Antoinette, of Shekinah Ranch, asked how I do the collage-method for my photos.  (She has one of my favorite blogs to keep up on -- her farm is beautiful, as is her spirit, and she writes in such sweet, friendly, down-to-earth, "welcome to our family's happenings" sort of way.) 

Well, I first have to thank our friend, Monika, for introducing us to Picasa.  It is a wonderful photo program that will take all of your picture files on your computer and store them in a way that makes it easy to access, touch-up, edit, etc.  (Also adds in your new pictures as you download them from your camera.)

You can then easily choose which ones you would like to upload to web albums for family & friends to view individually or as a slideshow.  I use it for adding photos to my blog and have found it easier to use than Flickr or Photobucket.  There is an "embed slideshow" feature that I'm still trying to figure out so I can add them to our blog.  (If someone knows how, I'd love your advice.)

They have a wonderful collage feature that I use to combine photos.  Just choose the ones you like (need to do it in groups of square roots, such as 4's, 9's, 16's ... or the photos will repeat) and click the "collage" button at the bottom of the program's main page.  It turns out beautifully and allows me to have more photos on a blog without taking up so much blog space, download time, etc.

Click on logo above to take a "cyber-tour" of these beautiful gardens & to do an "on-line nature study" with your kids.  Until then, I hope enjoy our little "blog tour."

Every time our family has passed this garden during to one of our daytrips to Charleston, SC., we've said, "We really should go there sometime."  So, this spring, our family finally made it a point to stop by Brookgreen Gardens for a few hours on a Friday afternoon as we were headed down to Charleston for a long weekend.  We were amazed at the beauty of this spectacular place and were very appreciative that the tickets were good for SEVEN days!  The children and I went back the next week and enjoyed having the whole day to walk around, attend the programs, and learn about the garden's history, flora, fauna, and art.

DD & DH stroll through The Palmetto Garden, named for  Sabal palmetto South Carolina’s state tree.

The history of Brookgreen is one that makes you appreciate its caretakers throught the centuries.  Formerly four rice plantations, it was purchased by Archer & Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1931.  The Huntingtons created a nature preserve on the land that is over 6,000 acres and also filled the gardens they created with sculptures by Mrs. Huntington and many other famous artists.  300 acres are open to the public.

The Lowcountry Zoo on the grounds houses animals native to the area.  The blue herons were regal and ruled the bird aviary; the otters were playful and ready to go into their new exhibit habitat that was almost finished; a lame fox found a safe abode where he could live out the rest of his days safely; and deer grazed in a large herd without fear of preditors.

At first, we only saw two owls, but as we walked further down the path and our angle changed, we saw 3 sleepy little owls enjoying their perch!

This little cross-eyed possum melted our hearts.  She was found as an ill baby in a parking lot and taken to Brookgreen.  She was part of one of their educational programs that we attended and the kids enjoyed petting her surprisingly soft fur.

 Below are just some of the many sculptures we saw throughout these miles of gardens.  (The garden has workshops & exhibitions regularly.)

Top Row:  "Presidental Eagle", "In Memory of the Workhorse" (one of my favorites, as I grew up on a farm), "Springtime Frolic."

Center Middle: "Low Country Harvest" (includes the crops of the area -- corn, cotton, rice & indigo)

Bottom Row: "Mongoose & Cobra" (the subtitle was "Hold-on-Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"  -- this was favorite of our kids, as they had just heard the story a few months before our trip to Brookgreen), "The Lion" (there is a matching one on the other side of the path as you enter one of the gardens), "Diana" which is in the middle of the pool (she must be a favorite of artists, as many different renditions can be found of her as you stroll throughout the gardens).

 If you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend a day at this relaxing, beautiful place.  They have a Junior Detective program that kids will enjoy.  (You can see DD &DS in the 2nd row above filling in the answer to the question, "What animals are in the sculpture, "Springtime Frolic.")  Our kids completed their booklets the second day in which they were asked to fill-in facts about the animals, art, plants and other things that they saw throughout the gardens.  It was like a giant scavenger hunt that helped them observe and retain the information and memories from these beautiful gardens. 

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

This morning we began our first day of school, already behind schedule a bit, but taking it in stride.  Suddenly, Little Man looked out the sliding glass door and said, "Mama!  There is a HUGE bug outside!"

Indeed there was!  A cicada (click to see wikipedia's great page on them -- they even have a movie on an adult molting) was on the patio, so we scooped it into our bug catcher and brought him in.  Darling Daughter declared him "too disgusting" to draw, while Little Man gleefully went to work.  (I'm so glad I have a kindred spirit in him, as he thinks the bugs we find are cool too.)  We gladly rearranged our morning schedule to do a little Nature Study, especially when we went out a little later to release Mr. Cicada and found another critter with a name that begins with C... (go to Part 2).

When we went outside to release our cicada, we found another interesting insect against the base of the house, resting on an empty orange juice jug that I use to water plants with.

Imagine our delight when we saw it was a very unusual cricket (another "C" word!), lovely light-brown with long, drumstick-like back legs, long antenna, and a slender, long "tail.".  We quickly snapped some photos, because that little guy could JUMP, and then headed inside to look him up on the internet.  He is a member of the Rhaphidophoridae family, and is known as as a cave or camel cricket, which is also known as "spricket" or "spickets" (words melded from the words spider -- whose legs they resemble -- and crickets), or "hopsies" due to their erratic hopping, which we can attest to.

UPDATE:  Ok, I think I even more excited now about our nature finds today after visiting Barb's "Handbook of Nature Studies" where this week's challenge is crickets!  We will be spending time this week using her lesson plan, and I encourage you to get out there and to the same..Check it out!

And, as a special surprise, Darling Daughter spotted a Blue-Tailed Skink, and due to his quick scurrying for cover, this is all that we were able to we capture of him...

DD called me over one morning to a part of the yard where she was intently working on something. 

"Look at the Mushroom Island I made!" 

She is such a creative kid.  We have mushrooms popping up all over our yard, and they change in the way they look throughout the day & week as they sprout, grow, and "fade" into the most beautiful colors.

And we have a new little friend.  When the Padems were here, their children spied the little tree frog that hangs out on our sliding screen door that opens onto our patio in our back yard.  While I still need to take a picture of him, I was surprised to see yesterday morning this other, even tinier little friend, that had taken Mr. Tree Frog's spot on the screen.  

What a delight it was to have this little SPRING PEEPER visit.  They are named so as they "usher in" spring with their mating calls.   We love to hear them in the lakes and marshes around our house as winter comes to an end and spring is around the corner.  We have only heard them, so it was a delight to actually "meet" one in person. (They only get 3/4 -1 3/8" long, so you can see the comparison next to the milk jug cap.)

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

Proverbs 30:24-28

24 There are four things which are little on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer; 26 The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags; 27 The locusts have no king, Yet they all advance in ranks; 28 The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings' palaces.

We were poking around our compost pile in June and noticed this little mama wolf spider protecting her egg sac.  I ran and got the camera and tooks some pictures of her so we could observe her without actually getting too close.  For those of you that don't find spiders too appealing (like my hubby, who doesn't mind them from afar, but finds no need to see them super close-up), you may want to skip this part.

The egg sac is the white object behind her.  She scooted around pretty good and always kept her babies safe, as her egg sac is attached to her spinneretes.  She can even hunt with it attached.  Once her babies hatch, they will climb up and get a free ride on their mama's abdomen.   Little Man thinks that "she looks a like a bear" this close-up with all her hairs.  Her eyes and fangs are also neat to a little boy.  They have excellent eyesight and if you look closely, you can see her four small eyes on the bottom row, then 2 very large eyes, and on the top row a set of 2 medium-sized eyes.

I share about using our garden for nature study in a chapter I wrote titled "Nature Study in Likely & Unlikely Places" for a new The Old Schoolhouse Store ebook that is scheduled to come out sometime next month.  Here are some little friends we made as we sacrificed our parsley to be their little eating place while they were growing up to be Swallowtail Butterflies.  They were indeed, "Very Hungry Caterpillars!"

Chowing down to the very "nubbins"

A few siblings at the buffet table -- notice the middle one has orange stripes, meaning he is younger.

Big brother getting a mouthful

Can you count his feet?

Baby brother -- they start out almost black, then get orange stripes, and finally yellow.

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

We were at Creation Camp last week and enjoyed taking in all of the nature on the site.  Tadpoles, lizards, frogs, toads, box turtles, bugs, and more!  Our friend had a king snake he allowed the kids to hold, which Darling Daughter willingly did.  We even were surprised to find out that "it" was really a "she" when we found 4 eggs in her terarium one morning.  King snakes are named so, as they eat other snakes, especially the poisonous kinds like cottonmouths, rattlers, etc -- they are immune to their venoms!  Some people think that the snake from Aaron's staff was a king snake, since it devoured the Eygtian magician's snakes in Pharoah's court. (Genesis 7:8-13)

I just love the smell of lavendar.  When we moved into our home, there was no landscaping in the back.  So when I designed a border around our patio, I thought of sitting out there on warm spring days, relaxing as I enjoyed its sweet smell.

These plants are 3 years old now and produce a purple wave of flowers every April through June.  Honeybees cover the flowers, much too concerned about gathering nectar to be bothered by us observing them fly from flower to flower.   This year, I harvested the blooms and am drying them to use in creating gifts for this upcoming Christmas.

	She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Proverbs 31:22
	These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.  That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Psalm 104: 27-28

Birds come every day to our yard to feed at our bird feeders.  The mourning doves have been interesting to watch, as they come in pairs and search for their seeds on the ground under the feeders.

One day when we were outside, we saw a lone mourning dove near our patio -- they have never gotten that close.  As we watched nearby, it just sat there, looking back at us.  We wondered if it was injured, as it didn't fly away, but walked a few halting steps and then stopped. 

Darling Daughter went closer to investigate.  As she drew nearer, the bird looked hesitantly at her, but didn't move.  Finally, when DD got too close for comfort, he ran a few steps, stopped, ran some more, and finally flew away.

They are such pretty birds and their sound "Òcoo-OOH, Ooo-Ooo-OooÓ" is beautiful and yet sad, as if they were indeed mourning something.

Our "Mystery Tree" has been revealed!   Ever since we moved into our house about 3 1/2 years ago, we've wondered what kind of tree was planted in the front garden bed next to our house.  It greeted us when we moved in with clusters of lovely scented white blossoms -- in October!  Quite unusual.  But how I delight in this fabulous tree every year as I look at it out my kitchen window or walk by it on my way into our house.  I smile every time I see bees busily gathering nectar during the warm fall/early winter days in our mild coastal low-country area.

The leaves are evergreen and almost magnolia-like, even having the similarity of dropping its old leaves in the spring.  Other neighbors have the same tree, but no one knew its name.  But during a recent trip to Brookgreen Garden, we think we've discovered what it is...

A Loquat Tree!

(aka: May Apple, Japanese medlar, and/or Japanese plum)

  Taken 4-26-08 @ Brookgreen Gardens

Ours hasn't ever had fruit on it, but hopefully, if it is not merely ornamental, it will soon like this one that helped us solve our "mystery."  It is supposed to bear fruit when it is about 5 years old. It is simillar to the size and taste of an apriocot.

We enjoyed watching this video that told us more about loquat trees.  But unfortunately, it can get up to 30' high and 10' wide.  Will have to research how to prune, but I have a feeling that we will need to sadly transplant it to another part of the yard and hope that it can make the move ok.  (It was planted too close for the house if it truly does get that large.)  Any tips?

When my sister came out in March for spring break, we enjoyed our first long nature walk of the year.  We went on a nature trail that meanders through a maritime forest near a tidal marsh.  The trail is a raised boardwalk, which makes it easy walking and allows us to go over streams and through the dense woods.  My soul feels such peace there!

This beautiful "bloom" caught our eye.  It is a Loblolly pine's pollen cones.  (The word loblolly means "low wet place," which is definately where we were!)   The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,the cypress, the plane, & the pine,to beautify the place of my sanctuary,and  I will make the place of my feet glorious. (Isa 60:13)	A gathering a beautiful seeds, etc from maple trees that were scattered throughout the trail.  I love the deep rich red color and how brilliant it is -- the hue is one of my favorite colors.   "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool. (Isa 1:18)
Little Man enjoyed "racing" many of the 13 Carolina anole (aka: green anole) lizards we saw sunning themselves on the trail. The lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces. (Prov. 30:28)	These are Bald Cypress knees.  Since these trees grow in swamps/wet areas, it is believed that these root parts help the tree get oxygen and other nutrients. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. (Hosea 14:8)
For his entry, Little Man did leaf rubbings.	Darling Daughter admiring a handful of Carolina Jasmine blossoms, which is also known as Jessamine & grows wild where we live.  (Is also the state flower of SC.)