More Wild Flowers to Enjoy

Bolsa Chica Wetlands three weeks ago... This day serene, walking the trail with friends, surrounded by wild flowers, an ocean view, sticky salt air touching my face. I breathe in the smells of nature, ahh.

LEISURE

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

Not time to see, when woods we pass

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

by William H. Davies

Do you know what I don't like about nature? This deer tick that decided to attach itself behind my knee! I am thankful this was a clean tick...it has been three weeks with no signs or symptoms of Lyme disease. I am not one that is too fond of bugs, especially one attached to me living off of my blood, but I will admit it was a great nature lesson for myself and our children.

My Julia love is 8 today

What a blessed and most beautiful day...March 9th, the day my sweet love was born 8 years ago! Today we celebrated with family and girlfriends at the beach park. We had a picnic with baby dolls, flew kites, and enjoyed cupcakes.

Katie~ Your cupcakes were just beautiful and delicious!

THE KITE by Harry Behn

How bright on the blue

Is a kite when it's new!

With a dive and a dip

It snaps its tail

Then soars like a ship

With only a sail

As over tides

Of wind it rides,

Climbs to the crest

Of a gust and pulls,

Then seems to rest

As wind falls.

When string goes slack

You wind it back

And run until

A new breeze blows

And its wings fill

And up it goes!

How bright on the blue

Is a kite when it's new!

But a raggeder thing

You never will see

When it flaps on a string

In the top of a tree.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!

WE LOVE YOU SWEETHEART!

Giving Thanks

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100

Tonight we enjoyed a homemade apple pie! Julia peeled and sliced every apple that filled this amazing pie. Thank you Kristine for sharing the recipe you found:)

GRANDMA OPLES APPLE PIE
Indgredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (we used the ready made pie dough)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar
and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in you pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly.
Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust.
Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minute at 425 degrees. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees, and continue
baking for 35-45 minutes.

Harvest Hymn

Whoever fails, Thou dost not fail;
Whoever sleeps, Thou dost not sleep;
With fattening shower, and fostering gale,
They mercy brings the time to reap;
Man marks each season and its sign,
And sows the seed and plants the tree,
But form, growth, fullness, all are Thine,
--Lord of the harvest, praise to Thee!

O God! it is a pleasant thing
To see the precious grain expand,
And the broad hands of Plenty fling
Her golden largess o'er the land;
To see the fruitage swell and glow,
And bow with wealth the parent tree;
To see the purple vintage flow
--Lord of abundance, praise to Thee!

Praise for the glorious harvest days,
And all the blessings that we share;
For the unbounded sunlight praise
And for the free and vital air;
Praise for the faith that looks above;
The hope of immortality;
For life, health, virtue, truth and love,
Maker and Giver, praise to Thee!

~~John Critchley Prince (1808-1866)

My Little Man Turns 4

Happy 4th birthday to my little love! You had such a lovely weekend digging with your new shovel, eating your very own blue cotton candy ice cream in a waffle cone, pulling up your sleeves to make hamburger patties, and having birthday cake with your loved ones.


THE BIRTHDAY CHILD
by Rose Fyleman

Everything's been different
All the day long,
Lovely things have happened,
Nothing has gone wrong.

Nobody has scolded me,
Everyone has smiled.
Isn't it delicious
To be a birthday child?

Nature in the Mudflats by the Sea

Slide down the hill and wade through the stream...

Cross the bridge...

Climb a tree...

Chisel some wood...

Found, a pepper tree to season food...

Celebrate a fairytale birthday...

Make a trail through the marsh land...

Found autumn seed...

FOR A CHILD

By Fannie Stearns Davis

Your Friends shall be the Tall Wind,

The River and the Tree;

The Sun that laughs and marches,

The Swallows and the Sea.

Your prayers shall be the murmur

Of grasses in the rain;

The song of wildwood thrushes

That makes God glad again.

And you shall run and wander,

And you shall dream and sing

Of brave things and bright things

Beyond the swallow's wings.

And you shall envy no man,

Nor hurt your heart with sighs,

For I will keep you simple

That God may make you wise.

Autumn Color

The City of Falling Leaves, by Amy Lowell, 1874-1925

Leaves fall,
Brown leaves,
Yellow leaves
streaked with brown.
They fall,
Flutter,
Fall again.
The brown leaves,
And the streaked yellow leaves,
Loosen on their branches
And drift slowly downwards.
One,
One, two, three,
One, two, five.
All Venice is a falling
of Autumn leaves--
Brown,
And yellow streaked with brown.


My nature journal drawings of October color discovered at the San Joaquin Marsh this week.

The last time we observed the California Rose and the Freemont Cottonwood tree they were very different being that it was in June. The California Rose was noted as a wild bush with little pink flowers. The Cottonwood tree, with green leaves, was noted to release its white cotton fuzz into the breeze. Now that Autumn has arrived there were no pink petals to be collected and no floating cotton to jump up and capture, just beautiful color to relish in and a little fruity treat for a bird just waiting.

A quote from Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling, (a little geography book we are enjoying)

"The boy explored the shores of the pond. Among scattered rocks stood a single Cottonwood sapling, no taller than himself. Once you were a tiny seed -- a papoose wrapped in white down. Your cradleboard swung from a twig. Then a strong Summer Wind came by. He lifted you from your mother's arms and brought you here."

Our friend Naomi captured Mr. Common Green Darner for the children to observe.

Till the dragon fly, in light gauzy armor

burnished bright,

Came tilting down the waters in a wild,

bewildered flight.

Riley

Toyon or Christmas Berry

I would love to make a wreath out of these berries!

Fleabane on the bank of the marsh at San Joaquin...a beautiful wild purple flower.

The Beach

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Books

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away.
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a human soul!

Emily Dickinson