It’s Tuesday morning! We wander off finding deer trails that lead to an open meadow. Here the sun is shining all over everything and there’s open space to roam and fly like eagles. We swoop in circles, enjoying the view, hearing the Steller's jays jabber at us!
In the afternoon the sun has warmed our bodies and we are all very happy to land at our tipi for lunch and story time. We hear a story of the apple tree who reached for the stars. As we cut up our apples for lunch, we discover the star inside when...
“Take an apple ripe and red,
Don’t slice down,
Slice through instead.
Right inside it you will see
A star as pretty as can be,
A special star for you and me!”
Today we mix water into earth pigment paints and dip sliced apples to make different shapes. Thank you apple trees!
No two acorns look alike. We find our favorite rocks to crack on and the right angle to do so. So many industrious nut crackers working together in harmony, just like squirrels! We explore the little worms who live in some of the acorns, and throw those ones out of our basket of cracked nuts. We will leech and cook our acorns on our fire, when we get more rain.
On Thursday we have a small group of friends, perfect for birdwatching. We make our way past the sociable llamas towards the pond. We tiptoe and do our very best to whisper, sneaking like foxes. How many ducks do we see sitting on the water, is it us they hear as they suddenly burst into the air? A few steps closer, and what could it be? A great blue heron, stalking breakfast silently. Yet it too senses something and flaps it’s great wings soaring up to sit in a pine above the pond. We can see its white head as it stares over the water.
As we make our way to the shore, animal tracks crisscross in the gooey mud. We can find the larger tracks of the heron, they are the biggest ones there. It is a day of endless exploration and fall sunshine.