Around here ...

BEING AN ARTIST ...
In my quest to become an artist, I jump at any chance to use a paint brush. My darling husband carved this block of wood to resemble a snow man (including his hat!) and I spent a few evenings painting him. I've got these cheap acrylic paints I picked up from Pearl last year, before they closed, so, I gave them a try. It took four coats of the white to get the smooth white effect of snow, and it took 5 coats of black to get the hat to look like I wanted. His nose was also created by dh and painted orange by me. The little green scarf was a quick crochet!



TEACHING ...

In my job, I follow a script to talk to fourth and fifth grade students about living in the Everglades and about water management. There's not much room for changes, but this year has been challenging. I haven't figured out (yet) how our program meets the new "Common Core Standards," but I'm working on it. My motto? As long as the teachers are happy, I'm happy!

DESIGNING ...

Still working with my darling daughter, the entrepreneur, and creating some fun things for use on social media. A lot of folks in my generation pooh-pooh social media, but, I think it's here to stay. As a user, I think it's a lot of fun and a great way to stay in touch with family and friends.

DISCOVERING ...

Many of the elementary schools I visit have butterfly gardens. The past ten years has seen a  huge, countywide movement to restore habitats for Florida's wildlife. Recently, I discovered a caterpillar that looks like a pile of bird poop on a tree branch. It's a swallowtail  caterpillar and, had it not been pointed out to me, I would never have seen it, much less recognized it! Once again, Mother Nature has an amazing way to keep the planet going!

Only 7 shopping days left until Christmas!

Around here? Earth Day hangover approaching ...

Around here, it's the "busy" season. As an environmental educator, the months of March and April are filled with requests for presentations on water pollution and events focused on conservation. It is, after all, south Florida and we do, after all, live in the Everglades!

visited over 400 fifth grade students at three different schools, one classroom at a time and talked about water pollution

served as the outreach connection at Water Matters Day at Tree Tops Park for more than 500 folks who care about things like saving water ~ the kids love the Enviroscape model and they don't realize that they're learning something important while they play with the little cars

challenged the local politicians about the significance of teaching school children about the Everglades (they don't seem to find it important enough to fund)

photographed our mascot, Teddy the Turtle, with a lot of the local environmental 'celebrities' at the Waterway Cleanup along the C-11 Canal

clipped news articles about the next steps in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a 30 year plan to restore the flow of water to Florida Bay at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula

organized the 8th Annual Children's Art Competition, "Everglades Eyes: What Children See," and accepted 119 entries from five different schools in Celebration of Earth Day on April 22 ~ the artists are fourth and fifth grade students that I've visited with my Enviroscape model and my pep talk about the Everglades and they totally "get it!"

planted a tree in honor of Arbor Day on April 25, a dahoon holly, a Florida native tree that has red berries that the birds love to eat

shopped for a bottle of wine with which to nurse my "Earth Day hangover!"

And, what have you been up to this month?