Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy the Handbook of Nature Study??? No? Well I do!  To see – observe – appreciate – the objects that may be so familiar to us – that we do not even glance at them. Or give a sweeping glance as part of a larger landscape.

Such is the case for Queen Anne’s Lace.  Just a prolific weed by the sides of the Oregon Roads.  But – it is a beautiful flower – with details amazing – a back story intriguing – we have had such fun reading about this sweet little doily of a flower.

It started during our cat tail observation – when I pointed out to the boys with glee what a Queen Anne’s Lace flower is – of the red dot in the center of the flower – of the back story from Britain – of it being a beautiful hard to grow flower in their climate – but a road side weed in ours.

Today – the official day that the challenge was posted – we found ourselves on a Quest Challenge – walking through fields of them.  Amazing.  We heard the ocean, gulls, sea lions, bag pipes – saw amazing sites!  And took a few pics of Queen Anne’s Lace – at the end of the trail we learned about Yarrow, cow parsnip and queen anne’s lace. I was almost confused – wondering if we had been following the wrong white doilies all day – but the tell tale sign of the red dot kept us on que. We have Yarrow across the street from our house. I kept waiting for it to unfold like a doily – but they have not.  Here is the site that  I found to distinguish the plants Plants of the Western United States Picture Gallery.  It helps to know the Name – to look them up. 🙂

Bagpipes – part of the summer sounds along the
Hatfield Marine Science Center Yaquina Estuary Trail. 🙂

Join the other outdoor hour challenges at the Handbook of Nature Study! I am mostly pictorially sharing out adventures – the boys love, hmmm.   Love is as strong word. The boys enjoy the journaling – but they are excited about learning about their environment. They love the time together that we focus together outside. The conversations, questions, discoveries – could never fit in a blog post! Those are yours – individual – for your family  – as you walk along! No need to “blog” about it – just get out and do it! I am quite sure that I am getting WAY more out of this than the boys – so even if you are one of my readers – do not take this has a “homeschool” report   – take it as a nature lover’s challenge!