Mamma’s Hike – February

February 27, 2015 by tam

This past Saturday was our second Mamma’s Hike! The first hike I posted over on my art blog. I may just cross post every time but we shall see.

It was no warmer than the first but again the sky was clear and it was beautiful. This time we went along the green route that took us past Hobson’s Lake, Big Pine, Coyote Bog and back to the parking lot. It was about 3 ¼ hours total and I had been tracking it on my phone but yet again, my phone died from the cold. According to the map we went almost 4 kilometres doing the Hobson’s Lake Loop.I brought along my point and shoot camera and set it on a friend’s backpack, thus the shadow at the bottom. I decided not to bring my DSLR due to the weight I already had in my own backpack. At least my camera didn’t die like my phone! We took this pic on a lake.

Earlier snowshoers made a decent trail ahead of us but there was a good part of the trek where the snow went up to my knees and it became more of a trudge, trudge (I think of the Backyardigan’s song!). Bunny tracks were the only sign of wildlife that day. Love the fungus! Huge icicles make for photo op time!I love the way the water ran along this branch and froze.
Moss! I was so super pooped after this trek but it was worth it. A beautiful day with a great group of women! 🙂

Snow day!

February 13, 2015 by tam

It was so good to get outside yesterday and with good friends! We tried a new-to-all-of-us trail. The day was ‘mild’, coming in around -6C – add on windchill but we didn’t really feel it being in the trees. It was fresh and clear. The sky was blue. The kids ran around on the trail and slid on the snow. Xman and I made animal prints and looked for the real ones. We saw an eagle that L spotted which is always so amazing to me. I feel so, so blessed when I see one. We also saw another bird of prey, perhaps an osprey but not sure, followed by a crow. We spotted a beautiful robin all tuffed out, seeming to show of his wonderful red belly. (he was too far away for me to take a pic with my phone. should have brought my actual camera but I wanted to pack light). And F heard the tap tap tap of a woodpecker, once spotted, to be a Downy.

Our hand-made tracks.Real tracks. I love them!

Slide!

Poor dude was so tired by this time, the bundling of clothing is not his favourite feeling. But making animal tracks, finding the real ones, and sliding certainly lifted his spirit. 🙂

Today, as the snow comes down in droves, it makes me want to relax my shoulders and grab a book, a blanket, and my knitting with my new Furls bowl (eek! love!) and my art. Yes, even on these snow days when I feel I can let things go a bit I still want to create create create! I will throw some yoga in there to balance it all out!

We may watch some videos today on the history of Canada to go along with our studies. But, I think for the most part it will be a Minecraft day and Erector set day (thanks for the goodies, Dawn and kids!) for the boys. I may just be persuaded to play a little MC too. Gotta say I do love it!

I may even get out my macro and take some snowflake pictures! Gee, this day must have more than 24 hours for what I want to fit in. Oh, I do have clothing to fix too… I’m so deluded! 😉

The Truth About Nature Book

February 7, 2015 by tam

I can’t help myself. I have to tell you about this book because we are loving it!

It’s called The Truth About Nature by Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer. Their other books include The Outdoor Adventure Book, We Love Nature, and Project Garden.

The boys ask to look at The Truth About Nature every day. They could easily read it themselves but this book is much more fun to go through together. It’s kind of an interactive book.

The book is broken down into four sections on the seasons. In each section there are ‘Myths Debunked’. These myths are graded on a scale of 1-3 depending on their amount of truth, scale 3 being a total myth with no truth to it. The boys love me to read these to them and they guess the myth scale of each such as:

•Porcupines can’t throw their quills. (Myth scale of 1, 2 or 3?)

•The sun is yellow.

•Owls can spin their heads all the way around.

•Deserts are always hot.

You’d be surprised at how many of these myths I believed growing up! Not only do they debunk the myths but they introduce you to the half-truths and real truths of nature. They also add some additional interesting facts such as …

“Scientists estimate that only 20% of all deserts in the world are covered with sand.”

Cool, right? Actually, yes, it is cool because deserts can get pretty cold at night. 😉

Other features include:

•Stranger thank Fiction, forty amazing facts about nature

•Luck Legends, cultures with superstitions on what to do for good luck

•Weather legends, theories on predicting weather

•Be a Scientist, activities and experiments where you bust some myths by doing your own testing (we did the water balloon experiment where you freeze water in balloons to see if the water expands when frozen)

Cool again, right?

This is surely a book to keep us guessing and learning all year long. Find it at your local library or just pick yourself up a copy!

Snow Fun!

February 7, 2015 by tam

The boys had a great time outside yesterday. They went out in the morning which was great for the fresh air, stretching those bodies and getting some good movement in, plus the fun!

A couple of weeks ago we had filled up water balloons and added food colouring then put them into the freezer. The weather here has been all over the place, going from freezing to above zero so they never came out for fear of them melting outside. But the last few days have been so cold and with so much snow coming down that it was time. It was so neat to see the bright colours against the snow!

The boys made little snow ‘forts’ for themselves. The back yard didn’t get the drifts of snow made for tunnelling but our front yard is pretty nonexistent so tunnelling so close to the street is not my idea of safety.

Just enough room to lay down. I called him my snow vampire. 😉

The boys had a great time and even found some chunks of ice under the layers of snow.

Xman placed the slab of ice on the outside of his fort as his marker. I couldn’t see it clearly with the camera so he added the frozen water balloons in front.

He’s aiming but didn’t throw until my back was turned. Sneaky bugger. 🙂 Actually, he knew that was better as cameras do not like the snow!

A little protection from the wind and a snug place to rest. 🙂

The boys took to the porch and made a little sliding area. Oh, if only this hill we lived on extended to our back yard! But they had fun nonetheless. I am so happy that they are enjoying the snow so much these days!

Kiwi Crate fun

February 3, 2015 by tam

This morning was full of excitement as the boys opened their first Tinker Crate by Kiwi Crate. I cannot even recall how I heard about these cool kits but shortly before I ordered this one a friend had just received their first box and their daughter loved it. So we took a chance.

I ordered the Tinker Crate for ages 9-12. One for both boys. They shared well as they took turns putting together the kit with the directions.

They got to make a Zoetrope and isn’t that the coolest first project!! We’ve been wanting to make one but just haven’t gotten around to it so this was certainly a treat.

The kit comes with everything you need to make it, except scissors. So it’s perfect.

There are marbles that go below the base of the zoetrope to help it glide along smoothly.

The kit even comes with pictures to place in the film holder and they are numbered on the back to make sure they go in in the right order. It also comes with three blank sheets for making your own!

We had to show a couple of videos just for fun. The kit also notes some tips such as shining a light on the zoetrope as you spin it so that you can see the moving image better. It helped with the videos too.

Xman read through the whole Tinkerzine, a magazine that comes with the kit which explains the history of animation from the Lumber brothers to Edison. He was completely enthralled.

L loved putting together the kit but once he’d played with it a few times he was itching to go outside and dig a tunnel through the big pile of ice and snow that came down yesterday. I can’t blame him. Super fun childhood memories for me!

Eventually we got to our lessons and the boys were the first to use my new yarn bowl. It arrived yesterday with the Kiwi Crate and they were excited to try it out. Is it awesome and on sale and the shipping is very reasonable. It is an early birthday gift from my husband. 🙂

You should get one. 😉

L making his hat. X making a scarf.

L really wanted to go back outside and dig and Xman joined him with a ladle and a pie cutter to help cut through the ice which worked quite well. The ladle got bent a bit but all in fun, I say. The boys stayed outside in -11C plus windchill for over an hour and came in tired and sweaty. Time for a snack and warm chocolate mylk!

There was just a bit of ice on the windows this morning…

Luckily, not all of the windows got the freezing rain on them. I was able to take a picture of the boys having a great time clearing away the frozen snow from the back door. Thank you, boys! 🙂

Looking back…a week of images.

January 24, 2015 by tam

I find lately that I just don’t have the time or organization skills (but I am working on it!) to post more times through the week. I hate editing photos so I procrastinate. I mostly just use my iPhone now because after years and years of editing thousands of wedding photos I find it so much easier. So for today I decided to do one post for what we did this past week. This is the Xman burrito. It happens often during our morning yoga circle time. The boys get hot and take off their pj tops and end up rolling themselves up in their mat. I think this is more along the lines of Xman sushi but that’s probably because I would choose sushi over a burrito. 😉 L’s list of what set Lego should manufacture. I think Lego How to Train Your Dragon would be pretty cool. And the astronomy. Totally. And the Wings of Fire is a series of novels on dragons so that’s just cool anyway. Oh, and Norse Mythology would be super neat – not just the mini figures but entire worlds with Yggdrasil and the nine worlds. We attended a program at the local history museum on water. This globe is the coolest thing and there are only two in Canada. It projects different images onto the world from four separate projects to create one full image showing water currents, global temperatures, major natural disasters over the years and so much more. The kids visited different animal stations such as garter snakes, bullfrog and bees and find out how the animals use water. You just cannot have a natural history museum without the bees! The bees nest inside in this structure all year round and have a tube attached to the outside of the building. Look at all those bee bums busy busy busy! Bee-Life-Cycle The bees don’t live as long in the cooler weather, usually about a month on average and as they die the other bees deposit them in the tube leading outside. Once there is a pile-up the dead bees are taken out of the tube and dropped onto the ground. Kind of like taking out the garbage in winter. No one really wants to do it! Once at home the boys chilled with some of their favourite books. Xman is a big fan of the Hilda series. Well, he is the biggest fan of them as we all like them. And then there is the Calvin and Hobbes anthologies Book 1 & 2. I couldn’t believe how big they were when they came in for us at the library! L is already finished the first book. So happy that the boys love Calvin. 🙂

I hope you all had a good week! Feel free to share and/or attach a link!

Happy weekending!

A busy and fun New Year’s Day!

January 2, 2015 by tam

As I previously posted, yesterday was the first snowfall of the season and we were all very excited as the big flakes floated down and muffled the city sounds. So beautiful indeed!

After lunch, the boys went outside to play a bit while I busied myself indoors – after taking some quick pics of them, of course. The snow was a bit sticky but it made trying out the new slide no less fun!

Mooooon. 🙂

After a dinner of home-made pizza (so yum!) I sat down with the boys and they broke out their new felting kit and string art.

Xman had a bit of help from me placing the pins into the cardboard for his string art. It’s a tricky business getting them straight, I know, from my own string art creations when I was a kid! We didn’t get all of the pins in but it was a good start.

I was quite impressed with L’s determination with the felting, especially this being his (our) first time with needle felting. He became quite good with the needle and by the end I knew I didn’t have to keep a close eye on what he was doing to make sure he didn’t felt his fingers!

The boys are totally hooked on Kirby since they borrowed a wii game from their friends. L decided to forego making a critter with instructions from the kit and make a Kirby instead. Not bad. Not bad indeed, especially for the first time. I’d say L is pretty pleased! =¬) (face made by L)

And then today, for post-breakfast snack…popcorn! This time with some coconut oil and salt. Oh my goodness!

New Year Snow!

January 1, 2015 by tam

I know I just posted but I just had to show the snow that has begun to fall. It’s our first snowfall this season as the weather has been fairly mild for the most part.

It seems perfect to me that big snowflakes should cover everything with white, creating a white, blank slate for the new year. Hushed and full of promise.

And in only minutes…
I can hear the birds chirping. Can you? So so quietly.

Happy New Year everyone. May all your dreams come true! It’s may take some sacrifices and some work, but it’s gonna be sooo worth it! xx

What are my personal dreams for the new year? Find out here. xx

Maskwa Trail

December 31, 2014 by tam

The weather around here lately has been mild but very rainy meaning many a day spent inside during this holiday season. I am sure the boys didn’t mind as they got their share of playing Super Smash Bros and Minecraft (along with some cool Minecraft figures for L), reading new books, playing holiday songs on the keyboard (Xman is addicted), practicing new magic tricks and learning to play Forbidden Desert – super awesome game by the way.

Yesterday, winter came without snow but definitely with low temperatures. So we all bundled up in long johns, pants and then snow pants, neck warmers and hats and hoods, oh my! and met some friends for a trail walk in -10C with an even colder windchill. Brrrrr!

Even the boys didn’t complain about bundling up for a walk in the cold – a sure sign of being indoors for too many days!

We met at Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area at a trail opening near the Maskwa aquatic club. Guess I note that for my sake so I can remember the name. Age has it’s not so great parts – too many things zooming around in the brain! 🙂

We had a great time climbing up the steep trail ways, picking icicles (and bringing home the moss-covered ones which, to note, didn’t even melt in the car on the way home!), throwing rocks into the frozen area of the lake, and traversing planked walkways over semi-frozen ponds. As always, there was so much to look at for us all and I stopped a few times to take some quick pics.

Surprisingly, we all stayed toasty warm and left feeling energized from being in nature and breathing in the crisp, fresh air. Totally worth the bundling!!

Love love love moss!

This walkway was a bit slippery in one spot and wet clothing is no fun so we were extra careful for our first trek.

Good friends make for good company!

Love the ice formations on the twigs and rocks!

Cozy family.

Frozen mossy-ness. The boys were punching holes through the ice as they walked, watching the water burble up through the holes.

This was a wonderful trail experience and we will definitely be visiting here again come freezing temps or warm, sun-filled days (which will return some day)! Happy trailing!

November Carrots

November 27, 2014 by tam

Now that we have had a couple of frosty nights I decided a take a peek at the carrots and pick a few to taste. The boys were super excited to pick them and I could barely get them to hold still for pics, thus the blurry ones! We were thrilled with what we did pick and if we didn’t already have a bunch of carrots from the market to eat we would have picked them all – the boys really wanted to!
Of course we can’t supply food for ourselves without filling up the feeders with the last of the homemade suet. I figure they can’t eat frozen suet in the winter so I may as well leave it all out now. The hairy woodpecker and black-capped chickadees love this feeder. Our other two feeders have black sunflower seeds and a mix for the other visiting birds.

Purple carrots!

Just look at how cool that is when you cut it open! I boiled the carrots a bit for the boys (easier to eat with a mouth full of loose teeth!) and the water turned purple! The boys are eating the carrots now and loving them. Love that they love their veggies.

I do wish we had a bigger area in our yard for gardening but it’s certainly better than nothing and we love watching the food grow through the season. It’s been a good year for our beans, peas and carrots. Yep, that’s all we can get with our little bit of sunshine in the summer but we still feel blessed by the earth nonetheless. 🙂

the shards

Category Archives: nature