terrific tuesday

"Hey, I could grow up in there and take care of the baby raccoons! Are you allowed to kiss their baby mouses? Can you ask them if I can do that?"

just kidding

Our friends are back!

Remember last time?

She has always loved these animals!

how to save a frog

As part of Gracie's How to Save an Animal book series, we released a young Northern Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla) that had completed metamorphosis in her kindergarten classroom today. So without further ado......

If you are interested in learning more about this little treefrog:

you can read more about them here

you can hear their sounds here

you can help save the frogs here

today is brought to you

Today is brought to you by the number

A Sit Spot for My Primrose Fairy

Yesterday, while I was putting Emily down for a nap, Gracie was enjoying her sit spot. When I went outside to join her and hopefully plant a few seeds in the garden, I was delighted to see that she had planted some primroses all by herself. A proud moment friends!

This spot is a precious place for her. A place for her to relax, to watch the bees and hummingbirds birds hovering in the manzanita and rosemary, to talk to her "beloved" who is always with her, to act out stories and plays, a place for her to center herself, a place to sit.

And now, a bit more beautiful than before. Thanks to her.

A Little Friend

Ryan picked up a baby lizard in the middle of a work parking lot the other day. The lizard then quickly crawled up his arm and into his clothing. Can you imagine the looks from fellow scientists as he danced and jiggled trying to get it out? I wish I could have seen that.

The next day I found the little friend in our house, and after a quick sketch we released her into the fields behind our house. Now we stop during our after dinner walk at the log where we placed her and Gracie says "Hello dear friend. I hope you are having a wonderful life!"

I sure am!

New Neighbors

We have tiny baby Juncos nesting under a fern in our front yard. I was wondering why the parents were making so much noise and knew there had to be babies somewhere nearby. Little did I know we were picnicking right next to them. They were so well camouflaged!

Banana Love

WOW, this was a BIG one!

Jamaica Sun Tea

My dad always had sun tea either brewing or chilling during the summer. Gracie wanted me to tell her a story about my dad teaching me to make sun tea when I was a little girl and then got really excited talking about how she would someday teach her kids and they would teach their kids and so on and so on. Family traditions come in all shapes and sizes I suppose. 

This batch was simply dried hibiscus flowers (1/2 cup for this large tea jar) and water and sunshine for a few hours. Then we chilled it in the fridge and just mix it with ice and agave nectar to make our own Jamaica, a traditional Mexican aqua fresca. My dad usually added mint so we will do that next time. Maybe from our garden. The butterfly garden is looking lovely as was this Tiger Swallowtail.

Millipede Love

Growth

The Pacific Tree Frogs (Pseudacris regilla) are growing and leaving the pond. This little froglet still has a tail. It was fun watching Gracie trying to catch them with little luck. She is quite the herpetologist though.

Banana Love

There was a whole lot of love around here last night. This was happening out our front door. Banana slugs are hermaphroditic and they were courting each other I suppose.

Here is a picture for an idea of their size. They are amazing!