Too busy enjoying life to blog life. (I’ve got a TON of drafts that need polishing to publish, but it’s spring. So please forgive me. I’m like a bear coming out of hibernation. Fresh air to breathe! Sunshine to absorb! Friends to meet!)

I did find a quick post  that requires little work on my part. God did the amazing parts and should get full credit.

Mr. Oreo is as fascinated as we are.

Sprite and I have a new hobby.

We are amassing a collection of river rocks. We spend hours on the shores of the river, washing rocks and evaluating their charms — an interesting shape, beautiful colors, a smooth texture.

Then we look through them one more time to make sure they are worth carrying all the way up the bank and back home.

When we get home, we wash them properly, allow them to dry and spray them with clear paint to make them look just like they look when wet. It’s such a simple hobby. We feel like we’re finding treasures for free on the ground. You just never know what the next rock will look like. It’s actually a popular hobby where we live, here along the Yangtze River. Some rocks are quite amazing and sell for equally amazing prices. Of course, we don’t look to get rich except in enjoying God’s creation among the river rocks.

We both think that it’s a true gift to be able to get so much joy from such an ordinary thing — a rock.

This rock below is one of my favorites. This spotted texture is called “grape stone” in Chinese. They are somewhat rare and rock collectors love them.

We are trying to come up with ways to display our rocks so we can enjoy them frequently. Here is one idea:

If you have other rock display ideas, please let me know. We are starting to get quite a collection.

Related posts:

1. Another Walk at the River
2. Countryside River Nature Study
3. Nature Study at the River

We seem to be feast or famine when it comes to nature study, and I’ve come to accept that. When the opportunity to explore nature arises, we take it wholeheartedly. (Likewise, when the chances aren’t there, I refuse to feel guilt about it. ) So the weekly nature study hasn’t been our norm even though I love the concept. If we lived in a rural area, I think it would happen, but urban life honestly makes nature study more challenging.

During our overnight stay in the countryside, our friend took us to the river to find crabs. We didn’t find any crabs, but on our two hour walk each way, we had plenty of other nature finds!

We mostly walked through farmer’s fields like these.

But of course, we walked on the paths that keep you out of the paddies. We still ended up quite muddy, though. But that’s part of the charm of a nature walk.

Everywhere were ducks! And later we understood why.

We had seen these red balls at the riverbank near our home, but we couldn’t figure out what they were. Our friend told us they were snail eggs.

Once we started looking, we saw snails everywhere — small ones and huge ones.

After doing some research online, I realized why the ducks were in all the rice fields. They eat the snails! Too many snails can ruin the rice crop, but the ducks keep them at bay. (And people eat the large snails.)

A puppy followed us until we had to wade through water. Then he went back home.

We picked tangerines on the way for snacks. (Our friend told us which trees were his friends’ trees.)

We passed country homes and barns.

Finally we went down to the river bank and crossed over a grassy area with some pools of water. (It was basically a river’s equivalent of tide pools.)  We ended up just taking off our socks and shoes and wading through the cold water. It was quite exhilarating.

This water buffalo chased us until it reached the end of its tether. Thank goodness we all got away! It was pretty scary, but of course made for lots of joking and brave stories later.

Wildlife was abundant — goats out to graze, a crayfish,

a strange insect among the river rocks, and birds flying in perfect formation.

We stood watching this dredging operation for quite a long time. The machines were picking up river stones from the riverbed and sorting them by size.

We caught a tiny catfish and even managed to get him all the way home. After keeping him for two days, we set it free in the little pond area in our own apartment complex. The Handbook of Nature Study calls this fish a bullhead fish.

Here is the nature journal page about the snails and their eggs.

Related posts:

1. Nature Study at the River
2. Nature Study — Scrambled Egg Tree
3. How We are Doing Nature Study

We recently took a ride in a boat somewhat like this. A woman paddled at the rear.

It was quiet and green:  two of my favorite sensations.

We saw a monk paddling a smaller boat to his temple. My husband asked him to show us some kung fu. The monk, a young boy in his teens, responded calmly, “Kung fu is not meant for performances.” (Yeah, tell that to Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee!)

I forgot the bug repellent, and we were almost miserable with itchy legs and arms. But one bug caught our fancy. Partway on the trip, we stopped for a “shopping opportunity” where we bought this fellow for 1 RMB.

The bottom section of his leg had been snapped off and this stick was glued there instead. (Yes, that made us very sad.)

The idea is that when the beetle flies to escape, he merely spins in circles. So you’ve got a little pet on a stick.

Quite fascinating to watch, but we pitied the poor thing and set it free.

Where bad beetles end up — in the snack bowl. You could buy a pet beetle or a beetle snack. A local man ate one just to show me how to do it. He bit off the body portion and discarded the head. He said it was tasty. I chose to take his word for it. We didn’t buy any beetle snacks.

Shining Dawn Books has 3 new units and a contest!

• Butterflies Flutter By- A unit packed full of caterpillar and butterfly information and activities.
• Constant Conifers – A unit that takes you on an in-depth tour of the amazing conifer plant.
• Fruits and Nuts – A unit that opens your eyes to the wonderfully varied and interesting world of edible and inedible fruits and nuts.

Enter to win by Sunday, August 16th.

These are quality unit studies, folks! I’ve used the erosion one and was most impressed.

Not too long ago, I had my mom ship me some craft supplies I ordered online. (Thanks, Mom!) In the package was Nature Print Paper. It’s a fun and easy sunny day craft idea. Our weather is hot, hot, hot with lots of bright sun! So I pulled out the nature print paper this week.

We collected some interesting shapes from outdoors and placed them on the paper. We learned that keeping the objects flat on the paper produces the crispest outlines. So for the leaves, we placed a clear sheet of heavy plastic over it all to lightly press everything down. (The shell is on top of the plastic.)

And this is the result we got.  Photosensitive paper is an interesting addition to your nature studies. We’ll probably put these pages into Sprite’s nature journal.

Related posts:

1. Homemade Wrapping Paper
2. Nature Sit Not Nature Walk
3. Countryside River Nature Study

Sprite with a Nest

Water Running Down

The ladies at Shining Dawn Books allowed me to preview my choice of Nature Study Kit. Wow! Was this a fun project! Since we live by a river, I thought the Erosion kit would be most appropriate. Although I’ve always loved geology, it’s not been something we’ve integrated into our nature studies. The nature kits include book lists, background information, tips for the nature walk, and LOADS of ideas for additional projects. Oh, did I mention that there are also printables you can use for nature journaling? The ideas helped to focus our attention during our nature walk. And if we want to, we can easily expand this study into an entire unit study.

Holes Formed by Flowing Water

erosion on a hill

I photographed examples of erosion that we found. All of these were things that the NaturExplorers kit alerted me to.

We found many, many smooth rocks. It’s one of our favorite parts of walking along the river.

Related posts:

1. How We are Doing Nature Study
2. Dragonfly Nature Study
3. Nature Study Surprise

(Originally posted  Sept. 27, 07 at my old blog)

A Creature on a Leaf

But this is my eye-opener — God reveals Himself through nature; therefore, we must study nature! There is actually a theological reason to study nature! God reveals Himself (His character, law and wrath) through the natural world that He created.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. . . “

If we neglect to study nature, we will probably miss some truths about Him. I don’t want to miss it! I want to learn all I can. And more importantly, I want my daughter to see God through nature. I would never dream of omitting the Bible from our curriculum. Likewise I should not omit the study and enjoyment of nature.

Psalm 19:1-3 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”

I am so excited by this discovery. And now as part of our working on the nature journal the next day at home, I’m going to add this question, “Since God reveals His character, law, and wrath through nature, did you sense any of that on our nature walk yesterday? Did God reveal any of Himself to you during that time?”

DD’s answer this week was, “He’s amazing! He made those insects so beautiful!”  Yes! God revealed His Divine Creator character to her through nature.

I’m not talking about worshiping nature here. We understand what animism is, and we don’t fit the bill. I’m talking about seeing up the beam of light all the way to God (as C.S. Lewis said).

You know, I blogged about the nature walks mostly because I knew that if I did, I’d be accountable to my readers to DO it. But now I see that I’m actually accountable to God to lead my daughter in the study and enjoyment of nature!

Col. 1:16 “. . . All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Related posts:

1. How We are Doing Nature Study
2. Erosion Nature Study
3. Dragonfly Nature Study

Highlights from our Sunday afternoon at the river.

We found a perfect shrimp exoskeleton on a rock.

We love our Chaco sandals! You can wade right into the water with them but still have firm footing. When you get out of the water, the straps dry quickly.

Wading with Chacos On

An eel was nosing around the bank. I almost stepped on it! (If you click on the photo, you’ll go to Flickr where the photo has some explanatory notes to help you see it better.)

river eel

And a flock of ducks that gave Sprite a lot of amusement, chasing and catching.

chasing ducks

chasing ducks

caught a duck!

Sprite did some journaling in her nature notebook when we returned home. It’s so good to be back into nature study again. The river is such a fun place to explore!

Related posts:

1. River Rocks
2. Countryside River Nature Study
3. Nature Study at the River

Do you see it? When I photographed it, it was merely a rock with algae and some barnacles. But after I uploaded it, I was amazed to see a fish’s head!

Fish Head Rock

There’s a word for seeing images inside something else –pareidolia.
If you’re interested, browse the Pareidolia Flickr group where you can see other pics like this. Sometimes I can’t see what I’m supposed to see, but Sprite always can! She’s got an eye for pareidolia. She’s constantly seeing faces or animals in inanimate objects. It’s part of her visual-spatial gifting.

Related posts:

1. Feeding Fish
2. Tofu Grilled Fish