It's still mighty hot around here, but we've rearranged our daily schedule a bit so that most mornings, Kathryn and I can go for a walk before it gets too hot. Good exercise for us both, a nice opportunity to chat about things, and a chance to observe nature in our neighborhood. I think I'm going to start bringing Lacy along, too. She loves going on walks, and she's well-behaved on the leash, but she's so strong that I can barely hold onto her if she gets startled and tries to bolt (that happened a few times, when kids were shooting off fireworks, when a very loud truck went by, etc.). I think she's more accustomed to those sorts of things now, though, because Ken has been taking her for walks most evenings.
Another thing we're trying to do more often is nature journal entries. We usually do an entry for our Outdoor Hour challenges, but I want it to become more of a habit for Kathryn and me. One day this week, we both drew entries after our morning walk. Kathryn was fascinated by all the Canada geese we saw every morning in a nearby field. She's good at goose-drawing because of last year's art program, Joseph the Canada Goose. It's a little hard to see in this photo on the right, (you can click it to enlarge) but there are other geese around that big one in the middle: some eating, some preening, one lying down in the grass, as well as that one flying.I drew my own journal entry, too... please don't laugh at my drawings! (You can click mine to enlarge as well)
I used to be a pretty good artist as a child, but then I stopped doing it, so I feel like I'm completely starting over -- yet another reason to encourage our kids to draw and be creative, and to KEEP doing it all their lives, even when it isn't required for schoolwork! Anyway, you can also see that our take on things is different. I wanted to remember all the various critters we saw on our walk that morning, but Kathryn preferred to focus on the geese. She also prefers to have an entire picture, with background and sky, and so forth. I'm curious to see how her style will change as she gets older and more experienced in nature journaling.
