We read a great book last night. My kids love sea animals and I love biographies so when I saw “Life in the Ocean” on display at the library I grabbed it. As is often the case with books I pick, my kids has no interest especially after seeing the high word count and as is ALWAYS the case I hooked them on the first page. I’m the best! Continue reading
Update: Congrats to Jennifer Duran! You won this giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered and to Felix Doolittle for providing this wonderful prize!
I love Felix Doolittle illustrations. I was introduced to his endearing art years ago while working at a Boston area design office where he contributed to a graphics project. Last year I discovered and started following Felix Doolittle Sketches (the blog) and on Pinterest. Then just last week I learned Pragmatic Mom my all time favorite kid’s lit mom blog has a Felix Doolittle connection and would you believe I entered and won her Felix Doolittle Personalized Bookplates Giveaway?! Yay!
If you are looking for a special gift this holiday you really have to check out the Felix Doolittle online store which offers a variety of illustrated paper goods as well as paper weights, pendants, etc. Everything is special about these gifts starting with the illustrations! Felix Doolittle creates skilled, precious watercolor paintings of things ordinary and extraordinary which all so naturally embody child-like innocence and wonder. I haven’t opened my personalized bookplates yet because they were so nicely wrapped that I plan to put them right into my daughter’s Christmas stocking, but I am sure they are of the highest quality based on the printing and paper weight of the included note card that came in the package.
Some of my favorite items from the Felix Doolittle store are the illustrated bookmarks! Continue reading
“Mom, what is this?” My 4 year old son asked while squeezing behind his knee.
“That is a tendon”, I said, “It connects the muscle to the bone”. He then proceeded to ask about his forearm bones and because he was game I pointed out his ear cartilage, and leg muscles. He walked away doing his silly strong man act. But I got the message loud and clear. Not a future engineer as formally predicted. With this kind of anatomical curiosity he is most certainly a future doctor! Continue reading
Recently I posted about the Gray Catbird and their mimicking ability with a video from Cornell Lab of Ornithology comparing their sounds with the bird they’re mimicking. Apparently they mimic to attract a mate. Well let me tell you, my backyard is like a mall full of teenagers on a Friday night right now! Check out this video I took…
Doesn’t that sound crazy?! Except for some crows in the background that is all them! I think it sounds fascinating although I might feel differently if I was trying to sleeping in and that was going on outside my window!
Proud Parents (mama in front)
Back in March I posted about House Finches and how they were building a nest over our garage… Continue reading
Gray Catbird
Introducing the latest visitor to our backyard: the Gray Catbird. I think they are here to stay, for as while, as there are several of them and they seem to be busying nest building. They are thrashers like the Mocking bird and have brought along lots of interesting songs as well as their own unique cat like sound. As you can see they are mostly a dark-ish gray with a long beak and a black cap. They also have a patch of brown under their tail.
Here is the latest visitor to our bird-feeder. A small, noisy squirrel who is not afraid at all! He reminds me of Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin with his bright red tail. I suppose the birds can share seeds with this cute little fella, don’t you think?!
This poor Blue jay looks so soggy wet after 2 whole days of rain.
* * *
It was a little hard getting up to a rainy Monday, first day back to school after a vacation week. We really needed the rain though. It had been 3 weeks and the grass was getting crunchy! Rain is good, remember?!
How do you face a rainy Monday morning?
