The Nature Shelf

The Nature Shelf, with a kitty path for Danda Lion.  Yah, that's an armadillo shell in the back there.

Bear with me on the repeats, I'm having fun figuring out this new app... ;)



I'm not a knitter.  Gawd knows I've tried.  Life has tossed it in my face countless times since P arrived on the scene and I've followed the flow.  Even finally made a hat.  And while I luuuuv knitwear,  clothing, designing, yarn and creating, somehow the combo just hasn't gelled for me yet.

So a good friend sent me a link to a knitting book.  It included a comical section on "yarn stashes."  (Yes, Dina, I thought of you ;) The author's defense had me busting a gut. Don't be ashamed of your stash, she pointed out, after all, some people have rock collections.

The inference, I believe, being that this would be, um, odd?  And suddenly, I saw her side of the story.  The one I had never seen before.  I mean, when you put it that way, collecting rocks is kinda kooky!  Yet it seemed so natural as a child...

And seems so to my child, too.  Who would be happy to have a yarn stash and a rock collection...

So, I've been meaning to post about his Kansas Nature Shelf for a year or so.  Its, erm, quite impressive.  Not only has he personally collected an amazing array of beauties, but those that love him have added sea shells from South Africa (thanks Grandpapa!), sponges from St. Martin, armadillo shells from Florida (thanks Grams;), turtle shells....  Even more impressive, his grandmother has dedicated an entire window ledge to gorgeous rocks, special sticks, exquisite shells and.... dirt and dead bugs.... in her very clean house!

Umm, yup, that's a grizzly skull there in the foreground and snake skins dangling off the side....

As the child has been sick since his Great Period of Overindulgence, we've been lounging around the house a good deal.  And the Little Man has been focusing on his shelf.

While I make breakfast, I can hear him humming on the stairs, arranging things.  Then, later, as I clean up from lunch, I can hear his little voice scripting plots for the cicadas he houses in stumps and rock huts.  This summer he had a dying and rebirth rock and that saw a lot of action.  Then, Gramsy found a frozen lizard this fall and left it, alongside a new snake skin and bright blue robin egg, on the kid's well loved shelf.  The lizard has had the lead role in many, many afternoon affairs.

Then, yesterday, the child decided it was time to revamp the shelf.  All of it was to be removed and renovated.  Oy ;)

It was carefully categorized onto various trays and boxes: fossils, woodland finds, ocean finds, field finds, animals.. and dead bugs.  Its a, erm, large collection.

A snap of his Oregon collection this summer.  I was seriously jealous of his finds, they were breathtaking!

And then today we were able to build.  He made a lovely moss home for lizard under a tree root system.  Paper thin seed pod offerings turned to boats and carried dried bugs around an imaginary river bend to lizard's house.  I pulled out my, ahem, rock collection, some 30 years in the making, and he designated a space for me to build.  It was fabulous fun.   I probably could have knitted a scarf or something much more useful...  but I'm coming to terms with the fact that that may not be in my cards ;) (Despite my awesome support system - thanks, Em ;)

P, playing with some cicadas in a rock and fur hut. Crab claws have set sail in sea shells beyond the fossilized wood fence.