It has started to dangle!!
My friend Amy and I went up to the dam to try to find more caterpillars (there is lots of milkweed growing there) but we didn’t see anything but red milkweed bugs.
Then, this evening I sent the boys outside to play and David found two more!
He was the special person who found the first caterpillar yesterday.
I told him he had the eyes to see them.
I texted Amy right away. I told her I had triplets.
They live by the sink. We all stop to look at them frequently.
Better than any argument is to rise at dawn
and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.
~Wendell Berry
I gathered a little lunch snack for Sarah and she ate every single thing but the lettuce. And then she wanted more peas so she went outside herself and picked them. She started a project of opening them up to only get the peas out (these are sugar snaps and we generally eat them whole) and she worked until she had about 1/8 of a cup. Then she ate them. Parker the dog ate the cases.
I stayed home from church with her while Rich went with everyone else. I cleaned the kitchen and living room and vacuumed while she rested and kept herself hydrated. I’m very pleased with how she is doing today.
At one point she said, “I’m so sad because I got that beautiful necklace at the hospital and I never got to wear it. It’s lost.” And I said, “No it’s not lost, it’s around here someplace.” “Yes it is! Lost is when you don’t know where something is so… it’s lost.” Then I agreed she was right. Five minutes later she found it.
As soon as they came home from church Ethan took a nap.
Rest on a Sunday. It’s only natural.
I went on the porch to read but I didn’t read for very long because it is a very moth and butterfly sort of day. Quite distracting. I went in the house to get my camera and Dave walked around with me to see what we could see.
There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me. ~Thomas Jefferson
The most exciting thing David found was a monarch caterpillar. We look for them yearly but have not seen any for several years!!
It was rewarding, in a way, because I never ever weed out milkweed in the hopes that we will once again get caterpillars. The milkweed this one was on grew right through the middle of my lilac bush by the kitchen window. Can you see the caterpillar? David spotted it right away. We couldn’t believe how fat it was.
We put it, along with plenty of milkweed, in an old empty aquarium. We will observe it while it forms into a beautiful butterfly….stay tuned!
Naturally, I wanted to go up to the field to try to find more but none of the children would go with me. I went out to the garage, where my husband was waxing his car, and asked him to go along. He agreed to go as soon as he was done with the left fender.
I waited for him by the stream.
We picked some wild blueberries (1/4 of a cup) and I put them in my pocket.
We talked.
We were attacked by mosquitoes.
We saw birds and butterflies.
MOST EXCITINGLY!!!!!!!!!!!
An Indigo Bunting!
what a heavenly blue
It’s mate was there, too, and they were making all kinds of noise to threaten us so we believe their nest was nearby.
God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars. ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Martin Luther
Today has been a blessedly relaxing day after some very fun adventures. I’ve spent the day slowly puttering around the kitchen, cleaning it up, washing down the island with Method wood cleaner, wiping the granite counters, and washing the glass on the doors. I’ve done about 6 loads of laundry and also buzzed to the grocery store just to get milk and things for dinner. We are having corn chip salad tonight, using lettuce from the garden.
Yes, it’s been a quiet sort of day. I even took a nap on the couch, only waking up *about 17 times because of the children coming in and out of the house slamming the door each time*.
Something wonderful has happened to me. There has always been a deep down hankering to walk and hike and I’ve finally met a friend to give me that extra push and camaraderie to do it. Amy, (Ethan’s girlfriend’s mom) is an experienced mountain climber, ice climber, and hiker. She and her family are also our neighbors, and since our kids (obviously) get along so well, she and I have also been visiting and getting to know each other, too.
When school was finishing up for the year, I mentioned to Amy that we should plan a hike together. We ended up deciding on Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. Amy went to college near the mountain and had hiked it many times.
Mount Monadnock is known as one of the most hiked mountains in the world and was admired and visited in the past by such well known men as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. (both of whom I love to quote here on my blog).
Amy and I took along our teenagers. She brought her daughters and niece and I brought David, Ethan, and Grace. (Thank you Michael P for babysitting my youngsters so I could go on this trip.) We were able to take one vehicle — I drove there and she drove back. Everyone in our party each carried their own bag with water and food and we all put sun screen and bug spray on before our ascent up the mountain.
We followed the white dot trail up, which is 2.2 miles. It is the shortest but steepest trail up the mountain and indeed, about half way up I made up my mind to quit. My heart was thudding, I felt sick, my legs were giving out, I was shaking, and I simply decided I could not do it. The kids kept going while Amy stood by me wondering what to do….I begged her to go, trying to hold in the sobs, and told her I would text her and keep in touch so she knew I was okay. So after much begging on my part, she went to catch up with the kids.
I leaned back on a tree and propped my feet up on another tree and slowly drank water. I ate a Cliff bar and rested. I saw several other people hike past me, one of which was an overweight shirtless man. I thought “good grief, if he can do this I should be able to as well.” After 10 minutes or so, I turned back to look up the trail again just in time to see Amy returning. Alas, I had forgotten that I had let David use my phone to take a photo and when she texted me “Are you okay?” and didn’t get a reply, she was worried and came back. “I couldn’t leave you! You just don’t leave people behind on a trail.” It was quite touching to have her come back to me, actually I had tears in my eyes at times thinking about it.
I told her I thought I would be okay to continue since I had rested, so happily we set off again.
The trail was nothing but rocks. I mean, I have to laugh now.
Would I ever go back again? YES!!!
In fact, this mountain keeps returning to my thoughts over and over. I think I fell in love.
Amy and I were both so proud of these kids. They were happy and enjoyed the hike, which meant we were happy, too.
“Look to the north where Grand Monadnock’s height
Enchains the fancy, and rewards the sight;
Such rock-ribb’d hills our own New-England gave
To mould her sons as rugged and as brave.
Ancient Monadnock! Silent pine-girt hill,
Whose majesty could move a Whittier’s quill;
Whose distant brow the humbler pen excites;
Whose purpled slope the raptur’d gaze invites;
Stand thou! Great Sentinel, though nations fall –
In thee New-England triumphs over all!”
H.P. Lovecraft
If you squint and look at the middle of the photo, you can see the little lovebirds, Ethan and Tessa.
The children were most often ahead of their Mothers.
And then in the midst of the Hallelujah chorus playing in my mind, we arrived at the very top! It was windy and there were lots of people there already. We sat and ate some food and then enjoyed the 3165′ elevation and 360 degree views.
David was the best mountain climber among us….hopping and leaping up and down very nimbly. He smiled a lot. Rather than slowing him down, hiking seemed to give him more energy. However, he did fall asleep on the way back home.
mother/daughter love on the mountain tops
((so windy!)) but we were very joyful to be up high breathing in all the fresh air and soaking up the majesty of God’s country. Grace was even amazed to find our old familiar friends *toad tadpoles* in a pool of water.
((mine and Amy’s packs))
The trail back down was (white cross trail) just as difficult as the trail going up. By the time we reached the bottom, our knees were rather shaky.
The feeling of accomplishment was incredible.
The soreness of my muscles even today is also incredible.
As soon as we left the mountain, we headed straight for a refreshing ice cream place right there in Jaffrey, NH.
We went strawberry picking in a quiet open field. There was a nice lady just down the row from us who was friendly and spoke like she had known us forever. From the race of Joseph, I feel sure.
They were 29 dollars and 15 cents for 11.2 pounds.
The air was hot and fresh. The sky was blue.
I remember standing at Grandma’s kitchen counter when she made a fruit pizza (it was the first time I had it). I don’t know why I had to make one today but I did, I had to.
Seth seemed to hang in the air as he leapt from the dock into the warm pond. The boys were happy and carefree. Everyone is getting browner from the sunshine but Michael’s nose is sun burnt and red.
Seth found a beautiful insect.
David had a friend over and there was a feeling of celebration as it was the first day of summer and the house was full of people we loved.
Perhaps that is why I felt the impulse to make the fruit pizza?
All thirteen of us, at four o’clock in the afternoon, had a little summer day pizza party.
The moms sat and chatted at the table while the kids all ran off to play games and swim.
“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…”
― Susan Polis Schutz
Good afternoon, friends. This is a tale of birds and caterpillars.
It just so happens, that in the beginning of this week, I was walking with Caleb, Seth, and Sarah and we discovered a *new to us* bird. It was deeper into the woods, near the adventure trail, on the ground drinking from a small stream. As we came upon it, it flew up into a tree close enough for us to see it in detail. Later that day, I found that it was a yellow-billed cuckoo. I was not able to get a good photo of it, so if you would like to see it you can find a picture and an article here. They are known as “Tent Caterpillar birds” because they eat the hairy caterpillars that are so numerous in the woods these days.
(hairy caterpillars)
I first noticed this year’s caterpillar outbreak at Little League. They were crawling in large numbers up the side of the dugouts. Seth said “they were everywhere”. Sarah was morbidly interested but would not touch them. I wasn’t concerned in the least…but I am now.
Why? you ask? Well, the very day that the children and I went a’walking, I was puzzled by the sound of raindrops falling from the leaves of the trees. I could not understand how the leaves had gotten so drippy-wet, and also: I wasn’t getting any rain drops on MYSELF.
Today I was walking down the road with my cup of coffee when I heard *the sound* coming from the woods again. I went into the house to put down my cup and get the girls. We needed to solve a mystery.
And what we noticed was, in almost every place we looked, we could see at least one growing and munching caterpillar. The woods were alive with the sound of pitter pat droppings, not of rain, but of caterpillar POO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tiny, hard bits of poo. Everywhere. Dropping on the floor of the forest. They were most easy to see, caught in spider webs.
I went online to research, just in case I was crazy. Maybe the little hard brown bits were seeds? Maybe? But I quickly found this article.
“The caterpillars are harmless – but they do like to eat. You can see the buffet of half-eaten leaves on the ground, constantly falling from trees.
“You can actually hear the activity,” Grigoriou said. ‘It sounds like rain.'”
~Matt Scott for Fox 61 news
The activity that sounds like rain happens to be a vast amount of waste product falling from the very hungry caterpillars which cannot stop eating and therefore cannot stop pooping.
Caterpillars of various sizes are all over the place in the woods.
crawling and creeping and haunting
up and down tree trunks
big trees and little trees
they’re everywhere (insert spooky voice here)
eating and eating and eating and eating
and….dropping and dropping and dropping and dropping
Is it nature’s fertilizer?
millions of these little poop balls are littering the ground
along with leaf bits that have been chewed away and lost off of the trees
NEVER IN ALL MY DAYS!!!!!
I’m rather amazed by it all…..and I hope you are, too.
*****
Yesterday we had a pair of ducks on our pond all day long, they were quite a delight to see. The girls and I sat together and watched them.
We had conversations about monogamy, orange feet, how ducks communicate, nests and eggs, and what they must think of us, and do they like it here, will they live here and raise a family, and so on.
Later on that evening, I was watering and weeding the garden when I heard the unmistakeable sound of an Osprey.
Sure enough, I looked up just in time to see one alight in the dead tree with a fresh fish in it’s strong legs. (it was wearing white pants) I ran into the house to get my camera crying out, “Our pond is a bird-feeder!!” and the children followed me out of doors. Rich mourned the loss of another one of HIS fish to wildlife and not a fishing hook.
Look at the legs on this bird! It’s wings look like a cape.
The (poor) fish was flying.
I have a room all to myself; it is nature. ~Thoreau
It had rained that day and we were restless. Therefore, Seth, kitty, and myself went for a rather wet ramble in the woods.
Our feet were soaked…. all the way through our sneakers and socks. Our feet said, “squish, squash” as we stepped and climbed over logs and streams.
The Mountain Laurel was in bloom. These beautiful shrubs are Connecticut’s state flower. As we drove along the roads on Sunday, to and from church, I looked deeply into the woods and could see Mountain Laurel everywhere.
Things were very drippy on our wet walk day.
We found two very small bushes of bog laurel, a pretty blossom. They were growing among the Mountain Laurel.
We saw an inch worm dangling from it’s thread.
It was amusing to watch it climbing back up, slowly, awkwardly, and methodically.
It was afraid of our eyes looking at it so closely.
The woods were very jungle-like, especially after a nice rain
a secret place…does an tiny elf or mouse visit here sometimes?
(Incidentally, last night I was on the couch watching TV and half asleep with Rich. The boys went outside to play “man hunt” just in time to rescue a perky eared, black eyed mouse from the cat. They brought it inside within a cup to show me, but I didn’t know what they were bringing until they handed it over and I looked inside. 9:30pm is much too late in the day to admire mice.)
my funny Seth
We went to find some wild strawberries but we didn’t eat this one.
Someone was already eating it.
I fed my son wild strawberries while he was busy looking for cool rocks.
“Put them in your pockets,” I said, and he did.
We crossed the stream to get home quicker and I stopped by the chicken coop to get……….
…..the eggs!
Want some?
You’re never going to believe this!!
I saw a pileated woodpecker like 9 years ago down by the stream and I’ve been wanting to see another ever since.
This morning I saw three!
They were hopping around and perched in the big tall dead tree in the far front of our property. I heard one of them make a call and observed one grooming it’s feathers. I snuck down the hill with my binoculars and the camera, quickly changing the settings to 24MP so I could make a nice print if I was blessed enough to get a good picture. I say blessed because I was praying the entire time.
so happy!
“Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell –
He is my Father so they’re mine as well”
“There is nothing like family,” Mom leaned over and whispered in my ear as we watched little Weston struggle to move a heavy chair, one handed, with his paper plate full of food in the other hand. He wanted to sit by Uncle Isaac. No one was noticing him but Mom and I, from across the way……
*****
Good morning, my friends! It is Wednesday and in my neighborhood, it is sunny with a nice cool wind. There are freshly washed linen sheets waving in the sweet outdoors, pinned up on a porch clothesline. I just washed my hands and dug dirt out from under my fingernails after weeding and tending our baby plants in the gardens. The chickens have been let out. ‘Tis the season for trips into the woods for sticks, in order to stake up the peas. Everything is growing out there, it’s green and full and lush. The cats visited me in the gardens and chewed on plants and rolled in the good clean dirt.
I listened to the birds while bending over the garden.
(This morning I became a member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology!)
On Sunday, we hosted a pig roast/baptism/Bible study. I know, the pig is rather disturbing. In fact, our 7 year old Seth refused to eat any of it after witnessing such a sight on the grill. However, it was delicious.
Rejoice with me! My son Caleb has been baptized. He is 10 years old, soon to be 11 and loves Jesus and people so very much. He has a tender and loving heart that has been a source of abundant joy to me and his Dad since the day he was born. His hugs knock me off balance every time (multiple times a day). He told me this morning that it is “Step up Day” at school. He is visiting the Middle school with his class. He hung his head down against me and confessed, “I don’t ever want to grow up.” I could very well nurture this attitude because, frankly, I feel the same way. But I have to make his see that it is better to grow according to God’s general plan for humanity, even if it does hurt at times. So I say, not “I don’t want you to grow up either!!!!!!!!!!!”, “Caleb, of course you do! It’s going to be fun!”
And our dear Emily, Jacob’s girlfriend, was also baptized.
Wally had the honor of baptizing his son Jimmy, on his very own 72nd birthday. He told me it was the best day of his life. So you see, you just never know what Father God will bring to you in the future. The best is yet to come!
Rich and I set up tables in the garage for the food. Everyone was so generous in bringing side dishes. The only thing we had to do was prepare the house and yard, hire someone to do the pig roast, and supply coffee and water bottles.
I cut fragrant lilacs, which conveniently bloomed a few days before the picnic, and filled mason jars and vases.
People brought their own chairs and several people took pictures throughout the day. It’s been fun to getting the emails.
Jacob had the camera for a little while and took this photo from the porch during Bible study.
I sat by Larissa, and Emily during the Bible study. It was a hot and humid day (in the opinion of New Englanders, but I’m sure Larissa was cold, as she is from Texas).
From my seat, I took a panorama. It’s always exciting to try to keep the arrow on the line.
After the Bible study, pretty much every one left. But it was nice to have a few people stay longer, including my parents and brother Isaac, and sister in law Cassandra. Sarah had a great time playing catch with her Aunt Cassandra. They counted all the way to 200 catches! (standing in the shade)
Mom and I went for a walk and counted 10 lady’s slippers. They are Mom’s favorite wild flower and it was a thrill to have her discover some in a new spot, too.
We heard a woodpecker up in the trees.
We were also looking for as many wild flowers as we could. We pointed everything out to each other. (I think God was smiling)
Don’t you just hate it when you have to do your growing in a dry, uncomfortable spot. Do you know what I think when I see this sort of thing happening in nature? “What a determined and adorable plant.”
Mom.
Several of our guests on Sunday stated that Mom and I “could pass as sisters” and it is true. As I am her firstborn, she was very young and newly married when she had me. I am forty now, and she is fifty eight. I am grateful for every day of my life with her and she is one of my best friends. She has taught me more by actions than words what is important in life; Christ, marriage, family, and the sweet simple gifts in life like birds and flowers, gardens and work.
My little children, let’s not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:18
Who is wise and understanding among you? By her good conduct let her show her works in the meekness of wisdom. James 3:13
(We all make mistakes and have bad days, but moments don’t prove what a life is, and my mom’s life has been a quiet, unpretentious life of love and work. We come from simple, earthy, country stock……….)
She, as well, grew up with a Mother of gardens, sunshine, home cooked meals, walks in the woods, trees, and flowers.
The influence of mothers (and fathers) goes on and on.
^^Do you see the toad?^^
Dear dad blew bubbles with the kids, played drums and guitar with E, football with Caleb, and probably other things that I missed while running around hosting the picnic. We sat on the porch and visited and talked.
Dad loves me. I can tell by his face.
Or maybe it’s mom, since she is the one taking the photo.
Both.
When mom and dad had to leave, it was 8 at night. The sun was down and Caleb walked his Grandma to the car.
“O Zion haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
to tell to all the world that God is light.
That He who made all nations is not willing
one soul should perish, lost in shades of night.
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.”
~Mary A. Thompson
(I sang the chorus as I published this blog post and David said, “I never know when you are going to burst into song.”)
The other morning, I was looking for my computer cord and I ended up outside birdwatching. We all know how these things happen.
It’s exciting to see birds at my bird feeder but even more exciting to find them out in nature living their little feathered lives.
I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
Psalm 50:11
They all look at me with such suspicion!
There is a lot of stuff in the air this week, it lands on the top of the stream and gathers in front of logs across the water….that white stuff is all little fuzzies and bits….the ponds are the same way, covered with a film of allergens.
I see a football, too.
In the very bright sunshine, Jacob and Emily helped me dig up a little Pinxter bush from the side of the road! I was very excited, truth be told, Jacob did ALL the work. But he had a captive audience and Emily had a tiny speaker clipped to her belt buckle so we listened to tunes, too.
We planted it right by the bench that Ethan put together for me. I’ll never forget this day that we planted it together, me, my son, and his girlfriend. It was fun and I look forward to seeing it grow and grow through the years.
While I was birdwatching, I found this perfectly good board on the side of the road. I brought it home and washed it and asked Jacob to paint it. We are going to hang it up by the pond where we have many frogs and the occasional toad.
Good to be Home 