Nature Study at the River

We now live near a river, walking distance in fact. And what a great opportunity it is for nature study. I can hardly call this school. It’s just refreshing and enjoyable. Besides enjoying the outdoors ourselves, I really enjoy seeing others doing so — fishing or just playing in the mud.

Here’s the bridge over the bend of the river closest to our home.

With a view like this, you can forget you’re in a city for a short while.

The bridge is right ahead of Sprite in this shot.

We were smart enough to bring along a bucket, a net, and a butterfly net. Here Sprite is catching the tiniest of fish.

You can see people dotting the banks. It’s not totally isolated, but for China, it’s about as “alone” as you can get.

Not nature, but doesn’t this boat remind you of The Story of Ping? The fisherman had crabs in the net bags hanging from the side of the boat.

I was so pleased to identify Queen Anne’s Lace for Sprite and tell her how I used to use the tiny bouquets for my Barbie dolls.

The tadpoles were huge and were sprouting tiny legs.

We identified celery growing in a small patch. (Chinese celery is skinnier than what I always bought in America. I’ve seen the”fat” kind here too, but the skinny type seems to have a stronger flavor so I prefer it now.)

We got out of the habit of nature walks and nature study for many months. I missed it, but was not at all motivated during the winter months to really do anything about it. With the warmer temperatures of spring, I am thrilled to find such a wonderful gem of an area within walking distance of our home. There is still much of the river bed to explore.