This morning we had some cool Canadian air
after a week of deluges of rain
and high humidity from the tropics.
We joined a group of people painting and shooting
(cameras) at the native flora and fauna
at the Raymond Book Nature Preserve in Hebron, CT.
The grand-girls were with us after an overnight stay
and a breakfast of S'mores Pop Tarts, apple juice,
and bacon!?!?
When we arrived a lady who organized the Paint & Shoot
had New York-style crumb cake to begin our morning.
Violet was going to watercolor paint
but she had to look around the
pollinator pathway of native plants--
and animals.
She spied some white butterflies,
lots of bees, dragonflies,
an inchworm
and some biting ants!!
Lily set off to use both a digital camera
and my phone to photograph
what she could find
down the farm lane.
Oops! We were supposed to turn right.
The trees were 80-100 year old
sugar maples which made a shady canopy
down the lane lined by rock walls.
There were peeks into the meadows
where cows had grazed
and hay was grown and mowed.
which signals that it's
time for the hummingbirds
to migrate south.
We came to a pond
with a stream and a bridge.
The farmers' children
used the area as a fort.
Violet stayed to paint
with her grandpa
on a bench
in the fort area.
Lily and I walked on
around the pond
and up a hill.
From the top of the hill
we could see the bench
across the pond
where Violet was painting.
We found an explosion
of fall blooms: goldenrod,
black-eyed Susans, and Queen Anne's lace,
and New England asters
to match the cool nip in the air
today from Canada--
and the calendar telling
us school would soon start.
Lily felt on top of the world
after a successful shoot.
Other painters were setting up
near the bench.
Violet was finishing her painting.
We all walked back
the farm lane
to the car.
Another wonderful
experience in nature for
our our young artists and naturalists
and their grandparents.
The pollinator pathway is an
important way
to support the world we live in.
