Jewelweed

Dear Lilliputian ,

This is a photo of the Jewelweed flower and seed pod . Another name for this plant is 

Touch Me Not . The reason it is called Touch Me Not . . . is because if you touch the little green seed pod it pops right out of your hand like it doesn't want you to touch it . This seed pod , when fully ripe is designed to cast its seeds   up to eight feet into the air . If you click on the video link below you will see how the seed pod jumps into the air .

 Remember . . . we have talked about how seeds have different ways of making sure that they get planted , the Touch Me Not plant is just one more that has a special way to send it seeds to fertile ground . I am writing to tell you about these flowers because they are growing wild right now and if you see this little orange flower . . . look even closer to see if you see the little green seed pod and then just lightly touch the seed pod and it will jump away from your finger tips . . . It is so much fun to do . I know if you find a Touch Me Not bush growing near you , you will stay there for quite some time touching all the seed pods you can .

One more thing about the Touch Me Not bush or plant is that its leaves have very tiny fine hairs on them . You may not see them . . . but if  you hold the leave under water the tiny hairs keep the water from touching the leave , sort of  like the way a rain coat doesn't let the rain touch you . And, if you hold the leave under water by its stem in the sun light , and you turn the leave just right it looks like it  is made of silver metal . It is sort of like a magic trick .

Well , that is all I know about Touch Me Not . . . but down below I wanted to show you one more video of a very fascinating way that some seeds are able to plant themselves . As you know , when you click on the arrow in the middle it starts the video , but also in the right hand corner there will be a kind of square box . . . click on that and it will make the video larger so you can see this amazing seed in action .  I am always sooooo impressed with what is going on in nature . We walk out our back doors and just feel the warm sun and listen to the quiet chirping of the crickets . . . but little do we realize all that is really happening . . . seeds flying through the air , seeds working so hard to drill into the earth below our feet , other seeds waiting patiently for an ant to come along and take it to its ant home . . . It is a busy world we live in . . . take a few minutes to discover something new and exciting about your world .





As you , or some of you have just started back to school . . .  I won't recommend a new book for you to read because I bet you are all rather busy getting use to your days at school . Learn all you can .

Until next time ,
Wild bee

Black Bear

Dear Lilliputian ,

This past weekend , as I was setting up some tables outside for a family picnic , I looked up and saw a large Black Bear watching me . I think when the Bear saw the picnic tables he knew there was going to be food and was hoping that he was invited to the picnic . I told him he wasn't and walked away slowly , as did the bear . I don't think his feeling were hurt because as he walked away he found a stick and he threw it into the air and then fell backwards to catch it . . . then he scooped it up with his large paws and tossed into the air several more times . He seemed to be having a good day .
He continued down the field until he came to an apple tree and he stood up on his hind legs and he started shaking the branches of the apple tree and when a nice amount of apples fell from the tree he began eating them until he had had enough . And off he went to find another tasty treat for his big belly .

Bears can run really very fast . The fastest human can run 27 miles in one hour . But . . . a Bear can run 40 miles in one hour . When your Mom or Dad are driving you somewhere this week ask them to show you how fast 40 miles an hour is . . . and watch out your window and imagine a bear is running beside the car and you will have a pretty good idea how fast they really are for a big chubby looking beast .





As you know , Summer is coming to an end and the cold weather will be coming in just a few
 months . A Bear has to think about these things because he has to get his body ready for a very long
Winter . There is very little food for a large bear in the forest in the Winter and so the Bear has to start to eat lots and lots and lots of food now . To make it so they don't starve during the Winter they eat large amounts during the fall and their body becomes like a refrigerator and stores the food and energy so its body can use it while it is sleeping during the Winter. To let you know how much a Bear should eat each day to get ready for its long sleep I have compared what a child has to eat each day to stay strong and healthy . A child of 6 years old should eat a little over one thousand calories a day . A Bear during the Fall has to eat fifteen thousand calories a day . Lets see . . . that means you would have to eat 6 peanut butter sandwiches a day , that is a two sandwiches  for breakfast , two sandwiches for lunch , and two sandwiches for dinner . A Bear has to eat 75 sandwiches a day which means . . . 25 sandwiches for breakfast , and 25 sandwiches for lunch , and 25 more sandwiches for dinner .  Of course neither of you are going to live on peanut butter sandwiches . . . but you get the idea . Those Black Bears must have very big stomachs !

If you like hearing about Bears you might enjoy playing a game called Going on a Bear Hunt . . .

This book is by Michael Rosen 

Until next time ,

Wildbee

Shooting star

Dear Lilliputian ,

When I was a child we believed if you just happen to see a shooting star you could make a quiet wish and that it would come true . Did you ever watch Pinocchio . the Walt Disney movie ? Do you remember Jiminey Cricket singing a song " When you wish apon a star, makes no difference who you are . . . " ? Do you remember that Jiminey is singing about making a wish on a star ?  So whether it is a shooting star or the " first star I see tonight " . . . stars have been thought to have a bit of magic in them .

 If  you have any wishes you want to make , this is the week to make them , because every night this week there will be shooting stars in the sky . I must say , you have to have patience to see a shooting star . And ,  you have to watch the sky very seriously , because if you don't they disappear before you even see them . The best way to watch for a shooting star this week is to sit or lie outside when the sky turns dark and watch in the Northeast sky . If you cuddle under a blanket and use some
 bug spray , the mosquitoes may not bother you . 

I know that often your bed time is too early to see shooting stars . . . but I wanted to tell you about the shooting star showers that are happening this week just in case you happen to be up when it is dark out . If you feel you are too young to watch for shooting stars . . . I completely understand because I was probably ten years old before I saw my first shooting star . The reason I am telling you about them is because seeing a shooting star " takes your breath away " . . .  or , in other words it makes you gasp because they are so beautiful . If you are too young this year to see a shooting star . . . just remember that every year the second week in August has Meteor showers and so sooner or later you will get to see a shooting star , so don't give up .

Here are some interesting facts about shooting stars .

1 . Did you know that scientists don't call them shooting stars . . . they call them Meteors ?
 Also when the shooting star is in outer space the scientists call them Meteoroids . When the shooting stars come to our sky the scientists change the name and call them a Meteors , and when it crashes into earth only as big as a grain of sand . . . then scientists call the shooting star a Meteorites .
2 . Shooting stars are very fast when they are in outer space . . . they travel at about 133,200 miles and hour !
3 . A shooting star is very , very , hot when they are burning up . . . They can be about 3000
degrees . If you see a shooting star and it is very bright that is when it is hot but when you see it dissapear that is when it becomes very cool and is not hot at all .
4 . When you see a shooting star it looks like it is going to crash into earth far, far away . . . but very few do . They usually disappear before they reach our land . If they do make it all the way to the ground they are usually the size of a grain of sand and or a pea . If they reach earth they don't look like a glowing star they look like a rock .

There are many more interesting things about shooting stars . . . but I will let you wait till you are in school or get a book out of the Library to read about them . . . I want you and I to enjoy this next week watching for a shooting star each night . . . and maybe even making a wish or two .

One of the ways I learned about the stars is by reading a book by the author and illustrator of the Curious George books . The author's name is H. A. Rey and he loves monkeys but he also loved the stars and so he wrote a  book that taught me a lot about the names of the stars and the pictures they form in the night sky and it is titled Find the Constellations . Mr. Rey shows you how to find the Big Dipper and Little Dipper and many more like Orion who is holding a bow and is called the Hunter . But if you don't feel like reading about stars . . . I know you will like to read the Curious George stories .

Until next time ,
Wildbee

Bouncing Bet

Dear Lilliputian ,

Do you see the flower photo up above ? It is called Bouncing Bet . Don't you think that is a funny name for a flower that really doesn't bounce . I would have called it Pink & White because if you look closely at the photo . . . this plant has flowers that are pink and on the very same plant it will have white flowers . It also has a few other names that people like to call it  . . .

Soapwort , Goodbye Summer , and my favorite . . . Crow Soap . I wonder if Crows use it to wash their handsome little faces ?

Did you know that Bouncing Bet's  leaves and flowers magically becomes soap . It just looks like a very ordinary flower , but if you know how . . . you can wash your hands with this flower instead of the soap in your bathroom . Not only does it wash your hands very nicely . . . but the suds become a pretty green . . . Maybe the fairies use the leaves or flower petals as a little tiny wash cloth ?

I am not the only person to know that this flowering plant can turn into soap . All through history people all over the world have used Bouncing Bet to wash wool , to bathe sheep before they are sheared , and also people who liked to make felt out of sheep's wool used Bouncing Bet to relax the wool fibers when making wool felt .

 Bouncing Bet was not always growing in New England where you and I live . . . but our Pilgrim ancestors brought seeds over from Europe on boats to plant so they could grow it here in Massachusetts to use as soap . And . . . because they planted Bouncing Bet in their gardens hundreds of years ago . . . we now have it growing in fields and all along road sides in New England . 

If you would like to make some green soap suds . . . pick some leaves and flowers from the Bouncing Bet plant and put the leaves and flowers in a bowl of warm water for a minute or two . 

Then pick up a handful of wet leaves and flowers and rub them together like they are a bar of soap in your hands . It takes a few minutes . . . but not long .

Well , I hope you have some Bouncing Bet growing near you so you can try this fairy soap . 

Make sure you scrub your hands nice and clean with your lovely flower soap . 

Speaking of fairies . . . you might like a picutre book called Thumbelina by Hans Christian Anderson and this one was illustrated by a friend of mine . . . Lauren Mills . 

 Or , if you would like a longer book , Mistress Marsham's Repose by T. H. White it is all about Lilliputians , who are very much like fairies but they don't have magicalness about them . In this story there is also a little girl who gets to know the Lilliputians and protects them from a mean ol' nanny and gardener . It might be a story someone can read to you on long Summer afternoons . 

Well , until next time ,
Wildbee

Once in a Blue Moon

Dear Lilliputian ,

In about a week on July 31st ,  in the sky will rise , what is called a Blue Moon . Will it be blue . . . probably not .  But , when people mention a Blue Moon they are usually talking about the saying " It happened once in a Blue Moon " . When some one says " It happens once in a Blue Moon . " . . . they mean it doesn't happen very often . . . for instance . . . I rarely ever see an Owl . . . so I could say , " I see an Owl once in a Blue Moon " . What is a Blue Moon ? Well , when you are a young child you may not realize that the Moon appears to be growing smaller or growing larger all month long . It can be just a sliver of a Moon , or a half Moon , and of course the full Moon like in the photo above . Usually we get to see a full Moon only once a month . But every now and again we see a full Moon in the beginning of the month and another full moon at the end of the same month . This second Moon is what is called a Blue Moon . About three years ago , 2012 ,  there was a month that had two full Moons . Now on the 31st of this month there will be a Blue Moon . And after this one we will not see another one until the year 2018 , three years from now . Lets say you are six years old . . . that means that when you were three years old there was a Blue Moon , and after this one in July there won't be another one until you are nine years old . 

So you can see they don't happen very often and this is why I think they are special .

There is something very special about a night with a full moon . It is quiet , and mysterious , and a little magical .

When my children were young there was a Blue Moon in the Winter . To celebrate the Blue Moon we gathered up our sleds and some friends and headed to the top of Church Hill where we could watch the Blue Moon rise up over a mountain near by while sitting on our sleds .  As soon as the   Moon's face was up in the sky we all went sledding in the light of the Blue Moon . 

One of the reasons we did this was because now we can say that " We went sledding once in a Blue Moon ".  I am writing to you about this because a Blue Moon is going to happen this Summer when there is no school and I thought that maybe you and your parents or grandparents can plan something special . . . Watch the Moon rise by the ocean and dance around as it comes up at  8:04 pm . Maybe blow bubbles as the moon rises because they are the same shape as the Moon . If you know where there is a nice view of where the Moon rises . . . maybe bring some chairs and some bottles of Lemonade and sing some of your favorite songs as loud as you can and sip the Lemonade as you watch the Moon rise . Summer is such a fun time of year why not plan something special for the Blue Moon rising and then you can say " I did ___________ once in a Blue Moon  " .

Two very beautiful children's picture books are Wait til the Moon is Full by Margaret Wise Brown , which I mentioned in the last letter , and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen .

Maybe you could read these books as the Blue Moon rises . Oh yes . . . don't forget the bug spray .

Until next time ,

Wildbee

Did you know there is an ice cream called Blue Moon Ice Cream . . . 

Raccoon

Dear Lilliputian,

Well , as you know , this is a Raccoon . But did you know that the Raccoon is a close relative of the bear family . The Raccoon doesn't look much like a bear . . . but then you and I are relatives and we don't look much like each other . This little creature is smarter than your average cat . It also has 51 sounds that it can make . Some of the sounds are chattering , tweeting , whimpering , purring , whining , snarling , growling , hissing , and the Raccoon can even scream . They also are not very picky when it comes to eating . They eat . . . acorns , leaves , grasshoppers , crickets , worms , frogs , clams , turtles , turtle's eggs , snakes , fish , squirrels , grapes , berries , apples , nuts and eggs , just to name a few . Oh and don't forget Chickens !

Raccoons have very nice little hands . Their hands are a little like ours because they have five fingers and that makes it so they can do rather clever things with their hands . Like , unlock doors , open latches on cages or doors , untie shoe laces , and much , much more . Their hands are very sensitive . . . and scientists today think that is why they are always getting their hands wet and also their food wet . It looks like they are washing their food or hands . . .but scientists think that they do this to heighten their sense of touch . In other words if they are struggling to open a clam shell for their lunch . . . they get their hands wet so they may be able to feel the shell better and be able to open the shell a little easier .

There are a lot of Raccoons that live in Massachusetts where you and I live . . . Once apon a time there was also a President of the United States that lived in this state of ours . His name was President Calvin Coolidge . When he was President he had a pet Raccoon that lived at the White house with him and Mrs . Grace Coolidge . They named their little pet Rebecca . Rebecca didn't think much of the fine big mansion that the President lived in  . . .  but she did love his bath tub . If he put a few inches of water in his tub and bar of soap . . . Rebecca would play for a good hour splashing and slipping while she chased the soap around the tub . Above is a photograph of Mrs . Grace Coolidge holding Rebecca . 

I love any book about a full moon and I like it is even better when it is a book about a full moon with Raccoons in it . This is a fun book to read . . . you should see if it is at your local library . 

Until next time ,

Wildbee

Squirrels

Dear Lilliputian,

This is a photo of a Grey Squirrel . I believe that every Lilliputian that reads this has a Squirrel or two as a neighbor .  In fact almost everyone does . Squirrels live all over the world. In the map down below it shows in yellow where Squirrels live . The tan - brown areas are where they don't live .  I think it is interesting that Australia and Greenland are the only countries that don't have Squirrels . Can you point to where we live on this map , and can you guess where Australia and Greenland are ?

I was reading about Squirrels and one of the things I read was about how Squirrel's bury their food . They collect mostly acorns and seeds and they dig little holes to bury them in . They do this mostly in the fall to make sure that they have food put aside for the winter . You and I put our food in the cabinets , drawers, and refrigerators , and because Squirrels don't have cabinets , drawers or refrigerators they dig a little hole and put their food in there . . . Then they bury it . . . sort of like you and and I shut the cabinet door or close the drawer .   Now the Squirrel has a bit of secret trick that he plays on other animals , mainly other Squirrels , and it is that they also " fake " bury their acorns . The Squirrel knows how important its buried food supply is going to be this cold , snowy winter and it doesn't want any other animal to steal his food supply .  When the Squirrel thinks someone is watching him . . . he digs a fake hole and pretends to put an acorn or two into the little hole and then he quickly covers it up . When the Squirrel thief digs and finds out that there are no acorns buried in the " fake " holes . . . he will eventually stop spying on the other Squirrel . Have you ever had to hide a toy or some Halloween candy from a brother or sister . . . ? Well , that is just what the Squirrel is doing .
Don't you think they are very clever ?

I don't know if you enjoy Maple syrup on your pan cakes , but I do know that Squirrels enjoy Maple sap . They will use their sharp little teeth to gnaw a little hole into the Maple tree . When the sap leaks out the Squirrel leaves it to sort of dry on the side of the tree .  The Squirrel later returns and he licks the tree where the sap has dried and has become a bit like our Maple Syrup . Yum !
Scientists have just started noticing that Squirrels like Maple sap , but there is a story still told about an Iroquois Indian child that lived a long time ago that noticed a Squirrel making a small hole in the bark of a Maple tree to let the sap leak out and then the Squirrel left the sap to dry and when the Iroquois child saw the Squirrel return he watched again and saw that the Squirrel came back to lick the Maple sap on the tree . The child decided to try it . He made a little hole with his knife and then returned later to lick the spot where he too discovered a sweet treat .  If this story is true about how the Northeastern American Iroquois Indians started collecting Maple sap to make Maple syrup , and  later taught the Pilgrims to do the same , then that is why you have Maple syrup on your pancakes today . Don't you think that

the next time you see a squirrel gathering seeds or acorns in your backyard  . . . you might want to say " Thank you " .

A book you may enjoy this summer is a short story by Beatrix Potter titled The Tale  of Squirrel Nutkin .

I have always wondered . . . was the author of The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin being funny when she called this story a Tale . . . seeing that one of the beautiful things about a Squirrel is it's Tail . . . ?

Until next time ,
Wildbee