Αρχεία Ημερολογίου για Μάιος 2015

Μάιος 13, 2015

A very cool Mother's Day present

My 14 year old daughter made me a hand-made "Guide to Unique Fungi Around the World". She took the time to research, hand-write, and illustrate information on 26 fungi that she thought were fascinating- and she included her thoughts as to why they were fascinating in the book. She said that she didn't think her art was very good, but as a completely objective art connoiseur (cough) I thought she did very well.

I've gotten interested in fungi- they're interesting, they're everywhere, they're easy to photograph with a phone (unlike birds, which won't stay still no matter how hard I plead), and making spore prints is fun although I still feel "leave no trace" guilty every time I take one out of the ground. They're a heck of a challenge to identify. However, the best part of it is that my kids have gotten into it, too. When we go walk the dog, we all look for mushrooms- and we've found a couple of good ones; a puffball and a false green parasol. We took a knife to the puffball to see what was inside and my teenagers- teenagers!- were practically jumping up and down to see what would happen.

That's why my daughter's gift means so much to me- I love it because she made it, but she told me after she gave it to me that she liked doing it, and that she found out that there are a "lot of cool mushrooms out there". Youth interested in nature. That's my mother's day gift.

Posted on Μάιος 13, 2015 0914 ΜΜ by jblinde jblinde | 1 σχόλιο | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο

Μάιος 17, 2015

One Hundred Observations

I hit one hundred observations today, which seems like something of a milestone even though it is one hundred observations, not one hundred correct ID's. I am often wrong, especially when it comes to fungi, and on dragonflies and butterflies I have no idea. When my kids go to outdoors places with me, and I start pulling out the phone, I may or may not sometimes get comments like "MOM! we're here to HIKE, not take pictures for your iNat page!'. Which is, when you think about it, somewhat funny from two adolescents who can't apparently go anywhere without an iPad.

However, I have noticed that I am seeing more "stuff" when I hit the trails. It could just be that it's spring/early summer, and there is a lot of "stuff" to see. However, I also think that quite a bit of what I am seeing was always there, and I'm starting to get better at seeing it. Which is, I think, quite cool.

Posted on Μάιος 17, 2015 0823 ΜΜ by jblinde jblinde | 2σχόλια | Αφήστε ένα σχόλιο