Sunday August 18th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Zari and her favorite zebra things.

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Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

My daughter, Zari, absolutely loves zebras 🦓 and zebra print stuff because Zebra starts with Z just like her name. We currently have a wall going up to her and Teela's room that has a huge zebra art piece. She was looking for zebra things while we were at the Farmers Market yesterday and I found a perfect little art piece that she fell in love with. We have yet to find the perfect wall for it, but I think that I might paint a wall in their room and place it above their rolling clothes rack.

I had a spider 🕷️ come down on its web from the ceiling while I was sitting at my desk and I felt a bit like Miss Muffet while she was eating her curds and whey. I freaked a little. I, however; have this cool little spider/bug catching device that I got a while back from blogging. It has a long handle on one side and a cup with a magnifying glass 🔎 on the other. The handle has a lever that you slide and when you do you slide the cup closed or open depending upon the way you slide it. I have become a lot braver since I got this. I got that out, scooped up the spider, and escorted it outside.

I was going through some of my old photos and wishing that I had long hair again. I used to have hair that went down to my tush, but I cut it 💇 short back in 2014 and it hasn't grown very much since.

I feel like such a hypocrite! I just got a FinalStraw a few days ago in the mail. It is a neat foldable, collapsible, reusable straw complete with drying rack, cleaning squeegee, and case. I used it yesterday for my Dutch Bros drink, but I still felt bad because my cup and lid was plastic 🥤. I keep forgetting to bring my reusable cup. I also have an abundance of reusable grocery bags/totes that I have yet to use. People (and that includes me) these days are just not wired to do this naturally, but I would like it to become habit for me. I really want to change, but change is hard and sometimes I don't know where to start. Then there is the rest of my family that still uses all kinds of plastic stuff...and they say they care, but don't seem to want to change. Baby steps 👣 though and maybe, just maybe, I will inspire them to do the same for themselves.

Wordless Wednesday Pretty Spider

Pretty Orb Weaver Spider Spinning its web.

Photographing Flowers

While I was out in my garden the other day photographing some flowers I noticed something peculiar. On one of my flowers was a honey bee, but it wasn't buzzing around collecting pollen. It was just sitting inside one of my rhododendron flowers not moving around at all. Upon closer inspection I saw a spider hiding inside the petals.

Crab Spider with captured Honey Bee. Look how much pollen this bee has!

I thought this to be an unfortunate fate for the bee, but fairly fascinating for my children to observe. As a homeschooling parent, I love nature studies! Anything to get my kids outdoors and exploring. We love getting out our cameras or nature journals to capture the gorgeous Earth at its finest. Charlotte Mason's nature studies are also some of my favorite things to read my children.

My kids came over to see what I was looking at so intently. I showed them and they were intrigued at what they saw. We had never seen this display in real life and never so up close as this was. Then little by little throughout the day my children found others. One had a bumble bee and another was just waiting to catch something. My kids were excited at what we found.

Crab Spider preying on a Bumble Bee.

We found out later through some research and inquiry that these spiders were called Crab Spiders. They are a certain variety of spiders that don't make webs, but instead hide out in flowers waiting to pounce on their unsuspecting prey. Some are brightly colored to match their favorite flower hiding spot and others can change their colors to camouflage themselves, much like a chameleon does.

Crab Spider playing hide and seek in the Snow Drops. Do you see it?

I believe all creatures are fascinating, even spiders! What a glorious world we live in! So diverse and intricate. So much to explore and learn. I love nature!

UPDATE: May 1, 2014

Can you see it? My daughter didn't when she picked this Dandelion.

My daughter Zari picked a dandelion that was going to seed because she loves to blow them around. Guess what we found lurking in the seeds of the plant? You guessed it! Another crab spider! I had my camera ready and captured it hanging onto the seeds. We believe that it was probably lost, because usually these spiders like to hang out in flowers that attract pollinators. This one was hiding in a dandelion that probably wouldn't be so attractive because of the stage it was in.

Crab Spider perched on the seeds of a Dandelion.