The kid with the really loose tooth was the first to spot our playground visitor. The praying mantis was sitting right there at the peak of the playhouse roof.
After trying to stare us down, the mantis began roaming around the roof. Rather than trying to avoid the paparazzi, it seemed to be testing our mettle and preparing to charge the photographers! For the students this was as good as a circus.
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
My world is small. My students are small. Our discoveries and surprises are pretty big, especially with a digital macro camera setting. It's amazing how much life is going on inside the fence of a little preschool playground.
This caterpillar reminds me of Pierce, the much-punctured friend of Jeremy in the comic strip Zits. I don't know if it is an adolescent version of the stinging puss/asp/southern flannel moth caterpillar we found last fall. Pretty sure "Stinging Flannel Moths" would be a good name for a garage band, though.
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
This spider's body is the size of my thumbnail, and is patterned like a beautiful turtle shell. It's legs are very furry. The tension line for its web comes out of the end of a piece of rubber hose protecting a small tree's bark from the wire that braces it. Although I've seen the web almost daily since last summer, this is the first time I've actually seen the spider.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out. We had a pretty good rain last night, and this little spider's web came down. It seemed quite out-of-sorts about the loss today.
The cast iron garden hook is designed to hold birdfeeders or hanging baskets of flowers. This little spider, smaller than a ladybug, has claimed it for its web. I have no idea if the spider is male or female, but it does need to shave its legs before it puts on tights or pantyhose!
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
The big boys threw the basketball over the playground fence. Heading across the parking lot to retrieve their ball, I was stunned to see this beautiful, if deceased, beetle on the ground. Do we really have beetles this fabulous in Texas? Or is it a planted teaser for a Curse of the Mummy movie?
This gem is in a box in the elementary classroom now. Look at its belly! How exquisite! What a costume it would make. "Thank you" isn't usually my thought when I have to chase escaping playground equipment. I can see I'm going to have to expand my casual study of insects and other creepy creatures.
© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder
The bright green anole walked down the black cast iron birdfeeder hook this hideously hot and humid afternoon. Less than two and a half inches long from its nose to the end of its pencil line tail, and maybe a quarter inch from right foot toe to left foot toe--much too little to be unsupervised on the patio playground. Where is his mommy? Is she drinking iced tea over on a shady bench with the other mothers and chatting about potty training? He's going to burn his toes, his tail, his tummy on that broiling metal slippery slide!
Everything is shimmering in the heat, and the sweat is dripping in my eyes. The little lizard is Jeffy, almost three, insisting that he try the McDonald's playground slippery slide in Tyler, Texas on a day just like this--1985. Burning the back of his legs although the metal slide was less than four feet tall. The horrible parenting moment still blistering my conscience this month as little Jeffy turns twenty-five.
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
After the big storm of Wednesday night, the students found an impressive caterpillar on the playground retaining wall Thursday. Over three inches long, it looked like it had been sewn of dusty gray velour exactly the color of the nozzle attachments for my mother's 1950s cylinder vacuum cleaner. Down each side was a soft gray fringe that could have been the mustache of the Muppets' Swedish chef. Never imagining the caterpillar would be easy to find again on Friday, I didn't take my camera. It had only crawled two feet.
The search for identification led me to two very useful sites. The first is Discover Life, which can be used to ID all sorts of living things. The search function of the IDnature section let me choose up to four characteristics. It took me awhile because I didn't know that the "fringe" is very aptly called "lashes". The only close photo was the larva of the American lappet moth. Our playground visitor had two bands of dull, rusty gold, instead of the bright red bands.
Phyllodesma americana, larva Dave Wagner / Discover Life
Once I had a name, I was able to find this photo by Jo McGavin on BugGuide.net, another useful site. You have to look at it awhile to realize what you're seeing!
I can't publish John Davis' photo of the adult stage lappet moth, but Phyllodesma americana has some nifty camouflage tricks. Davis is a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. He has a Flickr gallery of excellent moth photos, and contributes to the Digital Guide to Moth Identification's North American Moth Photographers Group.
I hope we can all identify the Swedish chef making chocolate mousse!
Mom's vacuum was silver gray and just right for little kids to ride. It is not as easy to identify as the caterpillar, although I spent too much time trying. Her well-used copy of Guide to Easier Living taught her that vacuuming was a once-a-week task to be done on Thursday. I'm sure she selected it with this explanation in mind:
The choice of model--whether it's upright, canister, or cylinder--depends on the amount of carpeted area versus hard-surface floor area in the home. The two latter types have swivel arrangements that permit one to reach all parts of a room from one central position. For large carpeted areas, the upright is preferred because motor-driven brushes get deeply embedded dirt out of the rug fibers.
From the Great Achievements page of the National Academy of Engineering:
In 1907 an American inventor named James Murray Spangler created a vacuum cleaner that basically consisted of an old-fashioned carpet sweeper to raise dust and a vertical shaft electric motor to power a fan and blow the dust into an external bag. Manufactured by the Hoover Company, which bought the patent in 1908, it was hugely successful, especially after Hoover in 1926 extended the fan motor's power to a rotating brush that "beats as it sweeps as it cleans." Meanwhile, the Electrolux company in Sweden grabbed a sizable share of the market with a very different design for a vacuum cleaner—a small rolling cylinder that had a long hose and a variety of nozzles to clean furniture and curtains as well as carpets.
Our vacuum was similar to the Electrolux at left, but not quite the same in my memory. For one thing, no kids are riding on it.
Links cited in this post:
http://www.discoverlife.org/nh/ DiscoverLife.org
http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q? DiscoverLife's ID Nature Guides
http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars DiscoverLife's caterpillar search page
http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars © Dave Wagner, 2002 photo
http://bugguide.net/node/view/63153 BugGuide.net caterpillar photo by Jo McGavin
http://bugguide.net/node/view/106402 BugGuide.net moth photo by John Davis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johns_pics John Davis' gallery of impressive nature photos
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/MainMenu.shtml Digital Guide to Moth Identification
http://www.electrolux.com/node15.aspx Electrolux history
http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3775 Great Achievements history of modern appliances
http://anchormama.blogspot.com/2006/03/good-design-and-easier-living.html Thoughts on the Guide to Easier Living
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
Sunshine, finally! Kids running, running on the playground, after a week of rain. Coats flapping behind them in the crisp wind, they chase each other with glee. They are Superman, they say. Out of the dull suit, hat, and specs. Out of the confining telephone booth. Blasting out to save the day.
Panting, they stop to gather playground pebbles, and carry them up to the play fort. They make little circle piles of pebbles.
"Is that kryptonite?," asks the bundled, shivering playground lady.
"No! It's pizza tonight."
Pizzatonite! Get me some of that fictional element. Kryptonite may be Superman's Achilles heel, but Pizzatonite is far more powerful to earthlings.
Mark Alfred explains:
As Superman tells us in 1959's "The Curse of Kryptonite" (Superman #130), "Kryptonite is my Achilles Heel -- the only substance in the universe that can harm me! It was originally formed years ago when the planet Krypton, the world on which I was born, blew up! A nuclear chain reaction converted every chunk of the exploding world into Green Kryptonite!"
Do you want to go to the Tank Playground, the Rocket Playground, or the Ninja Turtle Playground over by Schimelpfenig Library? That used to be the question for my young sons on a nice afternoon like this. The City of Plano Recreation Department had different names for the parks--Liberty, Copper Creek, and Memorial--but the boys knew them by their favorite games on each playground's equipment.
Burning off energy was the main goal of playground outings. Put a check by each outing objective:
Gross motor skills--Coordination, balance, strength.
Social skills--Coexisting with other groups, collaborating with your group, giving every child a role.
Imaginative play--Designating the play space, developing the characters, considering conflict, sequence, and consequence. Assigning specific abilities to each character. Respecting each character's ability.
Sensory awareness--Rocks in shoes, splinters in fingers, sunshine on shoulders, chilly breeze on ears, rhythmic swinging, watching tadpoles, throwing rocks into the pond...
Game skills--Taking turns, following rules, persevering from start to finish.
Bodily functions--Learning to use the bathroom in a preventive preemptive practical way. Go now so you don't have to go then. Maybe this was cruel psychological repressive inhibiting bladder tyranny that will require years in therapy, but I suspect it is just learning to plan for future contingencies.
Delaying gratification--Finishing the juice box and sandwich before playing. Eating the candy and chips after the sandwich, placing trash in can.
Handling disappointment--Accepting that thunder, rain, lightning, bees, and fire ants are facts of life. Learning to brush off minor injuries and get on with life. Most boo-boos do not require band-aids. Most bumps don't require tattling.
Getting really tired before naptime.
Playgrounds and writing are on my mind this week. I've become the Playground Lady from my favorite comic strip, Rick Detorie's "One Big Happy", although I will always identify with Ruthie's storytime Library Lady. Watching the recess dynamics at my second job stirs up all sorts of irritating memories. They sit there nagging for attention like pea gravel inside my old Buster Brown anklets and saddle shoes.
If you missed Susan Stamberg's interview with short story writer Karen Russell on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday morning, you can hear it online. The title of Russell's story collection is St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. After Russell reads an excerpt from the title story, Stamberg says, "You have such a vivid imagination. Is this something you cultivated from childhood and channeled into your writing?"
Russell replied instantly, "I directly credit being terrible at sports. If I'd had even an ounce of skill at kickball I'd have been out on the field with the other kids...It was safer to be sitting in a corner imagining things than dodging a ball." Ooooh, baby, do I know what she means! Can you say "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Nancy Lou right over"??
My blog was "tagged" by Prairie Bluestem on the cyber-playground today, so I'm It. Normally, I'd decline to participate in this game, as I declined to participate in many sports activities over the decades. My thinking is along this line: If a business has a company softball game at the annual picnic, I won't apply for a job there. This isn't particularly healthy, I admit.
This cyber-game of tag is similar to a chain letter, but it doesn't promise that I'll receive a picture postcard with a printed recipe from every state in the Union. Been waiting for those to arrive since 1966. I thought "blog tag" had to do with subject classifications, so I'm already feeling insecure!
We are all shaped as much by our perceived inadequacies as we are by our strengths. Because I've always felt inadequate speaking to people, writing a letter to clearly express my thoughts became my modus operandi. I believed I could not think on my feet or say what I meant. This belief probably dates from the time my grandfather phoned me long distance to wish me a happy birthday while my birthday party with classmates and friends was in progress. "Happy birthday," he said. "And happy birthday to you, too," I said, immediately realizing it wasn't his birthday and turning bright red.
I began writing letters so I wouldn't ever repeat that moment, I guess. People expressed appreciation for my letters, so I wrote more. Positive feedback is lots more satisfying than repeatedly failing to break through the line in Red Rover. Plus, I loved the luxurious feeling of note paper and pretty stationery! Sealing wax and postage stamps enhanced the letter-writing experience.
This blog, and my Anchorwoman blog are extensions from that birthday phone call. Part of the reason for writing blogs is to clarify and express my thoughts so I don't blurt out something dumb and have to be teased about it later. Another part is to entertain my parents and friends particularly through illnesses. A little part is to work out the same sort of childhood experiences as Red Rover, a bit of inexpensive bloggotherapy. I write posts, too, for the pure joy of playing with words, and for the discipline and craft of improving each entry. Some people go bowling, some go bar-hopping, others sing in the choir. I blog. Writing about the beautiful and funny aspects of the human experience reinforce those positive observations and improve my outlook on life.
I send paper copies of my entries to my parents, now just my dad. It's reassuring to me that a physical copy of my effort exists. Maybe someone will appreciate it in the future the same way I appreciate the cursive handwritten autobiography of my great-great-grandfather homesteading in Nebraska. My sons don't read my blog unless I send them a link to a particular post. It is too soon. At twenty I didn't have any idea that learning continues through life, questions persist, experiences bring wisdom, and grown-ups feel sadness...
I'm not quite willing to participate in this game of tag. If you would like to copy the following questions, go for it. If you would like to send me a picture postcard of your state capitol building with your favorite recipe, please write a comment!
1. Are you happy/satisfied with your blog's content and look?
2. Does your family know about your blog?
3. Do you feel embarrassed to let your friends know about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?
4. Did blogging cause positive changes in your thoughts?
5. Do you only open the blogs of those who comment on your blog or do you love to go and discover more by yourself?
6. What does a visitor counter mean to you? Do you like having one on your blog?
7. Did you try to imagine your fellow bloggers and give them real pictures?
8. Do you think there is any real benefit in blogging?
9. Do you think that blogger's society is isolated from the real world or interaction with events?
10. Does criticism annoy you or do you feel it's a normal thing?
11. Do you fear some political blogs and avoid them?
12. Were you shocked by the arrest of some bloggers?
13. What do you think will happen to your blog after you die?
14. What do you like to hear? What song would you like to link to on your blog?
15. Five bloggers to be the next "victims"?
It was a Libby Lula Hula Hoopy day doing playground duty in the late afternoon. What looked like bright yellow tiny Libby and Lulawere playing tag around my ankles in the sun-soaked grass. These weren't yellowjackets, though. I kept my eyes on the children, but also on these vivid yellow flying insects. Eastern Amberwing Perithemis tenera: Libellulidae seems to be our new playground friend. Perithemis tenera sounds like a psychosomatic illness related to writing final exam essays in Blue Books, but "Amberwing" sounds gentle, wise, and tolerant in a British way. Odonata Central helped me solve my mystery of these delightful dragonflies.
The large and sleepy UNM Lobo who has been living in my house the past month and I were watching NFL football. He was watching. I was doing the NYTimes crossword puzzle. We were watching people coming and going at the realtor's open house next door. We were psyching up to go to the mall to exchange a pair of jeans for a smaller size (so you know they weren't my jeans).
After the wild ending to the game, the Lobo began channel surfing because he is a male. Fortunately before he found billiards on tv, he found the 2005 USA Jump Rope National Championships from Orlando, Florida, on ESPN2. We both stared slack-jawed at the synchronized performance of amazing stunts in the pairs competition. Then we started laughing until I had tears running down my cheeks. Tried calling my dad and my sister. Seemed like this was worth sharing. We watched highlights of the jump rope relays, double dutch, and the small group with musical accompaniment competitions.
This was not just hilarious. It required impressive stamina, coordination, cooperation, and about five bucks of equipment. Competitive rope jumping is way more exciting than that Olympic sport of rhythmic gymnastics.
Reading The Berenstain Bears and the In Crowd to my little sons was the first I learned of Double Dutch jumping. Thought it was a Wrigley's Doublemint Chewing Gum version of my personal best in rope-skipping, circa 1964:
I'm a little Dutch girl dressed in blue,
Here are the things I like to do.
Salute the Captain,
Curtsy to the queen,
Turn my back on the mean old king!
I've been googling about jumping rope and the development of competitive Double Dutch.
Check out these video clips and jump rope rhymes, as well as the XBox 360 ad.
Wondering how I can see "I Was Made to Love Her", an award-winning documentary by Nicole Franklin about the Double Dutch Divas...."In it we see energetic women of all ages whose teamwork and love for one another keep them together through thick and thin... And interviews... examine the Double Dutch phenomenon...Winner, Best Documentary, Atlanta’s Night of the Black Independents Film Festival, 2000, Best African-American Documentary, Brooklyn Film Festival, 2000, CiNY Award, Outstanding Filmmaking, CINEwomen, NY, 2001, Best Documentary, Hollywood Black Film Festival, 2001, Gordon Parks Award Finalist for Directing a Feature Documentary, N.Y., 2000."
It's two, two, two mints in one!
Double your pleasure, double your fun,
With Doublemint, Doublemint, chewing gum!
