What a day!!!The family and I planned a stroll down to a nearby Osprey nest today, and while I was hoping to find a feather or two, no luck. At the nest, anyway. The two youngest boys strolled along, happy to look through the binoculars every now and then. Daddy osprey was not around, as expected, so we veered down a woody trail Betty and I have been down before. After spotting a huge turtle we found a couple of spots that would have been good fishing holes, and decided to sit down at one. The boys were willing to sit quietly, and much to our surprise, Shandon spotted a couple of extremely large carp laying their eggs. We were sitting on a bank about four feet above the river, watching the carp when a muskrat swam right under our noses! Twice!
Of course I couldn't get to the cell phone that serves as our camera.
We were all just thrilled, every one of us wearing big stupid grins.
After a while, Braydon got bored, so we moved further down the trail. The no-see-ums were swarming, but it was sunny, so we were okay.
Until my right leg disappeared down a hole.
It smarted, but I think my pride was hurt more.
We knew that all we had to do to get home was veer to our right and walk across the back of the cornfield. (As the crow flies we only live about a mile away) So that's what we did.
Just before the cornfield is a large flat rock. I was already past it when Shandon asked,
"Is that a skull?"
Shore 'nuff, son.
Turns out, the skull was accompanied by the two lower jaw bones, multiple clumps of brownish fur and a leg bone too yurky to bring home.
We brought home the skull and jaws, since they were amazingly clean. A few steps into the cornfield, which has yet to sprout, Shandon found a feather, which seems to be an owl feather.
(I'll show you that one next time)
Can you tell I'm proud of my boy?
Speaking of Shandon, we've decided to homeschool him for the next school year. In fact, it's kind of started already, even though he still attends public school for the remainder of this year. As we were crossing the cornfield the first time this afternoon, Braydon (who is all of 7 years old) says, "This must be homeschooling, 'cause we're learning stuff."
I choked up on the spot.
Braydon will still attend his current school, I don't have anything against the school itself. I just think, I believe, that Shandon could learn more at home. Now before you start hollering about socialization, let me tell you what his social life at school consists of. He has been bullied since grade 1 about a medical problem that his classmates seized upon the moment they discovered it. His pants were pulled down at school out in the playground a couple of years ago, and the student who did it was not suspended. I'm told he removed himself from school that day, refusing to come back out of guilt, and the school talked him into coming back! Shandon has never had more than one or two friends, and only one of them goes to the same school. Shandon is not invited to parties, go bike riding or invited to Yu-gi-oh tournaments.
He has been miserable at school; so there is NO socialization problem to worry about.
We are all looking forward to the start of our new journey. Pumped! You bet! We're going to start with a unit on marine life. We have found webcams that give us a window into the world of river otters, turtles, tuna and sharks. I've sent away for more info than I remember on Ontario's water and fish habitats. We're going on field trips this summer to the ROM, the Zoo and ...
Best of all? Shandon is looking forward to it!
With all this going on, my knitting has taken a back seat.
I finished Mom's Crayola scarf a couple of weeks ago. Still working on Dad's purple one. The red and black mitt didn't thrill me. From the point where I started decreasing, I wasn't happy with it. So while I'm not quite finished, I stopped. I debated for a few days and decided to rip most of the mitt back.
Sigh.
But I started Betty's scarf! It's a varigated purple/mauve baby weight. It's sooo soft!
One of these days I'll get back to preemie knitting.
One of these days...
Carolyn
