Hairy Plants

I have just spent and hour or so learning about hairy plants. It has been most exciting. Here is one interesting thing I have learnt. The common old stinging nettle that stings you does so by having hollow hairs on its surface filled with formic acid under pressure (that is the same stuff ants use to deter predators). when you brush against the plant you break the hair which sticks in you and acts as a syringe, injecting you with formic acid. ow. Here is a great picture of the superb syringe hairs themselves.


Also on a sweeter note the geranium (pelargonium) plant that smells nice as you pass by is also covered with hairs which break as you touch them, these however contain a ball of perfume at the base and the the sweet fragrance is released, how nice. I am not sure what the use is of this to the plant however that is should bother to produce this stuff.

I find this so fascinating.

duplo

obviously Brian is a real boy, just look at the creation he created for Ruby (he is very proud of it). She loves playing with it and even I am told designed a bit of it herself. Well done for getting in there girl, dad looked like he was such fun I didn't think he would let you play with his duplo. These are incidentally the very same duplo blocks Bri played with as a child, his mam amazingly kept them all this time.

I have been instructed to tell you the central picture is the bit he is most proud of, the man is apparently working on a car in his garage. The left hand picture is the bit designed by Ruby, a little tea party.

Daddy's kisses
Every morning without fail Brian gives each of his three girls a goodbye kiss and says have a nice day while rushing out the door. Well today he forgot I think for almost the first time ever. ( that may be because I was grumping at him as Coralie pulled the tablecloth about sending things flying and Ruby was being demanding and whiny about precisely how she wanted her toast buttered in a particular way right now. Perhaps we were not very approachable). Anyway I would not have noticed but the door shut with a quick bye and Ruby burst into tears, when asked why. 'Daddy's kisses I like daddy's kisses, didn't get daddy's kisses'

This is not the first time Ruby has been funny about daddy's kisses. Frequently I give Ruby a kiss during the day and say I love you Ruby. Ruby more often than not turns to me and says 'no kisses, I like daddy's kisses, Ruby loves daddy'. I am big girl, I can take it.

Especially for uncle Jack

This is a picture of the T-shirt that ruby designed (a present from uncle Jack). She wears it with pride and proudly shows her friends. Just realised I shouldn't have written 'by ruby' on it for her though, as now is Will be a bit odd when I hand it down to Coralie. Oops I think the marker is indelible.

What has happened

I just saw some photos of me and Bri from before we had children, now I am feeling rubbish.

Plants!

Somehow (oh why did I not think twice and say no), I have got myself into the situation of having to give three lessons to a whole school sometime towards the end of february, argh. I am no teacher, I am a bit shy, all the parents are going to be there, I could make a complete fool of myself, but I do like a challenge and it is a change from the daily routine. But I am no teacher I think mistakenely someone has it in their head that I am some kind of minor expert on plants, they will be dissapointed. I am already sweating over hours of preparation and nereves and I still have over a month to go, watch me still be struggelling to get it sorted hours before it begins. And what a crazy topic 'plants' far to big and exciting I only have 20 mins per lesson I need at least a year to do them justice.

Soil songs

Here are a couple of poems I found and liked while loking for things to put in the lessons. From a whole page dedicated to soil songs!

A Rainbow of Soil

F.D. Hole, 1985

A rainbow of soil is under our feet:
Red as a barn & black as a peat.
It's yellow as lemon and white as the snow;
Bluish gray ... so many colors below.
Hidden in darkness as thick as the night:
The only rainbow that can form without light.
Dig you a pit, or bore you a hole,
You'll find enough colors to well rest your soul.

Walking on the Earth

F.D. Hole, 1989

The moment that a child can walk,
like that in which it first can talk,
is a precious start of exploration into landscapes of creation.

Chorus:
Walking, walking, walking, walking, walking on the earth.

By sense of touch the feet assess
the nature of the wilderness
of earth beneath; yet human speech cannot express what feet can teach.

Chorus

I did it for you!

She is still being fantastic. This morning she took off her night nappy and did a large pee for which she was sutibly praised. Her next words were 'I did it for you'. Now where did she get that from? How sweet of her to think of me, just what I wanted!

A real big girl

Ruby has been nappy free for three days now. We have even made several out of house expeditions complete with very anxious, over nagging mother (me) and potty. She has done fantastically. I hope things continue in this manner. If they do I will be a very happy me, over the moon in fact. I am so proud of her. But lugging a potty around is a bit of a pain it is true.

Take a look at these

Another thing on at the Natural History Museum was the Wildlife Photographer of The Year exhibition. Take a look at some of the amazing photos. Ruby particulary likes the one with the moon on.

Natural curiosity

Here are a few pics of our trip to the Natural History museum. We had a fab time and Ruby got so excited she danced every time she saw something new, which was all of the time, so it was rather an exciting trip. And oh boy, you should have seen her when she got to talk to some elephants on the telephone! I don't remember being so excited when I went to these places.

Go there.




Coralie enjoyed it too but on a different level.

nuts

One bite of pepper, one bite of celery, one bite of raw courgette, one bite of banana, then line them in a row and leave them there. What's that about?