Outdoor Mom December 2017
During our outdoor time this month we went….
You could say we have become obsessed with stalking the beavers in our river. It become obsessive when it involved an actual kayak adventure on the freezing river in freezing temperatures. So far, we have only found signs of beaver activity and no actual live animals. We are not giving up and will continue once the river freezes and the snows come…we are hoping it will make tracking the signs easier. (This may be a naïve expectation but I guess we will find out as the season unfolds.)
The most inspiring thing we experienced was….
Project Feederwatch, as usual, makes me happy. Happy to count birds and happy to slow down enough to accurately identify and count the visitors. My family will attest to the fact that I get excited like a child when I spot a new bird in the feeder. This month I spotted a Pygmy nuthatch! This was added to my life list and was happy it appeared on a bird count day.
I am reading…..
I am devouring several good books right now and this one is nature study related, There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk. (edited to add an affiliate link)The gist of the book is that the author’s growing up years in Scandinavia taught her that getting outdoors in the cold of winter is a challenge but so restorative to both children and adults. It has renewed my determination to keep going with my Outdoor Hour Challenges as inspiration for getting outside in inclement weather. Sidenote: Coincidentally, my daughter and I both checked this book out from the library at the same time, her in New York and me in Oregon.
Photo I want to share…
My boys have embraced the outdoor life here in Central Oregon. My youngest has hiked to many peaks and mountain tops in the past few months. He shares his adventures through his amazing images. This one is from the top of Black Butte.
Could there be any better way to make this Outdoor Mom’s heart soar than to see her children getting out and exploring the beauty and solitude of nature?
So as the year winds down, I am looking back over my nature goals for 2017. Once again I am feeling quite successful in some of the goals and a bit of a failure in others. I’m not beating myself up over this because 2017 has been a huge leap of faith in my life as we moved from California to Oregon and tried to find a new normal. Goals I made at the beginning of the year had no way to reflect the amazing opportunities that arose over the following twelve months. I will be posting a nature goal recap soon that will contain my reflections on the year that has been 2017.
Do you want a sneak peek into my new nature journal project for 2018? I found this at a bookstore in Bend a few months ago. Immediately, I knew it was my project for 2018! Look for more information on this soon here on my blog.
Edit to add an affiliate link: Nature Observer.
2017 Outdoor Mom Entries –Just in case you missed one!
January – Rain and Rain and Snow
February – More rain and trying to be outdoors anyway
May – First Oregon Entry (with elk!)
June – First Central Oregon Summer
July (so big I broke it into 3 parts): Part 1 Backyard and Part 2 Wildlife and Part 3 Travels
(seemed to have missed a month somehow)
September – wildfire smoke and my boys come home
October – Autumn travels and high desert gardening
November – Walking to the river every day
Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
- During our outdoor time this month we went….
- The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
- Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
- In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
- I added nature journal pages about….
- I am reading…
- I am dreaming about…
- One last image…
That looks like a good book to read – especially in climates with cold and rainy weather. Will need to add it to my books to read. Those are rather large bird tracks by your feeder. You are seeing some beautiful birds at your new home! Will look forward to seeing what you think of Nature Observer.
If you’d like to see what this month is like in Minnesota, here’s the post I wrote: https://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com/2017/12/outdoor-moms-journal-december.html
You will enjoy reading the book….my daughter who lives in New York enjoyed it also. Thanks for sharing your link!