offer of thanksgiving

Days go by,

porch needs to be painted,

gardens worked on,

house cleaned,

laundry cycled,

home tidied,

beds made,

mouths fed,

wee bodies scrubbed.

Sometimes it seems 

the children raise themselves.

Yet they bring home 

an offering of thanks

with joy 

smeared 

across their faces

and I

am reminded

to raise up 

an offering of thanks

with joy  on my face.

Chrysemys Picta (painted turtle)

The painted turtle is a very common turtle in Canada, living in ponds, lakes, marshes and along shallow rivers.

We found a teeny little specimen today, about the size of a quarter

We've taken it home to observe it for a day or so and will then release it into a pond.  (Turtles can be carriers of salmonella.)

The turtle is a carnivore when young and an omnivore when mature.  The boys are diligently walking around with a fly swatter to provide baby turtle with some fresh meat.

The turtle itself is food for raccoons, skunks, opossums, birds, snakes, foxes and others.

Mama turtle lays 5 to 15 eggs in a clutch, buried in a shallow pit and covered with dirt.  Then mama makes herself scarce and lets her offspring fend for themselves.  The eggs hatch in 10  - 11 weeks.

The turtle clan likes to spend most of its time in the water.  Sometimes they  sun themselves on logs or rocks.  

The mature turtle has a shell from 4 to 7 inches, the females being slightly larger than the males.  A turtle could live up to 30 years but very few do, when in the wild the life expectancy is 5 - 10 years.

malacosoma disstria

We have a lot of caterpillars in the orchard which I believe are the forest tent variety.

Earlier this spring we could spot the masses of small caterpillars hanging in the trees.  Within a month these tiny creatures have grown into full grown caterpillars.Now they spin yellow, silk like cocoons.  They will remain in the pupa stage for 2 weeks.  The adult females will lay eggs which will hatch in the fall.

We've collected a number of these and put them in a plastic box where we can easily watch them.

Some are already in the yellow cocoons.

Although interesting to observe these caterpillars can be devastating to the forests, and we will be sure not to release them.

Redemption

This old fence has most likely been on our property since 1905.

And there it stands today, 

disintegration in the shape of a cross

surrounded by  budding lilies, 

promising new life.

the Iris

Nature is painting for us,

day after day,

pictures of infinite beauty

if only we have the eyes to see them.

John Ruskin

poppies in the wind

Sometimes everyday things seem tedious, endless, exhausting, relentless chores that never go away, dearest children with tiresome behaviours .  Sometimes we feel empty, drained, poured out.  

It is not the catastrophes that stray us but the niggling annoyances, the too busy schedules, the lack of productivity (even moms at home like to see something completed at the end of the day) that derail us.  The joy robbers.  

But let us move to the garden, where the wind airs out the poppies and the breeze clears out the joy robbers.  Let us move to the word where the spirit replenishes.

heritage

Gentle light 

falling on tools 

from yesteryear

Gentle teachings 

falling 

on a eager child

today.

A heritage museum is a great place to illustrate the settings of some of the books we are reading.