Summer Sky: Learning as I go

Alphabet Glue Winner :: Cherry Blossom Rain

Thank you to everyone who participated in Annie’s Alphabet Glue giveaway!  And the winner, drawn by random number generator is Kris, with this comment:

The magazine looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing!

I just took a look through Kris’ blog, Two Nukes, which she authors with her good friend Stacey.  They post sweet photos of their two “nuclear” families.

Thanks again Annie, for this fun giveaway!

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I had wanted to go see the cherry blossoms by the Tidal Basin again this year with the kids.  We don’t go every year, because of the crush of tourists and the vagaries of spring weather that can freeze the buds or blow down the blooms before you have a chance to see them.  And, as every native knows, you don’t go on the weekends.

So we finally went last Tuesday, late in the afternoon.  The day before the thermometer soared to 80 (it’s back down to the 40’s now) and I knew that meant the blooms would be past their peak.  The leaves would be starting to pop out and the blossom petals would be floating into drifts a couple inches deep.

 



We walked around the whole Tidal Basin, which takes quite a while with little ones.  There is no fence around the water and I had to emphasize several times how very difficult it would be to fish someone out.  But the light was so beautiful and the kids were in happy moods and the outing took on a magical quality that no amount of planning can bring.  (That night, N told me the visit was “boring” as he drifted off to sleep, but the very next morning he begged to go back.)

As we were wandering, a young woman walking the other way told her companion that she never takes pictures of the cherry blossoms “because the definitive photos have been taken already.” And I thought, how sad to think that way.

Here's a slide show of our afternoon--"definitive" to us, if to no one else!  Please feel free to share the memories of your week--I'd love to hear them.

 

"Cherry Blossom Rain"

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Hyperbolic crochet coral reef

Now that's a mouthful.

I mentioned the other day that I really wanted to see the crochet coral reef that’s currently on exhibit at the Smithsonian.  I can’t recall exactly where I first heard about it, but I strongly suspect it was via boatbaby (Zach Aboard). I remember giving a yelp when I realized how long the exhibit had been in town and we had been oblivious.

We recently found some time to go and see it.  The exhibit is slightly smaller than I thought it would be, but it made up for that by being more fantastically colorful and imaginative and amazing and intricate than I thought it would be. Honestly, it boggles the mind a bit how they managed to make this, even if it did take 800 volunteers (and counting). It’s well worth a visit (it’s here in D.C. until April 24).

I wondered what the kids would think about it, but they, and everyone else we encountered, were pretty much in awe of the reef’s complexity and beauty.

Here’s a slideshow of our visit. Hope you get a chance to see it at a museum near you!  Enjoy ~

 

 

"Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef"

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Christmas kitsch.

Before I forget, I have a post over at The Magnifying Glass, about the Solstice lunar eclipse last night, complete with pictures.  Enjoy!

The other night my friend B and I took our 7-year-olds out to dinner. Just the four of us.  By the time we were done it was nearly 9 o'clock at night, which is pushing it for our two families.  But we still decided to drive over to see our neighbor's Christmas lights. I'm sure you have a neighbor like this--and if so, do tell! Who could possibly resist?

These folks have been decorating their lawn every Christmas for as long we've lived around here, so at least 12 years. And if their collection of decorations is any indication, they've been doing it for a lot longer than that.

Every year they mix it up and do it a little differently. Last year's theme for this group of santas and snowmen was "working out"--this year it was "gone fishing."

My favorite is the beautiful glowing nativity:

E and her friend were thrilled to be 'big kids' staying out late.

 

And just before we left, I spotted this little note. It was too dark to see the mistletoe up in the tree, but I know it was there just the same.

That was then.

Summer seems so far away now. I suppose it should, with autumn nearing its end. But there were a few things we did this summer that I never got to share, and I might as well start now.

Way back in June, my sister and her husband paid us a visit. They live in Texas, which is quite far away. We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like.

I often wonder about the happenstance that led my sister to Texas and me to Virginia. It was as simple as where we each chose to go to college. It can also be explained by the fact that we don't have a 'home state.'  Oh, but everyone is from somewhere, you say. And I guess, after living in Virginia for 26 years, I am from here. I don't feel like I'm from here, but I am. I wonder if my sister feels the same way about Texas, although she's lived there 25 years. 25. Years. (Words you never thought you'd say.)

Anyhoo, the point is, they came to visit us. And we did several things I've always wanted to do, but never had. That's what their visits, and my parents' visits, are for; we save up things just to do with them.

These photos are from our visit to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in June. Prime water lily time. There are acres of them--you never knew there were so many kinds. It's an other-worldly place; I just wish we had gone a little earlier in the morning, when the light wasn't quite so shiny-bright.

After lunch, we watched N and E frolic in the shade, just out of earshot. I can't recall what game they were playing. That's what I get for blogging about it 6 months later. 

You can see the mysterious jumble of water lilies just beyond the edge of the trees in the picture.

On our way home, we stopped by a small pond. There was this algae-covered log in the middle, and boy did we get a surprise when it started to move. Another family watching him high-tailed it out of there; I guess they thought that snapping turtles can launch themselves right out of the water and getcha.  He certainly threw a few threatening looks my way as I snapped his picture. Oh yes, I was brave.

This week I will be attending to blogging duties of various kinds that I've woefully neglected--finally revealing the lovely things chosen and sent by my summer (summer!) vintage swaps partner; and a nature gift for TMG.

Crazy for strawberries.

The last time we went strawberry picking, a couple of years ago, there wasn't much to report.  It was late in the season and had rained all week.  The fields were muddy and picked-over, and the berries, mushy and flavorless.

Time for a do-over!  We went to Butler's Orchard this time, with a handful of friends. We lucked out--the day was overcast and cool, but it didn't rain.  And this time, the berries were delicious.

 

 
N and I managed to pick 7 pounds of strawberries, about three pounds more than I had planned. You pick 'em, you buy 'em...and you eat 'em.

We stopped by the little flower market next to the main fruit stand at Butler's--the kids chased each other in circles while the moms paid for their berries.

 

After a picnic lunch, N and his pals grabbed gunny sacks, climbed up the big hill, and came down the huge slides that the Orchard keeps up year round (I thought they were only up at pumpkin-picking time).

 You can still see N's hands stained red!

 

 

I still have to figure out what to do with 7 pounds (!) of strawberries. 

Any ideas or recipes to share?

Calvert Cliffs and treasure hunts.

I really am trying to get some sewing done for the Kids' Challenge. Let's just say it's been, an, um, challenge.

I treasure every minute my parents are able to spend with our family. They live thousands of miles away, but they manage to come and see us twice a year. When they visit, we always look forward to at least one 'new to all of us' outing.

Monday was a beautiful day--cool but sunny. It was a perfect day to take my parents and the kids to a place I've always wanted to see--Maryland's Calvert Cliffs.  The beaches below the Cliffs are known for their abundant, easy-to-spot fossils.  (Not to be a tease, but I've posted about the fossils over at The Magnifying Glass, if you were curious.)

 
  

For a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay, there are various places where you can access the beaches under the Cliffs; Calvert Cliffs State Park, where we started, is probably one of the longest ways to get to down below the Cliffs to hunt for fossils. 

It took us about an hour each way (you can see us running for joy at the end of the trail above!). Truthfully, the kids hardly noticed the long walk, and I can only owe it to the scenery along this trail.

Near the parking lot at the head of the trail is a terrific (no other word for it) kids' playground made almost entirely of used tires. These photos don't do it justice and only show a tiny portion of the park.

 

We ate our picnic lunch, and then we set off in search of the beach.  The easy, wide trail (covered with boards in places--full of mud in others) winds through a fairly thick forest.

 

Some of the fir trees along the trail had very interesting, perfectly symmetrical holes (while others were left untouched); the work of a woodpecker--likely a sapsucker of one kind or another from what we've researched--because the holes are so even.

 

Next to the trail, the forest suddenly opened up into a large swamp or pond, filled with dead trees

 

and all sorts of interesting sights.

 

 

 

 

And then we found ourselves on the beach, at the foot of the Calvert Cliffs.

All those rocks you see in the sand? The cliff you see on the horizon? Chock. full. of. fossils.  They were pretty amazing. Still, somehow, they paled in comparison to the treasures we saw along the way.

Wetlands walk.

Take a moment to pay a visit to The Magnifying Glass--I posted today about a kestrel (a type of falcon) that we met on this outing.  Annie recently posted about a good book for spring, Eliza and the Dragonfly; and Eren has posted about starting a moss garden.

As I started polling my friends about a good outdoorsy haunt that we haven't seen yet, the one place that kept coming up again and again was Huntley Meadows, a wetlands and forest preserve surprisingly close to Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

I'd heard that each time you visit Huntley Meadows, you are sure to see an interesting creature or three. 

Before we even entered the park, we spotted a small booth set up by the Raptors Conservancy of Virginia. I posted the photos and interesting story of the kestrel falcon that we saw over at The Magnifying Glass.

We then strolled through the lush green woods, towards what, we did not know. N started to beg to be carried, but all complaining was forgotten when we went onto the boardwalk laid out through the freshwater wetlands (formed by a meander of the Potomac River). 

There were a tremendous number of frogs, tadpoles, snails, dragonflies, and birds in the water and mud around the bullrushes.

A Green Frog. Yes, that's really the name of this species, and no, I don't know why he's called "Green" when his top side is mostly brown.

We rounded a bend, and there were two volunteers, showing the kids that what keeps the water from simply draining into the ground is lots and lots of clay.  They were extracting clay with a soil core sampler.  They even had some lumps fashioned into small clay pinch pots to show visitors how native tribes had used the clay.

Then we rounded another bend, and there were some more volunteers with large telescopes set up so visitors could view a turtle sunning himself on a stump, and a wood duck way out on the water.

The red wing blackbirds were everywhere among the bullrushes.  We last saw some on Currituck Sound, but these were much closer.

We rounded another bend, and there was a mother mallard with her baby ducks.  Mama stared fiercely at us as we quietly watched her paddling in the shallow water with her little ones.

E took some photos of her own with our family's point-and-shoot; I will showcase them some other day.

 

We're going back to Huntley Meadows, because we saw only a small number of the many, many animals that other people saw that day!  I wonder what kind of critters these two are?

This wonderful website is incredibly useful for identifying native animals and plants at Huntley Meadows.

 

Hope you're getting out into the wild this week ~ it's closer than you think!

At the arboretum.

N and I made our annual trek to the National Arboretum to play amongst the azaleas.  This year we brought along a little friend and her mama.

I was surprised to find that the azaleas were rather past their peak.  That's never happened to us before. I always make an educated guess based on how the azaleas are blooming in the neighborhood--they are usually a bit ahead--but this year that was misleading.

Still, there were some bushes in full bloom. 

 

After our long walk through the forest trails amongst the azaleas, we headed over to the old Capitol columns for a picnic.  These corinthian columns were originally on a portico of the Capitol Building in downtown Washington, D.C., but they were moved (if I understand correctly) because they weren't visually large enough for the dome that was completed in the 1860's some 35 years later.

 

Behind the columns is a small cascading stream of water that pours into the pool. N and his pal had the best time running up and down the stairs, dipping their hands in the stream up to their elbows and getting rather wet.  Then they ran and hid in the tall grass on the hillside--we had some trouble finding them.

Can you believe that most people I know around here have never been to the Arboretum? They are missing out!

Do you have a favorite annual spring time excursion? Please share!

Kite flying!

One way our family celebrates Spring is by climbing a nearby windy hill and flying kites.  Which might seem simple and ordinary, except on top of that hill is the Washington Monument, and we're joined by a few thousand other people who are all attending the Smithsonian Kite Festival.

The weather was unbelievable, and we had the most fun ever. The wind could've been a little more consistent, but at least it never died down completely (like last year).

This year both kids took turns flying our kites themselves, and they had the time of their lives running around.  Here are some highlights via a slideshow--I hope you can see why we love this event!

"Picnik Show"

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St. Patrick's, on the early side.

Last Saturday was the St. Patrick's Day parade in Old Town Alexandria. It's held early so as not to conflict with the downtown D.C. parade.  We try to go every year.

You might think we're a bit parade-happy around here, but we "only" go to two or three a year.  Besides, this time, we weren't at the parade--we were IN it! 

E's been enjoying an Irish dancing class, and the dance school always marches in the St. Pat's parade.

There was a lot of waiting before the parade started, and much admiring of the "big girls" and their elaborate handmade dresses (which, incidentally, are worth a small fortune).  Their curly wigs are not, admittedly, my favorite, but apparently it's all according to Irish step-dancing regulations.

Here's a photo from last year's parade of the young women dancing--you can see a couple of the same dresses from the photo above:

The little ones (ages 5 and 6), including E, marched up front at the head of the large group of Irish dancers, just behind the school banner. (Photo courtesy of my pal, Beth.)  They only paused to dance a couple of times during the parade.  The weather was wonderful, and the walk was downhill, but they were running on adrenaline in any case.

The moms of the littlest (including yours truly) marched along the sides, and occasionally I snuck in some photo-taking.  Here's our good friends, who joined us each year when we were spectators:

I think the whole event gave E such a thrill--she does love step-dancing so.  At home, she often asks me to lace up her shoes, and then she goes off to some corner of the house and practices by herself. It is heartening to see her interest and dedication coming wholly from within.

Happy early St. Patrick's Day to you!