A Wild Flower Hunt

"Every year is the same, when Spring is drawing near .

I must leave, I must go, for a wild flower hunt.

It is like a fever. A wild flower fever."

 

***

 The best place to go around here, for a wild flower hunt,  is Chappell Hill,

a very quaint little town that even Anne of Green Gables would feel right at home, with a museum, historic sites and antiques.

Bring a friend, camera, picnic basket - or just stop at one of the local restaurants.

 

 Go a little farther to visit one of the two Lavender farms, to have ice cream on the Blue Bell creamery or even better visit the Rose Emporium.

On our trip, we decided to stop in on one of the local restaurant for Blue Bell ice cream. We visited my favorite antique store and drove to a Lavender farm (at this time of the year the lavenders do not show well, but the place is lovely, with lots of lavender goods, and the drive is pretty scenic).

 

***

 

 



Chappell Hill

 

Fever cured!

A nature walk at Huntsville State Park

 Huntsville State Park is a 2,083.2-acre recreational area, six miles southwest of Huntsville, in Walker County

This heavily wooded park adjoins the Sam Houston National Forest and encloses the 210-acre Lake Raven. The park offers camping, hiking, biking, boating , guided horseback trail rides, fishing, swimming in an unsupervised swimming area, canoe and paddle boat rentals, and nature study.

The Nature Center features live animals, a fish tank, bird nests and other collections, as well as information on a wide variety of topics. Programs and special events are planned on a regular basis.

Fui com a minha familia visitar uma area natural  quase 1 hora da minha casa,  um parque estadual , muito bonito. Essa area e predominada por arvore de pinha. Com lagos e muitos animais selvagens. Pica- pau, esquilos, jacare, cobras... Tirei algumas fotos.

 We enjoy walking  and taking nature pictures ,unfortunately the nature center was close when we visited.

   The park is located in the southern pine belt, so the predominant trees in the park are pines( loblolly pine) the trees are majestic and add so much beauty to the park. But among the pines there are sweergum, sassafras, red maple, oaks and dogwood.

                                                        Pileated Woodpecker

                                     Purple Beautyberries (Callicarpa Americana)

                                                  A unknown berry to me

                                 A bracket fungus, common form of Polyporus found on dead wood.

                                                                   Fall webworm

                                                                 Gulf Fritillary

                                          Caterpillar unkown to me.

 

    This park is peaceful  retreat, I hope to visit often. Just in case you are curious, here is the park web page.

Related articles

Nature study- Early Autuum

The Nature Story

Nature study- Early Autumn

 Early Autumn is still warm here(80's).For us is more like pleasantly warm, I should say, since summer is usually in the 90's and up. So one delightful activity is nature journaling. We usually equip ourselves with color pencils, nature books of every kind,cameras and our journals.

Nature journaling has a relax effect, is so wonderful to observe and reflect our observations on paper.

We been doing this kind of journaling on and off for a few years,but this year we will be more committed ,since we have a group that is doing the same.

We have Oak trees in abundance here, and acorn of all shapes and shades of browns, those are always fun to collect .

My daughter always surprises me with her beautiful work and choice of colors. Is fun to look on some of her journaling from a year ago and see how she adds more details as she grows.

I am always trying to be a model for her, by participate, observe,drawing and writing on my journal,and quite frankly is not hard to do, since I enjoy too. If drawing is difficult there are many resources on the web for inspiration . A few ideas is to collect some of your finds and paste to your journal, or photo journaling . I have a few wonderful ideas on one my Pin board.

morning glory, mexican sage, mist plant

Nature Journaling doesn't have to be a big ordeal, your own backyard can supply many inspirations. Flowers, bugs, plants and grass is all available in abudance everywhere. My backyard is very tiny,but we always find plenty of beauty , from bunnies to snakes.

Ladybug on  Hibiscus leaf.

Hibiscus bloosoms, perfect for flower study.

Tadpoles,every child should have the joy of observe tadpoles.

A October wild flower,name unknow to me.

Goldenrod

One of our backyard sessions.

    Books that we love for nature study:
1.Trees,a golden guide from St.Martin's press                                                                                2.A guide field identification Birds of North America
3.Anna Botsford Comstock,Handbook of Nature Study 

 

Playing with mud

       My daughter loves playing with mud, I am always quite surprise with the most clever ideas she comes with it...she believes that all kids love playing with mud. " It is so fun, soft, cool, and messy, how couldn't they not love it!" she tells me.
       So she ask me to take pictures of her creations, she even made a step-by-step direction in how to make a mud snail. Who know...Maybe another mud love kid out there will appreciate.

Nature walk and New Skirt

                   

I can't resist wildflowers, lately coreopsis have been everywhere here, and with a new skirt ,I just had to take pictures. We also encounter many birds(bluejay,finches,mocking bird,sparrows),a tiny frog and a good variety of flowers.

                                                       Tiny tortured frog
                                                                                                                             Verbena
                                               Coreopsis(yellow flower)
                                                             Passionflower
                                                         Passionflower fruit
                                                                         BeeBalm
                                                  Not familiar with this plant,but I love it!
                                                                 Another verbena
                                                          Not familiar with this plant also
                      In the end of our walk ,we end up with a beautiful bouquet.