Walden Pond

One of our favorite places.

The 11-year-old doesn't like crowds of any sort, so after sulking sitting on the jam-packed beach for a few agonizing minutes, he headed into the woods for a short hike and some nature photography, accompanied by his mother (as he gets his abhorrence of hordes from me).

We knew this wildflower was Indian Pipe, thanks to the 100 Species Challenge, begun last summer.

This waxy-leaved little wildflower was very pretty--but I forgot my Audubon book and don't remember what the leaves looked like. Possibly Spotted Wintergreen?

I can't resist any rock photo ops.!

8-year-old and 4-year-old in the pond--they would have stayed all day.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

~Henry David Thoreau

Book Sharing Monday 20 July

The Planet Gods--Myths and Facts about the Solar System (2008), written by Jacqueline Mitton and illustrated by Christina Balit, is one of several books by this duo that have to do with astronomy, which is not surprising considering that the author is a Cambridge-educated astronomer. The pair's other books on the topic are Zoo in the Sky, Once upon a Starry Night, and Zodiac--Celestial Circle of the Sun.

The illustrator has also written and illustrated a few books on her own, including the highly enjoyable Atlantis (2000) and Escape from Pompeii (2003).

Book Sharing Monday is hosted at Serendipity.