Ever since I attended Massawepie Boy Scout (I am female) Camp in the 1970’s, in the great Adirondack Mountains of New York State, near Tupper Lake, I have had a fascination with bogs. During my stay with the Headmaster’s family, who was our neighbor when I was young, I was introduced to many things that…
Yesterday was August fifth! I honestly do not know where this summer has gone! In the past, during most summers, I kept my boys busy with enrichment exercises to prevent what is commonly known as the summer slide. When they were younger this meant involvement in the library reading program, tracking all the books they…
For the first time ever, I got to teach a class during a summer school session today. It sounds kind of crazy but I have always wanted to teach summer school. For many years, I asked. For many years, nothing came of it. But, being at a different school this year, in a different district,…
For over ten years – almost the entire duration of time I led the Evergreen Garden Club at one of our district’s four elementary schools, I wanted to be involved in providing an enriching summer school experience on Monarchs or other seasonal horticultural topics. After all, our growing season in Wisconsin is short and what…
Wednesday, I received a text from my eldest son who is in graduate school in Iowa. He was letting me know that he applied for a piece of a community garden plot near his apartment building. Besides letting me know this, he was also asking advice on plants. Little did he know, this was a…
As a self-taught and self-proclaimed Monarch Butterfly Conservationist who has been active in assisting the habitat needs for this species for the last 14 years, I can share an optimistic report for this season. My third year of tagging went well. I was able to fill the data reporting sheet obtained from Monarch Watch that…
One of my son’s friends tells him I am always “shouting” about butterflies on my social media pages. Shouting might be a bit of an over-exaggeration, but I do have regular posts on this iconic species. I have been involved in Monarch Conservation for almost 15 years now, long before it became a popular thing…
Earlier this week, toward the end of the vacation my husband and I took to the island country of Bermuda, I remembered to ask my sister-in-law who was staying with our boys how the monarch eggs that I charged with her care were doing. I did not get a response. Our cell phone service on…
Of course, this is facetious, for I am not a principal or even a teacher for that matter, but there have been times in recent years I have had to act as one. Recent duties have brought this forward in my mind once again. Yesterday, I had to assist my youngest son on turning in…
Oh, did you think I meant the baseball team, The Orioles? There was a time I liked them, too. A long time ago, when I lived outside of Baltimore and Cal Ripken was just starting his family, living North of the city in horse country. I even went to a game or two with co-workers…