Camera Crazy

I now have a bunch of fuzzy pictures of people I don't even know. I let Blaze use my camera while I was working in the garden this evening.



He also helped me plant a new little lemon-lime tree in the garden, by playing bulldozer to fill in the hole.

Outdoor Challenge

I almost missed getting a picture for The Great Outdoor Challenge today. It wasn't that Blaze wasn't playing outside, it was just that I got busy doing laundry and experimenting with new recipes. I grabbed the camera and went out to see what he was doing, just as he and his best friend were putting on their shoes and cleaning up the sand toys they had been playing with in the volleyball court, so that is all I have pictures of today.





What I missed, was the two of them making sand angels and then his friend destroying them because she said they looked evil. I wish I had gotten to see that. I've never seen an evil sand angel.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Well, flying the kite was the goal, but mostly Blaze and the neighbor boys dragged the kite behind them while they ran. They sure got a lot of exercise, though, and those little boys are really fast runners!

How to Sew a Blanket Stitch and The Kitty Toy

Blaze has been learning how to do a blanket stitch, while he was making a cat toy for his sister, Nika's cat. I think he's really good at now. The ball he made, required 8 panels being sewn together, so he got lots of practice.

Chanting the 3 steps needed for a blanket stitch helped him to remember and stay focused, "poke, wrap, pull".

Poke:



Wrap:



Pull:






For the inside of the cat ball, Blaze wrapped a bell with wool, so that catnip wouldn't get inside the bell and stop it from ringing.



I poked the wool several times with a felting needle to make the wool stay in place ( Blaze probably could use a felting needle safely, I just haven't worked up the courage to give him something that viciously sharp yet).



We turned the ball inside-out, placed the bell filled wool ball inside, and filled the remaining space inside with catnip.







The pattern we used for this ball, was the "large felt ball" pattern from the book Feltcraft.

Outdoors on a Rainy Day

Not all the long ago, Blaze and I watched the "Bill Nye the Science Guy" episode about wetlands. It had some wonderful demonstrations of how wetlands can stop flooding because the plants and wet, spongy soil slows down and absorbs water. Today we got to see some real life flooding and erosion, due to lack of plant life. The men working on the renovation of our apartment complex, removed the big, lovely tree that once stood on this hill. Then they dug up the whole hillside. When they filled in the trenches they'd made, they gave no thought, what so ever, to top soil. So, today we had heavy rains and this was what our sidewalk looked like.



When the rain let up, Blaze went out to play and I spent quite awhile working in the garden.





The soil in our garden is so sandy, that even after all that rain, the dirt under the weeds I was pulling, was still dry.

This is a short segment about quicksand from that Wetlands video we watched:

The Watercolor Mural

This is an old nursery school trick, chain-link fences make great easels for large artwork. Just use clothes pins or alligator clips to attach the paper to the fence.





Blaze made this painting as a gift for the little girl he plays with.

Snow Peas

There weren't many, but we were able to harvest our first snow peas of the year.





Blaze planted seeds for more snow pea plants.



He also found this worm, who he named George.



The garden is such a good place to learn about animals, as well as plants. We've been playing with worms, watching birds and bats, and last week I found a large deer print in the mud. The most exciting thing lately, though, has been the little red-tailed hawk that eats the bats. Yesterday, the hawk flew low, right over my head, carrying a snake.

cilantro flowers:

Earth Day Treat

As a special thing for Earth Day, we made Rice Krispies treats that look like little globes.

To do this, you simply follow the directions for making Rice Krispies treats, printed on the Rice Krispies box or on the Rice Krispies website:

Rice Krispy Treat Recipe

After adding the Rice Krispies to the melted marshmallow and butter mixture, split the batch up into two equal portions. To one portion add several drops of green food coloring. To the other portion add several drops of blue food coloring. Stir well to cover all the cereal with color. Dampen hands, so the sticky marshmallow doesn't stick to you. Take a bit of blue mixture in one hand and a bit of green in the other hand. Now, squish the two colors together. Squeeze and shape like you are making a snow ball.



Let them sit for awhile before eating, so that the marshmallow sets up and becomes less gooey.




These are a good size to carry with you, if you are like Blaze and believe that sitting down to eat would be cutting into your valuable play time.

Corner View : Earth Day

This is the way I'm recycling newspapers for Earth day, I'm using it as weed barrier in my garden.



By overlapping multiple layers of newspaper, the sunlight can't penetrate, so the weeds don't grow. By covering the newspaper with composted cow manure, it looks like well weeded, dark, rich soil.



The entire process takes about 10 minutes per 20 foot row, but it looks like you just spent long hours weeding, plus it's biodegradable and feeds the garden.



For the garden paths, I'm laying out the newspaper and then covering it with cypress mulch.



Now that I've worked up a sweat, I think this will be the perfect Earth Day treat.





This is how Blaze is cooling down:





The Florida Museum of Natural History's Earth Day Celebration is this coming Saturday, April 24, 2010.

Museum Earth Day

While Jane is away this week, Corner View is being hosted by Joyce of A Perfect Beginning. Every Wednesday, Corner View brings together participants from all over, to share what life is like in their corner of the world.

Cofrin Nature Park

On the way home from Blaze's speech therapy today, we stopped at Cofrin Park. Even though Cofrin in located along a busy city street, it was once a horse pasture. Now it's a small wooded nature park, with a playground and a tennis court.



Blaze brought along my old butterfly net. First, he thought he would catch bugs, and then he changed his mind and decided he'd catch squirrels instead. The only thing he actually caught was a few leaves.











We are lucky to live in a city with so many green spaces.