As many of you know, I live in a part of the country that has been experiencing an unusually cold and snow filled winter. So it is no surprise that extended periods of not being able to leave our home created feelings of cabin fever. Blessedly, this past weekend we had one beautiful, sunny, day where the temperature reached fifty degrees.
Since my husband had a small matter of business to take care of in a town about an hour and a half away, we decided to make a day of it. We started with a wonderful breakfast of French toast that my daughter claimed was fluffy just like she likes it. Then, I packed a picnic lunch for us to take along which included my delicious chicken salad sandwiches.
Our plan was to do some Geocaching after my husband had concluded his business. For those of you who might not be familiar with Geocaching, it is basically a very large outdoor scavenger hunt. The caches, which very in size from micros to large containers which hold swag for trading, are found by using latitude and longitude coordinates. To learn m ore about geocaching you can visit the official Geocaching site.
Soon we set off on our adventure, and little did we know, what unexpected treasures we would find. The first unexpected treasure we found was a small country church with beautiful stained glass windows. And across the road, a herd of gorgeous Scottish Highlanders.
After we reached our destination and my husband concluded his business, we headed out to find our first cache. It was in a small cemetery. We admired the worn stones as we searched, and we thought about the lives of those who rested beneath our feet. Once we had found our cache, we had an in-the-car picnic. We found four caches altogether, we saw deer, soaring hawks, a deceased coyote, and learned a little bit about Ohio History. It was a splendid day full of unexpected moments that definitely helped cure our cabin fever.
Although the next day was once again overcast and left a dusting of snow on our yard and driveway, two more unexpected treasures presented themselves to me in the form of the books I read for this weeks review.
The first book I read was Three Pebbles And A Song by Eileen Spinelli. This book is a beautifully written story of a mouse family getting ready for winter's approach. Mama mouse, Papa mouse, and Moses's sister, Missy, all tell him he should be gathering warm things and food. But as Moses sings, dances, and juggles the day away, snow arrives before he can collect anything but three small pebbles. When Moses arrives at his home, Mama has gathered crumbs, Papa has gathered rags for their beds, and Missy has gathered raisons. The only one who hasn't brought anything of value home is Moses. Or has he?
The second book I read was Big Week For Little Mouse by Eugenie Fernandes. The illustrations by Kim Fernandes alone would make this book worth reading. They are three dimensional clay works of art! The story itself was delightful to, however, as we followed the busy week Mouse has as she get's ready for her birthday party. It was unintentional that both of this weeks books were about mice, but if you love mice, then these books are definitely worth checking out.
Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.
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