17* Outside-Flowers Inside

 Boy am I glad I have all of these happy flowering plants right now.  I forgot to buy a rose for our science experiment.  We were supposed to observe the parts of the flower.  Luckily, I have three plants flowering, so we had lots to observe and compare.  

 The shamrock plant with its little white pedals, and the pollen easy to see.

 My Christmas cactus with lots of long pink pedals.  

And thankfully an easy to see pistil and all of these stamen.  These are loaded with pollen.  

My little scientist loves his magnifying glass.  

One of the other plants in my kitchen window is for the first time ever flowering.  I thought it had been flower all this time, with it's trumpet shaped blossoms,  then this red flower started appearing.  Today it was open just enough to see inside.  

It's really cold outside.  The temperature is seventeen degrees, but it feels like one, so says my weather app.  It makes me super happy to have all of these living plants indoors with us where its warm and cozy.  

Story Elaboration

This is a little 'woot-woot' tale.   Today I was reassured that this Sonlight curriculum knows what it is doing. 

 Today was our sixtieth day of school.  Since the beginning our writing assignment for the third day is some sort of story/details/sequencing.  Getting a five year old to realize the important parts of writing and story telling.  At first it was a bit of work to get Nate to realize we needed to add detail, or describe something in greater detail.  He's a guy, you know?  For example, one week he had to write the wording for a book he knows well.  Another week he had to give written detailed step by step directions for a friend to come in and complete one of his chores.  One week I told him a story that was out of order, and he had to tell me how to put it in order.  Some weeks it took a lot of guiding, and I was thinking, 'this is never going to work'

Then today the assignment was to tell Nate this story....

Pat built a house.  The house collapsed.   

After we talked about if this was a good story or not, and if it was boring, we discussed the stuff we were left wondering... What kind of house was it?  What kind of guy was Pat?

We were supposed to rewrite the tale.  I was dreading it...figuring I was going to be pulling teeth.  Then this happened.  

I guided Nate to describe Pat....then he ran with it.  Here is Nate's story about Pat.

Pat was a big young man.  He wanted to build a house to stay warm and cozy.  He decided to build a house on a hill in a castle town. 

He built a three story house with wood.  He started at the top.  A rocket-ship blew his house up, then it came back to where he left off.  Then he got some gold and used it for the windows.  Then he did the carpet, then the chimney. 

When it was done he put the door on, it was made out of old light-bulbs.  Then he got a sheep, then a dog, cows and pigs.  Then he grabbed some red paint.  Then white paint.  He built a barn.

Then he got metal strings to make a fence and sharp knives to scrape the metal strings.  Then for clothes he wore a jaguar coca-cola shirt.  For pants he got a piece of tree to sew pants. 

He was laying in bed when the wind took the top of the house off.  Then he was looking at the sky.  He said, " Holy Cow! AHHHHHHH!"  

The chimney came down and all the sheep were dead.

Then it was summer time.  He took the sheep to the hospital and the sheep were all better. 

THE END

Now I guided him with the first sentence, the rest I just copied things exactly as he said them.  Maybe a kindergartner starts most of his sentences with then or he, but who cares.  That is a real tale. He is getting it!   

Field Trip

 Today in science we learned about reptiles and amphibians.  It was a pretty interesting topic.  I knew just the place to go see some real reptiles.  It's ten minutes from our house.  So after lunch we loaded up and headed out. 

 Reptile Gardens is a fun place.  We went last May so I had a pass to get in for free this time.  

Inside the dome feels like the jungle instead of the prairie.  

 There were lots of lizards running around.

 It's so great that I had the opportunity to take Nate to see the real life things we were just reading about!

 It's so cool there.  Actually its warm and humid.. but you know what I meant.

 Nate took his camera on this field trip. 

 This frog is actually in our book!

 scary.

 While we went around to the snakes I marked which continents they were from. 

 Getting an up-close view of these critters was really fun.  It always is. 

 And now I'll be more informed about traveling to certain places.  eeek. 

 After the snakes we went to see the giant tortoises.   Always so amazing. 

Sometimes I go back and forth about this experience of home schooling.  Most days are fun.  Today was a treat, and I am extra happy that we home school.  

Get Meat

 During our last year in Misawa we went to a fall festival in nearby town.  The festival was pretty obvious as it was called the Beef and Garlic Festival.

 Even if the festival had been horrible the drive and scenery would have been worth it. 

 I'm pretty sure the town was called Takko.  It was a ski area if I remember correctly, but this was the fall and it was still green. 

This was the building where the beef was cooked. 

 This is how we knew.  It was so nice of them to translate it for us.

I believe this banner says Beef and Garlic Festival.  Of course I have no clue but the Japanese are so kind to have self explanatory illustrations everywhere.  Unless of course the illustrations are not related at all to what the signage is saying,  then you'd probably end up looking like a total ass.(try a Japanese toilet seat)  

 Even though we bought our beef from a counter outside..... in the building where the grills were this was also.  Now I'd never seen anything like this before, and I haven't since.  I don't know how I feel/felt about this.  I'm glad they are using every bit of the sacrificial cow?  I'm glad they are wearing masks?  I wish the cow could have been in a separate building?

 So here we were ten feet away from the carcass cooking our beef. 

 And here we were eating our beef ten feet away from the carcass.  

The Japanese weren't really fazed.  Neither were the hairy canines they grilled with.  

Then there was the garlic.

 And there was a bit of garlic for sale. 

 And there was a bit of garlic with faces. 

And there was a big garlic bulb, larger than humans.

 Then there were the whole roasted fish.  I cannot be positive but I'm fairly confident that I snapped a photo of every instance we saw this type of dish for sale.  It still just seems so shocking for my uncultured self.  

 No clue what these were, there was no illustration.

 There were children performing.  Garlic spitting contests. And another experience for my list of things I can never forget. 

Covering the festivals has been fun.  I have a couple more to share.  

Taken

I take a lot of these types of photos.  Just the sky.  

 If its the sun coming out after a snowstorm. 

 A colorful sunset.

 Snow moving in.

 Thunder rolling in.

 The sun after a storm.

 A perfectly blue sky.

 Bad weather meeting good weather.

 The landscapes here never fail to impress me.  

  A flock returning after the long winter.

 The contrast between the dead grass and the bright blue sky.

These are things I see from time to time on my way home or on the way to the grocery store....... Even though photos don't capture all of their beauty I just hope I can enjoy it during our time living in the prairie.  When we move back to wooded Michigan I think I'll miss the landscapes of South Dakota.  So I'll continue to snap photos of the sky here.  It's just different.

It's Happy Place

My shamrock is happy right now.  

It is flowering like crazy lately and I haven't seen it this full since we lived in New Mexico.

It seems it had a harder time adjusting than I did.  

I'm so happy that the shamrock is happy. 

 It makes my day to see it happily blooming every morning while I eat breakfast.  

Since it already feels like the garden ended forever ago, the indoor plants are cheering me up.

I miss the garden.

But I love this plant.

Then You Grab a Fish With Your Hands

I don't know what made me think of this.  I was just looking through fall months of the past and stumbled upon these photos.  The Salmon Festival.  Many people stationed in Misawa probably went every year, and I believe there were several towns that had a Salmon Festival.  But we only went once.  It was an experience, and maybe we intended to go again, but I'm not heartbroken that we didn't.  

 Once upon an October weekend we drove to this popular festival.  We had one ticket for a salmon.  I knew you just picked one out of a pool.  But the logistics of how this would happened escaped me until the event was nearly over.  There were large pools made from tarps.  

People gathered around in various types gear.  My husband sported his waders.  Everyone was kinda excited and amped up around the pools.  I waited from afar.  Nervous.  

 Then a whistle blew. Children, elderly, brave souls of all ages jumped in.  Some barefooted.  Some booted.  To say it was a mad dash would be correct.  To say it was a cluster would also be true. 

 Then I got it.  You jump in. You grab a fish. Bam!  

I'm no activist but... those poor salmon.  It brings to mind the expression... fish in a barrel.  But these were in a tarp pool.... and still as ill fated. 

So Dave grabbed a slippery live fish with is hands.     

When in Rome and all that.

Man had conquered fish. 

 So we had dinner.

Then I watched mouth gaping as our pregnant salmon was killed. And was speechless as the crowd of Japanese oohed and aahhed over the row.   

Over the shock and amazement of this ritual I reminded myself this time in my life was an experience.  

Then we grilled the fish and ate dinner.  The End

P.S.  I have one other experience that is equally as shocking and possibly offensive... I'll share that one next week to get it over with.  But just a little tease.... 1. an entire cow 2. a spit