Chuckles has a new friend, one that she met on sleep away camp in Pennsylvania. She lives only 30 minutes away. This is very exciting for her especially because she is Japanese. Today she had her first play-date at her friend’s house. They made sushi, decorated cookies, jumped on their bouncy castle and played the Japanese WII.
Her friend is extremely gracious and kind with beautiful manners, a wonderful example of being a good friend. I am so happy that Chuckles is having this experience.
I went to Japan for a month when I was 12 and stayed in Kanagawa-ken, the same place this 
family comes from. Unfortunately they have to return to Japan in a few months. I know they can be pen-pals but we are sad that they only have a few months together. The mother and I have already discussed the possibility of home stays in Japan/US. I would love for Chuckles to visit Japan. I might just have to go too seeing I haven’t been back since I was 12!
August 3rd, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (2)
Every now and again we visit the boardwalk at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield. It’s a fantasic boardwalk that takes you around a small pond, through woods and berry patches, bridges and lagoons, giving you an intimate experience with a wetlands habitat. We visit in every season and always manage to have some adventure.
Today it was flooded.
Not all of it, but sections were just submerged and other areas were under a foot of water. It was a warm day and awfully exciting to my son and his special friend. As we waded through the children, splashed, and played, ran and swam to their hearts content.
As I was walking the boardwalk, watching these two happy children I felt so calm and lucky. I love what being in nature feels like.
August 2nd, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (1)
I laughed when I saw this sign on the side of a car. Is this a sign of the times?
August 2nd, 2009 | Category: Family | Comments (2)
One of the benefits of a very wet summer is a bounty of mushrooms. We went to the homeschoolers park day in Norwalk on Thursday and found 5 different types of mushrooms under the climbing tree. They were all interesting specimens too, some bright red ones, warty bright orange and yellow ones…enough to draw me in. I took photos of them.
I am used to plain old white field mushrooms that I used to collect occasionally on the farm with my cousins. These ones compelled me to go to the library and the whole exciting world of mushrooms opened up for me. I also thought some of my passion for these little fungi would rub off on my children and we’d have some fun this summer collecting mushrooms.
We’ve exhausted the children’s books on mushrooms which did familiarize us with the different types of mushrooms, the parts of a different mushrooms and the variations that we will need to know to work out which mushrooms we were looking at. We also found out that we need to collect specimens in order to identify them as we need to see the root structure, how the gills are attached and whether the mushrooms exude a liquid if cut.
Mushrooms make an exciting study. They have distinctive smells. 
Some are poisonous, some have medicinal properties. Mushroom hunting has a treasure hunt appeal to me. Imagine finding a fairy ring of mushrooms in the woods. I love the idea of collecting mushrooms to dissect and classify, maybe even drying out and laminating to make a collection of mushrooms found near the house. I am a complete novice so of course we wouldn’t taste any.
I must say that it is not easy for a child to identify a mushroom. Mushrooms change appearance depending on age. It took me a good half hour to narrow down one I found to 2 varieties based on a photo. I didn’t realize a photo wouldn’t give you enough information. You apparently have to carefully dig out the whole mushroom and place it in wax paper before consulting the field guide. Then you can use the dichotomous keys to narrow down the particular variety. It is worth the effort to show them how to do it though as they can use this technique to identify any member of the animal and plant kingdom.
Next Day…
This morning we visited the Old Black Spruce Bog in the Mohawk State forest, CT. We found plenty of different mushrooms under the Black Spruce trees, even Chanterelles! Chuckles and I had a field day discovering all sorts of fungi that I normally wouldn’t have noticed. This might be the start of something!
August 2nd, 2009 | Category: Family | Leave a comment
My sister loves WNYC Radio Lab programs and so do her teenagers. She has downloaded all of their programs and listens to them in the car. I thought I’d listen on my computer.
Firstly they have very interesting topics, centered around one main idea. Today they had a show about the afterlife and the day before one about Darwin. I thought it would be fun to listen while futzing about my desk.
Here is how they describe themselves:
On Radio Lab, science meets culture and information sounds like music. Each episode of Radio Lab. is an investigation — a patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, Radio Lab is produced by WNYC public radio.
I was really surprised at how engaging it was, a multimedia experience that draws you in, a little like watching a documentary with your eyes closed, but designed so you don’t need pictures. It made me pay attention.
I would definately listen to these in the car.
I think they are wonderful discussion prompts.
July 31st, 2009 | Category: Family | Leave a comment
