Today...

Today I am going to appreciate those who came before me. The ones who took the risks of coming to an unknown land and had the determination to establish a great country.

Happy Independence Day!

A Second Look--July 3, 2013

This is a great time of year because new kinds and colors of flowers are blooming everyday. Soon we will hit the really hot and dry part of the summer when nothing is happy except the weeds. But for now, the flowers are outshining the weeds.

On the bird front, the baby bluebirds have blue feathers on their wings and will probably fledge soon. The sparrows continue to build a nest in the other box the sparrow kind of way--messy.

The deer haven't been as prevalent this summer in the yard, but I did see a mother with two fawns passing through. It was fun to watch as the mother had to nudge one of them along. I guess kids of all kinds can be distractable.

Here are a few things I saw this week during a Second Look.

This marigold is a volunteer from last year.

Coreopsis and blanket flowers.

The enemy has arrived-- Japanese beetles. We are seeing a lot more holes in things as they eat away.

Balloon flowers

On the left is the box containing the sparrows nest. It is made mostly of twigs like the one they left hanging outside. On the right are the baby bluebirds in their typical pile. When they know it's not one of their parents coming to the box, they play possum.

Day Lilies

Yellow trumpet lilies have joined the white ones that were blooming last week.

This squirrel is enjoying some of the old seed that Wally threw on the ground when he cleaned the bird feeder.

Boys vs. Girls--Sunshines

Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things, they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess, who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.
Today's Story

Wally was in kindergarten and we were visiting on parent's night. On the wall were pictures that the kids had drawn, and we noticed that several of them had a sun in them that was wearing sunglasses. Upon further investigation, we discovered that they were all drawn by one group of kids in the class. We thought this was interesting, but didn't think much about it until Theo was in kindergarten three years later. Then we saw the same thing--sunglasses on all of the suns in the drawings of one group.

You decide. Did the boys or the girls draw the sunglasses on the suns?

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I'm not sure what it means, but the girls were the ones drawing sunglasses on the suns.

Thankful Sunday--June 30, 2013

I am thankful that Theo and Ward cleaned the gutters.

And I'm especially thankful that we've had no more water in the basement since they did this.

A Second Look--Weekend Edition, June 29, 2013

 
Okay. How did this happen? It's not that important in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me wonder. I've been going around my yard for two years now during a Second Look trying to look at things with a curious set of eyes. I've been trying to see new things among the old things and see old things in a new way. I've been trying to observe the change of things and the sameness of things.

So how is it that I never noticed the very obvious pink blossoms on one of our trees? And I didn't actually notice them. It was Wally.  The interesting part of all of this was that a few days earlier, we were visiting with my father-in-law and we drove by one of these trees. He asked if I knew anything about them because he thought they were pretty. I said I didn't really know anything except they were supposed to be messy. Little did I know I had one in my yard--a mimosa tree.

The mimosa tree is a small tree that originated in Asia and is generally used as an ornamental tree. Honey bees and butterflies like its flowers, and its seed pods are sometimes used to feed livestock. However, in some areas, it is considered an invasive species.

So what did I learn from this eye-opening experience? Don't become complacent because you never know what might be right under your nose.
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Okay, in my defense, I'd like to believe that this is the first year this tree had bloomed. And look. It's nestled between a Japanese maple and Juniper tree. Hard to see, right? :) This is actually why I keep doing a Second Look. I really don't know what I might find.