Stick Pencils and Conkers Week 14

Today before Uncle Nigel left we went to the local park. Hannah had a delightful time being pushed by Uncle Nigel for 20 minutes! In the meanwhile James and I had an explore and looked at the lambs. James found a stick and then started to pretend it was an axe and said he was an axe chopper. He then took that stick home and realised it made marks on the ground. I said the stick is like a pencil and that maybe we should get daddy to use a knife to sharpen it. He then started to write letters on the floor (including a J that was backwards) and as he was writing said the "world in a big piece of paper and this is my pencil!"

While we were at the park James wanted to try and climb a tree. The first branch was quite high so I found a big stone and helped him up - he loved this and was so excited to think that as he got bigger the tree would be easier to climb. As we were doing this I noticed something on the floor - I showed James and he was really interested - they were old cases of something and were spiky. James said they were like a cactus. I thought they had something to do with chestnuts but was not sure. James got to me carry loads in my pocket to take home for the nature basket. I said that may hurt my hand and he said that I "should not squeeze my hand in my pocket too hard!"

When we got home we looked on the computer and saw that they were conker shells from a horse chestnut tree. I am so illiterate with nature BUT I am learning! I explained to James the game you can play with conkers and he was so excited. He asked if he could pick some up - he knows that you can only pick wild things up and not from people's gardens. I said yes and he was so pleased. I noticed a rhyme when I was searching for information - "Oddly oddly onker, my first conker" - you are meant to say that when you see your first conker - the children loved this and kept saying it! We are going to keep looking at the tree - I have had a good look already while James was playing and noticed the leaves look like hanging bananas and that the buds are very sticky!

We now have to wait until the Autumn to be able to play the conker game - something to look forward too. I also read that the best conkers are kept for a year in a dry place to make them really hard. We could have some really good conker games then....

Gummer's How Nature Walk Week 13

This weekend my brother came to stay (Uncle Nigel) and we had wonderful time. We went on a walk to up Gummers How and had the most amazing view at the top. James loved this walk and did some great scrambling and climbing up the stones (it is quite steep). He also loved the stream and had a wonderful time exploring. At the end there was a fallen tree trunk and James spontaneously started taking bark off and hunting for bugs. He then went climbing up and managed to get right to the top - of course Hannah had to climb up too! It was a great walk and I loved the children's delight at being outside.

Exploring the stream on the way up

Lake Windermere from the Top of Gummers How

A Family Photo with Uncle Nigel

Are there any bugs under here?

I think there maybe something here

I found one!

My brother Nigel took this video which shows just how beautiful this place is! It is quite noisy because it was SO windy at the top!

Gummers How is one of the outlying fell Wainwright Walks - we are hoping to do them all as a family.  According to his book it is 390 feet of ascent and is 1 mile there and back.  This is how it is described; "it is a fell walk in miniature, a little beauty, with heather, a few rocks to scramble on,a classic view and a rustic Ordnance column - juts like the real thing; and all so easy to access from a motor road and attainable almost without effort."

Rainbow - Nature Walk Week 12

On our morning school walk there was a shower and the children walked up with their umbrellas. they looked really cute although James is not keen on having his photo taken!

My Wonderful Children in the Rain

As we walked along we then saw a rainbow!

Rainbow on our Morning School Walk

I asked James when there was a rainbow in the Bible and he was able to say Noah. I asked him what it meant and he said it was that God has promised never to flood the earth again. A wonderful little moment to remind James of the Word.

Nature Walk Week 12

We seem to be doing the same route each nature walk at the moment which is lovely as we get to see changes each week as Spring is on it's way. I think next week I may though take her the "Quiet Way Home" - more of that next week :-)

I decided to take my camera this week and although I only took a few pictures - it was a bit of a distraction so I will only take it on occasions. Once I am behing the camera I am not able to see Hannah and being so close to the road - makes it a little stressful (no pavements). I also feel a little like I am looking for the next picture rather than observing and listening.

Our walk took us past a grass verge - Hannah said "Oh look grass" and then wanted to walk on it and feel it underfoot. I am SO forgetful that this is all new to her. This led to a drainpipe and Hannah told me she could hear a drip drip. I pointed out some bubbles and I sang Insy Winsy Spider. As we approached the waterfall there is a large slate of rock that James likes to climb. Hannah went over and attempted to climb and then said "Oh it's slippy!". We walked a little further and Hannah picked a stick in preparation for the waterfall. She knows what to do now! She is so much better at following the stick now and seeing if it floats or gets stuck. As we walked down the gill we looked back at the waterfall and Hannah said "there is a big one and a little one (there is also a little waterfall)"

Hannah standing in front of the Waterfall

What a cutie! Hannah then wanted to go to the Double Chestnut area. So off we went. Hannah wanted to go along the wall. It was SO slippy - although I was holding her she nearly fell a few times! I asked her why she thought it was so slippy and she said because it had been raining. When we got there we played Hide and Seek and then sat down and read Bringing Down the Moon by Jonathon Emmett - it was s special to read a book outdoors. I would love to do more of this.

We walked further down the hill and met Lola the dog and Barry the owner. He is very kind and allows Hannah to give the dog biscuits when she shakes a paw! I think the children have adopted the dog as their surrogate pet! We stopped by the low wall area and Hannah threw in a large stick. We had as look at the waterfall upstream which was beautiful and then walked home.

Looking upstream towards the waterfall, Lindale

Nature Walk Week 11

Hannah and I went for our nature walk this morning. Hannah's favourite way to go home is via the waterfall. Before we got there she immediately said "let's look for sticks". So we had a good hunt and found a few great sticks. I used the opportunity to say "I've a got a long stick and you have a short stick, would you like the long one?" or "Who has the shortest stick?" She does not yet know this concept but I thought it would be good way to introduce her to the words long and short. We were able to find a lot of Y sticks (as in We're Going on a bear hunt) - I did not realise that this was a common shape! It makes sense when you think about it but this was the first time I had really noticed :-) Thank you Charlotte Mason. We spent a little time throwing sticks in and watching whether they got stuck or went over the edge of the waterfall.

After a little while Hannah stood still and said to me SO seriously " I know, I have got an idea!" I said "what is it?" to which she responded "come,come!" She held my hand and we ran all the way down the hill by the stream with her laughingly shouting "faster, faster"  - a beautiful moment until she fell! I said we could slow down and she said "No, let's run again!" We then got to her idea - the little area where we can get so close to the stream. It was then time to throw some more sticks - great for throwing practice! She threw one in and said it was "stuck" but was so pleased when the next one was able to move down the stream. She said "what's that" and pointed to another drop in the stream (probably to do with the old mill) but sadly that is the area of someone's property. We then had a look at the little waterfalls we could see. I am still amazed we live somewhere so beautiful.

She then got excited and ran to the double white chestnut area. We had a good time playing hide and seek - I think she is beginning to get the concept of taking turns an actually hiding and looking! We then met a lady called Lucy who works at the school  - she has a dog called Finley who is a Border Terrier - that is the third we now know in the village! Hannah did some incredible climbing onto the wall to see the dog - her balance is amazing. We then played Owls - we had played this before but Hannah clearly understood the roles now. I wonder what I looked like, standing there with my hands raised saying, "I want my mummy" several times. Hannah then swooped towards me with her arms raised hands and gave me a bug hug.

We then went on to the little daffodil hill - I must take a picture! It is a little area which was betrothed to the people of Lindale forever and it currently has loads of daffodils. This is where Hannah can touch a "berry" tree - (I must work out what it is) and today she took a berry off and held it in her hand and said "Birds' Here you are!" and she waited patiently. She came over to me and said "The birds didn't come" - she was SO sad; I think I need to read Play with Me with her. I encouraged her to smell the daffodils and when she did she said "Yum!" I was getting tired at this point - her stamina is greater than mine ad it confirms my need to get fitter. Hannah then said would you like to sit on the big bench - there is a lower smaller one and a larger higher one (it shows me she knows there is a big and small). There was a little more hide and seek and I managed to persuade it was time to go home!

On the way I asked her where the Octagon Stop sign was - we got near and she said "oh I can only see the back!" - she then worked out that we had to walk around to see the front. She had a look at the little blue flowers and with a few distractions (if that is what they are) including going round the roundabout sign and getting dizzy we got home. A wonderful walk!

Nature Walk Week 10

Hannah and I seem to have found a natural rhythm of walking around the village on a Tuesday. I thought I would record what we see and feel and chat about as a sort of digital nature journal until she /we are able to do more colouring etc in our actual journal. We walked to the Waterfall which is heavy with water at the moment. It is not at it's heaviest but there is enough to make the water white as it falls - what a beautiful sound. Hannah spent her time looking for sticks. She seems more aware that she can throw them in and they go over the top. I spotted a little white flower but she was not interested so we left that - I am learning the gentle art of education by intimacy! It was sticks on the agenda not feathers today.

This photo was taken by someone else on the Internet! I was going to take my camera but knew that it would distract from the moment partly because I am still learning how to use it. I am impressed that others would notice it. It is beautiful and such a blessing to have. We spent some time listening to the water - what a tranquil sound - it reminded me of the living water of the Lord.

We walked down the hill and Hannah say a squashed and dead Daffodil. She was delighted and picked it up and gave it to me. I love the fact that she saw it as beautiful and did not see it's faults. Why as adults do we easily discard the broken?

We then crossed over the road and Hannah walked along the wall (with me holding her hand). It was great because there is a little area that has a really low wall that Hannah can see straight over into the stream as it makes it way down the hill. I think in the summer we could possibly climb over and paddle as I do not think the land at that point belongs to anyone. Hannah said she wanted to stop the waterfall and looked for a stick. She found a BIG stick, threw it in and said Oh that didn't work - science in action!

We walked to the Double White Chestnut area as we now call it. The highlight for Hannah was the cat. I am not sure if the cat was hungry but it was very jittery. Hannah did not see that at all and poured out her love on it. That cat followed us after that. At one point in the little area opposite Hannah climbed and balanced along the whole wall on her own (Mummy I can do balancing now!). She got so close including a hard bit and the cat jumped down. She said "Oh cat don't go away, I do want to care for you." How cute is that!

In the Double White Chestnut area there were some little orange crocuses. I showed Hannah and said shall we look for a little bunny in it as in the Runaway Bunny but she was not that interested where there was not one! I think when ours come out (hopefully) I will hide ur little rabbit in one!

I love the fact that our nature walk is like a PE lesson. Hannah has balanced on walls, climbed up fences and walked sideways (her new thing on the narrow pavements!) She has also twirled herself around the roundabout pole and jumped of steps! It is also literacy as we say a sign that said no parking. I read it to her and she said well the car can go round the gap - I said Yes but it would have to be a small car! When she saw a road sign later - she pretended to read it and said "No parking!"