We always have a designated spot (or two) for displaying the bits of nature we bring home to observe and enjoy, and lately that spot has been the sunny windowsills of our learning room. Spring means open windows, however, so it became time for a new nature spot. And just in time, Bill brought home a new bookcase for the learning room! (One can never have too many bookcases, don't you agree?) Now we have a whole 32 inches of shelf-top where we can deposit and arrange the bits of nature we find throughout the seasons.
So how about a little tour of our recently found spring delights? :)
In the lefthand corner, perched on a corner shelf, I have a favorite book of nature prayers open to April's page. In front of it is our prayer candle and a piece of "driftwood" from the river out back.
Now for the nature shelf itself, from left to right ...
Some buggy stuff ~ a cicada exoskeleton, a tiny bit of iridescent beetle, a dead cricket we found in the house and a pearly white rock Crackerjack gave me recently.
This is a small branch of our spruce tree (aka Birdy) and one of its cones, a favorite food of the red squirrel, fyi.
This is a nest we found years ago. (Actually, if memory serves, my uncle found it and gave it to the boys!) We've stuffed it with further wild acquisitions like feathers and the tip of a red squirrel tail ~ who was OK, despite the loss, by the way!
In the foreground are three acorn caps we gathered in our yard just today. The northeast corner gets positively showered with acorns each year, but we aways forget to look and by the time we do, most of the acorns are nibbled on or bored into. For today, I asked the boys to harvest just the caps for future use. (Knitting needles later this summer!)
I filled a jam jar with water and Earlybird and I plucked some twigs off the lilac and forsythia bushes. There should be a riot of lavender and yellow here before long ...
These needles, also found in our yard, came from a pine tree in the woods. And that's one of its cones, we're pretty sure. I would love to identify what kind of pine it is. (I hear white pine tea is delicious.) And just to the right is a bowl full of what I thought were ferns, but Bill reminded me these feathery fronds grow quite tall and flower with pale yellow blossoms. Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention the little sprite in the background! This is a "humming sprite" from Spiderwick, a favorite book series and movie of ours. Truth be told the toy came from a McDonald's Happy Meal ~ we actually collected all the H.M. Spiderwick toys that month. ;)
This is, perhaps, not the fanciest means of displaying information, but recently I noticed my friend Laura had her Audubon almanac displayed at her nature table (nicely though, in a frame) and I wanted to keep mine close at hand too. Yep, good old Scotch tape did the trick! (How I love that stuff, lol.) Bill will wince when he sees this, so I'll eventually figure out a better (nicer) way.
Finally, a little preview. :) Right now the world map still hangs above the new nature shelf. It will be moved out to the family room before too long, and in its place will go these simple wooden frames:
I plan to make up these frames with the nature pictures I post here at my blog. We'll rotate them every few weeks to reflect the season at hand. These were priced quite reasonably at our local craft store.
Oh, and I should mention the books on display here as well! These have been passed down brother to brother, and now it's Earlybird's turn to enjoy them. (Not that his older brothers don't still sometimes!)
From left to right we have ~
Lente (or Spring), a charming wordless board book
Well, I'm so glad you stopped by today! And I hope this post finds you all enjoying Spring in your little corner of the world. :)
Have a good night!
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