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Jun. 30, 2009

Whale Watching ~ Telegraph Cove (Tons of Photos)

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

A little over a month ago I was presented with the opportunity to go on a complimentary whale watching excursion with Stubbs Island Whale Watching that operates out of Telegraph Cove and you can bet your bottom I was jumping for joy. Well the day finally arrived and on Sunday I made the trek north along with my dad :)

We arrived an hour before our departure time of 1pm which gave us plenty of time to enjoy lunch at the Killer Whale Cafe which is located at the end of the boardwalk and overlooking the marina.

The food was amazing! With a hot plate of halibut and chips and great coffee we were set :)

Check out the boarding pass they give you. Great way to conserve on wasted paper to! The laminated card is about the size of your drivers license and has all of the specs on the boat they use for the tour. When you go to get on you hand it to the captain and everyone shares where they are from. It's a great way to find out where everyone is visiting from :)

There were tons of harbour seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Some of them had pups with them as well which was fun to see the babies :)

Not to far out of Telegraph Cove we got to see a Minke Whale. They are the 2nd smallest baleen cetacean in the world, extremely fast and make long irregular dives so it was hard to keep track of him.

Above you can see what the Minke Whale would look like if we'd had a chance to see more of him out of the water, but we got to smell his horrible bad breath!! Nicknamed Stinky Minke, this one definitely lived up to his name and fouled the air around us *grin*.

I took this photo after we left Telegraph Cove and headed towards Blackfish Sound. It is absolutely gorgeous through the Plumper Islands!! I get to see some of it from time to time when I go on Dh's tugboat or little excursions like this whale watching trip but I could be here every day!

On one of the rocky beaches some of the onlookers observed this great and well fed Black Bear. Just look at the size of his legs! The captain of the boat took us in closer and cut the engines so that we could drift quietly nearby and watch.

We get to see lots of black bears in our backyard at home all year long, but what was so interesting about this particular bear was the way it was rolling over huge bolders to get at the crabs and little fish left behind after the tide had gone out. You can see, he climbed right over top of it and then rolled it backwards! It was treating itself to a little seafood buffet :)

Nest we came upon a group of 4 Killer Whales heading towards the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve. They were identified as being part of the A Pod and it was so cute to see because there was a mother and her calf in the group!

Again when we had caught up to them while keeping a safe distance from them, the captain cut the engines to the boat so that we could drift silently and revel in their magnificent beauty. We also got to listen to them talking with the use of a hydrophone which is an underwater microphone.

As a child we used to go fishing in a little 12 foot aluminum boat out of Kelsey Bay and we were always guaranteed to come across the orcas. I remember being terrified and thrilled at the same time as they would swim close to our boat so it was fantastic to be so close to them again :)

The calf was quite
rambunctious and did quite a bit of playing around with its mother :) After we watched them for while we turned around and started heading back again.

This is one of the Orca Lab volunteer run research stations located on Cracroft Point where the Johnstone Strait and Blackney Passage merge. Orca Lab was founded by Dr. Paul Spong in 1970 and they monitor the killer whale (orca) movements and habits by microphone and visuals.

It was absolutely gorgeous when the sun came out. At this point the blue sky was reflecting on the ocean surface turning it a beautiful blue :) I'm pretty sure when I took this photo we were in Blackfish Sound looking towards Blackney Passage.

Just as we were heading back to Telegraph Cove we spotted a Humpback whale over by Malcolm Island!!! Amazing giant creatures. It moved so slowly as it humped up and down through the water. We watched it for a bit and then it seemed to disapear. A couple of minutes later though we heard a loud whoosh of air and a spray of misted water blowing out of the ocean surface as it started to surface again :)

As we followed along behind the Humpback Whale we were really hoping that it would raise its tail out of the water as they have massive tails! It never did but when I returned home and looked at my photos I realized that I had caught a photo of its blowhole. Look at it, isn't it amazing?! Did you know that these behemoths can take in 20,000 litres of water into their mouths at one time when they are feeding? So cool!

More great scenery!

There were tons of Bald Eagles all over to, so of course I had to snap some photos of them to *grin*.

Four hours later we were heading back to the Telegraph Cove marina. Our whale watching excursion was ending and it had been so much fun :) What a fantastic afternoon!! If you ever get a chance to visit Telegraph Cove I highly recommend taking a trip whale watching with Stubbs. It's something you definitely won't forget :) Me, well I'm trying to talk hubby into buying a great little house I saw for sale out in Blackfish Sound. I would definitely pick up and move there if I had the chance!

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Jun. 11, 2009

Nature Outing ~ Seal Bay

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

Today we joined in with our nature woody friends and explored Seal Bay :) There was a great low tide and lots of tide pools to be discovered.

We'd never been there when the tide was out and we weren't the only ones taking advantage of it. There were TONS of Bald Eagles hanging about and picniking on all of the sea creatures that were now exposed. They didn't seem to be bothered at all either that there were a bunch of loud preschoolers running around *grin*.

We found crabs....

starfish....

and one of the girls spotted this dead octopus floating in the water!

It may have been part of this Eagle's snack :) We were there well over two hours and even though the tide was coming in and it was definitely time to head back up the beach to the trail no one was ready to leave. We're definitely going to have to check hubby's tide book and see when there is another super low tide so we can come and explore again!

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Jun. 3, 2009

Nature Outing Fun ~ Mack Laing Park

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We finally made it out to one of the weekly nature walks that we participate in and we couldn't have asked for better weather! Thoroughly coated in suntan lotion we headed down the wooded path of the Mack Laing nature park.

The trail winds along a little stream and it was so cute to see my two boys holding hands as they made their way towards the beach :)

As we came out of the woods we were greeted by the scorching 32 degree heat and the magnificent views of the mountains and ocean. There's a great little boardwalk in front of the original homestead where you can look out over the marshy area and do a little bird watching but today it was all about the beach *grin*.

The group of children combed the rocky beach in search of crabs, shells and other signs of sea life....

and what would a trip to the beach be without a little water play! I swear if there is even a trickle of water nearby they're all in it. LOL. I'll admit it was a perfect way though to keep cool in the heat and some of the children were more than slightly wet when we started to head back up the trail *grin*.

L wanted to sport her new polka dot wellies even though I warned her they would probably get wet inside and I was right. She ended up filling them to the brims with sea water as she puddled around in the shallows ;) How come no one ever wants to take moms advice?! Can't wait for next week as we head out to another great trail :)

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Dec. 10, 2008

Nature Walk ~ Courtenay Air Park

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Today was our last nature walk for the fall session and we all met at the Air Park which is right along the river :)

The kids were super excited because as soon as we arrived and put our outdoor coats and boots on they spotted a heron sitting along the bank of the river waiting to catch a nice little snack. It didn't mind in the least that we were all gawking and taking photos, not to mention that a dozen or so children are not exactly quiet either! *grin*

We had never been on this walk before so it was a nice treat. The walkways were all paved and the loop that we followed was a super easy 2.7km stroll with lots of little twists and turns and side trails to keep everyone busy exploring :)

I just love this photo :) The pathway led us to the covered bridge where we could watch the ducks swimming and try and spot other water creatures. We were hoping to see some swans, but unfortunately there just weren't any to be seen today :(

Above K and L are observing the ducks on another one of the observation decks that were along the path.

Hmm, I wonder where the nesting birds were hiding? They were keeping their nests all to themselves :)

Nothing like a little balancing practice :) L's little friend A wasn't there today so she was a little out of place without her companion but she quickly found some other girls to make friends with and K of course was his usually chatty self and talked the ears off of anyone that would listen. LOL. Now we just have to hurry up and wait for the new year and the start of another series of fantastic walks :)

Blessings,

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Nov. 22, 2008

Storm Watching

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

We have been experiencing high winds and torrential rains today! The house was groaning but the constant drip, dripping of the rain was kind of comforting. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and my entire family would sit in the family room under blankets on cold fall/winter days and just hang out together :)

We had to return a movie this afternoon to the video store so I thought it would be fun to do a little storm watching while we were out. We drove down to the wharf and drove out onto the old wooden structure. I love to go out there when it's rough and give the kids a little thrill. It actually sways and moves around in the high tides and wind and you can feel it shifting underneath the car while you sit on it *grin*. Combine that with the strong gusts of wind and rain and it was a perfect storm watching experience that was a feast for all 5 senses!

Yup, all 5 senses. We had taste covered with the bugle snack I packed for the kids *grin*.

It was just us, nature's wild elements...... and a lone seagull :)

Blessings,

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Nov. 21, 2008

Nature Binder ~ Newspaper Clippings

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

What do you do when you're in to much pain to move and have to spend most of your time in one spot?? Well if you're me, it's the perfect time to tackle the paper piles! I think that I've mentioned numerous times in the past that I am a paper fiend *wink*. Bills, receipts, newspapers, itty bitty scraps of paper covered in memos to myself and more. You name it and I probably save it. LOL.

Hello, my name is Rosina and I am a paper addict. There I said it *grin*. That's half the battle right? Is there even a group for people like me!? I think I ~~might~~ need it. LOL.

One of my favorite paper collections is the nature articles that our local newspaper runs each week. They are fantastic!! Twice a week you can find them on animals, plants or great places to visit and they are just loaded with information that quite often happens to be on something that we have just recently encountered on one of our nature outings or books :) I have this really great vision of a categorized nature binder that all of these articles will be included in along with our personal nature journal pages, but so far it's just a binder full of newspapers *grin* and it's quite a stack I might add. So today I got them all out and started snipping and categorizing with great success :) I got all of them clipped out and sometime in the next couple of days I'm hoping to get them right into our nature binder.

One pile down.... more to go *grin*.

Blessings,

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Nov. 12, 2008

Nature Walk ~ Mack Laing Nature Park

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Our Neighborwoodie nature walk took us to the Mack Laing Nature Park in Comox this afternoon :) We were a little worried about getting caught in bad weather with all of the rain we have been experiencing but talk about good luck! We made it the entire 2 hours without a drop of rain :)

Mack Laing was a self taught naturalist, artist and writer. He loved to study birds and actually collected birds and mammals for museums and private collections. Above is a picture of his home which looks out over the marsh and goose spit. It is supposed to be a fantastic place to observe shore birds, but unfortunately today there weren't many around which may have been because of the wind and rough waters.

We met at the trail head at the end of Comox Ave. and headed into the second growth forest that makes up the park and down to Brooklyn Creek which runs through the property. There was a small bridge to cross and from there we followed the trail towards the shore. Along the way there were lots of spots to stop and watch the creek, investigate a large tree that had uprooted leaving its roots bare and of course the kids had to measure the width of some of the larger trees along the walk by stretching themselves out as far as they could to see if they could reach around it :)

As we got closer to the shore there was a wooden plank boardwalk in front of the home which lead out to the marshy area where you could stand and watch for birds and other animals.

It had been suggested that we should bring along a pair of binoculars for bird watching, so that was just what we did! Baby M loved using them. I don't know how many birds he actually saw, but he sure had fun trying *grin*.

K was a little more studious about the task and even had his nature notebook handy beside him to record any sightings :)

The end of the trail lead us to a familiar piece of shore which we had actually been to on a previous walk in the summer to MacDonald Wood Park :) It was high tide but there was no shortage of exploration!

There were jelly fish to observe, sea foam to play in and the above curious creature that I was told was called a Moon Jelly. They ranged in size with this one being about an inch and a half in diameter and about half an inch thick. It felt just like those jello jigglers you make, and there were tons of them all over!

On the way back up the trail we had a chance to check out the many signs along the trail that pictured all sorts of wildlife and plant life found along the walk. What a fantastic idea!! After our time down by the water K and L checked out the sea life photos to see if they could identify what they had found :)

The above memorial to Mack Laing had a great quote on it that wanted to share with you :)

"Simplify, don't waste the years struggling for things that are unimportant. Don't burden yourself with possessions, keep your needs and wants simple, and enjoy what you have. Don't fritter away your life on non-essentials. Don't enslave yourself for luxuries. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without. Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.

Live in the present, enjoy the present. Simplify your life.
Be not simply good, be good for something."

I just love this!!!
Blessings,

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Nov. 5, 2008

The Fall Nature Walks Have Begun

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

It was with great excitement that we headed out this morning to join in with Fall Neighborwood Nature Walk group. Oh how we missed these outings! There were about 30 kids plus moms and some dads as we gathered at the Puntledge Park, which apparently is a prime spot for salmon spawning :) I have actually never been to the park. I've drove by numerous times in the past but had no idea it was there. From the road you just see the parking area, a sign and some green in the distance behind the trees, but there's a real gem waiting just beyond that.

The Puntledge River runs right along the park and as soon as we hit the first bridge over it the Salmon were in clear view as they struggled against the current to try and get further upstream to spawn. It's really cool to watch.

L met up with her friend, A, from the summer walks and they hit it off again just like they hadn't skipped a beat :) There were lots of familiar faces which was great, and some new ones to which I got the pleasure of meeting today for the first time.

Above L & A along with another little boy are checking out one of the dead salmon. There were an awful lot of them along the rivers edge and in the water making it quite stinky! The sea gulls didn't seem to mind though. Wow, what a feast this is for them :)

As you can see we were all suited up in rain gear and boots in case it poured but the weather held and made for a great nature outing :) I had to laugh when we got back to the car because K was just a chattering on about the salmon and the river and how it was the best walk yet! He says that each and every time *grin*.

Blessings,

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Oct. 27, 2007

Nature Journaling ~ Orange Fairy Cup Fungus

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

On our walk outside today we came across yet another beautifully colored mushroom that we hadn't seen yet! This is an Orange Peel Fungus or Orange Fairy Cup fungus ~ Aleuria aurantia.

These fungi can be found between May and October throughout North America usually in sand or soil along paths, grassy areas or roads and apparently they are edible but not very tasty. Their name comes from their similarity in color to an orange peel and they are full of carotene and a good source of vitamin A, but I wouldn't recommend it since there are similar ones that are poisonous. I have never seen them before but they are along the gravel road heading to our pond so I'm sure we will see them again next year : )

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 23, 2007

Weblink Wednesday ~ Nature Study Sites

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

(Click on the above image to view more great sites or to join in)

We have been bitten by the nature study bug *grin* and I thought that I would share some of my favorite websites.

Nature Study Charlotte Mason Style

Handbook of Nature Study

BugGuide
Identification, Images, & Information For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Woodland Log Book
Neat 17 page printable logbook to take with you on an outing to record leaves you noticed, sounds you heard, and so on. There are pages for drawings or stories and also clip art to color and paste onto your pages.
Mini Version of the above Log Book

Woodland Trust ~ Nature Detectives
All sorts of neat links to spotter sheets for twigs, leaves, flowers and more.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 23, 2007

Nature Journaling ~ The Snail-Killer Carabid

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

A couple of days ago I had mentioned that I was trapping specimens in canning jars for our nature studies *grin* and I wanted to share with you one of the beetles that I caught called the Snail-Killer Carabid or Scaphinotus angusticollis.

This strange beetle is very common on Vancouver Island and can be found on the moist forest floor, or your woodshed, or perhaps your laundry room floor as this one happened to be : )

Sorry the photos aren't clearer. We had a hard time getting him or her? to stay still long enough for a clear photo! In our field guide for BC Bugs it said that the snail-killer carabid is usually 20mm in length so we wanted to measure ours and see how long it actually was. I used my sewing measuring tape and slid it underneath the jar and then rotated the jar around until the beetle was sitting on top of it and ours measured 22mm!

The snail-killer carabid loves to eat snails and slugs and its long head and thorax help it to get into the hard to reach places in snail shells and slug carcasses. Boy, they must be having a feast around here! We have so many slugs that these guys are a welcome site in my yard *grin*

Both K and L had fun watching and studying it with their magnifying glasses :) I would love to get a stronger magnifying glass or a microscope even so that we could get a more up close and personal look at the creatures we find. On the head and underside of the beetle it had little tiny white bugs crawling on it. We could just barely make them out with the magnifying glasses but they were definitely there moving around on it. I wonder what they were? if they were parasites to the beetle? or they catch a ride with it and feed on the food the beetle eats? or maybe they are 'cleaners' as K put it and keep the beetles body tidy LOL.

Here is K's drawing of the snail-killer carabid as well as the little micro mini bugs that were on it.

L's drawing was really cute. Do you see her in it to? She's the one upside down in the bottom right hand corner with the buggy eyes like you would see through the magnifying glass *grin*.

And of course my beetle drawing :) I don't have much of a choice in participating anymore, it is more of a demand that I draw along with them or it just isn't right because mama is missing out on the fun so they say, not that I'm complaining *grin*

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 17, 2007

Nature Journaling ~ Sunflowers

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I wanted to do some artsy stuff today and decided that we would make an addition into our nature journals, but since it was raining all day we had to find a way to draw something from nature without leaving the house!

There weren't any birds at the feeder today and then we spied the flower bouquet : ) Sunflowers it was.

We thought it would be fun to draw them from both a side view.....

and a front view.

Here is K's drawings. I'm always amazed at how easily he draws! He just picks up his pencil and away he goes without any difficulty unlike myself.

And L's, well I just love watching her draw her version of whatever it might be we are drawing for the day : ) I just love the way she drew her sunflowers and she is always so proud of her creations *grin*

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 14, 2007

My Pumpkin Patch written by K

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K wrote this today after we were at the pumpkin patch and we're going to put it in his nature journal along with the photos : )
Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 14, 2007

Could this one be the prize winning pumpkin?

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

Calling all strong men! LOL. We've been waiting for Dh to come home so that he and my dad could come and lift the pumpkins.

Here is K's prizewinning pumpkin! It is nearly as high as his waist and weighs a ton to.

There was no way that they were going to be able to carry them all the way to the house so we recruited our wheelbarrows to do the job *grin*

Here's Dh with K's pumpkin, it pretty much fills up the entire wheelbarrow.

Here's L's monster of a pumpkin :) She has been so excited watching it grow since it was the size of a tennis ball.

And last but not least Baby M's pumpkin : )

Here goes the wheelbarrow brigade. LOL. I was surprised K could pick up his and push it!

And they're off!

I just love these photos of them all together :)

L snagged a ride back with Opa.

I thought it would be fun to weigh the larger ones so we dug out my fishing scale from the garage and put them on one by one. Here is Baby M's weighing in at 45 lbs.

And here is K's weighing in at a whopping 125.9 lbs!! See I wasn't joking when I said it weighed ton *grin*

L didn't think it weighed enough so we sat her up on top of it to beef it up a little : )

Dh and my dad putting them in there final resting place. I think they were glad to be done with them after I had them pose for photos.... can your turn it my way.... oh lift it just a little higher..... oh come on hunny I know you can get the scale out so we can weigh them. LOL. They are definitely staying put until they start to rot *grin* The rest of them we left up at my moms so that the bride can use them in the garden where she wants for her photos. Hee hee, at least it will be her husband and father doing the lifting and moving tomorrow : )

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 13, 2007

Elk and Elk Tracks

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Just after lunchtime today my mom came down to our house and let us know that the Elk were down in the bottom field. I've been trying really hard to get a get a good photo of one of the Bulls but they seem to be camera shy! They have these massive sets of horns and it would be a really great picture for my moms website that I am working on. I don't have a really good zoom on my camera so I have to be relatively close to them to get a good pic but everytime I get just close enough that I would be able to get great shot he herds up his harem of cows (female elk) and calves and heads for the mountain again leaving me with a picture like the one above where he is in behind everyone instead of munching away on the grass contently *grin*

Since they have been tearing around the fields and roads around us lately we have been able to see lots of their tracks. Here is an imprint from one of their hooves. I should have put something beside it so that you would have had something to compare it to for size but it was about the circumference of a full sized horses hoof.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 6, 2007

Big Trees and Trails of the Salmon River Estuary

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Here are some more photos of our walk in the estuary on Thursday : )

When you arrive you park just off of the logging road where it is gated with a large gate that keeps out everyone but foot travelers. Once inside you reach the foot bridge. This land used to be occupied by an elderly woman in her 90's that had settled here many many years ago with her husband and son from Washington State. She was a feisty old woman and had so many wonderful stories to share. I used to work for her back in the late 90's as her home nurse and I loved to drive out to her cabin. She had no electricity to her home, instead she had this giant diesel generator that was the size of your fridge! No kidding. In the mornings when I arrived I had to go out to the generator shed with a flashlight and check the generators oil and top it up if the dipstick read low. Then I would reach as far as I could in one direction pulling the choke out and at the same time with the other hand I would reach in the other direction and turn the ignition key until it roared to life. Boy was it a loud machine!! A little scary to : ) Once inside it was always nice and toasty with her oil cookstove going and I would always linger in the kitchen looking out the window when I was finished or sitting by the kitchen table where we had a breathtakingly beautiful view of the estuary. I don't know how many times we chatted with swans floating by or deer munching on the lawn. She lived in a little peace of heaven :)

She leased the land and in her contract it stipulated that when she passed away all the buildings were to be removed and the property to return to it's natural state, which is how we all see it now. The photo of the foot bridge above is actually built right on top of the old wooden bridge that was the only access in and out of the property unless you boated in. Which it actually wasn't uncommon to have a visitor come by boat with gifts of fresh fish or vegetables for her to cook up! I used to drive my car over that narrow bridge *grin* It has no side rails and the planking would lift as you drove over it and there was a hole in one of the boards on the right side so you had to drive VERY close to the one edge and I was always afraid I might drop off into the water channel below. LOL. Ah memories! It is so strange now to stand where her home stood and look over where her sons cabin had been built and reminisce of days gone by.

As we crossed the bridge we spotted a tree that had been eaten away by a woodpecker. One very tenacious woodpecker I might add!

Here is Opa with K and L ahead of my on her driveway. Isn't it lovely with all of the old growth trees growing so thickly along it.

Not to far down the path we came across this furry little caterpillar. Does anyone remember the old saying that looked at the thickness of the stripes to predict a mild or harsh winter? oh actually if I remember correctly you have to look at a wooly bear caterpillar and I don't think this is one : )

Check out this giant cedar tree. It is a mammoth! L and K had fun going inside of it. It is completely hollowed out inside and has charred spots from a fire.

Here they are inside of it checking it out....

each time my flash went off they had a clear and bright look at what it looked like all the way to the top of the hollowed out area. You would have thought that the top of it would have eventually ended in a pointed peak but it actually was flat like a lid at the top where the tree had continued to grow.

We came across this really interesting leafy ground cover on our travels. It is green on the top with curling edges that are white on the underside like you see but the strange part is the spiky, hairy underneath of the leaves.

Here it is closer up so that you can see the hairs. It reminds me of a venus flytrap. What do you think?

Ah the sticky slug, just thought you'd enjoy seeing him. LOL.

We found all sorts of different types of mosses and each of them feels different to the touch.

This one was light and feathery to the touch. Very soft...

and then this one was coarser and more prickly to feel.

Another giant old growth tree that K and L were trying to see if they could reach half way around it if they joined hands and stretched as far as they could. The just about made it but not quite :)

As we neared closer to the mouth of the Salmon River we found seaweed and bull kelp along the banks of the estuary water canals. Here K is with his bull kelp. He was pretending it was a sea monster and he had to wrestle with it *grin*

Here is the view that makes the walk so special. This is one of the waterways coming out of the estuary as it meets up with the mouth of the Salmon River in the distance before it pours into the ocean. Hope you had a fun walk with us *grin*

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 5, 2007

A Fungi Photo Diary ~ Can you name any of them?

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

Okay I'm back with the much anticipated reveal of what we found on yesterday's nature walk. LOL. We talked Opa into going with us on an excursion to the Salmon River Estuary where I had heard there was a goldmine of colorful and interesting fungi to say the least. Okay enough with the small talk and on with the show! Make sure you check out the last couple of photos because there are some really freaky mushrooms out there!

This one reminds me of the ones you see on tv in fairy tale shows with the red and white spots. It is so neat and this one was in perfect shape. Some of them appeared to have been nibbled at or cracked and damaged from the weather.

Here's another one. I put one of my camera batteries next to it so that you could get an idea of the size of it. It was the largest one of that kind we found.

Next we found these little ones. Of course we were very curious about them and poked at them a bit with our shoes to see what they felt at. They were amazingly sturdy, not spongy at all!

Now I'm sure many of you have seen these ones. They're the ones that are nearly hollow inside and that let out that greenish colored smoke when you touch them. My dad was tapping at it with his walking stick while I took the photo but I just couldn't capture the smoky powder coming out of them : )

I love the stem of this one and it looks like someone had been nibbling on his top. Could he be a safe one to eat? I think we'll leave that up to the forest creatures :)

These two were very interesting with their super high gloss sheen and they were bowl shaped so that the water sat in the center of their tops.

This one here looks sort of similar to the first picture I showed you but it looked jelly on the top, you just wanted to give it a little poke to find out but we managed to keep our fingers to ourselves *grin*

These ones were gigantic and had a really rubbery looking texture. Those spots that you can see on it were actually raised up little nubs about half a centimeter high.

This one looks just like a rose! Don't you think?
Okay now for the truly weird and freaky!!

What is this!? It was like squid legs but they were velvety in appearance.

This one and the above mushroom we found side by side and they are the most beautiful shades of purple and this one was velvety in appearance as well just like the previous one.

And last but not least this absolutely intriguing creature. It looks like it belongs in the sea, perhaps on a coral reef somewhere with little tropical fishies swimming in and out of it. LOL. I actually do know the name of this one but not in English. It is a Baerentatze the German name for it since that is all my dad knows for it.

Now if you know any of the names or have a good guess as to what you might think they are could you pretty pretty please share them with me? I went to the bookstore to get a book on mushrooms today and she was completely sold out! Her shipment had come in a couple of days earlier and all the books on fungi flew off the shelves immediately. She has promised me a copy next week when she gets more so until then I would love to hear your guesses and then I'll look them up when we get the book : )

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 15, 2007

Nature Journaling ~ Grasshopper

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

On our nature walk today we came across a bunch of grasshoppers hanging on the stems of the dying Lilly plants. Not sure what they would be doing there? but it sure was neat to see them this up close and personal! This one was our drawing specimen.

Here is K's drawing. He did a wonderful job with his grasshopper getting the different colors on the legs and back : )

This one belongs to L : ) She didn't really want to draw him after so I made an outline of a grasshopper for her and then she embellished it with squiggles because he was swimming in water *grin*

And this one is mine. I was experimenting with shading different pencil crayons on top of each other to get different color blends and I think it worked out pretty good. It's sort of hard to tell from the picture. I think next time we'll do the Maple tree before it looses all of its leaves.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 9, 2007

Nature Journaling Fungi

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

Today after K came home with his bag of chanterelle's I thought it would make a fun addition to our nature journal : )

Here is our lovely specimen *grin* We drew it upside down like this so that we could capture the textured gills on the underside of the cap and then we flipped it over so that we could show the top of it and how it has a depression or funnel shape in the center of the cap.

Here is K's drawings. We decided to add the latin name to : ) I love his upright one and how he captured the funnel in the center of the cap.

Here's L's : ) She did super and even added the gills!

And of course mine : ) I am having just as much fun as the kids. I have started a binder for all of our drawings and I have put each of our drawings in plastic sheet protectors so that I don't have to hole punch them or wreck them.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 6, 2007

An afternoon of Nature Journaling

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

Well we finally kicked ourselves into gear and got started nature journaling : )
I have been wanting to do it with the kids for a while and have a really great book on it and today was the day! We packed up Baby M in the stroller along with our camping chairs, paper, pencils and snack stuff for Baby M so that he would enjoy himself to *grin*

And we headed back to the pumpkin patch. Here is one of my budding artists busy capturing the view : ) I wasn't allowed to see his drawing until it was completed. He wanted to keep it a big surprise for me.

But I did sneak up behind him (without looking at his drawing) and captured the view from where he was sitting so you could see it like he saw it :)

This is K's completed drawing...

L's drawing of her pumpkin. Very colorful I might add and she decided that it needed arms and legs :)

And this one is mine :)

I think that L had the right idea when she did hers by focusing on one subject. K and I took in the entire scene and I think it was a little overwhelming for him even though he didn't complain but I think next time we will focus on one specific aspect.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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~About Me~

Hello from Canada! I am a homeschooling mom to 3 very rambunctious children ages 10, 6 & 3 years old while holding down the fort as tug boat captain 'Dad' sails the seven seas *grin*. We're located on 40 acres in a tiny rural community in beautiful British Columbia and this is my quirky journal about our homeschool journey, running my home based business 'RosyUndPosy' making 'Eco Friendly Bags 4 Green Living', and everyday life home on the farm. Hope you enjoy your visit :)

Looking East down Race and Current Passages to Helmcken Island

Want to have a peak at what the weather looks like here today? Here's a cam showing the lovely scenic view looking east down Johnstone Strait past Helmcken & Hardwicke Islands.

Looking North across Johnstone Strait to Hardwicke Island

And this one is looking north across Johnstone Strait towards Hardwicke Island. Hit the refresh button on your browser to update the picture and make sure you stop by during daylight hours :)