I am a social woman by nature.  It is the way I was made.  The way I remain.  Somedays it is quite clear my boy is following suit.  Somedays he clings to me like a sweaty shirt.  Both ways he is fantastic.

While the social aspect of nursery school cannot be duplicated, I am not altogether sure it is necessary at this point.  Yet.  None the less, in attempts to recreate some sort of learning environment, I make up some silly game to play about once a week or so.  Sometimes more if I am feeling fancy.  With the breeze in our hair the bugs were kept at bay.  The cooling weather reminded me that this is indeed a glorious place to reside.  This week we did a scavenger hunt.  It ended up more or less a bug hunt to be quite honest, with a teeny nap sprinkled in.

We watched the magic happen.  And the mad crows that always ensue such a feat.

We spotted a green lynx spider.  Fantastically fluorescent with a gait that is both eery and fascinating.  

The number of butterflies, dragonflies and hummingbirds gathering in our vicinity is something to witness.  I am being quite serious when I tell you there are no less than a dozen hummingbirds in our bottle brush tree at any given moment.  Fighting and bickering and chopping at each others beaks so intensely I fear for their demise!  Although I have not been able to capture an image of these lovelies I have spotted two different varieties.  Which is a first for me.  

The pressure to fill days with precise activities with exact times constraints does not exist in our home.  And now, it is so strikingly clear to me that this is the key to inspiring a life long learner.  I want a child interested.  One who see’s the beauty in the world.  Who notices things.  Who observes and is awed by the magic of mother nature herself.  

Yes, the days can be long and lonely out here in the sticks.  We might resort to talking to ourselves after ao many hours talking to one another.  Sometimes, we don’t talk at all.  (Which, for those of you who know me are probably picking their jaw up off the floor right now.)  But truth is I am starting to feel it out here.  There is a certain predictability in this house that without fail orchestrates our day, all the while sparking up something new.  The joy in our immediate surroundings surely does not go unnoticed. 

What is migrating/coming alive/making itself known in your neck of the woods?