“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are not tired, as long as we can see far enough.”- RWEmerson
With all the things to do in a day, it is hard to fit in nature time. I try to make sure the kids are outside at least one hour a day – our Green Hour. I took the pledge at the National Wildlife Federation years ago. Each season has its new challenges to getting outside to play.
“I pledge to grow my child’s health, happiness and appreciation of nature by getting them outside and playing every week!”
While it would be awesome if this was 60 consecutive minutes, we’ll take what we can get. Today we were busy. Tuesdays are nuts. Full of good things. We didn’t have our act together enough for a walk after breakfast, we had to jump right into lesson and instruments. After lunch we scuttled to art class at RISD Art Museum. I parked six blocks away and we enjoyed the trees on a circuitous path to our destination. We tried to guess the tree type from a block away. Berkeley collected an item about every twenty feet. It is amazing sometimes how slow a three year old can walk. It is such a blessing to be early enough to a class to allow for the natural speed of a child walk. Taking in new sights and sounds takes time.
“All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.”- Marie Curie
Between dance class we have a free 45 minutes. We like to stop at a park and enjoy open spaces since its not enough time for a relaxed hike. Here are a collection of Green Hour photos from this fall.
Ginko Stinko. Female Ginko trees sure stink in the autumn. The rotting fruit on the ground should be avoided.
Silly Picnic.
The stomp rocket is a great green hour prop. It has made our picnics awesome this fall.
Sandcastle built on her own.
Mermaid washed ashore with a little help from Lia.
Crescent Park Beach, Riverside. It was cold 50 degrees and windy. Kids lasted at least an hour.
Awesome board washed ashore.
A cute little boy joined them. His family was already there, but he ran to the kids, overjoyed that more kids were there to run in the field.
Homemade streamer wands are perfect for an open field.
Can you guess this tree by the profile? This one is easy. See how close the leaves are to the branches? Ginko.
This one? Straight trunk and broad leaves with very few points seen from this distance. Tulip Poplar.
Baby Ginko.
We stopped in Roger Williams Park to check on the buds of a Sweetgum tree. Yep, they are there. Winter is coming.