Storm Glass

It feels like Christmas is barreling down and in an effort to get it all ready as quickly as possible I have been dashing around buying things. Unfortunately I seem to buy myself things, why does that always happen? These silver sneakers for example.

I guess it is just lucky I didn't see one of these beautiful Storm Glasses in my travels.  I have a friend who has one and it is so magical. It predicts the weather by either being clear or crystalline and was originally used on by Admiral Robert Fitzroy on his voyage with Charles Darwin on the HMS Beagle. I bet they had some interesting chats.

hoop planes

turn this...

into this...

with these hoop plane instructions...

constellation maps

turn this...

 into this...

with these constellation maps instructions...

The New Oxford Book Of Food Plants

On my kitchen shelf, between the different cook books I never use, I have my mothers wonderful old copy of The New Oxford Book Of Food Plants.
It is the most beautiful collection of botanical illustrations and filled with useful information.  One time I realised I didn't know how a cashew grew, if it was huddled in a pod with lots of other ones or hiding inside a tough shell. I looked it up and was so surprised, who knew just how rare and strange they really are. I can't find an image of it but I highly recommend getting a copy of the book. Sesame seeds are also quite surprising.
I think all those involved deserve credit.
John G Vaughan(Author), Catherine A Geissler(Author), Elisabeth Dowle(Illustrator), Belgium Nicholson(Illustrator), Elizabeth Rice(Illustrator)

total eclipse

photo by Phil Hart

My Dad loves equinoxes, solstices and any type of eclipse. I vividly remember a total eclipse of the sun when I was a tiny child and how our chickens woke up, scratched around, and when the sky went dark an hour or so later, they just went back to the roost and fell asleep even though they had just awoken.
 Night after night we got out of bed into the frosty air and drove to the top of the nearest hill to see the grainy smudge of Halley's comet. Finally realising the view was just as good from the driveway.
Anyway tonight there will be another total eclipse of the moon and I am trying to decide if it is worth keeping my boys up for an extra hour or two to show them or not.
 It looks pretty spectacular maybe it would be worth it. You can get some cold hard stats here.

barrel eye

And so whilst life continues on earth, sometimes at a snail pace, 2000ft beneath the pacific ocean a barrel eye fish was filmed alive for the first time. It is worth a look just to stop and pause for a second and think about all the wonderful things that go on out there. It makes me nostalgic for those stack of yellow bound magazines of my childhood, ready to whisk you all over the earth to places you could never dream of. I like following National Geographic's Instagram for the same reason.

plant measuring stick

There was no art class this week as it is school holidays but here is a project we did a few weeks ago in conjunction with our sunflower seedlings 

turn this... 

into this...

with these plant measuring stick instructions...

sunflower seedlings

 turn this...

into this...

with these seed raising instructions...

measure

Today in our Art Class we will be doing some gardening and some measuring so come along if you feel like doing some exploration.
image from here

jet propelled shooting star

turn this...

into this...

with these jet propelled shooting star instructions...