Karlimoot the scarlet robin

 

The sweet little Sarlet Robin, Petroica boodang, has returned to our patch of Central Victorian bush for the winter, and I was delighting in their antics this afternoon. They're impossible for me to photograph, though - too quick and too small, so I grabbed a photograph from this page. Pop over there to find out about Victoria's other red robins -we have five.

Noongar Aboriginal legend tells us that long ago during the Dreamtime, Chitty-Chitty the wagtail and Karlimoot the scarlet robin were in a dispute over hunting rights. The two were forever fighting, and one day Chitty-Chitty attacked Karlimoot, hitting him in the face and making his beak bleed. The blood ran down his breast, forever staining his feathers red.

The fight still goes on to this day. Chitty-Chitty continues to chase Karlimoot from his territory, and remains king over the hunting ground. Bit of a bully, really.

 

Take an afternoon off

Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.

Charlotte Mason, Home Education p42

We took the afternoon off today because...well, let me show you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you stay inside on a day like today just to get your reading done and work a maths sheet, then we reckon you have your priorities wrong. Work hard when you're working, but play hard when you're not.

Miss Mason tells us the never be inside when you can rightly be without. I don't know about you, but this seems easier when our kids are young, doesn't it? By the time they're in years 7 and 8, (that's High School in Australia), we've started to get all serious about the academic stuff - the maths and the science and the written narrations, and practicing our two modern and one ancient language every day.

Spending half a day or more outside every week? Ain't nobody got no time for that, right? Wrong. In the years when your child is independent, when she spends much of each day reading and writing alone in her room, time outside is more important than ever. Time to walk together, talk together, laugh together. Don't miss a single day. She will be grown and gone all too soon.

When the weather is like today's, and the gazanias look like this, you really have no choice, do you? Binary multiplication can wait until tomorrow, and everything will be alright. I promise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildflowers in the bush

How could you not be happy, wandering aimlessly in the bush when the wildflowers begin to bloom? Well, I can't, anyway. These photos were all taken today. I'm sorry the little purple orchid is a bit blurry. It was quite windy, and consequently, a bit difficult to get a good shot, but it was such a sweet little bloom, I wanted to show you anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most exciting thing is that this is just the start of the season. I can't wait to see what is flowering next week. Spending a whole afternoon in the bush each week is not really a hardship at all at this time of year. I love it.

What's flowering in your neck of the woods? Have you looked lately?

 

 

 

 

Innocence and trust

The happiness of that afternoon was already fixed in her mind, and always would the scent of freesia recall it to her mental sight, for among the smells of the roses and violets and lilies and wall-flowers, the smell of the freesia penetrated, as a melody stands out from its accompaniement, and gave her the most pleasure.

The Way Things Happen by Hugh De Sélincourt

 

Freesias make me happy.

It may be just that they forecast the beginning of the warmer spring weather, but I just adore their colours too: white, cream, yellow, mauve and purple. Don't they look beautiful bunched together like that and sitting in my kitchen?

In the language of flowers, freesias symbolise innocence and trust. I can see why.

Modern freesias have little scent, but the older, less brightly colourful ones are gloriously fragrant. Mine are old. Possibly even older than me. And they smell every bit as wonderful as they look.

 

Seeing what's there

I need to buy a Wattle Field Guide.

 

I'm pretty sure that this is Golden Wattle, Australia's national floral emblem...

...but I'm fairly sure that this one is not. The phylodes are too large, and look at their wavy, lobed shape.

 

 

Then there are these...

and these...

 

and this glorious beauty...

and these just beginning to bloom...

and these scrubby ones, which should be exquisite next week.

Every year I blog about the glory of the wattle in spring, and yet this is the first season I've realised quite how many different varieties there are around our peaceful home. All of these photos were taken in one half hour journey between Jemimah's dance studio and our town last Monday. And there were more, only I was never going to get home the way I was going, and I was in a rush.

So what is it that's made me really look at the wattles that grow by the roadside, more than eight years after we started CM style nature study? What made me realise how many different varieties there are?

It was starting my Book of Firsts.

In past years it was enough to just post on FB that the wattle was in bloom, or was looking glorious, or was making me happy, but this year I want to document that the Cootamundra wattle, Acacia baileyana, is in full, glorious bloom and the Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha is just putting up its first flowers. Which is all very well, but what do I say next? That the spiky wattle is flowering, or the one with full heads of yellow? Or the one with wavy phylodes? If I can't identify between them, I can't write them in my book, and it is frustrating me no end to have to resort to saying, "The varied wattle species are looking magnificent right now."

I suppose it shouldn't really surprise me that the Book of Firsts is so much more than a list of plants. I shouldn't be surprised that it's teaching me to see, to be Eyes, not No-Eyes, because this skill of observation is so entwined in all of the Charlotte Mason method, isn't it?

We train the powers of discriminating observation from an early age using what Miss Mason calls Sight-Seeing (Home Education p 45) and mental Picture-Painting (p 48). Later we encourage our kids to mentally see whole words, not just individual letters, when doing copywork. We train them using picture study to tell what they observe. We instruct them to accurately paint what they see outside in their nature note books. We ask them to make lists of birds and animals they've caught sight of. Why should it surprise me, then, how powerful the Book of Firsts has been in improving my power of observation?

My Book of Firsts has been a constant delight to me this year. It gives me such satisfaction to document the first bloom, the firsts sprout, the first snow pea. And, pleasingly, it is just going to get more and more interesting as we get to compare this year's entries with those of the next and the year after that.

Perhaps by then I may even be able to identify a few more wattles. Which brings me back to the beginning.

I need the buy a Wattle Field Guide. Can anyone recommend a good one?

 

More wattle

 

 

Hello, friends, how was your Monday?

We went back into the bush today to see if more wattle was flowering, so that I could show you our beautiful Australian glory, but I'm still too early. Maybe next week. Sigh. It's sooooo hard to be patient, sometimes.

 

In other news, the Egg and Bacon (Gorse Bitter Pea) is starting to bloom. It is going to be so lovely here in a couple of weeks. I can't wait for you to see.

What is flowering where you live?

 

Golden wattle

The Golden Wattle has started to flower in our local bushland. So far there are only a few plants in bloom, but there are so many bushes just filled with buds, and it is going to be quite a sight to behold in a few weeks.

The Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, is Australia's floral emblem, and its appearance, for me, marks the start of the floral abundance of spring. Just seeing these few flowers today makes me joyful!