I started school again, too, and it's super busy around here. I've made cuts here and there (social life, housework, etc.), but you know I'm not going to stop going outside and taking the kids with me. I just want to share a few happy pictures from the month of September.
A lovely argiope. They and their zig-zagged webs are always so beauitful.
This is one of the best sources of joy to me. I love seeing my children when they're getting along and enjoying their time in the beautiful outdoors. Of course, I had to shout at Trusten to remind him not to hang on my redbud's limbs.
Purple aster (Symphyotrichum patens)
Tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum)
Hag moth caterpillar (Phobetron pithecium)
I did not initially know what this was. I'd never seen one. William tried gently flipping it over with a stick, but it lost its leg, so he stopped bothering it. I was fascinated. I turned the chair every which way and got in all sorts of positions to investigate. It looked like some sort of sea life to me. The underneath had what looked like suction cups, and it reminded me, overall, of a sea star. When I realized it couldn't be an echinoderm, I suspected it was a strange caterpillar. By the end of the day I determined that it was a toxic, stinging hag moth caterpillar.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think this green, spiked caterpillar with red spots is likely the toxic, stinging crowned slug (
Isa textula). I wish I'd have taken a better picture. I guess I just took a quick shot with my iPhone instead of grabbing my digital camera.
This lunar eclipse was a "super blood moon," because the moon was at its perigee, causing it to appear larger. We all went outside for awhile to watch, and not only was this the only time I'd ever taken decent pictures at night (I now have a tripod, but it's a
very short one that came with the camera, so I need a better one), but it was the best lunar eclipse I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. I was pleased with how well they came out, considering I'd never before taken pictures with a tripod. These pictures don't come even close in comparison, of course, with the real sight. I truly felt so joyful and alive during that time outside, gazing at the moon. It truly was a spectacular wonder to behold. My happiness levels during times such as this max out. I've truly been blessed with seeing all sorts amazing things in nature this year. This was the third cosmological event I went outside to see. I really enjoyed the
Venus and Jupiter event that occurred back in June, but this was
by far better. Seriously, I've either been able to view partial eclipses in past years, somewhat ok complete eclipses during very late, very cold hours, from within the house, or have missed out on what would have been decent viewings due to cloudy skies. So, needless to say, I was
thrilled that this worked out for me. And on a SUPER blood moon!
This is a typical part of Elizabeth's days—playing with dinosaurs. Looks as if she's got a wooden rhino there, too, as well as a Rainbow Dash pony.
Liv rolling out dough for pizza crust
This October will make ten years since my sweet Asher was born, and November will make ten years since he died. I've kept his hand and foot casts in my cedar chest. It hurt Nathan entirely too much to have much of anything out in view, after we lost Asher, so I've kept it to two pictures all these years. I decided it would probably be ok to bring some things out now, and it makes me happy to remember him (the good times) when I see these. What good are they hidden in a chest. A couple pieces had broken off, but they're mostly intact. I think most of the base for the foot had broken in the mail when Children's Mercy Hospital sent them to me. I didn't see the remainder of the big toe, so either it was broken before, or it totally disappeared. I may post in the next month's edition where I have them displayed.
Asher was a wonderful baby, and I'll always miss him.
I bought self-adhesive wallpaper and wall decals for the girls' bedroom. Nathan applied the wallpaper, with William's help, and I strategically placed Elizabeth's dinosaur decals. I placed the palaces and messages for Olivia's
My Little Pony theme, but she placed most of the remaining stickers herself, the way she wanted. I was unsure of how she placed Princess Celestia (the big white one with multi-colored hair), but I'm thinking she may have changed her after I said something.
The wall on the left side of the window is decorated for Elizabeth; the right for Olivia. Olivia's got the purple on her side, too, at the bottom, and it goes across the top and underneath the window, but then she's got this very light purple (can't really tell in picture, it's that light) in a large area where her stickers are.
An ice cream cake! It had been quite a long time since I'd made one, as they're so high in sugar and very expensive to make (all organic ingredients, of course). We had a fall holiday for our family. We stopped celebrating the biblical holidays, and I absolutely loathe the mainstream holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc.), but we missed doing holidays. So we figured we'd just celebrate spring, summer, fall, and summer. :-)
I've got even more new nature pics (think snakes!) and more coming up in the next posts, so stay tuned.
Until next time...
