Of Wildflowers, Beer Bottles, and Unexpected Gifts

Cooler weather last week made for some good wildflower hunts. We were able to add several species to our list. One walk in particular was so surreally enjoyable and the girls were so interested in every new flower we came across, that for a little while there I felt like Charlotte Mason or Anna Comstock, taking the children on an outdoor excursion in the nearby wood..... all I needed was a British accent and some long skirts to swish in the grass.

We also found a LOT of trash. Walking down a quarter-mile stretch of road near our house, the girls' most frequent comments (or to be more accurate, indignant exclamations) were ...

"Look, there's another beer bottle!" and "Hey, here's another medicine bottle!"

Mine of course, was "DON'T TOUCH THAT!!"

The girls were shocked and disgusted that people would intentionally throw trash out of their vehicles. I was just disgusted. I've been around long enough to know that in East Tennessee any length of fairly isolated road is seen by many as a public dumpster. I had even brought along a garbage bag, having noticed the litter from my car for awhile, and we did collect some trash, but the vast majority was several feet off the road in some pretty snaky looking vegetation.
Now I will admit I have a somewhat hypervigilant snake radar..... I think my yard looks snaky if it hasn't seen a lawnmower in a couple of weeks.... but I wasn't in the mood to conquer any fears that day, so I promised the girls if they would remind me this winter , I'll come back and pick up every piece of trash on that road.

We did see some beautiful wildflowers though. The goldenrod is gorgeous now, and one of my favorite wildflowers, the chicory is still blooming.

While we were walking, the mail lady passed us on her route and we waved. About 10 yards past us she stopped and started slowly backing up. When she reached us, she stopped and held out two pieces of bubblegum.
"For them", she said smiling.
For some reason, this touched me deeply.
Maybe it was because her small act of human kindness was in such contrast to the ugly byproducts of humanity we we had witnessed on our walk. Maybe it was because the girls were starting to get hot and tired and bored, and the offer of bubblegum brought out the life in them again. Maybe the whole thing felt like a public service ad for Little Things That Make A Difference In Your Community.
Whatever the reason, emotion welled up in me until, for a fleeting moment, I wanted to hold hands with the mail lady, and lead us all in a chorus of "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing". Fortunately, I was able to channel that impulse into a more subdued "Thank you SO much! Wasn't that nice, girls?"

Isn't if funny how your perspective can change in the few seconds it takes to hand a kid a piece of bubblegum?

See my analysis of the world at large both before and after our little encounter with the mail lady.

BEFORE: People are low-life scum who knowingly turn the beauty of creation into a steaming heap of filth.

AFTER: People are sweet, generous, smiling, images of God, who are never too busy to slow down and back up for another human being.

Ah yes, children, we have learned much today.... of nature, and that not only, but of man as well.

Can you hear my British accent? ; )

To Everything There Is A Season ....

...and a time to every purpose under heaven. Ecc. 3:1

The girls and I read "Turn! Turn! Turn!" last week .... you know, the 60's song written by Pete Seeger and performed by the Byrds. Now the words to the song are illustrated in a children's book. It comes with a CD containing the Byrds version and an acoustic version by Seeger.

I've always liked the song, and knew the chorus was taken straight from the KJV Bible, but I guess I never really listened to the whole thing, because I was surprised to learn that practically the entire song is taken from Scripture. With the exception of the recurring phrase "turn, turn, turn" and then at the end of the song, the words "I swear it's not too late", the song is pretty much Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 set to music.

The book is lavishly illustrated, which seems to be a theme for favorite books of mine lately. On every page, the pictures are drawn in sections of a circle. The opposite halves of the circle reflect the opposing themes in the passage, e.g. "a time to laugh, a time to weep", with the illustrations forming a montage of people laughing on one page, and weeping on the next. We looked through the book several times and each time found something we hadn't seen before.

A book that quotes several verses of Scripture, is beautifully illustrated, and is accompanied by music which satisfies my inner hippie...... I really don't think I could ask for anything more :)

The Unofficial 100 Species Challenge

This year in science we are all about Botany. With that in mind, I've been thinking of keeping a running list of plants the girls and I can identify. After running across the 100 Species Challenge, I have some real motivation now. The idea is to see how many neighborhood plant species you can identify, and keep a running list on your blog. It's a wonderful idea, and we're going to attempt it. We won't be officially participating in the online challenge because I'm too lazy to commit, and because there are rules. We'll just have fun keeping our own list.

What with the hot weather, the girls and I haven't been on a nature walk in a while.
I'm itching to ramble with them again, past the manicured lawns, and around the bend where the woods grow right up to the road. In the meantime, say hello to our first two listings....


1. Virginia Ground Cherry

I found this pretty little flower today growing beneath our mailbox which is across the street on an empty lot.
I got out the field guide and Sissy identified it. The "cherries" grow inside round papery sacs, and are poisonous when green but edible after they ripen.
A very interesting plant considering I'd been practically stepping on it every day and never noticed it before. I'm already liking this challenge. Anything that causes you to slow down and appreciate a small part of God's creation has to be a good thing.


2. Pokeweed
There are several of these growing on the lot across the street. According to the Wildflowers of Tennessee guide, the young leaves are edible after being boiled in two changes of water (are these the poke greens I remember my mother cooking?) but all parts of the mature plant including the delicious-looking berries are poisonous.





Well, it's a start. I'd love to limit the list to wildflowers, but it will include trees and cultivated plants I'm already familiar with in and around our yard. This is in within the rules of the official 100 Species Challenge and it will get our list much further along than wildflowers alone. I still don't see us reaching 100 but that's not as important as having fun naming all the plants in our yard and beyond, and learning some new ones along the way.

Palin Video

Sarah Palin addresses a group at her former church, Wasilla Assembly of God. A woman with Pentecostal roots for vice-president?! Yeah, baby!

What A Year For American Women in Their 40's!

First there was Dara Torres, 42 year old Olympic swimmer. I was as proud of her as only a 40 year-old woman can be. She let the world know that you better not write a girl off too soon .... you may end up eating the bubbles in her wake!

Then right on her heels, in an election campaign in which your only choices are Liberal and More Liberal... comes a hero for conservative girls everywhere.

She's smart, she's strong, she's savvy....... and she's a professing Christian.

She's Sarah Palin!

I do like what I know about her, and she delivered a whale of a speech at the Republican National Convention. You can say what you want about McCain, he made a smart move when he picked her as his running mate. She softens his whole image.

And he did look very pleased with himself standing up there with her after her speech. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I saw an old man showing off a trophy wife and wheezing......"Ain't she a looker, boys?"
I know, I know, I'm really sorry but that image wouldn't go away, and I thought of the field day the late night talk-show hosts are going to have with McCain/Palin.....

I can just hear Letterman now:
"And the number one Thing John McCain Has To Say About His New Running Mate is............

'Ain't she a looker, boys??' "

OK, I'm through being mean. I just had to get that out of my system. But she really is attractive, or as Keith so eloquently put it..... "she's not a bad-looking old chick".
Of course, I felt it my duty to remind him that the old chick is three years younger than him.

I do get the uncomfortable feeling that Palin's kid's are going to get the short end of the stick here, but I would love to be proven wrong.

John McCain & Sarah Palin. Things appear to be looking up for conservatives. I just have one question..... can we switch their names on the ballot?

No?

Darn.