just the beginning...

with the weather in flux...some days are hot...others are a bit cooler.

also, with plenty of rain and cooler days this summer

things have been a little different...we have had fewer butterflies...

our grasses stayed green all summer...which meant weekly mowing.

a lot of summers we have had droughts. not this year.

another great thing about the amount of rain we have had

has been that my container plants have done so well.

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since our weather has been so brilliant and beautiful...we have spent

our days out of doors. as we continue to study our world and the

living things in it...we discovered that our terrarium has made

a match...with our walking stick bugs.

we are hoping for lots of baby stick bugs...how fun.

being outdoors allows for some unusual mates...lola blue joins our class.

we are observing the way things are pollinated, who does the pollinating,

how quickly things grow....like this thistle...how it has changed in one week.

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we have learned about the goldenrod spider who lays in wait for

bumblebees or syrphid flies to capture, paralyze with it's venom

and suck it's contents out...it is able to change colours, camouflage

itself which makes it virtually unnoticeable.

nature has these cycles of life and death.

just like the viceroy butterfly's mimicry:

(the act of mimicking; imitative behavior the resemblance of an animal species to another species or to natural objects; provides concealment and protection from predators)...it is able to look just like the monarch butterfly(at least to it's predators) which is bitter to the taste for birds...so it is left alone.

it is slightly smaller than the monarch and it has a black line across the middle of each hind wing.

we are also studying the stages of development of insects...which is great when the whole world is your classroom because we walk out to the wildflower garden and are able to see the larva stage of a monarch butterfly and document it for our observations.

~above photo taken by abbey~

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~both common buckeye photos taken by abbey~

she is also learning how to use a field guide to help identify the

beautiful creatures she is finding.

some more of abbey's interesting classmates...buster is a good

sport to become a headrest for reading.

lylah is always up for a walk into nature.

beatrice is shy but a good listener which make for a good friend.

so as we learn about this great big beautiful world and it's amazing

creatures and how they work...the wind is blowing.

the grasses are flowing...

the acorns are growing...

the birds are sowing...

and the sun is glowing...

life is slowing...life is good.