I’m in the thick of it. Parenting, that is. Complete strangers keep reaching out to tell me that it gets better, that they had their kids two years apart and it was hell for a long time, but it gets better.
So much has changed since my last entries. I’ve replaced a full-time job creating nature-infused programs with a full-time job bringing up two humans. Does it sound ungrateful to say I’m…
You don’t always have to be outside to have nature moments, I discovered just a night ago. And remember, your nature journal entry – which can easily become your #FieldNotesFriday entry – can be as simple as a few sentences or as poignantly short as a haiku.
Here’s a picture of my latest entry. I’ve typed it out below.
One day it’s freezing precipitation, the next it’s sunshine and playing outside. I’m embracing the highly variable winter weather we get here in North Texas. If it’s warm and sunny, I enjoy the chance to get out without having to layer up much. If it’s frosty and cold and windy and maybe even wet, I appreciate that it actually feels like winter. Some people say “if you don’t like the weather in…
I’m not in the mood to write right now. But I’m doing it anyway. I wasn’t in the mood, or didn’t prioritize the time, to jot a few notes over the week about my time outdoors. But I did it today. This week I was, however, in the mood to be outdoors, and that was nice after last week’s cold snap. So this week is about success (including several good times outdoors with my kiddo) and a significant…
Happy New Year! Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying your local climate, flora, and fauna whenever you can. I hope you’ve also been participating in #FieldNotesFriday, but if you haven’t, consider this entry a little nudge of encouragement. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to take myself and my son out on a trail at least once a week. I started things off right by visiting one of my favorite trails…
Two different types of gall on a blue oak (Quercus douglasii) leaf at Stebbins Cold Canyon in September: urchin galls housing eggs/larvae of the urchin gall wasp (Antron quercusechinus) and crystalline galls (Andricus crystallinus). Gall morphology is species-specific, and wasps are often also specialized to a single oak species. More at Wildfire to Wildflowers.
I just found an AMAZING nature journaler. This artist’s got some gall.
Hedera helix, common ivy is a very important plant for the ecosystem: it flowers in late autumn, when only few flowers are in bloom, the bees love it. Also it have berries for almost all the winter, when food is scarce, and many birds, like blackbird, eat them.
As a nature nerd I love the snippets about the plants and creatures of this world. (From Iron Gold, but no worries this is just a fun bit of worldbuilding, you haven’t been spoilered)
“Nyxacallis.”
I sigh. “Is that Latin?”
“It means Night Lily.” He’s lost in thought. I’d ask him who the woman was if I didn’t recognize the pain on his face. Maybe that’s why I’m so fond of the old bat. He’s the only one in the Telemanus estate who wears his pain in his eyes. Rest are all playing games.
