I Call That Spring!

Kite Days

A kite, a sky, and a good firm breeze,
And acres of ground away from trees,
And one hundred yards of clean, strong string —
O boy, O boy! I call that Spring!

 Mark Sawyer

We introduced our kids to the movie Mary Poppins a few weeks ago, and ever since they’ve been going around the house singing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” which is a very appropriate song for the beginning of spring.  We’ve been watching our yard and neighborhood for signs of spring this month and we have not been disappointed.

As March began, the branches of trees all over the neighborhood blossomed in bright white flowers.  The breeze rushing through the trees caught white petals in its breath and all month we’ve seen white petals floating down to the ground.  My California born and bred kids exclaim, “Snow!”

With the warmer weather (and the returned health after a few months of flu season ravaging through the household), Terrace Hill Academy students can be seen riding bikes, taking walks, climbing the apple tree, drawing with chalk, searching for flowers, and painting outside.

The second week of March we found a few poppies in our yard and observed first hand nyctinasty (new word for us!)- the blooms fold up (“like a carrot,” my kids say) at night and open up to the sun in the morning.  Princess K was pretty fascinated by this as we observed the flowers day and evening after day and evening.  This was also the week we started seeing a few leaves on our grape vine.  The kids found a little ladybug, decided to keep it as a pet and called it Curly, drew it in their nature journals and then lost it.   (It reminded me of A.A. Milne’s poem Forgiven.)

 At the beginning of March, all that could be seen of our apple tree (we’ve been observing all year) was dry brown branches.  Today, March 25th, when we went to examine our tree, we found a few buds and a blossom!  It was exciting.

Our roses are in bloom again, the breezes are fragrant, the rain is sporadic, the kids are barefoot, all the world is in color.  Oh boy, oh boy, I call that spring!

A Sure Sign

 Evaleen Stein

When you see upon the walk
Circles newly made of chalk,
And around them all the day
Little boys in eager play
Rolling marbles, agates fine,
Banded, polished, red as wine,
Marbles crystal as the dew,
Each with rainbows twisted through,
Marbles gay in painted clay,
Flashing, twinkling in your way,
When the walk has blossomed so,
Surely every one must know
None need wonder who has heard
Robin, wren, or Peter-bird;
Sure the sign as song or wing,
          It is spring!

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Welcome to Spring!

This month in our nature walks, observations, and studies, we’ve been watching the weather change.  Not that the weather was winter at the beginning of March and now the weather is gradually changing to spring by the end.  No, more like one day it rains and then the next day it is warm and sunny and then the next day it is cold and gray and then the next day it is terribly hot and then the next day it rains again.  We have been seeing some signs of spring, though, like the rose in our backyard.  (My daughter named her new doll Rose after her favorite flower.)  After last month’s adventures in the snow, these signs of spring are very welcome to us all.

The first sign of spring in our backyard- a very lovely rose.

If March Comes In Like a Lion, It Will Go Out Like a Lamb.  In the Outdoor Hour Challenge newsletter, Barb told us to observe the weather at the beginning and the end of March to see if this saying held true.    I don’t think it did.  At least not in my area.  I’m not really sure what ‘coming in like a lion’ would look like in Northern California, but we had mild -and much needed- rain for the first few days of March.  These last few days of March contain the same: some mild and much needed rain.  The kids and I decided to draw our view of the backyard from our back door in our nature journals.

First weekend of March

Winter Birds- Last year, when we lived 2 hours south of here, we put up a bird feeder in our backyard and discovered a love of bird watching none of us knew we had.  In the move, we lost pieces of the bird feeder.  I kept hoping we’d find them, but I finally just sent my hubby to the store to get a new one.  You can imagine my excitement when I finally filled it and put it up in our backyard, anxiously awaiting the arrival of new birds to get to know and enjoy.

Well, my bird feeder has remained distressingly full all month.  I’ve spotted perhaps 1 or 2 birds at it- and only briefly.  Not long enough to even see what color they were.  I think I need to do some experimenting with the placement.  Perhaps there will be a more tantalizing spot to hang the thing.

A distressingly full bird feeder

Signs of Spring- The cherry blossom trees have been blooming- they are such a lovely sight.  There have been many trees bursting into white blossoms all over as well.  My three year old thought they looked fuzzy.  When we went to a park, I tried to give everyone a chance to feel the flowers on the tree, but he had run off in the direction of the tennis court and didn’t end up getting to touch the blossoms.  He never mentioned it again, so I think he’ll be ok.

The cherry blossom tree across the street

Fuzzy flowers- and if you look closely, you can spot Z-urchin in the tennis court

My oldest wanted to make a ball out of nature things, so he set to work on that one beautiful day at  the park.  My daughter found a very large dandelion and my youngest had fun on the slide.

Ball of Nature

Dandelion

Fun on the slide!

A few weeks later, on another sunny, warm day, we took a walk by a nearby small lake.  We found plenty of mud, moss on a rock, and poppies.  Now poppies have replaced the rose as my daughter’s favorite flower.

Even the littlest gets in on the nature study when he feels the moss on the rock

Exploration

The California Poppy

The Lake on a Beautiful Day

Snack time

We decided to draw in our journals the things we saw the first day of spring.  I saw cherry blossom trees, butterflies, and poppies.  My observant older two had also noticed some flowering on the lemon tree in our backyard and had to add that to their page.

Journal entries from the first day of spring

The kids have also done some fun nature exploration in the backyard.  Well, it was clearly fun for them anyway.

Free nature play in the backyard

I don’t know.  Maybe the saying held true in a backwards fashion for us.  March came in like a lamb and (so my kids decided to help it go) out like a lion.  A very, very muddy lion.

Signs of Spring

It has been fascinating this month watching the approach of spring.  Even more, I am really enjoying watching my children notice the changes.

It began with our bird watching tree in the backyard.  At the beginning of March, it was bare and brown.  Then, in the space of a day or two, white blossoms began budding all over the branches.  My children were so intrigued by the new flowers on the tree.  We talked about the coming of spring and Princess K was very excited about warmer weather.  She wants to go in the pool.  A few weeks later, the flowers were gone and the tree was full of bright green leaves.

Tree Transformation

We’ve been watching the birds fly in and out of our backyard, stopping a while for a snack from time to time.  This month, we began to notice that the sounds of birds singing and chirping has greatly increased.

After a rainy night, a walk in the park brought to our attention a couple of earthworms crawling across the sidewalk.  A few days later, we found an earthworm in the ground near our baby orange tree as I lifted up a rock that was nearby.  We looked up information about earthworms and drew them in our nature journal.  The kids were fascinated by the idea that earthworms eat dirt and cannot hear.

Investigating Earthworms

Speaking of the park, we also noticed the differences in the trees there.  They also went from bare brown branches  to fluffy white flowers.

Branches to Flowers at the Park

We also found one of the cherry blossom trees there- a gift to our city from our sister city in Japan- in full bloom.  I told Princess K as I spied it from a distance, “Oh sweetheart, I found your favorite tree!  Shall we go look at it?”  (She had not yet ever seen a cherry blossom tree.)  When we arrived at the tree, she exclaimed, “Oh Mommy, you are right!  This is my favorite tree!”  (I know my daughter all right- anything pink is her favorite.)  We looked up cherry blossom trees and read about how important they are to Japan.  They have been bred to bear no fruit, but they are absolutely lovely to look at.  They generally bloom in April.  I wonder why this one was in full bloom while all the other ones at the park were bare.

The Cherry Blossom Tree

We found some lesser periwinkles and tasted the honey flavor at the base of the flower.  This has become a favorite activity at the park for X-man.  He looks for those periwinkle flowers every time we walk there.

A honey taste in the periwinkles

We also began noticing other things in our yard changing and blooming and becoming fragrant.  The lemon tree has begun to bear fruit and roses are blooming on our rose bush again.  X-man was very excited to report that he found a beautiful yellow flower near the hose in our backyard.  We looked it up and discovered that it is called the Bermuda Buttercup.  On his journal, he titled this flower “The Mean Bermuda Buttercup.”  I am not sure why he did this- when I asked, he laughed.  That usually means that he thinks he is telling some funny joke.  In this case, however, it is appropriate since I learned that these are particularly stubborn weeds.  I don’t mind though, for now it is small and very pretty.  And my kids like it.

Our whole yard shows signs of spring

Finally, we’ve noticed that the weather is getting warmer and the bees have begun buzzing around the flowers and bushes.  Z-urchin enjoys playing in the dirt and he tried to get a look at those bees, but he is still a bit short to look over the fence.  I took pity on him and lifted him up.  We watched the bees at work among the flowers.  What lovely jobs they have to do!

Warmer weather and busy bees

We’ve added several pages to our nature journals this month.  My daughter informed me that she loves spring because it is beautiful.  I find myself in complete agreement.  Welcome, Spring, we are so glad you’re here!