Holland State Park, Holland, Michigan

Holland State Park, Holland, Michigan

New Buffalo, Michigan

New Buffalo, Michigan

"Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it."

~Theodore Roosevelt, regarding the Grand Canyon

This week, we've been enjoying The National Parks, America's Best Idea, a film by Ken Burns on PBS.  Totally worth your time, if you love the great outdoors.  Now more than ever, I see the value of parks and am so thankful that a few people, long ago, saw to save some of America's best features. 

Indiana is blessed to have a national forest, a lakeshore and one small national park, which offer Jr. Ranger Programs for which we are thankful.  This summer our kids earned several patches and badges, learning much along the way.  If you live near a park, you might consider this as it is a good hands on science program for free.  (You know how I like free!)  I think they even offer online options if you don't live near a park. 

Swearing In Ceremony

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.  For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.  ~Edwin Way Teale

Back from camp.  Here are just a few nature photos of interest. 

Tomorrow, we're heading north to Lake Michigan one last time as a family this season.  It will soon be too cold to tent camp.  Well, too cold for these campers, anyway!  I don't mind temperatures in the upper 40's at night, but that is about as low as I go.  Perhaps if we had better sleeping bags? Ah, but that would require getting more stuff and I am totally against getting more stuff at this moment. 

With camping on my mind, I found these two cute and very true quotes about camping.

How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?  ~Author Unknown

Confession time here.  We have just mastered the art of starting a campfire after 8 camping trips this season, which is very frustrating! 

Campers: Nature's way of feeding mosquitoes.  ~Author Unknown

Last camping trip, we got chiggers again.  Oh, I hate chiggers!  I am hoping we won't be eaten alive by the bugs this weekend. 

Our tents set up at Springmill State Park over Labor Day

Have a great weekend!

~Jenn

"As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful."

~

"What a wonderful power mothers have in their hands!  They shape the lives of the children today, through them the lives of the men and women of tomorrow, and through them the nations and the world."

~

"We can teach this love of home to the children and it will help to hold them steady when their time comes."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am currently re-reading a favorite book of mine called Prairie Wisdom by Yvonne Pope.  Actually, it is a wonderful little collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder's writings gathered in a sweetly illustrated volume.  Here is one of the quotes that I love. 

"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies." 

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

To live content with small means;

to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;

to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;

 to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;

to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;

to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.

In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884

These flowers caught my eye on a recent trip to Springmill State Park in Mitchell, Indiana. 

I love how these Mums are bordered by Lamb's Ear.  So pretty!

I don't know the name of this butterfly because I am too lazy to go look it up!  I thought it made a lovely picture though.  Update:  after some searching, I think this is a Euptoieta claudia.  (http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Butterflies)

The formal garden above is just like the kind I might have, if I had the time and talent to plant one.

Again, I hate posting flowers without knowing their names, but sometimes, for me, it is just enough to enjoy the flower without knowing its name. 

I love old barns.  This one is located at Conner Prairie, a local living history museum. 

Swans on the Ohio River

Lake Michigan, Beverly Shores, IN

Lake Michigan at sunset, IN Dunes State Park

Wildflowers

Bog, Beverly Shores, IN

Snapping Turtle, Beverly Shores, IN

Skeleton of Lake Sturgeon, IN Dunes State Park

Trail to beach, IN Dunes State Park

Have you seen these,Professor Noggin Games?  We had the chance to play them while on vacation at a nature center we visited.  I am putting them on my wishlist for school this year. 

One of my summer goals is to read, read and read some more.  I tend to get lost in a book, so reading during the school year is harder for me.  Also, we are reading so many books for school, which are very enjoyable, I don't feel the need to read for myself as much as I used to.  Here are some books I am reading at the moment.  But first, I have a question to ask.  Do you read more than one book at a time or just one at a time?  I wonder if that is a good thing or bad.  Something to ponder! 

First, I read this book last summer.  I enjoyed every moment.  So I wanted to mention it here because it preceeds the book I am reading right now. 

I plan to read it again before the summer is over.  "Woven into the story are more than 100 examples of what to look for on a naturewalk, Latin names for the living things observed by the characters, study question, nature poems and verses."  And the storyline is entertaining as well.   My only criticism is that it is hard to imagine anyone choosing to home educate their kids in the 1930's.  Otherwise,  I applaud Karen Andreola's method of teaching us Mother Culture.  It's a must read for Charlotte Mason Method lovers. 

Imagine my joy when I discovered by accident that Mrs. Andreola had written a sequel to my beloved Pocketful of Pinecones!  Lessons at Blackberry Inn takes up right where the other book leaves off. This time the book teaches us about "the gentle art of learning." 

Also by Karen Andreola is this book.  I've been waiting to read this book with my daughter for a long time.  She turns 10 next month.  I think it is time.  Oh my!

"Each (young girl & mother) could use guidance, a helping hand along the way (to womanhood.)"  Need I say more?

Finally, I am just about finished with this book.  I hesitated to list this book, because it comes from a lady who has a differing world view than myself.  But, I have gleaned much from her.  It's certainly work a look at it if it is at your library.  But be warned.  There are a few remarks that made my blood boil, only a few.   She has a way of describing in detail the cycles of her food year that makes me feel encouraged to try to make more thoughtful choices about the food I feed my family. 

Happy reading!

Dog Sharks

Rhinoceros

Giraffe

Bear

Owl Butterfly

African Elephant

We renewed our membership to our local zoo on Monday.  I feel there is a lot to be learned at a zoo, and so the cost is worth it.  Our zoo is a private organization and the fees are a bit high.  So, we will be spending a lot of time there the next 12 months. 

Here are some pictures taken from our weekend at the Lake.  The weather was great with temperatures in the upper 60's and mid 70's. 

We think this was an owl pellet.  It was right by our campsite.  Maybe it was a rabbit or squirrel?  It was about 6 inches in length. 

Sunset at Lake Michigan

Nature hike photos...

The Lake...

Brown County State Park

Sunny, 80 degrees

Breathtaking...

Dear Nature Loving Friends,

There are times when I literally ache because I was not born on a farm.  (I did have the pleasure to spend 2 years on a farm, though, when I was a child.)  I read wonderful books about farms and I ache more.  We just finished Miracles on Maple Hill and again I longed to live on a farm.   And here we are again, reading another wonderful, rich, beautiful book and here again I am longing to live in nature!  Last night we began reading, Dune Boy, by Edwin Way Teale.  After only reading the first three chapters, we are enchanted by his easy going narrative style. 

Mr. Teale is writing about his own boyhood summers spent on his grandparents farm near my beloved Indiana Dunes.  He spends the first few chapters telling us about his wonderful grandparents.  His grandfather was born before the Civil War and was not well educated.  However, Mr. Teale makes a good point in that his grandfather was also not spoiled by education either.  His grandmother was educated and loved books.  She would read aloud every evening and people would drop in to hear her.  Just imagine that!  She also loved flowers and every beautiful.  Together they farmed a plot of land that might not look like a great place with its marshes. 

If you can locate this gem, go get it and read it, right away!  You too will be blessed.  And just perhaps one day I will have a house near the Dunes.  It could happen. 

~Jenn

You just never know what you will find at a thrift store.  Here is our find of the week! 

When I saw this adorable little rain gauge, I had to take it home and add it to our front shade garden.  Already, overnight, it registered one whole inch!  (Yes, we've been getting a ton of rain, lately.) 

If you'd like to see more Show & Tell  entries, please seeMary, our hostess. 

I wrote about our neat press before. Since then my daugter has become a pressing expert.  But what do we do with all these pressings?  Well, I finally figured it out.  We took some glue and added a little water.  Then we brushed it onto the paper, laid the pressing on top and brushed more glue on top of the pressing.  This has lots of applications.  You could add pressed flowers to cards, notes, book marks, whatever your heart desires.  Here are some pictures of a page I did in my nature journal. 

Gather the supplies.

Here's the before, a wild flower boquet my daughter pressed. 

Here is the page in my nature journal, after it is glued, but not yet dry. 

After it was dry, I labled the flowers that I knew.