a number of things

local leaf id aid

Nature study has always made up quite a large chunk of our science each year, and this year looks to be no different. For some time now I have wanted to try and learn to identify more of our local native trees by their leaves, both for my own interest and so that I can teach the kids.

I was so excited when I stumbled upon this awesome Leaf Key publication put out by the extremely useful LSU Ag Center. Then, I hopped over to the Ag Center web site and found out that one can order this 36 page booklet for free!

The super cool thing about this (free!) resource is that while we can take the booklet out on our leaf hunts, I can also select the pages I need from the PDF version and print them out as coloring sheets for the younger kiddos. This publication + a couple of nice field guides = lots of leaf-learning fun this autum.

 

getting there

For some time now I have been wanting to play around with making a stop motion movie. So, since I had nothing much else to do on the drive up to Tennessee, I decided to give it a try. :)

The music is "Highway 81" by Scythian (used with permission) from their Immigrant Road Show album (which we love).

 

Tennessee

We have just returned from another trip to the beautiful Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee to visit Chip's family who all live in the Gatlinburg area.

 

It was a beautiful time spent enjoying the area and much missed family. We seemed to need to find water (to play in) nearly every day to keep cool, but that only added to the fun. 

I'll be adding more photos of the trip over the next few days to Flickr, but for the most part I've got my nose to the proverbial grindstone and I am trying to finish this book. Having the first proof in my little hand is quite effective motivation, I must say.

Stay cool, autumn is coming yet!

 

wordless Wednesday :: pears

More pears.

 

plugging along

After working on the "boys book" in fits and spurts for what seems like forever, I do believe the end is in sight. Life is so busy (Lilly is so busy!) that I have not been able to spend much time on it in the last few months, but I am really looking forward to wrapping this little project up. It has turned out to be such a very small book, but just right for my little owners of short attention spans.
 

It is aimed at Catholic lads in the ages 8 -12 ballpark and is meant to be a fun introduction (of sorts) to the domestic survival skills of cooking and sewing. I am hoping to have it completely finished by the beginning of October but this self publishing thing is a new adventure for me, so we'll see.
 

Happy Sunday!