Tree Decorations

OUR Christmas tree is child-friendly this year. Gone are the glass baubles; special and breakable ornaments carefully packed away from curious fingers and wagging tails. Instead we have had fun making glittery pinecones, painting walnut shells gold, tying cinnamon sticks with sparkly ribbon and folding tiny paper stars.

Birds, Birds, Everywhere

WE have gradually developed a full buffet for birds in our back garden with a tray feeder, two upright feeders, a suet feeder, several pinecone feeders and a special sock feeder of thistle seed for finches. And they come! So far, we've seen:

• Northern Cardinals (tray feeder)
• White-Breasted Nuthatches (most frequent visitors to the pinecone feeder, also suet feeder)
• Pine Warbler (pinecone feeder - infrequent)
• Red-Breasted Woodpecker (upright feeder)
• House Finch (upright feeder)
• Downy Woodpecker (suet feeder)
• Mourning Doves (ground, tray feeder and they even try to balance on the suet feeder - very funny)
• Chickadees (upright feeder - infrequent)
• Carolina Wren (ground underneath)
• Dark-Eyed Junco (ground underneath)
• Song Sparrow (ground underneath)
• Blue Jays (ground underneath)
• Eastern Towhee (ground)
• Eastern Bluebird (suet and upright feeders)

We also see on the lawn and flower beds American Robins, Thrashers, and now and again great flocks of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Starlings. We like to sit at the back door and just watch. Sometimes we try to draw them...mostly we just watch.

Let The Baking Begin!

IN honour of Saint Nicholas, the beginning of December saw us making lebkuchen, German spice biscuits. Foregoing the traditional shape of a man with a staff, we opted instead for easier but just-as-tasty shapes, using Christmas cookie cutters. By the end of the day, wonderful aromas of cinnamon and nutmeg filled the house and the children raced to eat their dinner so they could eat some of their creations for dessert. (The biscuits didn't stay around long enough to be iced... picture credit goes to www.molif.com who must use the same set of cookie cutters :-)

The next project for our Christmas bakery was mince pies. Finally using a real mince pie tray courtesy of my mum, instead of the deep muffin trays, the pies turned out better than years past. I've had a bit of trouble explaining exactly what mincemeat is - first that it contains no meat, but that it does contain suet. Try portraying suet as a delicious ingredient when most people in your country know it only as bird food. Mincemeat actually is, of course, dried fruits mixed with spices and sometimes alcohol. Mince pies are a traditional pastry found everywhere in England at Christmas time - you could even call it a national obsession. See www.mincepieclub.co.uk if you don't believe me.

Mountain Views

STUNNING views from the Cherohala Skyway, on our drive back from the mountains where we spent Thanksgiving. Popular among motorists especially in 'leaf season', this winding mountain byway crosses two national forests and offers incredible views for miles around. Now in late Autumn, however, we had it almost to ourselves.

A short chilly hike led upwards through the forest, via a few diversions to climb trees, before we popped out surprisingly in a blustery field at the top of the mountain. These grassy balds are one of the unique features of the area and in the past were often used to graze livestock. With no cows to hand, we used the bald instead to view the changing colors of the sky and distant mountains before running back down to our warm car.

Tree Fruit Game

WE were out on a walk during Thanksgiving weekend in the mountains and came across many fallen tree fruits, the size of tennis balls. A few still hung on trees without their leaves - a curious sight -but most lay on the ground. We collected some and discovered that despite their size and weight, they float. They were useful too - when thrown from a small bridge into the stream below, they became perfect puppy-fetch-fodder, over and over again. Turns out they were Osage Orange, or Hedge Apple. Some interesting facts:

• The fruits are often kept for 2-3 months indoors, where they act as an insect repellent
• The hard bark was often used to make bows and arrows by Native Americans, and is considered exceptionally good wood for instrument making
• The orange root can be used to make yellow dye.

Snakes on the Plain

THE discovery of a small brown snake lying in the grass in a park, with a big chunk out of its neck, led to discussions about snakes - what they eat, where they are found and whether they are harmful. It turns out there are 36 different kinds of non-venomous snakes in Georgia, and 6 venomous.

What's the difference between venomous and poisonous? It's all in the delivery and the motive. Venomous creatures store toxins internally, delivering their toxic delight by fangs or a stinger to capture prey. Poisonous animals on the other hand usually release poison through their skin, when the animal is touched or consumed. Venomous animals use toxins to make dinner, poisonous animals to avoid becoming dinner.

Easy catch though it was, we left the ailing snake in the grass to become someone else's dinner.

I Walk About With My Lantern

FOR the first time we experienced Martinmas with a really large group of people. All four kindergarten classes at Emma's school, along with their families, gathered after dark. Everyone carried a lantern - the children's made in school, others brought from home. The ceremony began quietly, and we walked a magical candlelit path through the woods in a long procession, quietly singing lantern songs. In the middle of the woods, a blazing bonfire invited us to gather and sing together, before we quietly peeled off back to our cars, a generous chunk of gingerbread pressed in everyone's hand.

While the story of Martinmas is of St. Martin, who cut his cloak in two to share with a freezing beggar, the theme of bringing light to the dark, hope to the foresaken, is especially poignant for young children.

"St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin rode through wind and snow
On his strong horse, his heart aglow.
He rode so boldly through the storm
His large cloak kept him well and warm.

By the roadside, by the roadside, by the roadside a poor man arose
Out of the snow in tattered clothes.
Kind sir, please aid me in my plight
Or else I'll die from cold tonight.

St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin stopped his horse and drew
His sword and cut his cloak in two.
One half to the beggarman he gave
And by this deed his life did save."