This is a picture of my house, as I stand on the lower driveway that leads to our garage. There is a little boy running to me, from the garage, see him? I’m so thankful he was running to me, and not away from me, when he noticed I was standing there. (We’re friends, you see.) (And, he probably wanted something.) (LOL)
On Saturday, the weather was so nice that we went outside as much as possible. I carried my camera around for a little bit, gathered the eggs from the coop, and then decided to just sit for a while, by the edge of the pond. As a lifelong lover of nature walks, I am quite possibly starting to become just as much of a lover of nature SITS.
Nature Sit – when a person sits down outside for a prolonged period of time, for the purpose of observing nature.
Flower name: CLOSED GETIAN
This is a wild flower that grows by our pond. I took the picture this way because I thought it was beautiful, the way I saw it surrounded with bright yellow goldenrod (so common, the goldenrod, that I won’t discuss that today as a find, just use it as a photo prop).
One time I saw a closed getian (named “closed” because the flower is fully bloomed, yet interestingly remains shut) being pollinated by a bumblebee. The bee was amazing as it forced it’s way inside to reach the pollon; the only part of the bee showing was it’s end and it’s legs sticking straight out from the flower. (I even got a picture of it, it’s buried someplace in this big blog of mine).
On this day, there were no bees around.
This is a closer view of the plant. I read online that it is a difficult plant to purposely add to a garden, it needs a lot of time to grow, perfectly suited soil, and also sunshine but not too much. It’s a good thing mine were planted by the Master Gardener Himself. A whole patch of them, that grows bigger every year!
I simply HAD to know what was inside that closed, secretive flower. First, I squeezed it and found a drop of sweet water.
Then, I peeled the flower apart to look inside. (Nature study can be mildly violent.)
So it would appear that this closed getian wildflower would be enough to fill my nature cup? Yes, yes, it was. But, then I saw something else that made it OVERFLOW.
I saw……BIG HAIRY CATERPILLARS!
Right by the Closed Getian!
Oh I was so surprised. They were there, silently waiting for me to go away so they could resume munching on leaves.
A caterpillar, underneath a very generous, and beautiful, white fur coat.
And it’s mate? Or friend? Are they male and female, is that why they are different colors? I imagine it must be so. I haven’t tried researching these yet….I hope I can find some more information. If I do I will be back to add it in.
Anyway this yellow one………..
MATCHES THE GOLDENROD!
It was very exciting. I grabbed the nearest child, it was Ethan, and I showed him, but he said “Oh, yeah, I saw one of those yesterday.” You did? You didn’t even come get me! God knew I would like to see them on my own, I guess.
So I ask you, when you see things like this, do you bend down and take a closer look? I just want to know, am I strange?!? (it’s okay, don’t answer that. LOL)
This is a line from one of my favorite hymns:
“Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.”
It’s just so fun to see God’s handiwork, the more I see and admire, the more I have to praise Him!
Have a wonderful day!
Good to be Home 
Nature sit… I like that I will imagine I was sitting with you my friend {happy sigh}
Love seeing your nature studies…and yes, I am familiar with “nature sits”. I liked finding out about the closed Gentian, I have never seen one. What a beautiful color purple! And planted by the Lord there for you! Were the caterpillars eating the goldenrod? We have seen many beautiful butterflys lately. One of our neighbors up at the garden plants especially for them. I am so glad.
Now that I am living in an apartment, I VERY much miss just going outside… for no other reason than to just SIT. Thank you so so SO much for sharing this post 🙂
taking time to observe God’s amazing creations is sooo very worthwhile! love this experience you have shared with us
A Nature Sit. What a great idea! I have done them, but never named them before. It’s about time for another one.
I too always take a closer look…how could one not? =)Like you I always call for one of the kids. The big thing this week….Grasshoppers. We’ve seen so many. Tis the season.Also, we learned about butterflies vs. moths. I was surprised at how many butterflies I though were moths out in my garden!Anyway, thanks for sharing some of your east coast nature with us. Your home is beautiful.Happy Wednesday to you. =)
hi shanda…….your’e so funny, thinking people will think you’re strange! that’s one of the reasons i love your blog. well, no, not that you’re strange! i love your blog because i love going on your nature walks, i mean sits, with you. i think it’s awesome how you take time to really see God’s beauty. i try with my boys as much as i can, but of course it’s never enough. all that schoolwork sormetimes gets in the way! we did see the most beautiful sunset from our boat the other night. good thing i had my camera so i could take a picture. the colors and clouds with the rays rising out from the sun were spectacular!
i love that hymn, too. my boys take turns playing hymns in church during communion (using those faber & faber books i know your daughter grace uses/used). i looked up that hymn in their book and for the second line it was different, saying, “early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.” maybe it’s just a different verse?? no matter, it’s a beautiful and simple hymn nonetheless!!
oh, and p.s. loved that photo from yesterday’s post of the scene out your front door. just lovely!! thank you so much for sharing your world with us.
Naw not strange at all just happen to be one of those that take time to smell the roses or in this case peel apart the getians and admire the fur coat of creepy crawly things:) This is a much more fun way to live if you ask me…
I must congratulate you on your nature sit. With all the running and chasing I am sure you do after your two S’s, I’m thinking a nature sit should become a regular part of your schedule.I love the picture looking out of your front door in your previous post (which I just now read), and glad to hear a little bit more about your new way of life.
Hi Shanda,God must find great joy in seeing how you delight in His creation! To answer your question, nope… not strange, but I’ll admit that I don’t bend down enough to take the closer looks. But… I’m planning to be more purposeful about that. In fact, we just checked out some books from our library earlier this week to help us identify trees by their leaves and some other books to learn more about “backyard birds.” Looking forward to finding some woods with my girls soon to do some exploring with our new guidebooks. 🙂 Thanks for reminding us how beautiful it all is!
YES!!! When I see things like this, I get down closer and take photos, though mine aren’t as exciting and gorgeous as yours. I LOVE to get up close and personal like that. What a TREAT to see those catapillars! And oh yes, I do enjoy the nature Sit, especially if I’ve gone on a nature Walk. Then, of course, there’s the Nature Call!
I stopped yesterday as I was heading from my grandmother’s house across the driveway to my parents’ and just stared at the leaves on the big maple out front. They were all half-green, half-red, and it almost seemed like I could see the red creeping further over the green just as I watched. So fascinating! And then two days ago the littles and I picked wild grapes and crabapples, just to see the beautiful combination of colors. This is a wonderful creation God has blessed us with!
You have a beautiful house
Shanda! I not only bend over and observe, I’m a hopeless picker up of flowers and bugs! Brave soul am I!!! LOL
I normally just take a closer looks if it’s with my camera 🙂 So many times I’ll stop to photograph a flower and totally miss a insect or bug close by just waiting for me to leave. It’s only when I go back and look at picture on the computer I’ll see what I missed and wish I could go back and get pictures of it 🙂
I just read yesterday that this kind of white wooly worm was poisonous! Haven’t researched the report but it was posted as true by Snopes.com Hope it’s not.