beginning of fall

Camden and I really enjoyed our first weekend of Autumn. Saturday was really like any Saturday, but Sunday was spectacular.

Camden managed to drag me out of the house and to the park (I didn't want to go, because it was still chilly). By the time we got there, however, the temperature was feeling quite nice. So we spent some time playing on the equipment: throwing toys up and down the slides to each other and me chasing him around a bit. Then he wanted to go down the hill and check out the cannons (there is a veteran memorial type thing at this park). So we went down the hill and over the bridge and made it as far as a walnut tree, where Camden decided it would be more fun to pick up walnuts and throw them at the trunk. ... I agreed. ^_^

Then we went back across the bridge, and as we did so, the wind picked up and the leaves started dropping. So Camden and I decided to spend some time chasing leaves. We took off our jackets and shoes and ran around like the heathens we are, jumping, and spinning, and laughing as we tried to catch leaves out of the air. After a wee bit of that, we just lay in the grass, watching the sky and the trees and the gently falling leaves. After a bit, Camden decided it was time to go home.

As we walked up a hill that was (thankfully) more grass than rocks, Camden decided he wanted to roll down it. So he did. Eventually we made our way home. In the field of grass next to our house, I just happened to catch a grasshopper.

And this grasshopper just happened to meet his end, thanks to a spider Camden and I have been feeding moths and other bugs to. Should I feel bad for feeding the grasshopper to the spider? Perhaps. But Camden enjoyed it, and afterwards we looked at pictures of spiders (and other bugs) on the interwebs and learned a bit about them. Teaching opportunities, I say!

Kids say the darndest things

I fully accept that this was entirely my doing. But, you see, I've spent the greater part of my life learning about the natural world around me. So when Camden asks me something about nature, I am usually able to give a fairly detailed answer. I try very hard to keep it pared down, due to his age, but usually, I can't and usually, he understands because he's so intelligent!

So when we came across two cicadas doing it yesterday, and he asked me what they were doing... I told him. Okay, I told him they were "making eggs." He looked at me, then looked at them, then ran off to play. Wow, easy question with no follow ups. Awesome.

Later on, inside, he asks me to help him draw a cicada. So I draw a slightly cicadaish bug with a purple crayon. "I wanted it orange!" he says. Of course. So I draw another slightly cicadaish bug in orange. Then he asks me to cut them out. No problem.

I'm watching him play with his slightly cicadaish paper bugs, when he starts putting their butts together. "Look, they're making eggs!"

Oh gee.

Bees!

Camden has been absolutely begging to be filled with information about bees the past few months. Sadly, I can't remember what set it off. A random book from the library? The day he was pretending to be a bee and stinging me? Something very odd or cosmic? Who knows. What I do know is that we've read about five books on the subject. Some were age appropriate, some were a little advanced for him (but... maybe not?) Anyway, the boy is very well versed in his bee knowledge (for an almost 5-year-old).

Case and point:

I had a late doctor appointment (still trying to get my wrist issues under control) so I hadgot to take Cam with me. He had a notebook and a pen from the car (somebody forgot to grab some toys... oops!) that he was writing in and drawing in, then showing me and the doctor the pictures. One of the pictures he drew was of a bee, and he was talking about its stinger and how the bee was a girl bee and not a boy so it could sting some body. And the doctor said she didn't know that boy bees don't have stingers. So Camden got to teach a doctor something: how cool is that?

Little bee

We found this bee on the way to the park while looking for silly earthworms that crawl onto the road and can't get back into the dirt before the sun bakes them.




I don't know why it let us harass it. I think something is wrong with it's wings, and now it can't fly. :(



At first I thought it might be a drone, but then I noticed the pollen baskets. I never did see a stinger on it, though.



"Imma get you!" she says.



Cam's happy to have a new friend for the day. Right now, she's living in one of our flower pots outside munching on a dandelion. Or maybe the clover.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Hope your day is full of wonderfulness (mine most definitely was; bees are so cool!)

Just writing...

I keep telling myself I'm going to get back in to the habit of writing here... But then my life goes crazy, or I just spend several boring days where there's nothing to write about. And when something does happen that I'd like to write about, I can't seem to find the time.

Such as: last week Camden and I planted strawberry plants. While my parents were here for my recital, we stopped at a garage sale, and I found a strawberry tower planter...thing. Of course, it was freezing cold and you can't plant strawberries when it's cold! But it warmed up (kinda) so I bought some fresh potting soil and four and a half strawberry plants (one had a runner that was already sprouting roots: two for one!) and Camden and I planted them. Now we are looking forward to fresh home-grown strawberries... if it ever warms up enough for the strawberry plants to bloom. (Which reminds me, my parents house is surrounded by HORDES of wild strawberries, and it seemed like EVERY SINGLE PLANT was blooming. Nom wild strawberries!)

And another: I think NEMO worms are suicidal. Those things are all over the sidewalks, and it hasn't even rained for... two whole days! Okay, they're not all over the sidewalks. But today I had to throw one off into some shaded grass. Yesterday, I found one. The day before that Camden and I found one on the way to the park trying to cross a road. What is with these guys? Don't they know they'll get caught in the sun and burn to such a crisp that even the birds won't eat them?! Luckily for them, though, I haven't lost my youthful compunction which leads me to pick worms out of mud puddles or off of sizzling frying pans sidewalks.

Oh, yeah. Happy Beltane! One of these days, I'll actually get the post on the holiday instead of 1-7 days late. :)

Animal friends

For the last week or so, Cam and I have had an animal visitor at our place. He just showed up one day and has been hanging out ever since. Who came to call? Our very own praying mantis! I've been calling him Manny; how original, right?

Yesterday, I left the house to get Camden from preschool, and saw Manny on Cam's bike. "Manny," I said, "Cam's gonna want to go to the park, and he's gonna want to ride his bike. You'd better climb back over to the charcoal bag." Of course, praying mantises probably don't speak very good English. But they're excellent at staying still. So he was still there when we got back. And Camden wanted to go to the park, and Camden wanted to ride the bike. Of course.

So I picked up the brush for the grill, and started pushing it at Manny. I was kinda worried he'd fly away (praying mantises can fly, can't they?) or that he'd attack me. After a little convincing, I managed to get Manny onto the brush, and I set him over on the pumpkin plant.

This morning I looked for him, and to my dismay, I couldn't find him. I was certain he'd gotten pissed off and left. An hour or so later, though, I found him hiding under a leaf. Hurrah! Except, now he's hiding somewhere else.

I think I'm attached to this praying mantis. And I think that's unhealthy. lol But it's going to be a sad day when he does decide to fly the coop. I just might cry.

Familiars

I'm going to start the post off by saying: oh my goodness I am a slacker! And I just haven't had anything to talk about, really. Ah, well. Such is life, right?

The topic of familiars is well known throughout the pagan community, I would think. So I'm not going to waste my time, or yours, explaining what a familiar is and all that. I've never had a familiar. That isn't to say, though, that I haven't developed a close bond with any particular animal.

Several years ago, about five or six, a black cat showed up at my parents' house. Not an unusual occurrence, since my parents live out in the middle of nowhere and people who decide they don't want their pets for whatever reason seem to think that dropping them off in the middle of nowhere is the best option. But this cat, I believe, was special. I'd seen him wandering about a time or two, and then one day as I was driving home from school, I saw him walking alongside the road. And since I'd always wanted a black cat, I stopped, hoping I'd be able to catch him. Wouldn't you know, he came right to me? He let me pick him up, take him to my truck, and drive the rest of the way home with him on my lap.

I never got around to naming him, or I could never find a name that fit him, so he became Cat. (A few years after Cat showed up, another black cat started coming around, one who looked just like Cat, except his face was a bit more triangular. Whenever I saw him, I'd say "Hey Cat" then realise it wasn't Cat and I'd say "You're not Cat!" Guess what his name is? Uh-huh. Not-Cat.) I would say that Cat and I have a bond that, while maybe not magical, is something more than what I've shared with any other animal that I knew. I wasn't able to bring him with me when I left for college, but I knew that he would be miserable cooped up in an apartment and unable to go out in the woods and terrorise birds and mice.

I've been at my parents' for the past week (which is part of the reason for my not posting after my "return") which meant I got to see a lot of Cat. He's no longer pure black. He's starting to get white hairs here and there, which means he's getting old. Which makes me doubt that he'll ever come live with me. I am still stuck in an apartment, and even when I get a job somewhere in a few years, I will likely still be stuck in an apartment and not a place he would enjoy living. I know my parents appreciate him (I think he's their favourite) but I miss my Cat and want him to live with me. Aside from that, though, I doubt I'll find another animal, feline or otherwise, with whom I have such a rapport.

Real snow day!

Today, I had a real snow day. As I told my dad, "Cam was snowed out, and I'm snowed in." Cam's daycare cancelled thanks to our almost-blizzard yesterday/last night. I had planned on taking him to classes with me today, until I saw my car surrounded by two feet of snow! Even after attempting to dig it out, he (my car) was in no mood to go anywhere. Luckily, we managed to escape this afternoon once it warmed up and I was willing to dig out snow and ice from underneath the car.

While I didn't get to have any adventures today, I did have some exciting stuff happen! Such as: this morning as I was trying to shovel snow away from my car I hear someone yell "Smile, you're on being filmed!" So I jerk upright, look around, only to see someone with a fancy camera pointed at me. I'm assuming it was someone from the newspaper out taking photos of the blizzard-ravaged town and not just some creeper.

Since we were snowed in anyway, I took advantage of the situation to continue my cleaning. Did two loads of laundry. Would have done more (I have about 1.5 loads left) but I have only so much space for hanging it up to dry. I also cleaned the living room (again) and swept the kitchen and bathroom floors. And I planted some lavender and bell pepper seeds. Hopefully they will grow.

I also got books in the mail today, which is always exciting. One is a CLEP study book so I don't have to take boring science classes and the other is Wicca: A Year and a Day by Timothy Roderick. Now, as you know, I'm not Wiccan. But I am a mish-mash of different paths, Wicca among them. And besides, this will give me a bit of spirituality every day for a year and a day. Maybe I'll end up Wiccan at the end of it. (Probably not.)

I decided I want to start a book of shadows. I have one on my computer: it's a folder called "Paganity" and contains all the general shadowy stuff witches are supposed to have. But I'd like one where I can flip through the pages, and put in more than just words. Dried flowers, herbs, photographs, drawings. Something more than just a bunch of .txt files.

And last, but not least, I found and returned a lost cat! I heard it meowing out in the hall, so I stuck my head out, thinking maybe someone let their cat come along to do laundry with them. But, no, it was standing outside a door meowing with no humans in sight! I knocked on the door it was meowing at, but they don't have a cat. After some hemhawing, I carried it upstairs and tell it to go home. And, very cat-like, it just stared at me and meowed. So, I headed back downstairs, planning on just abandoning it (it was safely indoors; someone would have found it eventually) and met a lady on her way up... I decided to take a chance.

"Do you happen to have a cat?"

Funny look. "Yes"

"Uhm. Is it orange?"

Pause. Another funny look. "Yes."

"Oh, I think it escaped. I just dropped it off upstairs."

Confused expression. "Oh no!" Dashing upstairs. I hear her ask the cat "What are you doing out here!?"

While living in an apartment building is mostly unfun (what with loud neighbours and stairs and all that nonsense) sometimes it can be really amusing.