2011-01-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I've mentioned before that both Tony and Beau make short films. Tony allowed me to post this one he recently created:

The Time It Takes to Say Goodbye.

A Walk on New Year's Day

2011-01-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

This year we found New Year's Day is a welcome respite. We don't watch football (but are very sorry for Michigan's loss to Mississippi), so when the weather hit a balmy 36 degrees with some sun, we decided to go for a walk.

Late last fall we discovered a little preserve in Indiana, but didn't have time to explore it then, so off we went. It's the first time we've walked in the woods in the middle of winter (although technically we're still at the start, aren't we?) and we loved each little glimpse of life we found. The air was filled with bird calls, so we knew we were surrounded, but only saw a dozen or so. We did see this nuthatch who was busy searching for insects in the bark of an old tree.

Since everything else was either dormant or dead, we had to be satisfied with leftovers.

We also found insect hieroglyphs

and tiny mushrooms that seemed to be pulsing with life!

There was something wondrous about the way the bare branches moved against the sky that stimulated our imaginations.

Finally we came to a half-frozen lake.

It was about then we realized that we were half-frozen as well!

Time to run on home for some warm supper near the fire.

Happy New Year to all the nature lovers out there!

Firsts

2010-12-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

So much has happened so fast, and I'm afraid I haven't been blogging very much. The kids and I have been busy with various projects, getting those last warm weather projects done before the cold sets in.

We stripped the dining room table (but haven't finished it yet--we're waiting to do something Creative),

built a huge bookself for our parlor (here's Beau putting a few screws in the back),

and patched the concrete on the front walkway.

That's the first stripping project, first bookself and first concrete project we've done as a team.

Then yesterday, we had the first snowfall of the season. Regular followers will remember our snowflake study last year. (Who could forget? I posted a ton of those snowflake pictures!) And when that new snow began falling, we couldn't resist breaking out the cameras. So here are a couple of the first snowflakes that fell here. We used a 30x jewelers loupe to photograph details.

Far from finding that scientific study of something "magical" destroys the magic, we've found the opposite to be true: Our curiosity and enchantment continues to grow as we pay attention more closely and focus more carefully on the natural world. (But I promise not to post a million more photographs--honest!)

Thank you, Grandpa

2010-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Arthur F. McMahon

Oct. 1, 1895 - March 15, 1968

(standing, facing camera)

Drawing from imagination

2010-11-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

We've been studying realistic drawing for the last few weeks along with another family. The ages represented go from pre-school age to, well, me.

Not all of the children are ready to learn realism, obviously, but simply listening to the discussions about drawing seem to have spurred Beau into a burst of creativity. Not only is he attempting the exercises in class, but he's spending hours at home every night drawing from his imagination.

This is a semi-realistic drawing in sharpie markers of a cream pitcher that we use. It really does have decoration around the top depicting dripping cream, and the handle really is shaped like that. He has also imaginatively added cream coming off the lip.

And here is the updated version of the train that he draws over and over. He does several of these drawings a day. Notice how the smoke trails off toward the end, how realistic the traction rods have been drawn, and the way the wheels actually touch the tracks. These are all movements toward realism in his symbol drawings.

Above is a realistic drawing he did from life of his brother.

And this drawing of Chico Marx is based on a picture from a DVD cover. He shaded the neck, and also did a pretty good job of depicting the hat in perspective. Notice the profile of Chico's face and the fact that only a part of the ear shows.

While we've been discussing the weightier questions like "What is art?", he has been quietly doing it. While he listens, he fills his drawing pad with imaginative doodles. He is particularly interested in showing action, as you can see from the last drawing.

Sassy apple harvest

2010-10-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

Once again, it's time to harvest our crab, er, sassy apples--seems like it's earlier every year. We use them for juice and jelly, so technically anytime after the middle of September they're fair game, but I like to let them sugar up a little.

This year they were smaller than years past. I'm not sure why, except that the summer temperatures were pretty high this year. But it's no matter; they juice up just the same!

People ask me why I would take the time to bother with "sassy" apples; some don't think they're even edible! (You know who you are!) But if you dilute and sweeten the juice, it has a delicious taste that just isn't quite like anything else. And if you take the juice and make jelly, you have another tasty product that goes very well on freshly-baked bread or tops cinnamon french toast (under a nice mound of whipped cream, of course!)

If you happen to have a crab apple tree and want to give it a try, here's how to do it:

Wash the crab apples in lukewarm water and soap. Rinse thoroughly.
Cut the stem and blossom end off of each one (along with bruises or anything you don't want to include in the juice), then slice each apple in half.
Cover the batch with just enough water to reach the top of the apples and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down and simmer until the skins start to split. You can mash with a potato masher (taking care to stir the pulp off the bottom of the pan so it won't scorch) to speed the process.
When the apples are very soft, pour the hot mass into a large mixing bowl that has been lined with three or four layers of cheesecloth. Tie the cheesecloth into a bag and suspend above the bowl to let the juice drip out. (I have an eye hook in the bottom of my kitchen cabinet for this purpose.)
Follow standard water-bath canning procedure to can the juice into quart jars.

Important! Before you drink the juice, dilute it with equal parts of water, and sweeten each diluted 2-quart batch with about a cup of sugar. Otherwise, it's hardly drinkable. Also the juice will be very thick if undiluted (natural pectin in the fruit).

To make the jelly, take the fresh juice and add equal parts of sugar. I've also made it with slightly less sugar, so adjust to your own particular taste. You may add a teaspoon of cinnamon to each 7-cup batch if you like. Bring to a boil (stirring, stirring!) and cook to the jelly stage. Pour into prepared jars and process in a water bath (boil the filled jars, submerged, for 15 - 20 minutes). Check with your local Extension office for food safety guidelines and more specific canning instructions.

Also important. Crab apple jelly is very acidic, so even though it tastes sweet, be sure to use some fat with it so that you don't provoke your stomach. Use butter on your toast, whipped cream on your french toast or pancakes, etc. Plus, yum is yum, you know?

Why call them sassy apples? Well, they're so good, they just need a better name!

Fence-sitting

2010-10-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

Apparently, it's not just for humans anymore.

While patrolling our yard, we found a bicolored sallow moth

perfectly camouflaged against the autumn leaves.

He was sitting just under the fence.

Later, we found this hickory tussock moth resting

on the top of the fence post.

This stink bug is just off the fence, but he's not fooling anyone.

Technically, this common checkered skipper was flower-sitting,

but the flower was growing through the fence,

so this one definitely counts.

A quick glance had us fooled into thinking we had photographed

yet another gray hairstreak butterfly, a closer look revealed

that it's actually an eastern tailed blue butterfly.

I guess they like to sit near the fence, too.

And then we found two for the price of one!

I was focused on this fence-sitting grasshopper, and only later

I realized that there was a ladybug inching closer

. . .ahh, togetherness, while fence-sitting.

Branford Marsalis at BGSU--a gift

2010-10-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

This week, we're on vacation. And last night, we had the extraordinary privilege of watching Branford Marsalis in concert at Bowling Green State University. Jim summed it up best when he said, "It was a gift."

We were in the second row. I have no idea what happened behind us because the four of us couldn't look away from the stage. Eight-year-old Beau grabbed my hands just before they announced Branford Marsalis and said, "Mom, we're going to be in the same room with Branford!" Yeah, he's like a rock star to us.

The quartet lost Jeff "Tain" Watts last year, but the 19-year-old Justin Faulkner definitely helped ease the pain. The first thing I said to Jim when we woke up this morning was, "One day years from now, we'll be able to say that we heard Justin Faulkner play when he was only 19 years old."

Branford started with "Teo," a composition by Thelonius Monk. Regrettably, piano player Joey Calderazzo wasn't there (Ryan Hanseler filled in), but it was incredible to hear that classic piece right off the top.

We learned the story behind Branford's composition "Cassandra," from his latest CD, Metamorphosen. Branford's 15-year-old son was "complaining because he had to read the Greek myths. He didn't think it was fair." Branford said he told him, "You're right. You're too stupid for the Greek myths. Go watch some TV."

His son came back later and together they went over the story of Cassandra, who was given the gift of prophecy with the caveat that no one would ever believe what she would say. Branford thought, "This must be the loneliest person in the world." And out of that experience, he composed the haunting "Cassandra."

Ben Wolfe (who formerly played with Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Connick Jr., among others), was on hand to provide a stable center as the bass player, replacing Eric Revis. We watched as he supported the others on stage, providing a nod, a smile or a funny face as encouragement. It was such an unexpected pleasure to see him in person.

One highlight was a wonderful version of the "St. Louis Blues." Nobody sat still during that one--at least, I think they didn't. We sure didn't! Beau leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom, if they have this on CD, we have to buy it." Of course, but it'll never be what we heard last night.

Another unforgettable part of the concert was the drum solo by Justin Faulkner in "52nd Street Theme," another piece written by Monk. When I close my eyes and see the image I created of it, I see Justin leaning forward with a blurry cluster of drum sticks in his hand. He moved so fast I literally couldn't watch it all. Tony said the solo lasted 15 minutes, but it didn't seem anywhere near that long.

Jim is right. The night was a gift to us. We got a great deal on the tickets. Our vacation, planned months before, just happened to fall the week of the concert. We somehow managed to get right up front. We are filled with gratitude.

So thank you to Branford Marsalis, for agreeing to come to a small university town in the middle of nowhere. Thank you, Ben Wolfe, for the many lessons we watched about the importance of the bass as a percussive instrument, and for what we learned about how performers support and encourage each other. Thank you Justin for all you gave: the energy, the imagination, and the enthusiasm were each amazing. Thank you for the wonderful, unforgettable gift.

So while I listen to Tony learning "Teo" on the saxophone, I'll leave you with Branford and his regular quartet (Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass, and his former drummer, Jeff "Tain" Watts), playing "In the Crease," another song we heard last night.

Molting milkweed bug

2010-10-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Hillsdale, the boys and I noticed a new "birth" taking place at the edge of Baw Beese Lake.

We noticed several of these large milkweed bugs clustering on milkweed pods on previous visits, and happened to catch this one just has he was molting into his adult form. As the milkweed bug's body hardens, it will become black with orange markings like the one just below.

"Unfair" competition!

2010-09-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

For the last few years, the boys have competed in our local Hillsdale County Fair photo competition. This year, someone-who-shall-remain-nameless forgot to submit their entry forms in time. (I'm really sorry, guys!) We decided that since they had already done the work, we would go ahead and have an intrafamily competition--or you could call it an "Un-fair Competition."

Grandma and Grandpa generously offered to be the judges on the condition that the contest be blind--no names would be on the entries.

Here are some of the winning photo entries:

The photo below won "Best in Show" unanimously.

It was taken by Beau.

The next one was Beau's second place in the "Close up" category.

Tony placed first in the nature category with this photo.

And this one below got an "honorary mention" by the contest sponsors:

It was created (by Tony) from three separate photos which were stitched together to create this panoramic view of a sunset.

In addition to the photo contest, the boys also decided to have a bake-off. Each one made a fabulous dessert, and these were presented to the Grandparents for a decision.

Tony made a delicious candy using the "Bunn" candy bar as inspiration. He started with a maple-flavored fondant, covered that in peanuts and then drenched the whole thing, top and bottom, with semi-sweet chocolate.

Beau was not be be beaten! His creation was a four layer mocha-cherry cake with chocolate shavings on the top. The filling was made of ricotta cheese, maraschino cherries and tiny chocolate chips. MMMMM! I only helped with understanding recipe directions and slicing the cake layers--he did the rest.

So it wasn't quite the same as competing at the fair, but our "unfair" competition was really fun, and Grandpa and Grandma had the chance to be involved, too.

"A Fresh Twist" hits the Big Red Couch

2010-09-13T03:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I announced the opening of Jim's new online store, A Fresh Twist, at Etsy.com. We have been very excited to learn the ropes of online selling, and to just see what people think of his hand-turned wooden bowls. (I can tell him what I think all day long, but I'm not buying them, you know!)

Out of the blue, he received an invitation to do an interview at The Big Red Couch! And if you've been wanting one of his beautiful handmade bowls, now's your chance. They're having a giveaway this week. All you have to do is visit the Big Red Couch, follow the instructions at the end and enter the drawing. You have until midnight on Friday, September 17th, to enter. Good Luck!

Introducing: A Fresh Twist!

2010-08-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

The time has come, the walrus said . . .

My husband, Jim, has been cultivating his woodworking skills for several years now, and has decided to take it the next step: ETSY!

When you get the chance, stop by and check out his shop!

Happy 50th Birthday, Branford Marsalis!

2010-08-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

(Tony's saxophone and my drawing of Branford.)

Branford Marsalis is a grammy-award-winning saxophonist, actor, teacher and philanthropist. (Click on his name for a timeline of his life so far.) But more importantly, we think he's really, really cool. We're sending out a warm "Happy Birthday," along with the wish that he'll have at least 50 more years.

He adds class and style whenever he's involved in anything, in my humble opinion. But be careful: Once you listen to his music, he'll get in there . . . he's truly exceptional.

Our first cabinet

2010-08-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Remember the post about the stained glass? Well, we finally finished our cabinet and got the little glass door installed. We actually had it done a couple of weeks ago, but I have had an incredibly busy month. So here it is in all its glory . . .Daddy's birthday present: a place to keep his hand-turned bowls. It's a little skinny for its height, but everybody's happy anyway.

The top and bottom glass doors are windows salvaged from a Victorian house in our neighborhood. Keep in mind that the kids designed as well as made this, and that it was a first in so many ways (first stained glass, first "frame," first hinges, first shelves . . .) I let the kids lead on this, and they did most of the work. I coached, and helped with some of the power tools, but this is their sweat equity.

Here's the little stained glass door. The window fits inside a routered groove.

I made the closers by copying another Amish-made cabinet in the same room.

The whole project took about three actual weeks of work to finish, with planning and sanding taking most of the time. It was a great opportunity for the kids to take a project from idea to completion, but it wasn't easy. Because of the amount of learning required for each step, it took some (ahem) careful supervision to make sure it was finished. But when it was all done, it was hard for us to believe what we'd done together. It was a wonderful experience, and was gratifying to have something tangible to look at once the work was done.

Insect adventures in July

2010-07-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

Every day, the kids and I are outside during the summer. Usually, we're watching some insect drama that is unfolding in the backyard. One year it was a series of mysterious cocoons (that never hatched, but were well-watched.) Last year we ran a butterfly nursery and raised Silver Spotted Skippers.

Well, we did that this year, too. This one is our last fledgling. It's amazing how butterflies will give evidence of different responses to humans, almost as if they have a personality. (Well, why not?) This one spent a good half hour with us, while the other flew off the moment his wings were strong enough.

But our main insect drama this summer (so far) was the discovery of a cache of eggs on a Catawba leaf. We photographed the eggs every few days to try to monitor development. There were fine hairs around the rim at the top of the eggs.

Notice that some of the eggs are darker. More experienced entymologists would know immediately what the cause of that is! But we didn't, so we just kept watching, taking pictures, and eventually were surprised to find this.

Why would a tiny wasp be emerging from the eggs? Wasps don't lay eggs on leaves . . .but they DO lay eggs in developing larve. Back to our beloved www.bugguide.net, and we found that the wasp seems to be some kind of parasitic Apocrita (Telenomus?)

Notice how the hole in the top of the egg seems to be chewed through? The plant bug would normally pop the lid off and leave it looking like an opened can with the lid attached. (One person called them a "stink bug stink pot.") Very cute. But the wasp leaves a ragged hole.

So it was a little disappointing, but just a few leaves over we noticed this fellow sneaking a peek.

He's a stink bug nymph, on his way to bigger and better things. That tiny parasitic wasp is only about the length of the space between his eyes. Isn't nature amazing?!

Then last, but not least, I found this small bug when I was weeding my flower bed, and his beauty captivated me. He was so ornate and elegant! I called the kids over and struggled to get a picture before he ran off. What I didn't notice was the wicked-looking appendage under his "chin." About one second after I took this picture, I felt a sharp poke and involuntarily shook the poor fellow off.

After some research, we found that he is the nymph of the "tarnished plant bug." As the name implies, the little thing was looking for some sap and poked the wrong squishy stem to get it. But we did learn that the tarnished plant bug is the most common plant bug in the United States (according to the US Department of Agriculture via Bugguide,) and is an "important pest." Farmers just have no appreciation for this one. The adult looks quite different. Click here for a look.

Our first stained glass window

2010-07-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

For the last month or so, the kids and I have been working on making a cabinet for Jim's wooden bowls. This was supposed to be a birthday gift, but since his birthday was last month, now we're aiming for Christmas. (Grin)

The cabinet is tall and thin, with the doors made of reclaimed windows. A neighbor was replacing her arched windows with more standard fare, and was happy to find a new home for them. We have never made a cabinet before, and we realized that our design gave us about a foot of extra space that the doors didn't cover. We decided to make a stained glass window, and then set it into a wooden frame to create a little door to fill the space.

Our learning curve is vertical on this one! (Notice I say "our?" We're just learning together, with me there to provide material procurement and safety regulation.) Anyway, everyone wanted a part on this one, so we started by learning how to cut glass.

We watched videos and read articles on how to do it, then just went for it. I made the kids wear safety shields and gloves, though no one in the videos did this. It's a mom thing.

Here is beau cutting glass on the first day:

Not every piece was cut that smoothly, but it did go pretty well. The biggest challenge was to control our fear that the glass will shatter, cut you or fly off in unexpected directions.

When the glass was cut, we wrapped the edges in copper tape, since solder adheres to copper, not glass.

After the edges were wrapped, we soldered it, tacking the main joints first to hold them, then going over the whole thing.

Here's the end result:

It's not art, but it's a stained glass window, and not too bad for a first attempt. At least we finished it! Now we just have to make the frame for the little window and inset it into the cabinet. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Buried treasure

2010-07-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

This July 4th we went exploring. Tony found a business he wanted to visit in a little town about an hour's drive away, so we took off toward LaGrange, Indiana. We've driven through it dozens of times--it's on the main route to Chicago. I'd always thought that there was nothing really there.

The first thing we noticed was the age of the town. It wasn't difficult to imagine people dressed in the fashions of a hundred years ago going about their daily business there. Some of the buildings were spectacular time capsules.

A few of the streets retained their original cobblestone.

We got out and walked a block or so to the milliners. Along the way, a couple in a car waved to us. Then a woman walking alone said hello.

The shop was on the corner, and the front windows featured hats from the 40's (I think) along with vintage records from Bobby Vinton, etc. Around the corner, we found the courthouse and this mural:

This is small town America, folks. LaGrange is unique in many ways, I'm sure, but it's also prototypical of the small towns scattered all across this country. A block of lawn surrounded the courthouse and featured various monuments. Around the back, it looked like there was a pavilion for general use. Being there reminded me of being in New Lexington, Ohio, and other small towns around this part of the country.

There was an old Lutheran church with beautiful stained glass windows.

Foltz bakery (which was closed) looked like it had jams and jellies in the front window, and was decorated by Tiffany-style lamps in it's cozy interior. Chicago Joe's was on the corner, just a block down from the Dollar General.

I was wondering how a town this size could support a millinery shop, and thinking how wonderful it is to be free to follow one's dreams. The feel of freedom seemed pretty large in this small town.

Then, as we left town in the twilight, we noticed something on the corner right next to what looked like an official government building:

I'm sure it was on private property next to the building, but there was something inspiring about seeing the Ten Commandments featured in the center of town. Maybe it wouldn't fly in New York City, but here in rural Indiana it just seemed right. Comforting, even.

On-going treehopper study: Tony's at it again

2010-06-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tony began studying treehoppers--Enchenopa Binotata to be exact--he's been a little obsessed. Last year, we were under the walnut tree washing the car when something fell onto my head. I caught it in my hand, and found it was a little bug in process of molting. Tony hopped onto the computer and identified it as the nymph of an unusual-looking "thorn bug" that we'd been seeing on our wysteria. A few days later he found one on the lilac bush and sent a picture in to bugguide.net for identification. Dr. Andrew Hamilton identified it as Enchenopa brevis, a rare treehopper and the first record of it in Michigan.

Since then we've learned that evolutionists are watching this treehopper rather closely. The theory is that it changes according to adaptations to different host plants. Each one seems to be very selective about host plant, and there seems to be some difference in horn characteristics according to which plant it lives on. Apparently, Enchenopas that live on leatherwood have the tiniest horns. There is some controversy swirling about whether these variations are enough difference to separate them into different species or not, so for now they're calling them Enchenopa binotata complex. At least, this is how we understand it, and it does depend upon whom one consults. (Well, actually I'm simplifying it a lot. Other differences are apparent, too, such as differences in the coloration of the nymphs and differences in the sounds that they make. I think. We're still in the process of learning, so if you want to know more, check it out the research!)

Click here to hear what they sound like. (Amplified)

So Tony's into it. This year, he started hunting early. He prowled through walnut leaves, catawba leaves, mulberry leaves, lilac leaves and anything else that had branches low enough to reach. Sure enough, he found a bunch of the little guys on the underside of a walnut leaflet.

He gathered a couple and put them in a jar with some walnut leaves, hoping to raise them and see what the adults would look like.

However, they died. Tony speculated that the sap in the leaves had to be running for them to feed, so he found a walnut sapling and potted it, then got a few more of the nymphs and put them on the little living tree.

It worked. The added advantage was that we could bring this little tree inside to better monitor what was happening. We tried to sort out the different instars, but had some trouble. There were four different ones on the tree with each one at a different stage of development. Basically, they get bigger each time, but individuals can vary some (in other words, one may look bigger than another, but it may have had better access to food and therefore be the same size as another instar at a later stage). Each stage shows a variation in color as well as size.

Here is a page that shows line drawings of the different stages. It would have been nice to know color as well, but maybe we can make a better chart of our own as we observed more carefully.

In the photo above, the individual on the stem is obviously smaller than the one on the leaf, and you can see that its color is more green.

Here are two more sitting close to each other on a branch, and you can see that one looks nearly completely green, while the other is black and white. We all wished to have the time to watch hour by hour, because they change so fast, and it's difficult to keep accurate records with a group of individuals on one little sapling.

On June 21st, about 30 minutes before we left for the Harry Connick Jr. concert, the first one emerged from it's final molt. Tony put him in a glass and took a few pictures, but we had to go so couldn't watch the entire metamorphosis. You can see that it's underside is still green like the nymph it recently was.

Here is the fully-morphed adult. Looks like the plain old garden variety Enchenopa binotata, with a spectacular horn. That makes him average according to our needs. We still have a couple to go, so we'll keep an eye on them to see if we can learn anything new, but now we know better how to plan for next year's study.

As a side note, we're still finding adults on the lilac this year. Notice the short little horn on this one's head? He got away without further study, but this is the second short-horned Enchenopa we've found on lilac. I'm just sayin'.

Who loves Harry Connick Jr? We do!

2010-06-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

We've followed the career of Harry Connick Jr. as a family for many years. We have all his albums, and try to see him most times when he makes a public appearance. A New Orleans native, he has done much to promote jazz and bring back swing. He also worked with fellow native Branford Marsalis to found the Musician's Village for those who were rendered homeless following Hurricane Katrina.

Last night, we finally got the chance to see him at a venue in which he belongs! We piled in the marshmallow and drove to South Bend, Indiana to see Harry at the Morris Performing Arts Center. It was our first visit to the center, and what a beautiful place it is.

Harry Connick Jr's tour bus at South Bend, IN

The 2560-seat theater was originally built in 1921 as a vaudeville house, part of the Orpheum theater chain. New acts came on every ten minutes, and patrons could purchase a day-long ticket for just 22 cents. J.S. Aroner, the architect from Chicago who designed the theater, created a place that induced the feel of a trip to Europe. Many different architectural styles competed to create the unique ambiance of "The Palace."

In the 1940's The Palace had fallen on hard times and was slated for demolition. Mrs. E. M. Morris bought the theater and sold it to the city of South Bend for $1. In honor of her generous contribution to the arts, the theater was renamed the Morris Performing Arts Theater.

Today, the complete restoration of the theater is evident. Click here for photos. (Click on "photo galleries" in the left menu.)

The elegant, old-world place has been fully updated for the modern age while still retaining is antique appeal. The highly-decorated theater was the perfect setting for one of the best stage shows we've ever seen. It was truly a special night. If you've ever seen Harry's 1993 "The New York Big Band Concert" dvd, this concert was even better than that.

The show started on time at 8:00 p.m. Though the album being promoted is "Your Songs," Harry only performed four songs from the album. The night started with "We Are In Love," the title track from his 1990 album, and ended with "All the Way," from the new album, which is a cover of the old Frank Sinatra song.

Harry's 14-year-old daughter, Georgia, was there, having flown in from New York to be with him on Father's Day. Her presence seemed to inspire him, and he referred to her often throughout the performance. At one particular comedic interlude in which he was interacting with trombone-player extraordinaire, Lucien Barbarin, he finished the joke by saying, "And these are the times when Georgia is particularly proud to be my daughter!"

Highlights from the show included a version of "You are My Sunshine" with Harry on trumpet (!) and Lucien on trombone. Harry played an extended note on the trumpet (maybe even a whole minute long?), then fell on the floor for the rest of the performance, playing with the trumpet in the air. Lucien joined him, and they competed, pretending exhaustion, to see who could finished with the most flourish. Trumpet player Mark Braud (Bro) joined them on the floor and the trio played to the ceiling, blended the end of the song with the beginning of "The Sheik of Araby." And on the concert went.

Harry was relaxed and FUNNY! He danced alone and with others on stage. ("Here is how we do it in New Orleans.") He told stories about repairing his wardrobe with duct tape during a rehearsal for American Idol, and later after making a minor mistake in the lyrics to a song he composed, pulled a paper out of the piano and read the lyrics out loud, bashing the writer ("who wrote this crap? this is very hard to sing!") He wondered if he should rap them instead, and proceeded to do so aided by encouraging motions from Lucien. (Saxophonist Jerry Weldon nearly choked/fell on the floor laughing.) Later, while passing out pieces of birthday cake to members of the audience, (for trumpeter Mark Braud's birthday), Harry joked with a member of security that he was going to get cornrows like his, then launch his rap career with a name change to "2 Bit" so he didn't compete with 50 Cent.

He performed "Take Her To the Mardi Gras," for the first time in concert last night. It is the sole uplifting song from his "Thou Shalt Not" broadway play. For his encore, Harry came out with just the brass section and did "Come By Me," the title song from his 1999 CD. It also happened to be the song he opened with at the last concert we saw in Toledo a couple of years ago, so we felt things came full circle.

Anyway, Harry's going to be in Chicago in a couple of days, so if you get the chance, go see him. It was an amazing show, and left us full of faith that the ol' Harry hasn't gone soft. We can't wait to see what he does next!

The Morris Performing Arts Center at night, June 21, 2010.

Harry Connick Jr. on the marquee.

Happy Birthday, Jim!

2010-06-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

So much beauty and love happening today! The head of our household celebrates his birthday today, and that means the whole family is celebrating! An art fair, music, the new Toy Story 3 movie, the new Jack Johnson CD, a road trip, birthday cake and don't forget STRAWBERRIES! Happy Birthday, Darlin'!

The anatomy of a sidewalk

2010-06-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

This week we got a new sidewalk! I don't know who was more excited: the boys or the mom. This is the first time we've seen a sidewalk replaced up close, and we took full advantage of the situation. First, they had to tear out the old sidewalk . . .

. . .with a loader. The man who drove the loader was very careful about where he dug and was gentle when he put the broken pieces of concrete in the dump truck.

It took a whole day just to remove the old sidewalk. In some places, there were three layers of concrete, but in others, one layer only a couple of inches thick. The driver guessed that some of the sidewalk had never been torn out since they first laid it. After he removed all he could, he cut the ends of the sidewalk neatly so that the new one could be installed.

At the start of this week, the concrete contractors arrived. They put wooden forms in place to form the new sidewalk, and then leveled out the ground and covered it with sand. They used a loader to drop the sand into the sidewalk, then the contractors leveled it out.

The machine on the ground is a compactor. It rides like a sled across the sand and tamps it down so that the sand won't shift when they pour the concrete over it.

The concrete truck arrived after lunch. It was so tall, it nearly hit the telephone wires that stretched across the street.

The inside of a cement truck looks a little like the inside of the Millenium Falcon!

The workers attached a long chute to the front of the truck, and soon the concrete rolled off onto the compacted sand.

Because it was a sunny, dry day, they had to work fast to smooth out the concrete. It came out like mud, but soon was very thick and hard to move around. They used this machine to smooth out the concrete and get the rocks to settle toward the bottom so that the top was smooth.

After they were finished leveling out the cement, they went over it with a large paddle to smooth the surface a little more. They also scraped off any extra that was stuck to the sides so that the forms would be easy to remove later.

They used this tool to make a nice rounded edge on the new sidewalk.

They also cut a groove across the sidewalk about every three feet to help the sidewalk to break evenly when the ground freezes so that the sidewalk will last longer. It's a little like "cutting" glass: you score the top, and then it breaks under the line. (Hopefully!)

After everything was smooth and rounded, they used a brush to rough up the surface so that people won't slip on the sidewalk.

The only thing left to do is wait a couple of days until it dries.

Roses on parade

2010-06-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

We've been growing roses for eight years now, and haven't regretted a moment. I love roses for their look, and for their scent. We try to choose delicious-smelling varieties, but roses aren't grown with that in mind so much anymore. (You can't smell a catalogue or photo on the internet--yet.) Here is one of the simple, old-fashioned roses we're growing:

We've been studying rose-dependent insect species--some call them pests. In previous years, we've had visits from the Japanese Beetle, who is especially hungry for Heirloom Roses, it seems.

This year, that species seems to be conspicuously missing, but the roses don't mind. Last year, we gathered caterpillars from our roses and raised sawflies and the rose plume moth . This year, we've gathered the caterpillars and seem to have a couple different things feeding, but no real damage. We'll post more about that when we know what they are.

The big news this year is that our climbing rose, which has been enjoying a lot of growth over the last few years, has finally bloomed this year! And what a bloom it is. We have dozens of blossoms, but the actual blooms only last for a day or so. I think it is the same species of rose as our other climber--which makes sense, since both were purchased as "Mr. Lincoln" tea roses, which utilizes climbers as the root stock. The tea rose dies off the top after a tough winter, and we get the hardy climber coming back from the roots in its place next year. Here is the first bloom:

And this is what the better-established climber looks like:

We lost our beautiful "Granada" rose over the winter, and that is a real heartbreaker because I haven't found a replacement so far, but I've consoled myself with the addition of two new "St. Joseph's Coat" climbers, and two tea rose hybrids: "First Prize", and "Love."

"St. Joseph's Coat" is an interesting flower that starts out yellow, then becomes peach, then orange and finally a pinkish red as the petals are exposed to the sun. Here is a bud:

This is the mature flower:

"First Prize" is a pink hybrid tea rose with rather larger blooms.

"Love" is a scarlet flower with matte silver on the back of the petals.

It takes some time and attention to grow roses, but the rewards far outweigh the trouble. Yes, they all have these:

But sometimes, the sight and scent of one perfect bloom can make the struggle worth it. I have literally hundreds or maybe thousands of rose pictures, but here is one of the first-blooming climber:

And one of our Heirloom roses from a couple of years ago:

The Challenge: How many bugs?

2010-05-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

This spring we've been outside a lot. Both boys have been taking pictures every day, and enjoying the new insect life they discover through the lens.

This week we went to Baw Beese Park in Hillsdale, MI to look for insects. The park wraps around a lake, with a long walking trail. Near a shallow inlet, the boys found a bush that was just crawling with life. And so the challenge arose: How many different species are sharing this one plant?

This is what they found:

A beautiful green weevil,

an ant,

some kind of true bug nymph,

maybe a katydid nymph?

a four-lined plant bug nymph (we think),

A really cool spider,

another really cool spider (check out his eyes!),

another nymph, not sure what,

a treehopper nymph,

another awesome spider,

a nymph--Tony thinks it's a midge,

and last but not least, a mystery flying thing.

And here is how it looked to me:

All in all, we found more than a dozen bugs, but we were looking for different species. We probably saw over two dozen insects on that one plant, but knew that probably double that many were hiding from us. So we pass the challenge on: How many bugs can you find on one plant?

Bravery or confidence?

2010-05-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been insect heaven around here: times of gentle rain alternating with sun, plenty of flowers dripping with nectar, and lots of places to hide in the lush foliage. (No, we didn't mow the lawn on time.) Yesterday we took our cameras outside to look for curled leaves on the wysteria. (Last year we gathered several caterpillars and raised them. You can read about the gathering and the emergence in these posts.)

While we didn't find the caterpillars we were looking for (too early), we did find some beautiful creatures as yet unknown to us. One stand-out was this brave little damselfly that we found in the grass. Tony noticed it, and we all stealthily crept toward it with our cameras. (We have to laugh at ourselves. The damselfly compound eye has tens of thousands of facets--did we really think we could sneak up on him?)

He waited for us, patiently. We got there with our cameras, lenses whiring, cameras beeping as we made adjustments, and still he waited. He turned his little head and watched us, looking from one to the other, tilting his head to one side like a dog sometimes does, and still watching. We crept closer. He wasn't in the least threatened.

I can't help but be amazed. For 15 minutes he waited while we shot him from every possible angle. Finally, we had enough and walked away, and still he sat there, turning his head from side to side as if wondering what those strange giants were doing. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

But most dragonflies aren't shy, either. They might take flight if you move quickly toward them, but if you are calm and respectful, they will allow you to get quite close--which is a treat, because they are even more beautiful up close than they are from farther away. Are their actions the result of bravery or confidence?

Both dragonflies and damselflies are voracious predators. They will eat other insects that are much larger than they are, especially in their aquatic nymph stage. During that stage, they have unique expandable jaws. The jaws aren't like a snake's, which unhinge, but are rather like a harpoon. The dragonfly's lower jaw has two spear-like claws on either side, and the jaw can shoot out at incredible speeds to spear and retrieve its prey. (There's a rather unsettling video of it on YouTube.)

Being able to take down prey larger than itself is probably a great confidence-builder. Perhaps the damselfly was sizing us up, wondering how long we would take to digest? Just kidding. Neither dragonflies nor damselflies bite or sting people. But still, what gives it the guts to stare down a huge camera lens only a few inches away?

Hover flies

2010-04-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

After a short hiatus, we're back. Our time away was spent mostly outside, enjoying this beautiful spring.
Our cherry tree was especially beautiful this year, with blossoms that seemed to glow in the slanting light of evening.

While we watched the blossoms, we found they drew an amazing number of visitors. Honeybees we expected. But what surprised us was the quantity of hoverflies. Tony captured this beautiful image a few days ago while the blossoms were at their height.

Then I found this fellow on the lilacs.

Hover flies (also known as Flower flies or Syrphid flies) look a lot like little bees. The difference is that they are flies (Diptera) and don't sting or bite. From the side, their abdomens are curiously flat. (You can see it better in Tony's image above.) They dart and land, feeding on nectar. Their larvae are significant predators on aphids, and the adults are minor pollinators.

With lots of outside work planned this spring and summer, we hope to see many more of our insect friends. We'll keep you posted!

It's been fun, all!

2010-03-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

I started this blog a while ago primarily as a tool to connect with other friends and family members who live all across the US. I thought it would help our kids to showcase some of their more interesting studies. And while we've loved the experience, the blog no longer does what it was intended to do.

So I'm taking a break which may turn out to be permanent. Thank you, everyone who has been following, especially BG, and our lovely cousins.

Another bowl, this one very different

2010-03-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

My husband discovered a new book by veteran wood turner, Richard Raffan, called The Art of Turned Bowls. Raffan has many books for both beginners and advanced wood turners on the market, and also a couple of instructional videos. (Thanks for the great safety tips, Mr. Raffan--he wouldn't listen to me!)

With the basics coming into clearer view, my husband has been doing some creative exploring. This is the bowl he made last night:

And on the inside, a little more decorative work:

This is the first spiral he's done (on purpose), and the first bowl with a pedestal foot. I like it--can't tear my eyes away from it, actually. At 5.5" in diameter and 3.5" tall, it is a little tippy. He's moving away from useful objects a little, but we'll have to see how far it goes. I can't wait to see what's next!

An Uncommon Day

2010-03-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

This morning, fog. A sure sign of changing seasons, this gentle mist was the first real portent of spring.

The starlings were everywhere, singing the songs only they can sing--and a few other ones, too, for good measure. (They mimic dozens of other birds.)

A little junco showed up, but he won't be here very long. He likes the cold and will follow it north to Canada in the spring.

A colorful house finch dropped by for a sunflower seed snack.

Later, two pairs of cardinals arrived.

We saw robins for the first time this season, picking their way through the leftover snowdrifts. Then, to top it all off, a "dance" of sandhill cranes flew by.

And even more astonishing: a butterfly. This Milbert's Tortiseshell fluttered by and caught more attention than she wanted. Such an amazing wild thing--she overwintered as an adult, so it was just warm enough to shake off the long winter's sleep.

All of these pictures were taken by Tony . . .

Musical film study

2010-03-01T06:04:00.000-08:00

We've been studying film musicals for the last few weeks, and it's been an amazingly fun way to jazz up a shivery February! Now that we're in March, we've decided to spend less time on it, (we had only set aside four weeks) but still continue the study. It's just too much fun to let go!

I've heard it said that dissecting a joke to see why it's funny is like doing an autopsy on a patient to find out what's wrong. They die under the knife every time. So we've been careful to appreciate these wonderful films without destroying by our analysis!

So far we've studied a dozen musical films. Here are some of the highlights:

Alice Faye (center), Don Ameche and Tyrone Power on her right.

Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938, Twentieth Century Fox)
Irving Berlin included 28 songs for this film. Primarily a love story, it features the struggle of following one's artistic voice against the mainstream, then trying to achieve popular acceptance--all against the backdrop of WWI. Starring Tyrone Power (as Alexander), Don Ameche, Alice Faye, and also Ethel Merman as a lead singer for the band, this one really swings. (No comedy for Ethel Merman here; she's sweet and clever and SINGS!)

Judy Garland as Dorothy

Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

The Wizard of Oz (1939, MGM)

Probably everyone knows this classic musical, with Judy Garland starring in the lead. It has been called "the most watched film in history." Trivia regarding color used in the film:

Dorothy's slippers were originally silver in the book by L. Frank Baum, but were changed to ruby to take full advantage of the technicolor film.
In the book, The Emerald City was "emerald" because of the green glasses everyone wore, but in the movie the city walls became green.
The original tin man, Buddy Ebsen, became ill from the aluminum powder make up he wore, and had to be hospitalized because it coated the inside of his lungs. The make up was changed to an aluminum paste with an undercoating of white greasepaint for Jack Haley when he took the role two weeks after filming had started.

Groucho Marx (about 1931)

Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Duck Soup (1933, Paramount Pictures)

This crazy comedy adventure was almost a shock. It really wasn't much of a musical, though there are some vaudville-comedy-dance routines. We'd literally never seen anything like it. The plot is fairly simple: a wealthy woman, Mrs. Teasdale, insists that Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) become the ruler of Freedonia or her financial assistance will not continue. The ambassador of neighboring Sylvania attempts to take over Freedonia by seducing Mrs. Teasdale, and "This means war!" Marx brothers Chico and Harpo are spies who switch sides regularly, while the other Marx brother, Zeppo, is an assistant. The plot exists only to create a backdrop for the delicious comedy routines, though. Loved this film! (Long live Freedonia!)

We've also watched The Sound of Music (released 45 years ago tomorrow, March 2, 1965 by Twentieth Century Fox), Annie (1982, Columbia Pictures), Oklahoma (1955, RKO Pictures), Singin' in the Rain (1952, MGM), My Fair Lady (1964, Warner Brothers) and the Fiddler on the Roof (1971, United Artists), among others. These were all wonderful for different reasons, and are great films for kids.

By sampling films from the span of almost a hundred years, we've been able to see our own culture with more objectivity. After Oklahoma, we talked about what it must have been like to live in a territory before it was a state. With Annie and My Fair Lady we talked about class and gender issues. Fiddler on the Roof gave us a glimpse into what it's like to live somewhere else, as a persecuted minority. In fact, much of the conflict in any of these movies had to do with facing adversity with a determined, joyful spirit. "I have confidence in confidence alone!" sings Maria in The Sound of Music.

This study has been wonderfully uplifting, and surprisingly educational. There is no way I could relate all of the interesting things we've learned. I recommend it to anyone who gets the February blues while homeschooling. (But word to the wise, a Netflix subscription really helps if you live in a rural area.)

Optimus Prime Drops In

2010-02-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

We had a visitor from Cybertron yesterday.

I feel safer now, but I really hope Megatron doesn't show up.

Thin-walled bowl

2010-02-23T04:16:00.000-08:00

My husband's latest challenge has been to create the thin-walled bowls he's been seeing everywhere. The first two he tried disintegrated on the lathe, but since then he's been successful. This weekend, he produced one which literally weighs nothing on a kitchen scale. It's like a paper bowl (but much prettier!)

The wood is oak, and it was very dry. He kept his chisels sharp, so this piece had almost no sanding except where he parted it. It stands about 3.5" tall and is about 4.5" in diameter.

I just wanted to praise him a little. It is beautiful, isn't it?

The tip of the icicle

2010-02-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

Our fascination with ice continues to grow (along with the large icicle group we've been watching.) Over the last couple of days, we noticed some strange behavior at the various tips of the group. (I posted a picture of one in the last entry that looked like a hand. That one has now changed into a completely new shape.) The image above is not a reflection. The bottom section is just out of focus.

Over the last 24 hours, about half of the icicles started to develop split tips and even branching that was perpendicular to the main shaft of the icicle. So far all we've been able to find out about icicles is that the crystal structure tends to slip horizontally, but doesn't break vertically. The final shape of the icicle is said to be determined by the air currents around it.

Anyway, we're having fun speculating why our icicles are forming these interesting shapes. The main bulk of the icicles are now about five feet long and about that wide. The lowest tip is about eighteen inches from the surface of the deck. Are the strange tips formed by the rising warm air when the sun gets hot? Not sure, but we'll continue to watch.

Ice house

2010-02-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

An ambitious start. . .

. . .comes to fruition. Welcome to our ice house!

Will you take the hand of friendship?

Playing "Authors"

2010-02-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

I wrote a couple of days ago about my grandmother's birthday. It seemed that day that I kept stumbling over constant reminders of not only her, but also times spent visiting other relatives in the area. Grandma bought Claxton fruitcakes every Christmas and gave them as gifts. Because she was always so kind to us, we grew to enjoy the fruitcake. Now, it's just not Christmas without a Claxton fruitcake.

So as I was rummaging around in the refrigerator, I found a Claxton fruitcake from Christmas that had slipped behind a shelf. Then right after I discovered the fruitcake, I received a package of some supplies I had ordered for school. In the box was an Author's card game. (If you're not familiar with it, it's a "go fish" game in which you complete sets of "books" belonging to various authors like Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe and 11 others. It's a great way to learn which works go with what authors.) But for me, seeing Mark Twain's face on the front of the deck of cards brought back more memories of Grandma.

Once when I was a young teenager, we stayed overnight at my aunt's house during one of our visits. My aunt was always very proper, had a beautiful house, and everything was just so. But that night, laughter was in the air; everyone was enjoying each others company, and no one wanted to go home or go to bed.

We stayed up almost all night playing the "Authors" game. I don't know why--it may have been the only game available. Proper literature soon disintegrated into hilarity when "The Last of the Mohicans" became "The Last of the Mosquitoes," and so forth. For hours that night, I saw a side of my relatives that I'd never seen before: a silly, relaxed side, free from the fear of ridicule.

So armed with a fruitcake and a lingering memory of Grandma, we took the fresh game of Authors and had an event. It was less a time of "re-living" and more a time of "rediscovery", though. In the last 30 years, they've swapped out some of the old authors for some new ones! But the hilarity (which one has to contribute voluntarily) remains.

The time together was also a great opportunity to share some of the old stories. Later, I thought about how family history both informs us and urges us forward; it gives us knowledge about things that didn't work, and helps us use that knowledge to grow someplace new.

By the way, the publisher that makes the Author's card game also makes over a dozen different varieties now: Composers, Scientists, Civil war generals, Indian chiefs, etc. Visit www.usgamesinc.com. On their home page under "Categories" click "Games," then "Authors series."

Beautiful puzzle pieces

2010-02-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

A short time after the horrific earthquake in Haiti, I wrote about my cousin, Art McMahon, who has been a teacher for several years at Quisqueya Christian School. He has been updating us about the situation in Haiti, and relating bits of stories as he can between caring for the never-ending stream of emergency situations.

The school has become a hub for different medical teams and also for the US military. Art is now a logistics person for the Quisqueya Relief Coordination Center (still located at the school). He does things like coordinating the medical teams with drivers and vehicles to get them where they need to be, figuring out how to transfer patients to the appropriate facility, picking up supplies from the Dominican Republic, providing translation for those who don't speak Creole, helping people find flights from here to there . . .he does whatever needs to be done.

Much has been on the news about the situation in Haiti, the disgruntled people who are demanding faster access to supplies (including food and water), the violence, child trafficking, and more. But Art has continued to maintain that the media isn't providing a complete picture, and that wonderful things are happening in Haiti as well.

Here's an example: Art told of a security guard, Ceable (Say-OB) who works at his house. Ceable and his wife have four children, ages 8,6,3 and 3 months. The day after the earthquake, Ceable showed up for work with his Bible under his arm and greeted "Mister Art" (as he insists on addressing Art). Art asked about the family, and Ceable responded, "everything is fine Mister Art because my children and wife are ok, God looked out for us and I praise His name."

Five days later Art discovered that Ceable's house and all his possessions had been lost in the earthquake, and that he and his family were sleeping in the street along with others in his neighborhood. When Art realized what happened, he offered Ceable and his family the 12-by-15 foot room behind his apartment. There they have access to a toilet and a water source, and the children have a small place to play behind the apartment.

There are now 8 people living in that room because a sister and sister-in-law joined them, and at night two of the adults take turns sleeping outside on small mats and cardboard because there isn't enough room inside. Daily, they smile and greet Art, maintaining a positive, thankful attitude. Art wrote this about:

". . . the difference between this family and my own situation. I was going to sleep in a bed, in an apartment, with food and water and entertainment. I know if I need anything I can get it. It is easy to trust in "self" when I have so much. It hit me as I thought about this humble family...they "have" it. Most likely they will never have $1000 to their name, they have no idea who is in the Superbowl today or what a 401K program is...but they have so much more than people the world considers has so much. I know heros come in all forms. Ceable will never know the huge example he has been to me. He truly is a living example of how contentment and life fulfillment comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ and has nothing to do with worldly possessions."

"So much of Haiti in the news has been negative and I want to share about a beautiful family here. I think it is easy to look at the big picture and miss the beautiful puzzle pieces. . . .. Can you get this story out there so people can see there are wonderful people here?"

Eighteen months ago, Art told us how many Haitian people were happy with literally nothing. They maintained an attitude of thankfulness, and enjoyed the life they were given. It was hard for me then to wrap my mind around what he said. But now I wonder if the key to happiness is to simply be thankful, independent of whatever situation we're given in life.

At any rate, happy homeless people doesn't make good copy, so you probably won't see anything like this from the regular news sources. As Art says, it's just a "beautiful puzzle piece", and I'm thankful Art is sharing what he's learned with the rest of us.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

2010-02-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today would have been my grandma's 99th birthday. Arleen Scoutten McMahon was born in 1911 in Ohio. She graduated from high school in 1929, and so lived through two world wars and the great depression. She is pictured here with her senior class (I think), second from the left in the front row. (Isn't it amazing how old everyone looks? It's hard to believe they are 17 or 18.)

I don't know how many times she marveled at the way the world changed. She saw so much. As a child, she saw the invention of the car, then later the washing machine (electric), the microwave, the computer.

She was a poet, and sent her poems in to the local radio station, and they would be read on the air. She was also published in the newspaper occasionally. Toward the end of her life, I helped her compile all her poems into a chapbook, but there always seemed to be a few more every time I finished one. She wrote on the back of a napkin, a grocery list, you name it.

She was an avid Cleveland Brown's fan, and I hate to see what she'd think of the current sports scene. But the main thing I wanted to do was remember her today. She passed away a little over ten years ago, but I still sometimes forget she's gone. Happy Birthday, Grandma. I love and miss you.

Ahh, the sound of music

2010-02-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

This month we turn our ears (or should I say "we tune our ears") to the sound of music. We're studying film musicals, and already it's getting interesting. I had no idea how long musicals had been around. I guess that's a little naive of me--after all, the Greek chorus sang thousands of years ago! So we get to go all the way back to the beginning of the movies and sample this form of entertainment.

Because our time is limited, we've started with movies we had immediate access to, and we'll continue to view in no particular order, saving our analysis for the end. Together, we developed a rating system for each of the movies that we watch. The musical contribution will be the focal point of our review--does it add to the story, are the songs catchy, do they stand on their own?

We've started with "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996). We were already familiar with this one, so we watched mostly to get ready for the "new" ones, but it was fun. This is a nice romp for kids 6 and older (they are pirates after all), and showcases the wonderful Tim Curry as Long John Silver.

Tony spent some time researching the original story, and put some interesting facts together. I'll hand the reins over to him:

Treasure Island was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's stepson, Lloyd Osborne, who was painting a map of an island when Robert walked into the room. He got very excited about it, and began naming places and writing notes on the map, and Treasure Island was born. Within three days, he had completed the first three chapters, getting tips from his family. His father, Thomas Stevenson, put in the apple barrel scene, and described, in detail, everything in Billy Bones' trunk.

A friend of Stevenson's, Dr. Alexander Japp, liked the story, and took it to Young Folks magazine, who agreed to publish it. Unfortunately, they lost the original treasure map, and Stevenson had to recreate it from memory.

The story never did that well as a serial, but when it was published as a book in 1883, it was acclaimed by nearly everyone. "I think Stevenson shows more genius in a page than Sir Walter Scott in a volume", Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote. William Gladstone, then Prime Minister of the UK, was said to have stayed up until two in the morning to finish it.

Stevenson cites several influences that made their way into the book, including "The Gold Bug"(Edgar Allen Poe), "Wolfert Webber"(Washington Irving), "At Last"(Charles Kingsley) and several works by Daniel Defoe. His close friend, William Hentley, who had lost his lower leg, was his primary inspiration for the appearance of Long John Silver.

Treasure Island has been adapted for film more than fifty times, and numerous books tell the tales of the various characters before and after the book took place. His influence over the popular view of piracy and pirates in general--parrots, treasure maps, buried treasure, a captain missing a leg, uncharted desert isles--is unsurpassed.

Not bad for a first novel, eh?

Six more weeks of winter? Who cares!

2010-02-03T04:27:00.000-08:00

We all felt we needed an "occasion" this week, so we celebrated Groundhog Day yesterday. In gratitude for Puxatawny Phil's prediction of six more weeks of winter, we gave his effigy a place of honor at our table.

I'm not sure why he's smiling, but that was really up to Beau. He tasted like a mounds bar, and strangely was filled with gummy cars--revenge, or something else?

The last day of snowflakes

2010-01-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm sure the snowflakes will continue to fall, but the time has come for us to focus on other things. January was dedicated to snowflake study, so regretfully, today is the last day. We had a beautiful gentle snow shower this morning, and we were lucky to get some good pictures. It's almost like they were saying good-bye . . .

Faith: A deposition

2010-01-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

Our snowflake study has opened our eyes to so many new ideas. Snow crystals are not frozen raindrops, but rather frozen water vapor. This process of going directly from gas to solid is called deposition. It's amazing to think about--beautiful snow crystals literally materialize from out of the ether. Nothing is there one minute, then the next--POOF!--an exquisite crystal. It grows slowly or more quickly depending on the material in the air (humidity) and the temperature.

Snowflakes disappear by the same method, in exactly the reverse order in which they formed, going from a solid to a gas, shrinking, shrinking until there's . . . nothing: a vapor. Tony calls it the "ultimate eco-friendly art project."

Faith has been defined in the Bible as the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) If one takes this literally, then faith isn't synonymous with belief, it's an action taken as the result of hopeful belief. This could quickly degenerate into a debate, with some objecting that "faith without works is dead;" therefore how could they be the same thing?

It think it's a case of using one word, "faith," for at least two different, related concepts. Faith (belief/hope) comes first, then faith (action based on that belief) comes next. Either way, the metaphor of the snow crystal holds up because both "faiths" result from an invisible source.

Through all this I was thinking of Haiti and the stories of trauma and triumph coming out of it. We've read of the horrified cries of Remi Polvard who said, "How could he do this? There is no God," because he believed his five children were buried in the rubble of his home. On the heels of that, we read of 69-year-old Ena Zizi, who was rescued after five days in the rubble. "I talked only to my boss, God," she said. "And I didn't need any more humans."

These extreme examples seemed to me to be a vivid demonstration of the opposite ideas represented by deposition and sublimation. Ena Zizi's faith appearing from nothing (why did she have any hope that she'd be rescued after the man near her died?), and Remi Polvard's disappearing (to my knowledge, he had not found his children at the time, and possibly had given up hope before he actually knew.)

I'm certainly no expert on religion--to me the metaphors revealed in nature are God's fingerprints left all over the world. I know the Bible, and I think of the scriptures and find they help me understand what I see. I just noticed that faith is like a snow crystal, and there is beauty in the world if you look for it.

Hope in Haiti

2010-01-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

Our cousin Art is still in Haiti, still working to do what he can to help. His last email told the story of how he drove 26 Haitian orphans to the US embassy so that they could be flown to their new parents in the United States.

He said, "The looks on those beautiful faces was so amazing!" A local NBC affiliate carried this story about the orphans, and Missionary Flights International also offered a video of the moment when the orphans arrived to meet their new parents.

Yesterday's aftershock caused additional damage, as I'm sure you've heard. Art was in the Dominican Republic picking up supplies, so he was not hurt. I want to thank everyone for donating to support the relief efforts, and to ask for continued remembrance and prayers.

I had a woman tell me yesterday that "They're saying not to donate anymore because of all the people trying to use this disaster for their advantage!" This is NOT true. The one thing we CAN do is donate funds for the supplies they so desperately need in Haiti right now. Make sure your donations count by going through a reputable charity, but don't stop giving.

Art said:

"The biggest medical needs are:

qualified doctors who can bring supplies

bone specialists

antibiotics

plasters for casts

pain killers

X-ray film

materials for stitches

There are differing estimates on the number who are dead, but with good medical help I believe many can be saved from here."

Our cousin Art, in Haiti

2010-01-14T05:01:00.000-08:00

The stories of the Haiti earthquake continue to evolve in the news. A few years ago, I felt the same way I do now when I heard about the terrible situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The stories were so horrible and graphic that after a while I stopped reading them, turned away from the pictures, and distracted myself. I felt there was nothing I could do. Later, as the stories continued to come out of New Orleans, I wished that I had done something.

I've had a similar feeling while watching the news coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. But now we can't look away. It's become very personal, because this time our cousin, Art McMahon, is over there.

Art was always an incredibly talented person--great at basketball, good with people, always popular. After he graduated from college he worked for a while here in the US, but wanted to do something more with his life. He took a job teaching at a Christian school in Haiti. He visits on holidays and summers, but has headed back there for the last few years.

At the family reunion a couple of years ago, he described the living conditions in Haiti: electricity is only on for a few hours each day, most of the buildings are flimsy structures put together with no building codes in force (and I don't mean they skimped on the size of the nails--they use tin, cardboard or whatever they can find to build with, many times with no foundation.) There is no organized infrastructure to help those truly in need. Many people wear donated clothings--whatever fits, and they just have nothing. Especially the children need clothes, toys, and learning supplies. Getting material things through to people is time-consuming; boxes coming through customs can take weeks or months to get through. And remember, this is an island, so everything they can't produce has to come from somewhere else.

Art with a women whose vision was corrected through donated glasses.

He was there during the last hurricane, and sent us pictures of the clean-up efforts. We were amazed to see a school bus buried halfway up in mud, people digging to unearth their belongings, and Art there looking so out-of-place with his blonde hair, carrying boards and rubble to a central location so they could try to get things working again.

Yesterday, everywhere I looked, Haiti was in the news. Soon though, stories of celebrities will replace them. Art is still there, the people of Haiti are still there, and the needs remain very real. While the tragedy of the earthquake increased the issues that the people of Haiti have to face, it did not create them. My prayer is that with increased scrutiny, the people of Haiti will get some of the fundamental help that they truly need to be able to move forward as a people.

(Thanks to the missionary folks who posted this picture of Art on their blog.)

When you read the news stories about Haiti over the next couple of days, think of Art and his love for these people. He made it through the earthquake, and while he is physically all right, these people have become an extended family to him over the years. He's over there right now, working through the rubble to get them out. So when it comes to your attention, please, say a prayer for Art, for the other aid workers, and for the people who have relatives in Haiti (and may not have heard from them yet).

And if you can, put your money where your mouth is. The people in Haiti already had unprecedented needs. Now they are just struggling moment by moment to survive. They need clean drinking water, medical attention and supplies, food. Please support one of the organizations that can do some good.

Odd snow crystal

2010-01-13T05:52:00.000-08:00

We found this strange-looking snow crystal on January 11. There was a wonderful snow for several hours with only a gentle breeze of about 10 knots. About an hour and a half into the storm, the flurry of beautiful starry crystals switched to a flurry of fragments and plates covered with frozen water droplets (rime). After this, the plates became more clear, and it became difficult to find stellar (star-shaped) crystals.

The above photo was taken during the transition time. The basic shape of the left crystal looks like "crossed needles," but we haven't read anything about rectangular-shaped crystals. According to the science, snow crystals take a basic hexagonal shape because of the regular molecular structure of ice. The angles are all formed at 60 degrees. Various factors affect the shapes we see (temperature, humidity), but on the molecular level, hexagon rules. All the other shapes are based on this basic shape.

So we're genuinely puzzled about the above crystal. If you look at a column from the side, it may look rectangular. (Picture a Pringle's potato chip can on it's side from a distance--it'll look rectangular if you view it from a perfect perpendicular perspective.) But the one above, in addition to it's rectangular appearance, has a definite square recess in the upper left quadrant. If anyone has any theories or knows anything about this, please comment.

January 7th snowstorm

2010-01-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got our first major snowfall of the year. Windy and cold, the weather produced lots of snow crystal fragments and strange-looking formations. Not all snowflakes are symmetrical.

These crystals were very small, maybe about 2 mm. The one on top is a "capped column;" it looks a little like a tie fighter from Star Wars. This is what the 12-sided snow crystals look like when they start out.

These plates are mostly what fell during the day. They were mixed up with a bunch of fragments. From one angle, they're invisible. From just a few degrees away, they shine like a diamond.

All these pictures were taken on knit sweatshirt material, to give you some idea of scale. At this point in our learning, we're generating a lot of questions about how snow crystals develop, but not finding a lot of answers. It seems there is a lot of work to be done!

Snowflakes from January 5th

2010-01-07T04:15:00.000-08:00

We had just a few flakes that fell Tuesday. We spread different kinds of cloth on the deck to provide contrast. Taking pictures of them is a lot like taking pictures of insects--except instead of flying away, they melt . . . . The first few that fell looked similar to this one above. They were like little starry flowers. This one is crusted with "rime," or little water droplets that attach as the snow crystal floats in the air. It really does look like jewelry, doesn't it?

Snow crystals are usually six-sided, according to the experts, but we seem to have found some of the unusual ones on Tuesday. This one is definitely three-sided, but if you look at the very center, you can see the tiny buds of the under-developed arms.

The one above is another of the unusual ones I was talking about. At times, snow crystals will develop as a column, then two plates will begin to grow at both ends like the two wheels on the end of an axle. Over time, the column shrinks, and the two six-sided crystals appear to be one twelve-armed crystal. (This description is from the Field Guide to Snowflakes, by Kenneth G. Libbrecht.) If you count the arms on the crystal above, it has at least twelve. I wish I'd thought to take a picture from the side! It obviously has depth, though, and most snow crystals are flat. The ratio of their height to their width can be up to 1/100, again according to the field guide.

Above is another twelve-armed crystal. He appears to be popular with the other crystals.

I'll leave you with a beauty. This pink didn't make a very good backgound, but I liked this one.

We spent a lot of time creating a way to organize the images we'll be gathering over this month. (And when I say "we," I mean Tony.) The great thing about photography is that whatever path you choose to pursue, there's usually a way to take a picture of it.

Beau has been taking photographs as well, though he's still more interested in birds than snow crystals. (It's easy to fire up his interest in something, then hard to redirect to something else!) We also discovered that the hawk (from a previous post) is part of a nesting pair, and resides just a couple lots away in the neighbor's trees. (Bad news for birding in the backyard this winter.)

It's snowing!

2010-01-05T04:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I intended to read through much of the materials on snowflakes, create an ordered plan for study, then sit down with the kids and begin to learn about snowflakes through the books first. We discussed this as we ate breakfast together, then noticed that it was snowing outside.

Once again, my superimposed order shattered in the face of primary learning! These are the pictures that we got yesterday of some of the interesting crystals that fell in our backyard. The temperature was initially about 29 F, but fell to around 23 F while we were shooting.

The following crystal was especially interesting, not only because of its form, but because it seemed to change depending upon your vantage point. At times, it seemed perfectly clear in the center, but with a shift in perspective, the glass-like plate in the center became visible. Upon a little closer inspection, the center contains a disk (!) which appears alternately concave and convex! The following images are of the same crystal.

So now we'll do it backwards. We'll go through the books (which will be even more fascinating now that they have their own images to look through), and discover why these interesting things happen the way they do. Then we'll go look for more specific examples of other things in the books that we've not yet observed.

Educational theory addendum:
For the last several years I've observed that the careful plans I make don't matter in the slightest when it comes to the actual learning the kids do. They learn what they're interested in. Period. Neither I nor anyone else can force them to learn; at least, not without teaching lessons that are unintended.

When they're discovering something new, they pay attention more because they design the lesson. They're blazing the path, and if they get it wrong, it'll stay wrong. To say it another way, the full responsibility for learning is on their shoulders, and they accept it readily. Why only listen to an explorer's story when you can be the explorer?

But they love stories and books. You can't do it all, and it's so much fun to read about the experiences of others when you can identify with them a little. I really want to know how Mr. Libbrecht gets all those beautiful pictures without freezing his fingers . . . (Check out "The Snowflake--Winter's Secret Beauty" by Kenneth G. Libbrecht!)

The study begins . . .

2010-01-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

Today we start our study of snowflakes, ice crystals, and other frozen delights. We owe a debt of gratitude to Kenneth G. Libbrecht for his wonderful materials and ongoing research into the science behind the beauty. We hope to generate more and better images of snow that the one above in the coming month.

Handmade Holidays

2009-12-28T04:04:00.000-08:00

This year we made a pact to give handmade presents to each other--not just handmade by anyone, but handmade by ourselves. We did this partly because of our ongoing battle against a materialistic mindset, and partly out of necessity. It was a huge undertaking as far as time and effort, but so worth it. (I realize the irony of giving a material present as an antidote to materialism . . . but we're working on it.)

The boys made clay snowflake ornaments for the tree.

First, making a thing helps us to appreciate how much work goes into it. I tend to assume that because something looks easy, it is easy. Those misunderstandings take flight in the face of experience!

My husband turned this beautiful bowl for me.

It's resting on the wooden box he made to hold my drawing pencils.

But secondly, the sheer amount of work that it takes to make a handmade gift mandates that you plan your gift so that it will be appropriate. It forces you to really look at the "gift-ee", and think about what they like, and more importantly, who they are.

These are the designs my son drew for a lamp.

A first go 'round with the bandsaw . . .

Turned out pretty well, don't you think?

The handmade gifts that I've received over the years are the material things that I most cherish. I immediately think of

The table my brother made us when we first married, and the candlestick holders, and the oil lamps, the sculpture, the drawings.
The beaded necklace my sister-in-law gave me.
A pillow a friend embroidered for me.
The delicious cake my neighbor delivered on Christmas Eve!
The wooden flower my son made me that never fades and never needs watering.
The earrings a dear friend made for me a decade ago--that I still have even though I've lost track of the friend.
Drawings and paintings and handmade lace handed down from previous generations.

I could go on and on. There is just something about an obviously handmade present that warms the heart and connects us with those we love. I feel grateful to be able to learn these skill sets with my kids, and I'm grateful that they are open to new ideas, experiments and even the occasional failure. There are so many ways to learn, and so much life to live. I'm thankful for all of it.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

From the tone of my last couple of posts, it might be tempting to think our attitude toward Christmas is "Bah, humbug!" But really, we love Christmas so much, and feel incredibly thankful for the blessings we have. We want to send a heartfelt "Merry Christmas" to everyone who reads this!

Spirit of the season?

2009-12-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

I think I know that goat . . .

On the burden of holiday extravagance . . .

2009-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

"Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

Dr. Seuss

Winter birding

2009-12-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

Right now we're getting a good dose of winter here in Michigan! We've had some really cold temperatures; toward the end of last week we logged a low of 4 degrees at our house. We've continued to look at the snow, but we've also renewed an interest we picked up last winter: bird watching.

Our cheerful winter friends returned this week from farther north. We watched on Friday as a whole flock of little dark-eyed slate-colored juncos landed on the ground near our feeder.

Unfortunately, they're shy. But here's a picture of one of them from last year. The interesting thing about them is that they migrate south in the winter to Michigan! Most other birds try to get out of here in the winter, but these little beauties fly in just as pert as can be . . .

We've also been watching the sparrows. So far we have three different species: the European House Sparrow, the American Tree Sparrow, and another kind. Here are a couple of tree sparrows and a house sparrow on our arbor. It was pretty windy on Friday, and the tree sparrows both have ruffled feathers. Or maybe they were just upset that the house sparrow wouldn't leave them alone!

We noticed that the birds were really jittery. I mean, they're always jittery, but they seemed a little extra on edge, the whole group flying for cover, then back for more seed, then gone again in the space of ten seconds. It's amazing how much energy they use just being vigilant.

Today, I looked out the window and realized why:

Uh oh, coopers hawk. He's a beauty, isn't he? Tony got this great profile picture. I think it's fairly young because it didnt have much red, but the dark grey bands on its tail are pretty distinctive. Also, it apparently thought sitting on the arbor was a good place to look for prey. We didn't see another bird for hours.

Well, I take that back. We did see this tree sparrow couple hiding in our large forsythia bush, but they didn't look very happy.

The hawk flew toward the woods, and he'll soon discover that hunting goes much better when he doesn't sit in plain sight! (Then the little ones will be back!)

Snowflakes!

2009-12-08T04:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were having one of our typical conversations about nothing--and everything--and I responded to one of Beau's comments by wondering out loud why snowflakes freeze into the forms that they do instead of becoming little blocks of solid ice (though we do get hail here occasionally.) We all looked at each other and jumped up.

It had just started to snow outside, so Tony put some colored cardstock out to provide a background and we each grabbed our cameras. We'll post more as we go through and edit them, but here is one image that I captured from the railing that was clear. Tony's pictures are the best, so I'll try to get him to post.

And as soon as we warmed up, we headed to the computer for some information on snowflakes and how they form. We found a great wikipedia article that told us facts like

The largest snowflake on record was from January of 1887 in Montana and measured 15 inches across.
Starting in 1885, Wilson Alwyn Bently photographed thousands of snowflakes trying to find two that were identical. He was not successful. Finally, over a hundred years later in 1988, two matching hollow hexagonal prisms were found in Wisconsin by Nancy C. Wright of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO.
Tiny droplets of water in the atmosphere, smaller than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, can remain liquid water as low as 0 degrees F without freezing. Place a droplet near other small droplets and they will begin crystallizing. (WHY? Water is so mysterious and amazing!)

The best thing about wikipedia is the notes and the cool people you discover when "fact checking."
Kenneth G. Libbrecht is one of those people. He's been studying snowflakes, photographing them and writing books about what he's found. We plan to explore this author further, but I wanted to mention him, because, well, it's winter and the snow is falling!

A reason for the lapse

2009-12-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while between posts. Sorry about that! We've been in the middle of another big remodeling project, and I had no access to the computer for several days. We are in the process of tackling the dining room, which most recently hosted a rather large colony of German yellow jackets. They are gone now, but the holes in the wall remained, so we decided to get it done before the Christmas tree goes up. Just what does "get it done" mean? Well, mostly it's just patching holes, but we had to tear out a considerable amount of plaster to get it flat first.

Each project brings surprises, and this one was no different. But instead of mysterious love notes, or artifacts from another time, this surprise was more frustrating. The dining room walls, under many, many layers of wallpaper, were patched with . . . cement! Each patch (and there were quite a few) had to be chiseled out chip by chip--great way to spend a vacation, eh? The big gray patch at the bottom of the hole is one of the patches.

Lookin' good, eh? Tony snuck up and got this one of Beau and I patching some of the smaller holes with drywall compound. Pardon the less than stellar appearance, but I'm really proud of this job. These walls were in terrible shape.

Everybody got into the act. Even Tony put down his camera and helped tear out plaster. Face masks on, of course. It's possible to breathe in lead and lots of other toxins when tearing out old walls, so we're really careful not to breath the dust. Thanks again for the Shop Vac, Dan!

The room was just plain bigger than we thought. It took 26 hours of work with drying time in between to get the patches installed and smoothed for the primer. We all pitched in to prime it--that's the fun part!

Ok, well, that's a little forced gaiety, but it was nice to see the walls all one color. Surprisingly, it looked pretty grand when we got that far. It looked so nice, in fact, that we got to arguing how to finish it. The original plan just didn't seem right anymore.

So we will have a "white" Christmas, and deal with it after the New Year. It'll be all right white. After all, it's been every color of the rainbow for seven years . . .

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T06:06:00.000-08:00

This 1914 Jennie Augusta Brownscombe painting portrays the American myth of Thanksgiving.

It is a beautiful picture, so serene, so reverent--but it's not accurate.

If you poke around at all, you'll find more original stories of the first Thanksgiving, and histories of harvest festivals in general. Some of the more interesting things we've discovered this year are:

There were at least three "first" Thanksgivings, because the European settlers came independently and started colonies in different places at different times. The one commonly referred to is the Plymouth Colony Thanksgiving in 1621.
Native Americans far outnumbered the Pilgrims at Plymouth's first Thanksgiving.
Because they arrived at Plymouth early in the winter in 1620, the passengers stayed on the ship in Cape Cod throughout the winter and over half of them died of disease.
There was no bread served at the first Thanksgiving., no pumpkin pie, no cranberries. There may have been wild turkey, but the bulk of the meat served was venison (provided by the Pokanoket tribe.)
The 1621 Thanksgiving lasted for three days. (Hey, we could totally do that.)

Interesting Thanksgiving links:

http://pokanoket.us/Thanksgiving.html
(Pokanoket tribe's version of the first Thankgiving.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower
(About the voyage, the ship, the landing, the people.)

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html
(George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving proclamation.)

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm
(Abraham Lincoln's proclamation establishing an annual day of Thanksgiving in the United States.)

Summer's Latent Song

2009-11-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was amazingly warm for November in Michigan. It was a wonderful day to be outside, and we were glad we took our cameras.

After a beautiful sunrise with a touch of fog,

(photo courtesy of Beau)

we were amazed to find insects everywhere.

Here are some of the highlights.

(photo courtesy of Tony)

This is either a common checkered or a white checkered skipper. He loved the rose garden.

(I took this one)

But he wasn't the only one. This fading rose blossom got all kinds of attention. This is a small green sweat bee, Augochlora pura (we think). Click on the picture for a closer look.

(and this one)

Shortly afterward, a small "flower fly" or syrphid fly flew in.

They look like a tiny bee, but they are actually a fly. In the

picture below, taken by Tony, you can see how it's abdomen is flattened. You can also see it's tongue!

Ol' sharp-eyed Tony also found the moth (below) which was camouflaged on the bark of a lilac bush.

We have had no luck identifying it.

An Eastern Comma butterfly, an orange striped moth and a ladybug were

studiously ignoring one another as they dined on crab apples.

(Tony again, and all the rest are his.)

But the best treat of all was the sight of a Giant Ichneumon. These amazingly beautiful wasps--that do not sting--have an ovipositor (or egg-laying organ) that is about as long as their bodies. This one was longer than the body by quite a bit.

An interesting blog which discusses the ginormous ovipositor and general ichneumon facts is here:

http://bugeric.blogspot.com/2009/06/giant-ichneumon-wasps.html

Ichneumon wasps have a distinctive horsehead shape in their wing venation. This is blown up from the photo above. The light brown area is the top of the horse's "head," and the larger brown spot lies across his "muzzle." This horsehead pattern is a way to tell the difference between the braconid and ichneumon wasps. (Thanks, Bugguide.net!)

We didn't know exactly what the ichneumon was doing here, maybe cleaning off the ovipositor? At one point we saw her abdomen open up two segments from the end, but she never laid any eggs that we saw. She was shy, and we were sad to see her fly away.

It was a wonderful day! We even saw a blossom on our forsythia bush! Not sure what that's all about, but we were so thankful for a little "summer song" before the winter weather begins.

Children and moths agree . . .

2009-11-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

Autumn's wonderful party is over way too soon!

Beau enjoyed a quick romp in our HUGE leaf pile this year. He didn't want to come out.

And this little moth (below) was taking shelter in a leaf. He was shivering to warm himself, and had a damaged hindwing. (You can see it in the picture.) He is a Bicolored Sallow (Sunira Bicolorago), a moth that flies from October to November. We've seen dozens of this species, but only recently identified him. His caterpillar is the shield-backed cutworm, according to bugguide.net, and they like to eat . . . crabapple, among other things. So we have something in common!

I think of other years when I would have raked over him without a second thought. Now we scurry around, rescuing moths (and spiders, weevils, leafhoppers, beetles, etc.) from the path of the lawnmower, leaf rake or big shoe. Perhaps we look silly to the neighbors, but we are so in love with this new world we've found. Life is so much bigger than I thought, so many more mysteries to investigate. I only wish it would last a little longer. So perhaps it should be "Adults, Children and Moths agree . . ."

Fall is deepening

2009-10-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

Small, perfect surprises are everywhere.

Crab Apples? We've got to come up with a better name!

2009-10-19T03:46:00.000-07:00

A few years ago we planted "ornamental" trees in our backyard. I wanted something that would bloom, fragrantly, in spring. The crab apple trees we chose fulfilled their job beautifully. In May, the buds emerge as tiny fuchsia triangles, and as the buds swell, they become peppermint-colored, then white.

The apples are green all summer, but finally, by the first frost, they're a warm red. Even a hundred yards away those apples show up against the lush foliage--Christmas colors! And for all of you who worry about dropping fruit, don't. While a few will fall, most stay on the branches all winter, only falling off when the new shoots begin to emerge. (And by then, fully dry, they don't bother anyone.)

Though small, crab apples are definitely edible. Don't try to eat one right off the tree, though. Very tart. But when sweetened and processed, they really pack a flavorful punch. One of our favorite fall treats is cinnamon french toast with crab apple jelly, whipped cream, then a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds. Crab apple juice on the side, of course!

I've even tried pie--not a straight crab apple pie, though I have seen recipes--but a crab apple/banana pie. Absolutely delicious. There are many different ways to use this little apple, and a quick search online will provide processing tips, information about different varieties, and recipes. I just haven't found many testimonials about how good they are--so here it is.

Crab apple trees are a beautiful, fragrant addition to your yard, they come in dwarf varieties, they don't make much of a mess, and the fruit is delicious. We've got to come up with a better name . . . sassy apples?

First snow

2009-10-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

***Just to let you know, I went out the next day and found this little guy patrolling once again. He was just cold in this picture.

Goll Woods--Fall 2009

2009-10-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend found us at Goll Woods once again. It's a nature preserve near Archibold, Ohio, which boasts really old trees, wonderful trails, lots of wildlife (some of it quite unusual), and the space to enjoy it all. Because it's a preserve, everything is left as it falls. Yes, it's messy. But you would not believe the diversity of life you'll find.

We try to go at least a couple of times every year. It's amazing how a walk through this kind of ancient woods can refresh the spirit, and surprise the senses into a state of alertness. This time around, I was surprised to notice not one, but two beautiful elm trees in all their autumnal glory. I can't remember the last time I noticed a mature elm tree; can you?

The trees grow close together and incredibly tall. You can stand at the base of a tree and watch the top wave back and forth in the breeze you're too far below to even feel. (Careful, it'll make you dizzy!)

The guide books advise you to come in the spring for the wildflowers (and they truly are a sight to behold--come a couple of times as they don't all bloom at the same time!), but we continue to notice the amazing fungi. Stringy, knotty stuff; puffballs; something that looks like petroleum jelly amazingly holding a shape; shelf fungi on the trees; tiny little toadstools, and that's just along the trails! There are amazing things growing everywhere, and since it's all a part of the old Black Swamp area, it floods readily. The air is moist, even on a dry day.

The plants are happy with all the compost and moisture, so the insects are happy. They have tons of places to live: old tree trunks on the ground, other trees so tall I couldn't even hazard a guess, swampy wetlands, and a river that runs through the whole thing.

So with all the happy insects, it just makes sense that the birds are happy, too. You can hear them everywhere around you, singing in the tops of the trees, woodpeckers tapping the trees, even a few waterbirds in the right areas. The woods are alive, and you never forget that for a second.

It's truly a sacred place, a place set apart, a place that compels you to worship. We don't stop short with the worship of the place--we prefer to worship the source of that place. You just can't help but be overwhelmed by the beauty and awesome wildness of it. So once again, thank you Goll family. Thank you State of Ohio. Thank you, rangers. Thank you for this wonderful place, and for an example of good stewardship in action.

Lunar Impact on Friday morning

2009-10-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

Yep. And we're doing the impacting. If you haven't heard about the planned LCROSS mission, you can get details here:
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/07/guide-to-seeing-the-lcross-lunar-impact/

I keep thinking how primitive it all is; reminds me of a little boy knocking down a tower of blocks "to see what will happen." But that's science, isn't it? If that apple hadn't knocked some sense into Newton, we wouldn't understand gravity. (Do we understand it?)

I still remember as a little girl hearing about the lunar landing back in the 60's. In conversations later, I remember my dad shaking his head, wondering if any of it was real. (Maybe his disbelief was a throwback to the Orsen Wells' halloween radio broadcast of War of the Worlds in the late 30's?)

Seriously, it's a difficult thing to wrap your head around. That beautiful white orb, floating up there in the serene night sky--that's the thing they've been walking on, smashing things into, and photographing.

I remember the first time we took a telescope and saw the fine detail of the craters on the moon. We took pictures through the viewfinder, and I remember being awed by the whole thing. We were actually seeing and photographing things I'd only seen in a newspaper or on television.

I feel so old saying that, but it's true. I think how my grandmother, born in 1911 during the transition from horse and buggy to automobile, must have felt. So many things happened during her lifetime: telephones, the atomic bomb, microwaves, the first manned lunar landing in 1969, then personal computers and the internet.

I don't expect this lunar impact mission to be a milestone any more than the last one in 1999 was, but I do see the world changing, changing. And while change can be uncomfortable, mostly because of the unknown, it's also amazing. We're ready to participate.

We are east of the Mississippi, so we won't have much of a view this Friday, but NASA TV is hosting a live broadcast. Coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. (You can find the link to the channel from the Universe Today page above.) As I understand it, while the first craft hits, the second will be filming the whole thing and will fly through the debris before it, too, crashes into the surface. We'll be watching.

Hillsdale County Fair time!

2009-10-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

We always get excited at fair time--it's such a sensory experience. By September, the trees are colorful and still lush. The lights of the midway brighten the night. The voices of the carny people and the crowds and the animals fill the air, and the smell of the warm caramel corn, the taste of a funnel cake or an elephant ear, and the shiny red of a candy apple are all part of that experience. We pull a warm sweater on over a pair of jeans and boots, and prepare for the reunions with all of the people we forgot we knew.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a coon's age! How the heck have you been?"

All the exhibits are a wonderful way to see what people in this rural county are doing. We get to see paintings and drawings, quilts and cookies, wood carvings and dried flowers, pinned insects and horseshoe contests. We see what matters to most of the people, and who is trying to sell what to them.

This year, both of the boys entered photographs. It's a big deal for them to enter things in the fair, because otherwise they don't compete much at all (except with each other!) They work very hard on their photography, not for the contest, but because it's an integral part of their learning. They use photography to study insects, to learn about composition and other art concepts, and as a springboard into other types of learning.

I don't think they really expected much this year, but when we went to check the results earlier this week, we were totally blown away.

Tony entered eight photographs, and six of them placed. He's been taking pictures seriously for about two years. Beau entered five, and three of his placed. He's catching up to Tony fast, and has been taking pictures for about a year. Still, at seven, he's fairly young to be competing with teenagers. He even beat Tony in the "special effects" category, winning the blue ribbon over Tony's second place. Between the two of them, they placed first through fourth in the "insect" category. Congratulations, guys!

A couple more notes about the fair:
The photography department is supervised by Walt Zinser, now in his 29th year. Despite frustration with the budget cuts by the state (premium money was cut this year), he continues because he still enjoys it. During his tenure, the number of photographs has gone from 200 the first year, to 1500 this year.

Also, our fair still has a "Women's Congress," a non-political organization that supports local talent. They've been going non-stop for over a hundred years. The historian of the organization, Cinda Walton, has written a two-volume book about the history of the Hillsdale County Fair, and it is now available here:

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=63426

If you want to know more, check out the fair web site:

www. hillsdalecountyfair.org

or the Women's Congress page:

www.hillsdalecountyfair.org/woman%27s%20congress2.htm

See you next year!

Doesn't anybody think for themselves?

2009-09-27T07:35:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I'm surrounded by sheep.

Proof that God believes in second chances

2009-09-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

The "Gold Bug"

2009-09-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

It never bit any of us, but perhaps this "gold bug" is like the one that inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write his famous story. It does look like it's made of gold--check out the legs and antenna. When I look at these metallic little animals, I'm amazed. Imagine if we could actually grow cartilage on our bodies with these colorants: fingernails, toenails, hair . . . it would make an interesting comic-book character, wouldn't it?

Candy striped beauty?

2009-09-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tony and I have consulted, and we think this is a "Candy-Striped Leafhopper" in the genus Graphocephala. We see these almost every day on our climbing rose, and they like to sit opposite each other like this. Probably admiring each other . . .

The moon had a rainbow halo last night

2009-09-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

I heard my son sneeze in the night and got up to check on him. As I passed the window, I couldn't believe the colors I saw around the moon. It was much brighter than this; I saw yellow, green, orange and red. And to think I almost slept through it--