Forget-me-not Days: Weekend Outings

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Weekend Outings

On Friday we had a field trip to a local park for one of Gabriel's classes. Yost Park was my old "office" in the days before children, and it was nice to be back there in a student's role. It's a small little park in the middle of the city, yet is quiet and has a surprising array of wildlife. Working here through the seasons, and seeing the park in all kinds of weather, I really began to feel that I knew it well. It was one of the first times I understood what it meant to have a knowledge of place, and it surprised me how rich my experiences were over the years, since it seems at first glance to be a pretty normal, low-key, urban park.

We played some games through the few hours we were there, using our senses and pretending to be wildlife hiding in the trees.

Gabriel gets blindfolded for his turn listening to his classmates trying to steal the keys.

We noticed some little treasures in the autumn wilds, and came back with rosy cheeks and muddy pants.

Tiny black fungi on a log

Fuzzy caterpillar in a huckleberry bush

Interesting fungus growing on a rotting red alder tree

Another large mushroom, a shaggy parasol

With hubby working from home on Saturdays now, I try to find activities out of the house for the kids to give him a few hours of peace and quiet. Thankfully we live in an area that has an abundance of things to do; indeed, we often have too many things to choose from! On this drippy Saturday I settled on a trip to the U District Farmers' Market, and a visit to Sky Nursery, where they were holding an autumn celebration. My camera stayed in my bag for the Farmers' Market, but I did manage to get a few shots inside Sky Nursery. We had lots of fun - I'll leave you with some photos of our day.