Posted by Sarah on February 9, 2010
ME:” Adding with nine is easy to remember because Nine always wants to steal a One from the other number in the sum to turn himself into Ten.”
Lani: “Shouldn’t he just borrow it”
Me: “Huh?”
Lani: “It’s nicer”
Me: “Yes it is but Nine isn’t nice, he’s always stealing one from the other number”
Lani: “Well my Nine doesn’t he just borrows it!”
I think we may be missing the point here.
Posted by Sarah on February 7, 2010
Lucy wasn’t in her web this morning, we couldn’t find her for a while mainly because we were looking up. Then I spotted her in amongst the dead leaves in a plant pot under her web. I had wondered a little about her the other day when she moved from her permanent position in the centre of her web to climb into the rafters. If a spider could look tired and worn out this one did, like she and lived her fill and now had one last job to do. I read Charlotte’s web as a child so I know what was coming once she made the slow climb up and disappear inside a crevasse for a while, I just hoped the kids wouldn’t feel quite as bad as Wilbur when the spider said good bye.
It was all rather morbid really, whenever the kids curiosity or mine got the better of us we popped out to say hi and see how she was going. Eli said once “I think maybe she’ll climb back up now” but I said “No.”
Then when we checked on her after lunch she was still, her spark had left and she was gone. Literally within seconds the ants appeared clambering all over her body, taking positions in small groups around the base of each leg. Lani wanted them to leave her alone, and for a moment I was there with her. Visions of me chasing the nasty ants away from our friend and us giving her a proper spider burial filled my head. Instead I just talked quietly to the kids about the raw and harsh reality of world we live in. And after we said good bye we left the ants to their meal preferring not to starve another creature because of our sentimentality.
We chose instead to marvel over the craftsmanship Lucy showed in her web…
…and remember her hanging about in there keeping us company.
Good bye Lucy the Golden Orb Spider who spun us such an amazing golden web.
I’m thinking maybe its not such a good Idea to name all the creatures we observe for nature studies, what do you think???
Just as the sun was setting the kids called me out to look at Lucy’s web and there in the middle was this little guy not much bigger than a fly we choose to believe its Lucy’s.
Posted by Sarah on February 4, 2010
Please, as you go about your day tomorrow as you plod through the run of the mill activities that comprise the extent of your daily lives, please pray. As you buzz around getting from one place to the next, as you prepare food, eat food, clean up after food, pray. Pray for little Finn the Fighter because tomorrow is a big day for him. Tomorrow he has surgery to remove the neuroblastoma tumour that hid itself in his little belly.
Finn is a gorgeous little boy, brim full of pent up energy and strength beyond belief. I posted about Finn and the quest for a blue zebra here. He is a fighter and has taken every stage of his treatment in his stride, and his stride is fast, non stop. But there are some big steps ahead, surgery and recovery then stem cell transplant. I wish I had the skills of the doctors and could rip the ugly thing from his body myself but I am lacking, without, useless. So I will pray and I will hope and I will ask you to do the same. Please pass on this prayer.
Posted by Sarah on February 3, 2010
We found Lucy on New Years day, I’m thinking she’s a Golden Orb Weaver. She has strung up her massive web in the sun room and we have been studying her daily ever since. In this photo the children are learning that Orb Spiders do not eat noodles. Eli thought he would share his lunch with her as he thought her choice of Fly Sandwich wasn’t very appetizing. However she thought the same about his noodle and once she finished sucking on her fly she deftly removed the offending human food from her web and threw it back on the table.
Lucy a few weeks later and almost twice the size. The kids were amazed to see her catch a dragonfly larger than herself and eat it. Mind you if you want to see what the giant Orb can get up to have a look here, that’s Australian wild life for you. We have also noticed she’s not the best at house work never cleaning her web instead preferring to leave trophy carcases in a long line behind her.
Interest in our new guest has sparked a lot of trampoline entomology lessons. Look at that Science/ nature studies/reading and I haven’t had to plan a thing.
