In our desperate attempt to take in fall before it’s over, we went out to the Urban Ecology Center at Riverside Park for a hike last week. Have you ever read the book Frederick? It’s about a mouse who’s seemingly shirking his duties of storing food and preparing for the upcoming winter. But his family finds deep in the cold and grey of winter, that he had been spending his time storing up beautiful words and memories of colors and sounds to get them through the season.
So we decided to be Frederick and go collect some memories for the upcoming winter.
Little A spotted two monarchs, and noted their bright orange and black colors.
J found acorns and stones that were smooth and hard. He told me how they come from Oak trees and that squirrels hide them in the ground.
Little T noticed that some of the flowers and plants were prickly and some were soft.
We saw and heard geese flying south for the winter.
We felt the warm sun and breeze on our skin.
We watched a snake slither across the path right in front of us.
And we made our way down to the river to watch. The water was calm and flowing south, and the breeze was blowing leaves into the water.
J showed me some big tree roots that were on the path.
S and Papa snuggled and talked about all the sounds she heard.
“That sound, Papa??”
“That’s a bird in the tree”
“Oh, birdie? Birdie singing?”
“Yep, baby. Birdie singing”
So from our family to yours, happy fall! Hopefully you’re soaking up some warmth and sunshine these last few warm fall days.
A. Storm
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