Flying South

Old Wren has been away visiting Lizard. Where did we go?

Just look.... The white sand may look like snow but it is much, much warmer! Take off your shoes and go barefoot. Look for tracks in the sand - can you see that here something has scurried by dragging its tail?Watch the waves rush in and the water sweep up the sand and roll back out again.

Just listen to the sound of the surf - it's so loud!

Look - Pelican is enjoying the beach with us. How close can we get before he flies away?

We all love to get our feet wet

and to find treasures in the sand.

Fill up your pockets with seashells.

When you take them out at home it will remind you of being at the beach.

Letter to Oldwren

Dear Oldwren and friends,

On Saturday we went to The Reptile House in Unteruldingen! We took our bikes on to the ferry, crossed the lake, and biked about 3 miles along the shore to get there. It was worth it! We saw completely fascinating snakes up close!

It was worth it for this picture alone. Wm, looking at a King Python, wearing a striped shirt with his camouflage shorts on backwards on top of spiderman Strumpfhose, and rubber boots with spats. It has been very rewarding lately to let him dress himself.

I don't care if your shorts are on backwards or not.

I am wearing camouflage, too.

Sap's up

The tops of the maple trees are turning red.
What's that?


It's the buds swelling up and getting ready to bloom into maple flowers.



That means the sap is rising!


It's time for making maple syrup.

Bring on the pancakes!

A pile of fur

The rain has finally stopped. Dog and I are looking around - oh yuck! What is this?What is this sodden mass of fur? Something dead? I poke it with a stick. Then I notice it has a tag. I scold, "Dog, is this your hedgehog? You left your toy outside in the rain! Now it's ruined! Aren't you sorry?"
Dog? Sorry? No, and she doesn't know anything about how her hedgehog got outside.

Let it rain...

Today I am singing an old song...

"Let it rain, Let it pour,

Let it rain just a whole lot more..." because that's just what it's going to do all day.

Letter to Oldwren

Dear Oldwren,

Today we went on a bike ride to the woods by the University. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day!


But I soon became impatient. "MaMA! I want to find a fox!"

So Mama looked for a fox. But she was easily distracted. "Look! Trees!"

Then I got distracted! "Look! a patch of soft moss with spiders crawling on it!"

There just didn't seem to be very many foxes around. We hypothesized that they were inside eating lunch. At least, that's what some of us felt like doing! We went inside the University to the small zoo. We looked at all the creatures, live and stuffed, that they have on display. And while I was sitting there eating my Bretzel, a man came up to me and handed me a real...

...SNAKE SKIN! I'm taking it to Kindergarten on Monday!

Love, Wm HF

Time for a trim

Just look at that raggedy toe! This Horse needs his feet trimmed!

First come the clippers...
then the file

just like trimming your fingernails.

Horse is very patient while we're working on his feet.

At last all four feet are smooth and even. Now Horse can go out in the pasture.

Wait a minute! Where are those nice, newly cleaned and trimmed feet?

You can't even see them in that goopy mucky ankle-deep mud!