For the love of Autumn

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables   

While many are already experiencing snow on their side of the world , in Texas we are enjoying pleasant weather,the kind that makes you embrace the outside with full force, it makes one find every excuse possible to enjoy it. That is not hard for me , for I am a lover of nature and autumns, always looking forward to that first crisp morning, pumpkins patch, mums in the store, the first fall colors... 
Autumn like spring renews my love to photograph nature, at this time there aren't many autumn colors in our area but there isn't a lack of beautiful things around us.

 

 

 

photos Taken at Cibolo Creek  and at the Guadalupe River.

Nature Tray

 

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Our place is really small and any open space is a luxury right now. So to solve some of our desire to still have a little corner for nature. We are now using a small tray (14"x 8"). I found our tray in a craft store like Hobby Lobby or you can find it  here.

To add a unique touch, I hand painted it with acrylic paints, I used one main color so wouldn't take away from the beauty of our nature finds.

My inspiration for the little designs on the tray come from Nature itself but if you don't know what to do, maybe a collage would be easier, where you could select beautiful nature pictures and add to your tray, it would be a perfect project for little ones too. The idea for my Nature Tray come from a British magazine, from a article about  bringing back The Nature Table  to the classrooms, apparently in England the kids were encouraged to bring any seasonal nature specimens to the classroom to everyone to admire it. The idea to have a specific place for our nature finds was just perfect for us.

But because space is a issue for us right now to add a whole table for that purpose would be impossible, so the little tray was the next best idea.

 I love the simplicity of it and the end result.

I was just planning to write about my nature tray when I stumble is this little post about nature study.

Would like more ideas to nature study? Look here.

 

 

 

 

 

"The increase of scientific knowledge lies not only in the occasional milestones of science, but in the efforts of the very large body of men who with love and devotion observe and study nature."

Polykarp Kusch

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