Tag: outdoors

Weekly Smile 5/3/21- Out and In

On By Susan St.PierreIn Writing Prompts17 Comments
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Frogs doing their thing.
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Our forest retreat.
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Dogs just being ‘dawgs’.
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Spring run off cutting through.

One part of my weekend was spent working at our forest campsite. I trimmed raspberry bushes and found our Concord grapes budding nicely.
The dogs got to sniff around and get exercise and we stood around planning our chores for next week.
Spending entire weekends will happen in the near future.

Then it rained.
Once I returned home,
I baked a couple of apple pies. One for my sister (who’ll be having open heart surgery this Thursday) and one for an elderly lady next door who has been having health concerns. Her family has been in and out a lot so I thought a nice treat would brighten their day.
Making those pies offered me my Weekly Smile.
My indoor activity turned out to win the day.
The joy of giving is hard to beat!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Weekly Smile for the 3rd of May, 2021 #weeklysmile | Trent’s World (the Blog) (trentsworld.blog)

“Tuning in” on Nature

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion..., Sideshows2 Comments

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I spent most of my Autumn getting caught up in the political debates. It was a depressing time for me. I felt agitated and angry, as well as, without hope. My journals and photography went from plentiful and bright, to almost nothing.

Today, I posted in my Nature Knowledge category for the first time in months. It made me feel good. Then I happened upon 2 articles that gave definition to my happier endeavors. I’ve entitled the 2 links:

Seeing is Believing

and

Connecting with Nature

Disconnecting from social media in favor of being outdoors is a prescription for true happiness. One of my status posts during the political rumble of last Fall asked everyone to stop labeling each other and look at their neighbors. I dared them to find bigots, baby killers and ugly Americans. In taking my own advice, I noticed charity, compassion and goodwill surrounded me.

The first article, linked above, clearly states that what we see is too often predicted by what we expect to see. The second article is a scientific experiment about our brains and what technology does to us.

I believe spending time with Nature is an awesome learning experience. Mother Nature has no agenda but for life. She can be cruel but never hateful. She can be beautiful but never vain. When I feel depressed and without hope, I choose to listen to Nature with my eyes and heart wide open. I suggest we introduce our children to that wonder for their own happiness and future.

Related articles

Mud Pies vs Easy Bake Ovens

On By Susan St.PierreIn Sideshows8 Comments

My Smarty Pants!
My Smarty Pants! (my granddaughter at our camp.)

Memories from my childhood are very precious to me. I’m sure that there were occasions when I proclaimed,”I’m bored!” like any other kid, but the ways that I used to entertain myself, are sadly, less popular today. Some have been lost to the allure of technology for entertainment. Technology in the form of games and computers is an awesome way to learn! Many “over 50s” shake their heads with condemnation of these modern toys. Watch them closely though, they are the same folks who have saucer-sized eyes on Christmas morning, with their grandkids, and whisper to themselves, ” I would have given my right arm to have had one of those as a kid!”  Childhood, after all, is a magical time not a place.

In my day, the amount of fun a kid had was directly proportional to how dirty they got. Digging holes, wading in puddles, and pounding rocks to powder were a few “biggies” with me. Yes, I really DID make mud pies and cakes. Adding pebbles for cherries and sticks for candles made them quite appealing. No wonder, having such a soil based culinary background, I continue to be baffled by the Easy Bake Oven‘s popularity. First problem with EBO is that it requires adult supervision. A universal kid Truth…Fun does not fit in easily when there’s a direct adult presence. Why? Messes are seriously culled by adults, and as I’ve stated, messes are required for fun. Secondly, EBO takes time and waiting. Waiting is the second most deadly element to kid fun, as you know. The last and most important drawback, Easy Bake Ovens are used only indoors. Yikes! Kids need to be outdoors. Fun, the best kind, happens outdoors!

Still, the commercials and sales roll in for Easy Bake Ovens. Heck, now I realize why I see them at every tag sale. Their boxes are usually pristine with only one single cake mix missing. 😉

Finding My Place

On By Susan St.PierreIn Sideshows13 Comments

My daughter spotted this Monarch Butterfly last weekend. If you know anything about Monarchs, you know adults observed this time of year are on their last days. They have returned to lay their eggs on milkweed plants and then they die.

I raced over to get a photo and realized the butterfly was not going very far. It climbed onto my sneaker and rested before fluttering off at an anemic pace.

As I was reviewing my photos today, this one reached out and said something that I was not outwardly aware of.

“You’ve found your place.” The photo shouted.

My most comfortable footwear has seen its better days but wears its age like a testimonial to fun. The butterfly sits and we shared in a moment…then off.

I would not trade those sneakers  (which I bought second hand from a thrift store) or the place where I was wearing them for pearls and lace.

Fancy I am not.

It’s okay for others but not for me.

I can be quite the chatterbox if a subject interests me. Spending my days with kids is fun but not full of deep thoughts or dialogs.

Most of all, I enjoy watching .

Kids and Nature are my favorite subjects and it wasn’t until I learned how to watch them, that I could thoroughly enjoy them.

Yes, I am fortunate to have found a place to enjoy…My place in this world.

After the initial posting of my photo and observation, I was thinking of a topic that the butterfly brought to mind.

That moment, and that butterfly, are traveling around the world via my blog.

Might they make a difference or effect someone?

I have not read this book but am familiar with Chaos Theory from many discussions I’ve had on the subject with a friend of mine. I’m putting this book on my wish list.

Ever wonder about the people you meet and experiences you have? Are coincidences real? Is everything related in some subliminal way?

I’ll be exploring these questions and so can you.

Kids Book Review- Mrs. McTats and her Houseful of Cats

On By Susan St.PierreIn Keeping Kids Creative, Kids Book Review8 Comments

I had my granddaughter staying with me this weekend. We went to the local library and chose a few books for her to enjoy. We sat outdoors on a lovely Saturday and enjoyed the warm sun in the company of books.

My favorite of our choices was “Mrs.  Mc Tats and her Houseful of Cats”.

It had rhyming text. THAT always make reading fun. It was also very humorous. THAT also makes reading fun.

The artwork illustrations were very charming and gave the book a lot of character.

Mrs. Mc Tats has a ritual of leaving her cozy cottage each morning to go to market. After choosing  something to bring home for dinner, she repeatedly finds new cats scratching at her door. She welcomes them and names them. As the story develops, she ends up with twenty-five cats all with names starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet. The last letter begins the  name of a surprise 26th visitor at her door.

Katherine enjoyed the repeated sing-song rhyming and surprises. She especially enjoyed the illustrations. She read it almost all by herself, once she became familiar with the rhythm of the story.

As I read my own books, Kat read hers for much of our afternoon. I could tell that being a “reader” was giving her a lot of pleasure. I recommend Mrs. Mc Tats as a great” interest keeper” and a good beginning book for readers of 6 years old. I also recommend being a reader yourself and inspiring this joy in kids through example.