Dragon's Milk

Though the weather feels more like a week in late May, it turns out that July is just a couple of days off. That happened while I wasn't looking. There is just one day left in swimming class, and less than a week until Independence Day, as Calvin is calling it now that he's been reading up on the Fourth of July. Our vegetable garden is really enjoying the sunny, cooler days, and because we water it's not overly concerned about the drought, either, so it's looking a bit like a miniature rainforest. The June bugs are out and bashing themselves into the windows making, such a ruckus at night that the cat won't sit down. Warm sun, cool breeze, long days—not bad, but it seems like not much is going on, either. I think we're waiting for summer to start.

Calvin went to Dangerous Dudes story time at the library today. He colored dragon pages, listened to stories, made a knight, and had cookies and lemonade for snack. And there was a bit of a snafu over the lemonade. The librarian had labeled it "dragon's milk" which in our house is a favorite beer from the New Holland Brewing Company. This was a sans parent event, so I was sitting outside the room reading and occasionally watching events through the glass wall. Because I could hear slightly I'd caught the drink name, and I wondered what family secrets the boy might be telling when he was conspiratorially whispering in the librarian's ear as she passed out cups of the questionable liquid. Turns out he was just telling her he knew it wasn't really dragon's milk because "there is no such thing", a response I think to the girl across the table who was entirely grossed out by the concept. Considerate of him to keep such knowledge to a whisper, huh?

Monday...gone in a flash

We got up for swimming, we sorted books at the library, we attended drop in story time, we played Carcassonne, we watered the trees, we ate popcorn on the porch while reading books, Calvin played a lot by himself, because that's what he wanted to do, we ate dinner on the porch while watching the birds, and just like that Monday was gone. When days fly by at that speed there just isn't that much to write about. My little boy triumphantly filled out his book sheet for the summer reading program, and came home with a plastic zebra I think we could have done without but which now has a name and shares a close affection with the other favored animals of the moment. That was neat, zebra notwithstanding. And so was the moment after all that alone playtime he'd asked for when he showed me the blacksmith hut he'd made to go with the Lego Windmill. He'd fashioned it, out of the barn that usually goes with the windmill, after the blacksmith's shop next to the windmill at the farm we visited for Log Cabin Weekend.

During dinner the male hummingbird came and sat in our very expensive bird perch, as Calvin and Jon call our biggest tree. I've seen the hummers land briefly on the feeder before, and even in our bush out front, but never in spot so exposed as this. He even stayed there long enough for me to sneak into the house for the camera. Just look at what the sun does to that ruby throat. And while you're at it, just look at the new growth on the branch ends of our tree. It looks like he might make it after all.

Neighbors

They are so majestic in the water, and even walking through the neighborhood they are beautiful, though there is something comical and incongruous about their walking down the street, the sidewalk, and through our neighbor's lawns, and cute is, of course, a better adjective for their fuzzy babies. We've seen this same family a number of times over the past couple of weeks, and are relieved and delighted to count still six babies between their parents. Last year the pair lost all but two of the babies, likely to predators, but it's a thought I cannot entertain as I watch them trundle off down the street, the babies plopping down to rest every now and then, anytime the impulse takes them, sitting so briefly that it seems almost like a mistake: "oh, you mean we aren't stopping here?"

Log Cabin Weekend

When I think of log cabins I think of prairie trains, and bad Westerns and tall, tall waving blades of grass. And just thinking about that era makes me feel tired, hot and dirty. This past week Calvin read a book about the Western prairie. He'd picked out the book, Twisters on Tuesday, because of his recent obsession with tornadoes, but the story was about the pioneer days, a coincidence that turned out to be fortuitous because this was Log Cabin Weekend at the nearby Waterloo Historical Society farm grounds and museum. The weather was beautiful, so after garage saling (side note—we got a telescope!), of course we drove out to Waterloo.

There was a bit of period mixing going on. While the original log cabin was built in the 1830s, the rest of the house was finished 20 years later, and the Civil war encampment on the grounds was not only physically misplaced, but also another decade on down the timeline. That's okay, knowing that the war motif was part of the weekend, and having luckily picked up a copy of Civil War on Sunday at one of the garage sales we read it on our way to the farm (side note again—I love garage sales).

Strangely enough I didn't take a single picture of the actual log cabin while we were there, but the German family who lived in built this house directly onto it, and later is was removed to further away.

Then a tour of the inside of the house...

Back outside we watched the creation of a wooden mallet with a really old engine. And in the background, a blacksmith hammering out hooks.

The Union soldiers were camped just down the hill...

And when we were done on the farm grounds we drove around the corner a few miles to the one room school house, which was in use as an area school until 1963. Really, 1963! That's just two years before my parents graduated from their large and age dedicated high schools in larger cities elsewhere in Michigan. I find that fascinating.

This had been our first trip to the Waterloo Historic Society grounds, and we'll go back for a few more events this year. The buildings are as well kept as those at Greenfield Village, which is farther away and more expensive, and I enjoyed the quiet of the day, wandering through history without fighting crowds. In fact, there were only a handful of visitors like ourselves there, while the rest of the people wandering around were reenactors taking advantage of a beautiful weekend to hang out with other reenactors. There were times, in fact, when it felt as though we may have been intruding on their foray into the past, like when we went down to talk to the Union soldiers in their camp.

We took the scenic roads both to and from Waterloo and stopped for more Michigan strawberries from a stand on our way home. After dinner we had a fire and roasted s'mores and talked about living in a time when fires were the only way to cook, myself decided that the gas stove with electric start is worth having. And that rounded out a nice Saturday.

Nature Thursdays—turtles at Independence Lake

We are fortunate to have a really wonderful naturalist with our County Parks and Recreation. We've done several hikes and other presentations with her in the past, and this summer she is offering Kids' Nature Thursdays in which she will cover a different topic at a different park each week. I knew that it would be a lovely program because I know she's great with kids in the way that I like people to be great with kids—by talking to them as equals and giving them respect and space in which to learn. Today was the first of the summer Thursdays, an hour all about turtles. We touched shells we learned some facts, we played with a couple captives, we went looking for the real things in the lake, and we scouted out some nests, finding two in tact (and putting protection over them) and many that had fallen victim to raccoons (which allowed us to come home with shells, and I had forgotten how rubbery they are, not at all like chicken eggs, something Calvin noticed right away).

I learned today that the snapping turtle, unlike most others, has very little shell on his underside, which means he has to be more aggressive and ornery. I learned that my son already knew that, and what a reptile was, and what it meant to be cold blooded. He'd been reading up, unbeknownst to me, in preparation for today's session. I think that was my favorite new bit of knowledge for the day.

Then, being already at the park I figured that Thursdays would be a great time to get Calvin out hiking on his own two feet. He's been out many times before, of course, but really only in the backpack. Today he and I did a mile trail through the wetlands after turtle appreciation hour. We took lunch and ate it sitting atop the lookout, where we promptly got lightly rained on, but to no ill effect. So the weather was iffy at best, we had a great time anyhow.

We identified milkweed, poison ivy, yarrow, and a number of trees. We also saw many butterfly species, including the cabbage white, lady skippers, spring azure, and peck's skipper. Calvin is pretty good with the cabbage white (and a number of other butterflies that visit our own yard regularly), and he knows most of the plants already, but we took some laminated identifying pamphlets with us for fun.

Rain and all, it was a great afternoon, and Calvin is really excited about what I have dubbed "nature day" next Thrusday. He's also asked to go on another hike this weekend, and with the cooler weather it seems like a great time to explore another local path. We'll continue breaking him in on increasingly long trails as the summer progresses. I have images of us hiking into rustic camping already!

My only disappoint from the trip was that, after getting a-hold of nature journals and remembering to pack both them and colored pencils, it was too wet to get them out. When we got home, though, Calvin was quick to jump at the opportunity. So these are not nature illustrations the way that I had them in mind, with the two of us sitting and sketching what we see (and oh, how often will it occur that I imagine an event one way but have to be content with another outcome), but they are his impressions of our hike today. The first is his sketch of us eating lunch on top of a wooden lookout. The second is his sketch of the trail as seen from above. And then, of course, the jounral entry. I was surprised that he didn't add a picture to this as well, but if he does so in the future I will come back and add it.

I linked this post to share at Saturday's Artist.