painting of a maidenhair fern

My painting of a maidenhair fern.

Even though this didn't grow on my site, I wanted to paint a pic of it. I wanted to paint the roots to show that they are as much of a part of the plant as the green floral part. The maidenhair fern is a genus of about 200 species of ferns. Some times it is referred to having it's own family. The name of it's genus Vittariodeae comes from the Greek word meaning "not wetting," for it's ability to shed water without becoming wet.
This type grows in gardens with some shading, Excellent for native beds. It can also be grown indoors. And makes excellent terrariums.

We made puppets called the tree princess..As you can see my granddaughter Rylee took it very seriously. I could see that she really believed she was one of the tree princesses. It was simply a couple of sticks, a fir cone, a fir branch, a bush leaf, and some twine that I brought from home. We had a great time. And at the end she leaned against the tree and was satisfied. We went down the to the lake and she proceeded to make cookies out of sand. Which of course we both ate.

A sunny cold November day at Scott Lake

The Process

I am truly grateful for the Sense of Wonder program I am in. My senses have opened. I 

seem to feel, hear, see, and smell so much more from focusing my energies on nature. The 

more time I spend out in nature the more all of it  effects me. I hear every bird., I notice 

every movement, sound, scratching, squealing and  rustling,  I watched 3 different flocks of 

geese come flying right toward me tonite. It was twilight and I wasn't sure I could see them. 

I heard them coming from a long ways away. Suddenly they were coming right toward me. I 

felt it in my heart as if a herd of wild horses were coming straight at me. My sensitivity to 

mother earth is focusing. The book I'm reading "Spiritual Ecology is also stirring my passion 

for this earth and in fact the universe. I have always tried to pick one part of nature to study 

to let my passion run with. what I have been missing all this time, is that it's not just one 

part, like the animals or the plants, or the soil, trees, bees, insects, fish, etc. It's all of it as a 

whole and how it all works together. How long it has taken for earth to become the one that it 

is today. The universe is a whole being, and I can now see it as a living ever changing and 

growing being. That I am in love with.

http://vimeo.com/71522512 Please watch this with David Suzuki

 I scooped up a handful of moss and all that came with it and put it into a pie dish. I arranged some other things that were at my site, into the dish. These little mushrooms lived comfortably for ten days. I added some water into the dish and set it on my front room table. It is still there. I like bringing the outside into the inside.

This is how it looks today Dec.11 after being inside for a month. The grass is growing, the moss is growing and the mushrooms are gone. I think my cat ate them. hmmmm. The leaves are dried out and so are the cones. I have loved having this be a part of my home. 

My Green bowl after living inside for a month

 I love gathering all the different things that I find at my site. In this arrangement I have displayed two different types of cones.Fir and Pine. All were on the ground, which means they were done maturing and ready for the wind or animals to spread them around. Conifers have been around for 200 million years using their unique cones as a way of reproducing.

 

These are feathers from an eagle, owl, crow, woodpecker, blue jay, and goose. 

I watched and listened to the pair of Douglas cedar squirrels ran as fast as they could across the grass and into the cedar tree they have their nest in. I left them alone and when I came back around. I was curious about the nest they had. I wandered over to the tree, a big cedar, and I saw something I've never noticed before. The pair was running up and down the tree peeling bark off the tree and taking it back, making a nest about 20 ft up the tree and close to the trunk. There were shredded marks on the sides of the trees where they were peeling off the bark. They were quick about it.

The trail from bottom to top 

A mouthful of cedar 

drawing

My drawing of the wild cranberry bush

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Creatures

I came across this spider making his/her home for the day. It's name is Cross Orb Weaver spider. this tends to be a passive animal, it is difficult to provoke to bite—but if it does, the bite is just slightly unpleasant and completely harmless to humans.The adults are found from late summer through autumn. In late September, the females leave their webs and seek out protected locations to deposit between 300 to 900 eggs. The eggs are enclosed within a cocoon of yellow, silken threads, shaped in a hemisphere. Typical egg deposition sites include under the bark of dead trees and in cracks and crevices.

The bee that didn't get away.

A beautiful sunny day for spinning a web

cross orb spider.

Video

Decorate

I decorated two pieces with things from my site. I fell like I'm very attached to my site, after spending all day exploring every inch of the area to find just the right items. I had a lot of fun, which was the point. I wish I could say I built the little bird house as well. It was given to me many years ago. I have held onto it, hoping I would find a good project for it.

During this time of creating this project my old dog Belle died. She was 20 years old and the sweetest dog ever. I really wanted to dedicate something of this project to her. My site that I have been visiting for this project is a place that I took her for walks everyday. She swam in the lake here and visited almost every bush and tree more than a few times. I can't go to this site without thinking of our time together here.

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Plants

These are two different Native shrubs of the Pacific North West, from the same genus"Viburnum."  One is deciduous and the other is evergreen. They are growing on my site close to each other. The cranberry has red berries and spring bouquet has blue berries. 

Viburnum trilobum and Viburnum tinus

Of all the plants I saw and photographed this is my favorite. It's name is  Viburnum trilobum the GUELDER-ROSE  or as it sometime called in America, high bush cranberry.
 It is a deciduous shrub or tree.

High Bush Cranberry

Deciduous meaning is it will loose it's leaves in the winter. The small glossy, purple-red berries although thought to cause stomach upsets when raw (this has never been proved officially) It can be used as a medicinal plant and also to dye fabric. It is the birthday flower for 29th September

Viburmum trilobum/High Bush Cranberry

spring bouquet 

This is another viburnum.  Viburnum tinus or  more commonly called the "spring bouquet." It  is an  evergreen shrub.    Evergreen meaning is will stay green and keep it's leaves all year. Notice it's blue berries. 

Today I gathered some more mushrooms for my collage. I found out that to make spore prints I need to use fresh picked mushrooms. I got several of different sizes. The mushroom types are changing. New types are starting to show up. I will look up the seasons of mushrooms and compare how many bloom as to the amount in Oct and Dec. It was peaceful at the lake. the colors around the lake and reflected in the lake are amazing. There are a big gaggle of geese that are on the water now. Don't know what kind or where they stay for the winter. Three bushy tailed squirrels were on the ground eating today. They were so involved with the meal they didn't pay any attention to me. I don't know if they eat mushrooms, but that is what was on the ground around them. I gave them a bite of my apple. I share.

Mushroom spore prints

Today I visited my site and gathered mushrooms. They are almost gone. They have been there for more than a month now. I brought them home and started making a collage using the spore prints as a background on the poster board.

I found mushrooms tonite in my yard, at my nature site, and along the road. I brought several home with me to make spore prints from. Many families of mushrooms are identified by spore color. It impossible to see one spore at a time. Taking a print of the mushrooms spores where many of the spores can seen together is a good way to identify the mushroom.      I started a collage on my poster board and arranged orange and black paper on it so I could get a print on several colors of background.  I'll use the prints as a background for the collage.

Profile Pic of my Nature Spot

My engagement with nature at this time in my life, of 66 years, is very rewarding. I am remembering how nature has been so important to me. I spent many days of my childhood being an explorer. I am quite comfortable being surrounded by nature. I love all the different seasons that nature gives to us. This season and this time in my life means something different to me. I am excited and curious to see where my sense of wonder is taking me. I'm here to explore and share with you what I've found.