Through Nick's Eyes, Age 8

Through Nick's Eyes, Age 7

Eastern Bluebird

We took a short visit to North Georgia, where I had the privilege of sitting in family's backyard and watching two active bluebird houses.

Fern Walk

For the second year in a row, we were privileged to be a part of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park Wildflower Pilgrimage.  What a great time we had!

One of our classes was a fern walk.

Here is a list of ferns we identified:
Ebony's Spleenwort
Resurrection
Christmas
Hay-scented
Cinnamon
Grape
Protruding Bladder
Maidenhair Spleenwort
Rattlesnake
New York
Southern Lady
Running Ground Cedar
Adder's tongue (which looks NOTHING like a fern!)

I entered the class knowing not much more about ferns than that I liked them, and walked away with a wealth of knowledge.  I'm sure I won't remember it all, but here are some highlights:

A fern frond (leaf) is made up of the raccus (middle stem), pinna (individual leaflets), and stipe (continuation of raccus past the pinnae.

Ferns are classified according to "clumped" or "colonial".  Clumped ferns grow up from one spot in the ground.  Colonial ferns grow horizontally, sending out shoots (rhizomes) that create a colony of ferns, all of the same plant.

A "fiddle head" is the fern frond as it is growing and unfolding.  I thought this was a name of one specific fern.  Many ferns emerge with a fiddle head.

Salamander Walk

My kids' favorite walk for both years at the Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smokey Mountains National Park was the salamander walk.  The poor man who led the hike was rushed each time someone found a salamander (frequently).  I had major claustrophobia issues when being caught in the crowd, so focused more on the wildflowers that we passed.

But here is a list of salamanders our group identified:
Southern red-backed
Blue Ridge two-lined
Spotted dusky
Santeetlah dusky
Seal

Blue Ridge Two-Lined Salamander

Wildflowers

Birds and Wildflowers Walk

Another walk we took with the Wildflower Pilgrimage was for birds and wildflowers.  It was a bitterly cold morning, and we drove to one of the higher points in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, hoping to find birds from a specific elevation.  Not much was out.  Too cold!  Here are the birds we did see, though:

Ovenbird
Red-breasted nuthatch
Blue-headed vireo
Dark-eyed junco

Blue-Headed Vireo

Wildflowers that we saw on this walk included:

Grandiflorum trillium

Sweet white trillium

Trout Lilly

Fringed phaecelia

Halbard leaf violet

Princess pine

Rattlesnake plantain

Galyx

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

May through August have been so busy!  We have moved from Tennessee to North Carolina, so in the adjustment, we are eagerly exploring the beautiful farm country that we are fortunate to be living in.  There has been little time to nature journal, although I have continually dreamt of the moment when I finally would be able to.  Well, today was the day!  And prompted by my children, no less!  We stepped outside, thinking about what grabbed our attention most.  A little while later, and another entry fills my journal.

There is something about nature journaling that makes me so content.  I have great satisfaction leafing through my journal.  I remember the times of close inspection and quiet reflection.  I remember the smallness and stillness of being one object in the vast beauty of God's creation.  I soak in the colors:  the soothing greens, blues, and browns; the punches of brighter contrasts.  I appreciate the things I've learned because of this experience.  If only there was more time!

Today as I studied and drew this spider, I talked with my kids, referring to this spider as a "banana spider".  I've noticed these beauties (if you can actually call a spider 'beautiful'!) ever since moving to the South.  I think they're one of the spiders that least creeps me out.  They're big.  They make their nests out in the open where I can see them instead of in the dark where they leap out and terrify me.  Their webs are generally neat, with a fascinating strong zig-zag line in them.  They are colorful.  And they are non-poisonous.  Imagine my surprise, when trying to find it on the internet, that the pictures of "banana spiders" did not match the one that I had drawn and clearly labeled incorrectly!  (This is not the first time this has happened.  Oops!)  And so, yes, I learned yet another thing through today's journaling.