Morning Adventure

We have been really slow to get out of the house these days. But these perfect fall, incredibly beautiful days are running out (rain the rest of the week) so I needed to get us out today and I am so glad that we found what we were looking for, a beautiful place close to home, sand, water, woods, trees and a great view.
Directly across from Ferry Bluff Natural Area, I could see these sandbars and knew that it would be an amazing place
The boys instantly got wet, which I struggled with too much this morning... but I would like to forget about my yelling about running through huge puddles in my crazy attempt to keep their shoes dry. I did successfully prevent Asher from swimming out to the other sand bar...
They got wet, dug in the sand. I enjoyed the view and explored the sand.
And thought about what a wonderful, amazing place this was.
We walked down river a bit.
And I came to the realization that this place is loved by a lot of people.
Mostly naked people. Which I really don't have a problem with, I just want to still be able to come here in the summer! I have known for over a decade now about the Mazo Beach, my friend parents knew of Mazomanie because of the nude beach, in fact most people bring that up when you tell them where you live. I just didn't think we would stumble upon it in such a manner, as me asking a man who was doing trail work on behalf of the Badger Naturist group if there were family volunteering opportunities to take care of the natural area. And he asked me if I knew where I was... which led to me finding out.
But, we climbed trees, ran and had a great morning... though I still need to deal with all of the sand that I stripped off my children.
and we will for sure be back.

This Seasons Garlands

I do so love things strung up on my windows, and pinecones are a natural fit for fall and winter decorations and are built for stringing up together. I think in the next month we will be making these again.

For these garlands all you need are pine cones and a roll of thread, I used an old sewing machine color that I most likely won't sew with, it is off brown, didn't know that was a color, but it is. This brown blended in the with pine cones which was nice. All I did was follow the natural spiral of the cone to wrap the string around one and a half times then moved on to the next.

I love the texture of pine cones and the effect you get when piling them on top of one another, the bigger pattern of the whole is pretty phenomenal... so we kept a bowl to stare at.

Happy Fall!

Ferry Bluff State Natural Area

We really have landed ourselves somewhere very special, which I guess was kind of the point in moving, we wanted our kids to be able to run and explore a creek close to their home, to grow up with a sense of awe to bodies of water, land shaped by a river, rises in the earths surface. A respect for the land that is hard to get in an area of the planet where so much of it's spaces have been made worse by human interaction.

With the help of a new friend, we found ourselves at Ferry Bluff, which just happens to be right across the river from the natural area closest to our home, Mazomanie Bottomlands. It was awesome to climb up on that bluff look across at the sandbars (I love sandbars!) and think of all the adventures to come for us on the banks of this river. To see kingfishers, bald eagles and sandhill cranes all so close to this place we now call home, witness the nocturnal activity of the beavers as we explore, it all makes the heartache of leaving a place that is familiar a bit more bearable.

To let my boys just play, thought staying out of the water isn't their best skill, was refreshing. They quickly took to being beavers with their new friends. Hauling branches into the river to float downstream. Gnawing branches (sometimes too literally), packing sand into their lodge, putting food stores by for winter... the natural world is amazing as is role playing with your kids.

I also felt on this day that River started to understand a bit of his name. We didn't have river in our vocabulary much, but now River lives by a river and will be able to explore his namesake. I don't know what he thinks of this revelation, but he knows that his name is something we call something else and it isn't another boy like Big Asher. It is all spinning in there.

Our Return

Thank goodness for some cooler weather. While we had a bit of a kick back into the upper 90's and a day of 100, I think that more of fall will be visiting us. And with this wonderful weather, we returned to one of our favorite venues. Again a goodbye of sorts, as we spend our last month of hikes in this particular wooded area.

It was a great day for deer, lots of mama's and their babes hanging out.

And a great day to bid a farewell. I have photographed this place for the past 9 years, since I first started my job at the nature center. I don't think I have ever captured the part that I will miss the least: the road right there, reminding me that while yes this is a great place to explore, it is a bastardized piece of land that was clear cut, filled and dissected by road ways. I am grateful that 10 acres were saved (eventually when a bitter old lady was sick and tired fighting the Audubon society to put in her strip mall) and the wilds took back over, that the park district restores and maintains it. However it makes it easier to say goodbye as I know I will be saying hello to places where we could actually get lost. A place where we can sit and not here construction vehicles and buses (to River's dismay).

We swung from the vines and climbed through the holes that are so familiar to us, walked barefoot in the mud, and were happy to return after avoiding the mosquitoes and heat of the summer.

I have been happy to have a place to ride my bike to. A place to spend hours without worry or need to provide activity for my boys and a place that we were easily able to visit often. Because becoming familiar with a place that is wild, even if not pristine or always isolated, is important.

Into the Woods:: 4/14

Oh, the spring woods. Full of green and the promise of all there is to come with the changing of the season. I was reminded at the beginning of our walk the benefits of living in a University town. A mist netting project and we happened upon an downy woodpecker. The boys were quite interested and the researcher was surprisingly personable and willing to share what he was working on (the effect of feeder stations on wild bird overall health)

We feasted on wild garlic, and enjoyed the spring beauties.And then came upon the mud. The thing my boys like best about the spring woods. Off came the shoes and socks and the worry of getting too dirty. While I didn't indulge myself, the mud looked ridiculously awesome and I can imagine how wonderful it felt to squish through their toes.I was happy to find my most favorite of the springs floral show in bloom. Trout Lily, you have to look carefully to find the first among the thousands of leaves that have no bloom. But once you find it, your eye seems to know where they all are and what you felt sure was the first one of the season, opens up your eyes to many more... not too many though as this plant send up only one rubbery (like a balloon) leaf for seven years before it sends up two and flowers.Love.

Into the Woods:: 2/13 & 23

We had our first walk in the woods without snow, then in snow again and then no snow.
I kinda think that we are done with measurable amounts of snow for the year and we are all happy that more time outside of our house is coming (just not tomorrow as there will be sleet).




I think my boys could be entertained for hours with water and sticks. Ice just adds to the joy. Where R stands now is full of water as the ephemeral ponds have returned to our woods... I can already smell the spring woods!



A is getting the itch to climb... he is a little frustrated trying to climb trees in boots and can't wait to get back to his barefoot tree climbing.

We are excited for this seasonal transition.

Into the Woods:: 11/8 + Complete Project

I think we will be hiking every moment we can this week. Such awesome weather in these parts.
We found a great new nook in the woods this week. Asher could have spent the 3 hours in the same place. It was a true natural jungle gym composed of so many fallen trees. Luckily he decided to continue on with us and we found lots of deer and scat.
River was super cuddly after our weekend apart.
He picked coral berries to throw in the ditch...
and totally rocked the sweater I finally put the finishing touches on. It has been knitted for a year (his solstice gift last year) but didn't stay on without the buttons. Now is has buttons.

I altered the sweater from last minute knitted gifts to make a cardigan as I love that pattern. I need a reminder to not sew cardigans unless someone pinky swears to put the buttons on for me.

I love the original pattern, I always knit sleeves first now, so that I don't get board. I also didn't do the most careful job adjusting the patter and while I thought I accounted for the overlap, still ended up with the buttons slightly off center... but it is done!!!