#Earthschooling365: Day Fifty
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today I followed a pretty flower off the bike trail and then saw a pretty bird and soon enough I had wandered into a little area that was hidden by trees and brush. When I came out on the other end there was a little hidden part of the creek that only animals seemed to visit. All I saw were the footprints of raccoons and birds. And at the tip of a little sandbank I saw a heron. He didn’t notice me at first because the last thing he expected to see was a human. So I was able to get some photos of him standing by the creek with the sun illuminating his beak. I have been finding more and more that if I wander off the path or trail that I can see the most beautiful things. Take some time today to reflect on how wandering off the trail can bring surprising beauty into your life. It is good to have a path to follow but every once in a while it is healthy and wonderful to let your senses lead you to a surprising place. Try following your senses today and see where they lead you. What do you really feel like eating now if you could eat anything? What do you really want to do if you could do anything? When you step outside which direction do you feel like walking in?
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today we are going to do a “train of thought” or “train of sight” walk. Start your walk in a park or other natural area (you may have to walk a bit to get there like I have to walk a block to get to my nature trail). Once you have arrived at your trail look around and observe what you see. Instead of following the trail head towards the thing that interests you the most. Once you have enjoyed this thing (flower, animal, tree, insect, whatever it is) then take a look around you and decide what the next “thing” is. Continue doing this for at least 15 minutes. Where did you end up? Is it time to walk back now or can you keep going? This is fun to do on your own but is also fun to do in a group if each person takes a turn at deciding which direction to go in next.
Would you like to use a complete nature-inspired curriculum in your classroom or home? Explore www.Earthschooling.com for more information.
Photography Notes (Hands): Today we will talk a little bit more about the technical side of aperture but your assignment is to simply use your camera on the aperture priority setting again (or take note of what aperture your automatic camera is making you use). There are two things that you may be asking yourself about now – should I buy a different camera with more aperture options or better aperture options? And what is the difference between aperture and f-stop?
First, aperture and f-stop are references to the same thing. Aperture is the mechanism and f-stop is the measure of the mechanism. So you can say things like, “The aperture of the lens is wide open and set at a low f-stop.”
The more you work with aperture the more equipped you will be to make a decision about your camera lens. There are basically two types of lenses – fixed and zoom. While zoom lenses are great because they give you the ability to take photos from far away and close up (without carrying more than one lens) many zoom lenses reduce your aperture choices because when they are zoomed in wider they will be one number but when they are zoomed out they will be another number. Most consumer lenses are like this. So, for example, one of my lenses, a Canon 18-300mm lens has an aperture of f/3.5 if it is zoomed wide but that reduces to f/5.6 in the same lighting if I want to zoom in on anything.
This may not be an issue if you usually take photos of fixed subjects on sunny days or you don’t mind losing some image quality by adjusting to a higher ISO (400-800 for shady or darker scenes) but this is not ideal in some situations. I recently had to upgrade my consumer lens to a more professional zoom that stays at f/2.8 no matter what. This is because I was unwilling to compromise on quality but I was having trouble working at f/5.6 while trying to get close up shots of animals that were moving in the shady woods I walk through. Just one f-stop can double the amount of light available to you so this is a significant factor in deciding what kind of lens you need now (or want to save up for some day).
Verse: Lost on the Garden Path
Copyright Kristie Burns
I spied a flower along a grassy artery
Bent to pick it and it whispered to me,
“There are many more beautiful than I
If you follow the sharp-shinned hawk’s cry”
So I accepted the invitation
Chased the color of the daffodils
Pursued the scent of the violets
Captured the laughter of daisies
Snatched glimmers of the dewdrops
Like a child
I giggled and skipped
And was led by my senses
Down
The garden path
I stopped to smell each petal
Touch every blade of grass
Buried my face in the lilac bushes
Held each buttercup to my chin
I smiled and danced
Felt the warm sun on my cheeks
As I was led by my senses
Down
The garden path
Suddenly I came upon
An unfamiliar cottage
Her hat adorned in green vines
Skirt hemmed in morning glories
Birds nested in her window sills
Fairies flew around her doors
As I was led by my senses
Down
The garden path
Then fear approached me from behind
Whispered,”A way back you will not find”
The sun will go down before you return
And darkness will seize you at every turn.
But the hollyhocks embraced me
And the lark sang me a lullaby
The roses reassured me
The butterflies kissed my fingertips
I know not how I came or if I know the way back home
If I stay forever or if I leave alone
If I am really dreaming or all of this is real
I’m usually not so careless, I always steer the wheel
But perhaps I’ve not been careless
As I was led by my senses
Down
The garden path
Perhaps I have again
Become like a child –
Carefree
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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