THE other day we noticed a green caterpillar on one of the tomato plants. Having plucked it off ready to deposit elsewhere, we realised that the tomato plant was nearly dead anyway so the caterpillar might as well enjoy the last few leaves. So we put it back. Imagine our surprise when the next day we found it tucked cosily in a cocoon! In fact there were two of them! Two days later the plant was indeed dead, as was apparently the second pupa. But the first pupa still wiggled when gently prodded, and one part had turned brown inside its opaque, silky home.
WHILE walking home from school one day, we noticed a proliferation of one type of insect on the grass under a particular maple tree. Looking somewhat like a firefly, we took note of its markings and looked it up at home. It was a box elder bug, a true bug which feeds predominantly on box elder trees and also maples.
LOOKING back through old posts, I'm reminded that Emma received a "bug hotel" for her third birthday. Now rather the worse for three years of weather, it has nevertheless provided much interest to us and a home for many insects.
LAST year we noticed a great number of insects we hadn't seen before in the park. Little green/brown bugs, they looked a little like ladybirds but had a distinct triangular shape, the head much narrower than the tail end. They congregated in great numbers on the kudzu, were easy to pick up, flew away just as easily and didn't smell too good when squashed (accidently). It was Megacopta cribraria, otherwise known as the "kudzu beetle".
IT'S funny what things we take for granted that children know. A few weeks ago Emma and Alexander helped me harvest mint, rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil and Thai basil in our garden then bundle them and hang them up to dry. Today we were preparing old glass shop-bought herb jars to store them when Emma suddenly looked at me with a mixture of astonishment and revelation: "Mama, you mean herbs in the garden are the same thing as herbs in jars?"
I was recently introduced to the Eastern Black Walnut tree juglans nigra through its fruit, which hung heavy and green, like smooth golf balls. Parts of last year's crop that the squirrels had spared lay dried in the grass, but the fresh new fruit smelled fresh, almost citrusy. Evan, the tree owner, advised that the nuts are very difficult to open. He may as well have thrown down a glove.
TWILIGHT is one of the most magical times to be outside. To observe the sun inch lower and lower with perceptible movement brings a sense of oneness with time. We have been taught of the earth's rotation around the sun, yet to many these are mere words; whereas experiencing a sunset (or sunrise) forges a deep inner connection to this cosmic reality. Images of the sun going to bed are not just for children; experiencing the dusk is to remember the beauty of the day, breathe out and prepare for rest.
HAPPY sixth birthday Emma! We had great fun preparing for her mermaid party - designing a menu, painting underwatery paintings to hang up, planning activities and decorating with strips of blue and purple crepe paper, which waved delightfully when the ceiling fan was turned on.
and finally a treasure hunt for a take-home mini treasure chest of sparkling gems. The theme continued until her actual birthday two days later when Emma received her present from Mama - a beautiful mermaid of her own!
ALEXANDER was having some fun running away from his bath. Up a tree was an excellent place to hide.
WE tried for ages to identify this interesting fly we found on our window screen. It was on something white and we couldn't tell if it was feeding on bird droppings or if it was some kind of nest/egg collection. Whatever the white patch was, the fly was quite attached to it. We picked the fly up to examine it, and it flew away, then a short time later was back again and even returned the next day.It was quite large - maybe 2cm. Plump and black, with a fuzzy body, huge eyes and a curious pattern on its wings. We couldn't tell if the wings had patches of white or patches of see through.
Finally a few days later we found a picture of the tiger bee fly Xenox tigrinus . Emma astutely pointed out that tigers have stripes not spots and why wasn't it called a leopard bee fly? Apparently they lay their eggs in the nests of carpenter bees and their hatching larvae then eat the bee larvae. The white stuff on the window screen wasn't eggs, then.
AN unexpected encounter greeted us recently at the woods - one who was not playing possum. Instead of playing dead like this animal is wont to do when threatened, this possum was very much alive and snarling. A shuddering lady was trying unsuccessfully to release it from a trap she had laid in her garden. Its strong fingers and sharp nails clutched fast to the wire cage as she tried to gently shake it loose. Alexander's eyes grew wide as the scared creature hissed and bared its extremely ferocious looking teeth. With the aid of leather gloves and a stick, the lady and I managed to pry its feet loose and the possum backed out of the cage into its new habitat. Needless to say the encounter with "the animal with the triangle mouth and lots of teeth" has been the talk of the week.
ONE of the best things about school holidays is that there's no rush in the morning! That means there's plenty of time to prepare a breakfast feast. One morning Emma fancied fruit salad "with all the fixin's" and, oblivious to the fact that it was still dark, set to work preparing it, her sous-chef by her side.
Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I peeked into the kitchen and was crossly dispatched back to my bedroom. It was worth the wait.
AFTER purchasing lamb's quarters Chenopodium album, also called goosefoot, several times at the farmers' market, what a great discovery to find it growing wild in a bit of scrub land behind our house!It sat on the window sill in a glass of water for a while until we'd had a chance to be sure of the identification, then I cooked some and cautiously sampled. Yep, tasted the same. Into the soup it went! Who doesn't love free food?
Reading some more about it, it seems that the seeds too are edible and very nutritious. It's closely related to quinoa, one of the only complete proteins. The plant can become very tall - up to 3m - and as it ages, the stems become woody enough to be used as walking sticks! I think I feel another gathering trip coming on.
WE'VE been lucky enough to see an number of baby birds
But Emma wins the award for the best bird discovery. She was sitting on our front steps when she noticed a little bird clutching the side of the step. On closer examination there were two of them, baby Northern Flickers. These are a kind of woodpecker and we watched them over the next two days as they progressed from hopping on the ground and step to clinging to the house wall, then climbing up the wall and finally taking their first flights. Amazing to observe!
MIDSUMMER snook up on us, but we found plenty of ways to celebrate without much preparation. We made a new summer nature table based on the story of Runya the Fire Fairy, one of Emma's alter egos. It featured an orange and yellow fairy house and a bonfire, to which all the woodland animals were invited to roast acorns. We learned a new summer song while preparing a special festival snack of sun tea, orange slices, apricots and butterfly biscuits then read The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow together. Dinner was cooked over a real fire in the back garden, the bowl of chilled fruits a welcome addition in the 80 F temperature and higher humidity. No evening of magical happenings would be complete without a gift for the fairies, so the children assembled a miniature feast of fruits, herbs and tea along with a tiny campfire for the fairies to dance around. By morning, the food was gone and in its place, a little thank you gift of flowers and a pile of embers. There really must have been fairies in our garden!
NOTHING is quite as startling as almost stepping on a large snake. This 4' black rat snake slithered out of its hole in the bank of the Chattahoochee River and moseyed along the water's edge for a while. 
But it wasn't the only slithery creature we've seen recently.
Water Snakes and Slider Turtles abounded at the school picnic, causing delight among the children and reactions ranging from mild interest to terror in parents.
THE summer is just the time for nature study. We often walk the same same stretch, and it's fun to notice different things each time then draw it and maybe read up on it at home. Today we looked at trees, and Emma especially liked a tree that she said had fairies all over it. The leaves were feathery and "nervous" (they slowly closed up when touched). The "fairies" are the white and pink feathery blooms. It has a smooth bark, and in the autumn has long (30cm or so) brown seed pods. It was a Silk Tree, sometimes called Mimosa, but - curiously - dubbed "foamy" by the children. It grows all over the place here in the south US - beautiful, but invasive. Since then, spotting "foamies" while we walk or drive has become a favourite pastime.
The next week we went back again, this time prepared with fruit baskets. This time they made a delicious dessert. We simmered the tart plums with a splash of sherry (orange liqueur would have been even better), cinnamon and sweetened with agave. When cooled and thickened, the fruit was layered with a mixture of cream cheese, homemade yoghurt, orange peel and honey, then refrigerated for a few hours to let the flavours meld. Yum! We served it to guests that evening and voted on the best name for our concoction. Emma's won: Rainbow Nice Cake.
WE were not alone in the campground. We were surrounded by cicadas. All over the grass, clinging to every tree, the empty shells of cicada nymphs, their skins shed as the adults emerged triumphant after a 17-year slumber. From the treetops they now sounded their victory cry. The noise was deafening. At first we didn't equate the high-pitched sound with the insect shells all around. It sounded more like a squeaky siren. Maybe some kind of motor. But it was, in fact, cicadas by the million.
STICKING out of a hole in a log was a little thing wiggling. We pulled it out carefully as it appeared to be stuck. It looked like a cocoon. Suddenly it made an audible pop! and a fly crawled out! It was so unusual that Emma decided to draw it in her nature journal.The notes in the picture describe the insect and were dictated by Emma: fuzzy bits on its head, big black eyes, long grey body with orange stripes, delicate wings, 6 legs with 2 little feet on each leg.
We never did discover the identification but it was exciting to witness its birth!
WOOD sorrel, with its lemony flavour, is said to make good tea. So we decided to try that out. Gathering enough wood sorrel in our garden was not a problem, and we soon had a large bunch simmering away. Add sweetener (we used honey), pour into a glass and... well what do you know, it's red! Bear in mind that this was a green plant with a yellow flower. But it was very refreshing, especially cold with ice.
TO my surprise I found I could already identify many of the plants highlighted in the recent wild edibles class. At least, well enough to guess out loud but not necessarily well enough to tuck into without an expert present. While I could identify cattails and knew that they were edible, I didn't realise quite how many uses they have!
HOW nice to feel appreciated! I had the opportunity to attend a day-long class on Mother's Day while the children enjoyed a day of daddy time. On my return I was greeted with a fabulous cake which they had baked together. Yum!
TIME for the annual pilgrimage to pick strawberries! This time we took a few little friends along and had a wonderful time filling our baskets and tummies. The juicy berries later became boats as we washed them, then were frozen whole, pureed, made into ice pops and jam. And of course we saved some to have with whipped cream for a real Ascot treat.
A sunrise is always wonderful, but on Easter Sunday, after hiking up a mountain in the dark until you are so high up that the sky almost swallows you, surrounded by hundreds of people of all different denominations sharing songs of praise, it brings an incredible feeling of awe and reverence.
Whereas Easter eggs are best if chocolate and hidden among the vegetables. 
ALEXANDER pretending to be a bird who is camping and toasting caterpillars over a fire like marshmallows. Since it was a real caterpillar, I jumped up to stop him from actually putting it in his mouth, which caused him to console me: "Don't worry Mama, I not really a bird. I a little boy. Little boyd no eat caterpillard." Funny! He went on to instruct me all about what birds eat and what caterpillars eat and how we shouldn't eat things that other animals eat because we will get tummy ache.
What do caterpillars do? Nothing much but chew and chew.
What do caterpillars know? Nothing much but how to grow.
They just eat what by and by will make them be a butterfly.
And that is more than I can do, however much I chew and chew.
WHAT an amazingly diverse country the USA is!
Heading west into California we drove through dusty deserts and rocky hills, then crested the range and found ourselves at once in a lush agricultural area.
Nowhere has the influence of topography on weather and land use been so apparent. As we came out of the mountains into the valley, citrus and nut groves and vegetable fields dominated the landscape. It was hot.
Then began the climb back into the mountains. The foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains are marked by scenic oak woodlands, abundant wildflowers and streams. As we ascended, the temperature dropped.
By the time we reached the lodge in Sequoia National Park at 6,500 feet, the land was covered in 12' of snow and giant trees stretched up to the clouds.
The journey back east took us through Nevada's Mojave Desert then into Arizona. This mighty landscape of dry earth, cliffs, scrubby grasses and cactus extended as far as the eye could see for hours and hours. 
Incredible. I thought I had no awe left in me until we arrived at our final destination, the Grand Canyon.
HOW lovely to have a child to remind you of the earth's beauty.
THE woodlands behind our house erupt into a marvellous sea of blue just about now. We had to look up what the flower is: Dame's Rocket. More exciting - it's edible! It's actually considered invasive, though hard to believe, as it looks
so beautiful brightening up the woods. Only the petals should be eaten and we tried them in a salad. The flowers also pressed nicely and we look forward to using them for crafts when they are fully dried.
