Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.
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| I was very excited to find this crocus blooming. |
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| However, all of the other crocus that I found were leaves just emerging from the ground. |
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| Something has started to build a nest in this box. |
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| The snow has been melting and now is left only where there were big piles. |
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| The daffodils are also coming up but no sign of a bloom yet. |
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| Although, I'm not finding as many as last year, I still find a bone on most of my walks. I don't know what this one is. |
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| And the earliest of all, the snowdrops are blooming in full force. |
My back yard crocuses are somewhere between your first and second pictures. The daffodils are poking through in the front yard. It makes me smile to see them. We have had a couple of days in the 40s but now it's getting colder for a few days again--thankfully, we haven't had additional snow! I'd like to continue to see our piles diminish, not get added on!
ReplyDeleteI love the animal nest picture. Makes me think of Beatrix Potter stories, or Redwall. I have always liked to imagine little critters making their homes and living their lives.
Have you read much about Beatrix Potter? She was a fascinating person. I recommend "Beatrix Potter, A Life in Nature" by Linda Lear. It's a scholarly biography that doesn't romanticize her life like some do. I'm the kind of person that appreciates knowing what really happened. The beginning reads a little slow as she goes into Beatrix's family background, but picks up after that. Her life was interesting enough that you don't need to embellish it any to make it good reading. I found it interesting to find out about some of the real places the little books took place in.
DeleteAlso, does your son (or daughter) like the Redwall books? Both of my sons really liked them with the younger one reading them again and again as comfort reading.
I have done some anecdotal reading on Beatrix Potter. In a trip to England many years ago, we were in her neck of the woods, and it was fun to learn a little about her there. Thanks for the book recommendation!
ReplyDeleteMy son loves Redwall! My daughter enjoys it when I read them aloud--she is a precocious reader and is capable of reading at that level, but I think the length of the books is more than she wants to tackle at this time. As a parent, I was so grateful for the series because there are so many books to read. I'm not thrilled with all of the books available for boys (the "young adult" section of the library has a lot of icky, creepy books that I'd rather he avoid) but Redwall is well-written, engaging, with lots of plot twists--just the thing for my son. You will be amused (but probably not surprised) to know that he can do a darn good rendition of mole-speak or the accent of a hare, wot, wot? (Um, yes, we are a quirky bunch!) You are probably a great resource for book recommendations for pre-teen boys--please send them my way! Andrew currently is into books by Erin Hunter (Seekers, Warriors) and those seem to be decent books with lots to read in the different series. It's easier for me to find books for my daughter (she's currently working her way through Ramona by Beverly Cleary--she also likes Geronimo Stilton and Humphrey books by Betty Birney--a sweet little girlie-girl she is not!!!) but I'm always interested in other options for books.
I'll have to think about some book recommendations for your son. I struggled with finding appropriate books for my sons. Even though they were good readers, they were not mature enough to handle many books that they could technically read. Certainly not the ones in the young adult section at your son's age. I also didn't like the very mature themes that were in the books they had to read for school during their middle school years. Once again, they were not emotionally mature enough to handle many of the books that were required. And they were not alone, especially for boys.
DeleteThat's exactly the situation I am encountering. I am frustrated and a bit angry that mature material is pushed on kids at such young ages. They have their whole lives to read mature material--they should have the freedom to enjoy being young as long as possible. Fortunately my son does not want to jump ahead of his emotional maturity. I hadn't thought about what he might be required to read in middle school--hmm, I'll have to monitor that very carefully.
DeleteGood luck. You may have no problems but, it's certainly something to keep your eye on.
DeleteYour crocus in bloom looks like a snow crocus (blue pearl) from our yard. The snow crocus come up a couple of weeks sooner than the giant crocus, for us.
ReplyDeleteAll it will take is a couple of warm spring days and your daffodils will be blooming wildly!
I am not familiar with giant crocus. I don't know if I've never seen one or if I never noticed. All of the crocus that are in my yard were planted before I moved here and redistributed by the squirrels. I'm going to keep my eye out for some giant crocus.
DeleteGiant crocus are sometimes also called giant Dutch crocus. In my area, the giant ones are what most of us think of when we're looking for crocus. The snow crocus come up earlier and the cups are smaller, and leaves narrower than giant crocus.
DeleteIn my yard, the squirrels don't redistribute the crocus, they just eat them. :-(
My sister said that she had some wild crocus in her yard (a new house) that were smaller and not like regular crocus. Maybe those were snow crocus. Now, I'm very curious.
DeleteOoooo... flowers blooming!!! We're not there yet here in Denver, but soon... very soon!
ReplyDeleteFor me, there's nothing like the excitement of finding the first flowers of spring. Hope you get to experience that soon.
DeleteI saw my first crocus of the season today! It's been such a long winter that this sighting was a real treat!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long winter all around. Those crocus are especially appreciated this year.
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