Chickadees in Chalk Pastels

We took the time this week to work on a new art project. Besides the need to get some new art time in, our powder room needed a new round of art to adorn its walls!

Our family always enjoys working with Hodgepodge Mom's pastel art tutorials and this time I pulled out her new ebook- A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels. It's pretty easy to have everyone at the table with our supplies out, including my laptop, to learn a new project.

We're off to a great start!

We consulted our field guide for some details and our feeder has been fairly busy with chickadees recently. You can almost always catch them at the feeder when you walk by our french doors. I love to combine art with nature study- what better way for our Creator to speak to us than through His creation. Make the time! It always brings a measure of peace to our day.

Not bad E14!

Art is so effortful for E14...yet I always love his work in chalks.

A nice plump chickadee drawn by I10!

This is the sweetest bird by J7! I love his lines. And look at that painterly effect!

Isn't it lovely? R12 loves to chalk and made several more besides this one- she always chalks on long after the lesson is finished!

R12's finished chickadee on display in funky bathroom lighting...

A gift which will be sent along to its destination shortly

All four are displayed in our powder room where guests can enjoy them too!

The best part about chalk pastels is their forgiving nature. They can a little messy, but it doesn't last long and the results are always worth the effort.

My new favorite way to enjoy our children's artwork is to put it up around our home. Seeing their finished, framed work on our walls always brings a smile to my face. These four framed pieces are on the wall in our powder room which is delightful even to guests when they see it. I like to keep spare dollar store frames handy for gift giving and to rotate out and around the artwork. Thank you to Tricia and Nana for sharing this medium and all the lessons with us!



A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels
A full school year of chalk pastel art lessons. Lucia Hames, Nana to the Hodgepodge family, teaches forty-five lessons. Her simple instructions will have you creating masterpiece drawings in no time.

Please know this is an affiliate link. If you purchase this item, you'll be supporting Blog, She Wrote. Thank you!

Nature Study: Copperhead Snakes

Isn't it great when a study of nature just lands right in your lap? On Wednesday R12 and the younger boys were out behind the house in the woods exploring the various trails and getting to know our yard some more. I was upstairs folding laundry- have I mentioned the washer and dryer is in the hallway outside the bedrooms? Yeah...it's pretty cool.

Anyway, as I was folding R12 came running up the stairs to tell me she'd seen a snake. I asked what kind and she didn't know so I asked her what color it was. I was expecting to hear "black", but instead she answered, "tan with diamonds". I put down the laundry and we went immediately to the laptop for a little snake identification. Because where I come from, "tan with diamonds" is not really a snake to mess with. Whatsoever. 

I showed her pictures of the Copperhead and of the Timber Rattler and thankfully she decided it wasn't either of those. She settled on a garter snake- I guess the diamond pattern was small not big.

Photo of the Copperhead from Public-Domain-Image

However, we did have a look at lots of Copperhead facts because they are found around here and we do have a wood pile. We enjoyed copperhead-snake.com which had all sorts of facts about copperheads. For example, did you know that copperheads give birth to live young?

We have not taken the time to do a drawing yet, but I think we will. Living among boxes does not lend well to activities like drawing, but I happen to know where our nature box is and I think we can find the chalk pastels. There were some things I kept out and didn't pack. These items are among the chosen few!

Every time the kids run out to the woods I tell them to come back and tell me something new they saw. This time it provided a great lesson on snakes and snake safety!

Cornell Lab of O & a Special Visitor!

Yesterday we had a chance to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the second time in a few days. This time it was to host a special blogging friend and her family.

The under story in Sapsucker Woods is particularly green right now. We had a great walk.

We saw some trillium and R11 and our Special Guest had a lot of conversation over wildflowers.

Heather and Barb (and J6)!

I have to tell all of you how delightful it was to meet Barb along with her husband and two boys. We had a fabulous time walking through Sapsucker Woods and identifying bunches of birds and would you believe that as we were watching a chipmunk and a small toad, the chipmunk ate the toad? Just jumped out of a tree hole and grabbed it!

Barb had not been to a forest in our area so she learned some new things on Monday. I'm so excited she took the time to contact me and it was a privilege to have a chance to go on a nature walk with Barb!

Barb it was fantastic! Let's sit over lunch again sometime! This time I want to see some sequoias!

Connecting Kids through Birds: Bird Migration

I've mentioned before that we are participating in a pilot program through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology this year. The program is called Connecting Kids through Birds and involves Wiki pages and reporting the actions we take as we go through the program. I'm not entirely sure what the plan is for this curriculum once the pilot is complete. This year is actually the second year of the pilot involving more educators than the first effort. We are all over the country and there is a coordinator local to each region who helps with interaction with the Lab of O.

I decided to try it out and see if a homeschooler could join the group. Success! Now I'm reviewing the curriculum from the eyes of a homeschooler. I think it is a great program and we'll see how it becomes available to the public in the future. Currently, some of you may be familiar with programs like BirdSleuth. Since there is a connection with other classrooms piece to this, I'm not sure how that will look for availability for homeschoolers. I'll be sure to let you know the final result.

In the meantime, we've been doing lessons in the categories of migration, conservation, science collaboration, and citizen science.

We played a little game showing why birds migrate- for resources!

J6 reads to us about the robin- afterward we talked about why a robin migrates. His food source goes dormant for the winter- of course.

We've really enjoyed the video links we've been given to view as part of our lessons. The other day we did a lesson on shared habitats and how we can conserve bird habitats. Next up is some bird watching and we'll be planting some bird friendly sunflowers and taking a field trip. Once the we finish the lessons, I will turn in my evaluation and we get some new binoculars and a new field guide. We're pretty excited for both!

First Day of Spring!

We spent the first day of spring having a lovely walk at the arboretum at the Cornell Plantations. We needed to be out for a realtor open house (remember our house is on the market) and most of the kids wanted an outdoor outing. After all, it was the first day of spring and it was unprecedentedly warm! In fact, the arboretum doesn't normally open for vehicle traffic until the end of April. Golf resorts and other outdoor destinations can't argue with the freakishly warm March weather so they just opened up and started the season.

Honestly...this is color is about a month ahead of schedule. Even forsythia aren't out until mid-April normally.

We wound around all over the place- there are lots of paved pathways for good walking.

What a surprising find on this college campus walk...

Those trees make it look like a normal March around here!

Our navigators always prefer to have a map in hand. There will be great plans on our next visit.

We had a nice two mile walk, but I did eventually head back to the car. Next time we go, we'll do some more exploring. There were people walking everywhere. Who can resist?

My plan is to return once a week over the next month or so to see the changes in the plants leafing out and blooming. I'll be sure to take some of these same shots.

Happy Spring!

Spring for a Day!

If you live anywhere on the east coast of the US, then you know that yesterday was a pretty nice day! Even here in NY it was 62 degrees on March 7th which is pretty cool. I decided it was time to get out for the day and have some fun- especially given we've been hard at work on our house (we listed on Monday!).

We spent the afternoon at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Here's a peek at our fun time! (pardon the cell phone pictures- I broke the memory card for our Canon)

Lots of birds are back in town. It was fun to hear all the chatter there yesterday. Check out this terrible picture of a great blue heron its nest. Yes, that's him there standing on the nest.

After we had walked a while we sat for some reading- R11 pulled out her sketch easel (home made) and made some drawings.

This is one of five books we have going right now for read alouds- We started Swallows and Amazons yesterday. We are looking forward to some really fun summer adventure with this one! We stopped and read this for a bit while out and about on the trail.

Then it was back to walking...I9 was our navigator and chose a new route.

J6 loved seeing the changes in the wetlands- still some ice down there, but it is fast fading already. For the moment. I keep thinking winter is going to come in earnest at some point. I guess maybe not this year.

Hi friend! We must have seen 20-30 red winged blackbirds in the trees on an island near the observatory. This is my very favorite bird call- what says spring and summer more than the red-winged black bird call? Go ahead and hit that link to have a listen.

At home we followed with a game of Equate- great math game.

All in all, it was a great homeschooling day! Over the next 24 hours we'll be back to weather reality for a NY March, but it was a fun day of spring for us.

I'm going to spend the next long while focusing on our school and having a good time with the kids. It's long over due after a month of preparing our house to sell.  I'll be able to step up the blogging along with that. I already have some posts to share!

Look at That Sky!

J6 has been pretty sick for about four days or so now. He had a high fever and a horrible sore throat along with conjunctivitis- one dr's visit revealed no strep, but the virus lingered on and boy that fever was ugly! He and I were buds for days with plenty of extra snuggles. At one point while we were sitting together on the sofa he was facing the window and exclaimed, "Mommy look at the sky! We HAVE to sketch it!"

He was pretty taken with the clouds and then the line of color just above the trees.

So, I agreed with his delight in the colors (and who wouldn't?) and asked if I should snap a photo so we could remember and make the sketch later when he was up for it. He liked that idea.

We hope to sketch tomorrow, but considering it's 3 degrees out and there's snow on the ground...that wet pavement is a thing of the past!

Anyway, I had to share our nature study inspiration success from the feverish 6yo who thought to sketch the sky.

Falconry Apprenticeship

E13 is moving right along with his apprenticeship in falconry. We are so excited to see him start down this road. This summer he received his packet and we began getting things checked off. He and Dan took the hunter safety class a few weeks ago and achieved success. They are both card carrying safe hunting ready. In order to have a falconry license, you must also have a small hunting license (since you will be hunting with your bird of prey) and a hunting license requires a hunter safety class. So, we can check that class off!

We've been waiting patiently for our master falconer's hawk to get her flight feathers and then E13 will get to watch him work with his bird and get to know what its like to be around them and care for them. He's also started studying for the falconry exam.

In the meantime, there are some other apprentices ready to trap their hawks and we were invited along! One is waiting on his federal license so he's not quite ready, but another was ready to trap a hawk and had her trapping permit in hand. She had previously worked with a red tail and was working with a kestrel for the past year and it took off on her during the height of migration season. She needed a new bird. We set off on an adventure Monday morning to follow and learn. It was an amazing experience!

There were a lot of red tails soaring above the trees- we got out to take a look. Of course, we were armed with binoculars, though we could use a better pair.

The traps are set with rodents and birds inside because they irritate one another and the movement will attract the attention of a hawk that is perched nearby. If you look closely, you'll see lots of nooses on the top of the cage. When the hawk flies down, it's feet will get caught up in the nooses and that's it!

We followed them around and it was down this farm lane that they were finally able to successfully trap a red tail. The others kept flying away when they'd spot one and jump out to lay down the trap.

The state game farm raises pheasants for hunting- lots and lots of pheasants!

Hawk trapping does require patience. This apprentice falconer held out and tried one more time. She reached success after 3 hours!

We were surprised to see the falconer emerge with the bird being held like a baby. They stay very calm for several hours after being caught.

Once caught, they weighed the bird to see if it was male or female. This one is a male...is he handsome or what?  The falconer puts an aba on the bird. This covers the wings and calms the bird down- then the hawk gets a hood. The hood keeps them from seeing lots of movement- especially before it is trained.

A view from outside the arboretum not far from our trapping site. It was such a lovely day I couldn't resist!

Here are a few things we learned while out with the falconers on Monday morning: (we counted over 20 things, but we won't make you read them all)

•  Hawks can get into it with squirrels. If you look at the feet of a hawk and they are scarred and messy, then the bird is a squirreler and some falconers look for this in a bird.
• Squirrels can bite a hawk so hard that they sever tendons, cause infection, and tear muscle in a hawk's feet.
• If you accidentally get a turkey vulture in your trap, they will spit vile green yuck on you!
• You can only trap juvenile hawks.
• Adult hawks are called haggards.
• This hawk was hatched in April or May of this year and is now on it's own.

We are looking forward to the next trapping adventure when the apprentice J has his trapping permit. The game farm is a great location to get hawks so my guess is we'll be there again next time. If you'd like to learn more about the sport of falconry, The Modern Apprentice is a great website. E13 has begun studying for his NY state falconry exam and since I'm helping out, it's been very interesting!

Pumpkin Patch & Cornell Plantations

Last Monday we went on a field trip to the farm for a hayride and a pumpkin from the patch. On the way to our homeschool co-op in the afternoon, we decided to stop by the Cornell Plantations because we had extra time after eating our lunch. We had such a great time, the kids wanted to stop on the way home after co-op as well. Here's a picture tour of our fun day.

The patch...a view from the hay wagon on our way by. Remember- you are never too old for a hayride!

R11 found some pumpkin blossoms in the patch and politely asked the farmer if she could pick it for her flower pressing class that afternoon. She was allowed to pick it and it is pressing very nicely.

The visitor's center was closed on Columbus Day...or maybe they are always closed on Mondays?

I made sure to point out any laurel to J6 who encountered some mountain laurel while rowing Down, Down the Mountain (yup...there's a post coming eventually!)

OK Handbook of Nature Study fans...who do you think Comstock Knoll is named after? The author of our beloved nature study text was the first female faculty member at Cornell.

Thought some folks were enjoying a contemplative atmosphere, my kids were trotting through the gardens- taking it all in, of course.

Some areas had these information bearing books nearby where you could learn about the flowers and their cultural references.

Every garden needs a sundial! What time did I snap this photo?

I reminded R11, just in case. No flower picking for pressing here!

On the way home we visited the arboretum portion of the plantations- my personal favorite.

We witnessed a lot of goose on duck bullying and the kids really enjoyed just staying put and watching for a long while. That was cool. The day was gorgeous- 70 and sunny. Just lovely.

Ah autumn...easily my favorite season of the year. Especially on a day like this one.

We kept hearing a bell being rung in the distance and we couldn't figure out its origin until we toured the rest of the arboretum in the van. We found the bell. And let me say that just after this picture was taken I nearly went deaf. I9 hit it as hard as he could and none of us were prepared for the result! The hammer reminded me of the one in The Magician's Nephew.

A view from the top

I don't know what's taken me so long to visit the plantations, but we will make a regular visit routine for sure. I've heard it is really nice to go weekly in the spring to see everything coming out. I will look forward to that!

Autumn in NY is well underway and we are past the leaf color peak at this point. It's starting to look a lot like November and before long the snow will begin to fly! Last year our first snow was on Halloween. That is a little more than a week away.

In the meantime, we'll choose some seasonal art projects to do and share them when they are finished. Since this was a spontaneous trip that day, we weren't prepared entirely for sketching. So, stay tuned!