"Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way."~Florence Scovel Shinn~


A walk around last week....I looked for wildflowers, and I found several new ones! 

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain

Adder's Tongue Orchid and Mountain Mint

                                            Unidentified Yellow Orchid

The summer has been brutally hot and humid..and stormy!  Earlier this summer, we lost about 30 trees from a storm.  Straight line winds, I'm guessing.  It wasn't a large area, but it did some damage.  A friend cut the trees to clear the roadway to the barn, and the others will wait for cooler weather.  The "dry" then "wet" seasons have weakened the trees, and many old friends are falling.

Nature seems to endure all hardships...and go on to be stronger.  Change is continuous, sometimes cruel, but miracles prevail!

Earlier this spring, I watched for the Pileated Woodpeckers to nest in their usual spot. The tall dead Pine has been home to several generations of these large, majestic birds.  I often took my morning coffee up to watch them feed and care for their babies.  The "first flights" were magical..the low clucking of the proud parents would eventually give the babies enough confidence to venture outside the hole, and the flapping of their tiny wings while clinging to the tree was almost comical.  Lessons were learned quickly, and they all would loop through the woods hunting for bugs and practicing life skills.

This spring, they did not nest in that old Pine tree.  I wondered if the parents were gone. I had heard their calls, but yet I wondered if they were all right.  I had noticed new holes in a Pine tree behind the dam.  The oval shaped opening led me to believe that it was indeed a Pileated's home, but I missed my mornings with them. Perhaps this was the younger generation, and they wanted a change!

My walk around last week took me took me to the woods in front of the house.  As I walked by the old, abandoned Pine tree, I paused to take a picture of it...in fact, I had walked past it and returned to inspect it more closely. Something seemed to make me go back and take this picture. It was still empty, but it stood tall and stark against the green of the woods. As I paused, I had feeling of sadness, but I did not understand.

Another storm over the weekend.  A limb crashed through my back windshield as I was returning from feeding the horses. A scary sound, but nothing that can't be repaired. Something earlier in the day had told me to park in a different spot, (and I did) but I had been rushing to beat the next approaching storm, and I pulled down to be closer to turn off the pump to the barn. Still, that voice had warned me earlier. Intuition.... that small voice that I ignored.

Another walk around yesterday...and back to the front woods.  As I rounded the curve, something was not the same.  As I got closer to the tall, white monument Pine that had been home to many generations of Pileated Woodpeckers, I realized that it had fallen in the storm over the weekend.  Was this the reason that it was not used for the spring babies?  If so, how did they know? And was that the reason for my quiet reflection and the photo from last week?

Animals seem to be blessed with a keen sense of intuition. I have read about animals that sense earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.  There are service dogs that are used to predict seizures in people, and I even notice that our horses can predict storms and severe weather changes. The birds and deer intuitively know when strangers are in the woods, and I think most of us have heard those "voices" from time to time.  Is it that we are often too busy to listen, or is it that we don't want to listen? Is it an acquired gift, or a random

happening? 

Perhaps that is why I love The Cabin Path.  Its quietness and beauty is a blessing that I do not take lightly, and as years go by, I am realizing the true miracles in this life.  Within each of us are gifts that are waiting to be discovered and explored.  We all have these voices, and too many times, they are ignored.

  Albert Einstein once said,

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

May I always be grateful for life's gifts...great and small.

 

Another morning at the barn....feeding critters and enjoying the peace and semi-coolness of the day.  The heat this summer has been severe. Many, many days of 90 + temps..and heat advisories.  We have been skipped by most of the afternoon showers with the exception of some damaging storms. I have not spent the time outdoors that I normally do, and perhaps that is why I have missed this addition to the landscape for as long as I have. While sitting on the cabin porch, I noticed a bump on the roof of the hay shed. At first, I thought it to be the old fat possum that visits from time to time. I thought he had climbed the pole to escape some predator, and he was now trapped by the light of day.  As I neared the "critter"... I soon realized that it was a nest of hornets! How had I missed seeing it?? How many times had I put hay in the shed and walked right under it..and NOT seen it or at least the hornets?!

I thought back to some morning back in late spring when there would be several hornets on the porch of the cabin. They were attempting to build from the rafters of the cabin porch. I had resorted to using some spray on them, and then I repeatedly tore down the paper stub they had made to start their nest. This was a morning ritual for over a week until one day, they gave up.

In reading more about these insects, I found many interesting facts. They are not true "hornets" and they are in the wasp family and closely related to the yellow jacket.  They will attack if provoked, and they can sting multiple times.

http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/facts/bald-faced_hornet_712.html

I plan to leave the nest undisturbed until winter. These nests are rarely reused, and the queen will hide away in tree stumps and protected places until spring...and not in the nest.  I have recovered several nests over the years at The Cabin Path.  The paper nests are beautifully designed pieces of art, and we have used the paper in many projects (fairy wings, dragonfly wings, nature journal pages, etc)

I am not thrilled that these Bald - Faced Hornets have built so closely to the horses and the cabin, but they have not bothered anyone.  Now that I am aware of the nest, I will be careful not to disturb them, and I am willing to share the space.  They are interesting to watch, and they play an important part in our eco-system.

As I sit on the cabin porch with the cabin cats, I'll just watch them from a safe distance...so much can be seen from that old cabin porch!!

Another Archaeological DIG at The Cabin Path!

The Archaeological DIG a couple of weeks ago generated much interest around The Cabin Path's Groups (Yahoo Home School, Facebook, and Website) By request, the Summer Workshop kids wanted to have DIG of their own! Since the majority of this group were 4- 6 year olds, I needed to think of more activities! I knew that the actual "Dig" involved hard work...and this younger group's attention spans might not last. (and it was really hot!)
    We began our workshop with a box of dog treats, a dog leash, and a dog collar. I asked them to pretend that they were detectives, and that these 3 things were clues. Of course they guessed that I had a dog..or that a dog might be nearby. I told them that archaeologists used the clues that they uncover to know what might have lived in the area of their dig! We then looked at the box of artifacts that have been found here over the years at The Cabin Path. The arrowhead points and the Mississippian pottery pieces are always fun to see and hold, and I had a fossil of a fish that I have had for years. (a gift..not from The Cabin Path!) We talked about how fish, animals, insects, and even bones get trapped between layers of rock..and how fossils are formed.

Next was our art activity....the old Plaster of Paris fossil making!! Over the years, I have learned a few tricks to making fossils. We started with a paper bowl. Names were written on the bottom and then filled with about 1-2 inches of sand. We then picked our fossils! Nature found objects (leaves, thin bark, feathers, etc) are beautifully preserved, but most of this group elected to find "bugs" from the boxes of plastic animals and insects that we use in sand play. I had pre-measured the Plaster of Paris in cups, and when the fossils were arranged in the bowls and sand, I added water and a little brown paint..and they stirred to make a thick milkshake consistency. We then poured the plaster over the fossil...but NOT moving the bowl! A little "tap" on the sides to remove air bubbles, and we then left them to cure. I have to admit, they turned out great! The sand and paint gives them a more realistic look.

 

                                                  Grapevine Leaf

We walked over for the DIG while the fossils hardened.

Using the area from the previous dig, we filled buckets....

and then took the buckets to our sifting station.

After digging and sifting, we then visited the Native American hill that has a rock formation that was used for ceremonies. The large rocks are arranged within double rock circles. They mark the directions North, South, East, and West...to suggest that they were used as a calendar using the sun and the moon.

We want to conduct a DIG on this hill next fall.

We then returned to the Gathering Room for our picnic...and the fossil reveal!!
Pull the "fossil" out gently....

A fun day...learning about the past and how archaeologist uncover clues and learn from the past. We even talked about some of the things that archaeologist would discover about us! It even led to a discussion about conserving and our environment today.

I have always loved the crows around The Cabin Path. They are the "watch dogs" in the woods. I learned many years ago to listen to their warnings, and other animals also respect their caws. They sound the alert for coyotes, fox, cats, dogs, hawks and even people in the woods!
Cornell has a wonderful site to learn more about crows.

Last year, I heard an unusual sound from the woods.  It reminded me of the "beep, beep" of a truck backing up. After several days of waiting and watching, I discovered that the sound was coming from a crow! My research of crows lead me to the fact that will often mimic sounds of other birds and sounds.  I strongly suspect that this poor creature sat and watched as construction bulldozers and trucks took apart its habitat back in the building boom days!

I have also studied about "animal messengers and animal totems" throughout history, and especially important to American Indians. Many legends and stories have been passed down about animals, and the crow is often the trickster, but it also serves as a spirit protector and guide. I have learned to pay attention to my surroundings when I hear the crows.  Ted Andrews wrote many books about animal spirit guides, and there are many sites online that discuss animal totems. One site wrote:
"Crow teaches us to know ourselves beyond the limitations of one-dimensional thinking and laws. It is about bringing magic into our lives. This animal teaches to appreciate the many dimensions both of reality and ourselves, and to learn to trust our intuition and personal integrity. There is magic wherever crows are. They give us the message that there is magic alive in our world and this magic is ours to use and create a new world for ourselves ."

Yesterday was Memorial Day.  I wrote about my Dad, a WWII veteran and POW.  I returned to the website of the 303rd Bomb Group, and I was reminded that the nose art on my Dad's plane was "Old Crow".....another link to this messenger in the woods, and another reason to love this creature.

Archaeological DIG!

“Enchanted worlds still exist because the child within us never dies. The doorways may be more obscure, but we can still seek them out. There are still noble adventures to undertake. There are still trees that speak and caverns that lead to nether realms. There will always be faeries and elves within nature because they will always be dancing within our hearts.”


~Ted Andrews~

The Thursday Home School Workshop.... Fairies!

Earth Day at The Cabin Path

Our workshops began at 9 with a walk to the labyrinth cove.  We were looking for different kinds of trees, and collecting leaves for an art project. Along the way we saw wildflowers, birds, caterpillars, dragonflies, tadpoles, a Great Blue Heron, and it was a simply beautiful day to be outside!

Back to the Gathering Room, we made leaf mobiles.  After taking leaf rubbings, we traced the leaves and cut them out.  We had also collected our sticks for the top of the mobile, so we added yarns and ribbons and other seeds and found objects.

Leaf Mobiles:

We then hiked to the Native American Prayer Tree.

At the Prayer Tree, we talked about trees, and each person told about their favorite tree.  I also told the group an American Indian story about trees.

A hike back to the Gathering Room, we were met by another group that joined us!  We then had lunch and rested up for our afternoon hike.

A labyrinth walk and a stop by the Native American Rock Circle.

Earth Day...a day enjoying the outside wonders.  The workshop groups already realize that the earth needs a little help.  We see every week how important it is to preserve and protect the plants, trees, and animals, and we know that everything in nature is connected.  We celebrated Earth Day simply enjoying it!  I think all of us had fun!

   

Happy Earth Day...from The Cabin Path!