Muddy mudskipper...

What can I say? The kid loves mud!

A squirrel named Bushy...

Some very blurry pics of our new friend - a gorgeous grey squirrel who the kids have named "Bushy" -she's quite tame and enjoys the snacks we leave for her - she's particulary fond of jam sandwiches - but is a bit camera shy. There was a lovely (potential) shot of her munching some toast at the base of our maple tree but I couldn't get close enough to get a good pic -- we need a camera with a zoom lens for these occasions!

Sap Art...

Savannah created a spectacular installation involving pine sap, grass clippings and twigs...let the Earth be your canvas...

It's a girl!

And here she is! Inchy emerges as a beautiful female Gypsy Moth. Larger than the male and white, she was also much bigger in her caterpillar form so next year we'll know ahead of time the sex of our babies!
Savannah was a little upset that Inchy didn't seem to want to fly to freedom the way Sparkle had, then we remembered from our reading that the females don't fly well and tend to just hop and flap around clumsily. We decided to put her back into the bug-box in the garden to keep her safe until she was ready to leave us....
...and then later that evening.....a male moth has found her! Theories abounded that it was Sparkle come back to say hello but...;} Isn't it just amazing, though? The male will have found her purely on scent! I am so GRATEFUL that we had this experience together...the kids (and us adults too!) learned so much about our wonderful, marvelous Earth and her creatures in such a fun and exciting way.
Note: A few days later, a friend - Madi -had captured a female Gypsy Moth in her bug box and we were all gathered around looking when suddenly, two male moths appeared and began flying around our group. At first we couldn't understand why they were fluttering around Madi so earnestly and then we realized -- they had smelled the female- IN THE BOX!! How amazing is that! So we took the lid off and tried to hold still so they could find their way to her. It's not easy for a group of excited kids to hold still though, so they never did make their way into the box..but isn't that AMAZING?!?! Try THAT in a classroom!

Sidewalk painting....

A little art for the world...
Paintbrush? Who needs a paintbrush?
The Joy of creating...

It's a boy!

After almost two weeks of anticipation....'Sparkle' emerged from his cocoon! And yes, he's a male Gypsy Moth (smaller than the females and brown in colour). This was such an exciting event for all of us! To see our little caterpillar that Savannah had cared for so diligently, spin a cocoon and then emerge as a moth was a Joy-full experience for everyone...adults and children alike. The cries of glee and the twinkling eyes cast a turbo-Shine around us!
After resting for while, Sparkle flew onto Savannah....
...and gave her a kiss goodbye before flying away to freedom...yeah, I admit, I had a tear or two!
And now we wait for Inchy....

After the rain...

The final rainy haze through the trees.....
...and then MUD.....
Mud, mud, GLORIOUS mud! Sebastian isn't quite as keen on the full-body plastering and prefers to wash his hands immediately, but he enjoys watching Savannah do her thing!

Rainy afternoon...

We've been blessed with a very rainy summer this year....no need for watering the garden...and have had some spectacularl downpours. Here's one that blew in and my attempts at capturing the raindrops...



What better way to while away the rainy hours than catch up with some games on Nick Jr....
Savannah bought Teddy a new sweater after a trip to the Dollar Store earlier in the day...here they all are having some rare 'couch time' while they wait out the rain...

Smoothie time...

Savannah decided we had too many frozen bananas in the freezer so we should use some of them up in a batch of smoothies...add some fruit juice, ice cream, vanilla yogurt, blueberries and a splash of honey -- blend and enjoy! Yum!

A quiet afternoon...

Savannah visiting Hailee and Brandt working meant a lovely quiet afternoon for Sebastian and I. Tea for me, apple juice for him and our feet up in the sunshine...ah, peace for the Quiet Ones...

Feeling better and homemade play dough...

Savannah was feeling much better so we decided to make some play dough...pink, of course

After Savannah added the red food colouring, the mixture took on more of a "strawberry swirl" effect that almost looked delicious...;}
Then is was time to play....while watching TV at the same time course!

Sleeping Beauty....

Poor Savannah has been stricken with a rather nasty tummy bug the last couple of days...here she is dozing on the couch (with her trusty get-well pal Tyler)....sleep the healing sleep my Shiny One...

Worm composter!!

Welcome to our Worm House.....after much research and some assistance from my dad and his drill....I ordered our worms and they finally arrived! We are officially *vermicomposting*...A pet project of mine which the children were kind enough to help with....

Here's the first bin...propped up on cat food tins, which Snowbell finds extremely intriguing. Then again, she's a cat that finds EVERYTHING intriguing...

The box that they came in.....just like Christmas!!
Savannah and I shred some newspaper and moisten it to create a nice *bed* for our wriggly friends...
A sideways shot of Savannah tearing up some stale bread and some lettuce for their first *meal*...Tyler looks on, hoping for some crummage...
Our wormy friends in their travelling bag....it was filled with rich soil and compost for a most luxurious medium for their trip from somewhere near Ottawa....(you can see our Summertime Shine list in the background if you look very closely -- cross 'build a worm composter' off the list!)


The final arrangement...yippee!! Snowbell makes her exit now that the busy time is over...all we have to do now is feed our little friends and keep them healthy and happy and they will provide us with some lovely compost from scraps that would have normally gone into the garbage...

Caterpillars!!

Here we have Savannah's Caterpillar Caravan. She harvested a couple from the trees near our house some 3-4 weeks ago or so....this led to a library trip to find out about how to raise caterpillars and exactly what kind we have....their Gypsy Moth's (eek!, I know).

Well....after being fed fresh leaves twice a day for all of this time we watched them grow and shed their skins and grow some more and then lo and behold -- COCOONS!!!! First the smaller one - Sparkles - made her cocoon underneath the lid and then our original - Inchy - chose a spot near the bottom amongst the old leaf litter. So in 7-14 days they should hatch.....fingers crossed!! It's all so very wonderfully exciting....and we now know so MUCH about caterpillars!!


As hard as I tried, I wasn't able to get a good shot of the cocoons themselves...mostly due to the various and assorted art taped to the sides that Savannah placed for the caterpillars seeing as how they couldn't really move around and see new things, she figured some nice scenery would make them feel very happy and cocoon-ish! It worked!!

Canada Day Fireworks....July 1, 2008

Yet another first for us...bearing in mind we're not really recluses, it's just that it hasn't been part of Sebastian's *flow* to mingle in large crowds until the last year or so....I firmly believe that because we've honoured this about him, he was able to come to enjoy *certain* gatherings without them being a disruption to himSelf....

So here we are....waiting for the fireworks to begin down at Spencer Smith Park with what seemed like the rest of population!! Super cool to see so many folks out celebrating this great nation's birthday!

Munching popcorn while we wait....Sebastian checks the sky in case they try and sneak a few in!

All that grass simply demanded to be run upon....
And what's a SHINY girl to do but...*TWIRL*
Me and my two Shine-rs....
Little did we know that the lovely willow we were sitting behind would be such a wonderful backdrop for the sky-sparkling fireworks....most of the people beside us moved to a clearer spot but we rather enjoyed the effect!! Happy Birthday Canada!!