Saturday, July 5, 2014

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2007. We took Mattie to an exhibit at the Swedish Embassy that weekend, which had just relocated to a beautiful new building right on the Potomac River. The Embassy featured this HUGE chair outside facing the River. I lifted Mattie on top of the chair and took a photo of him! Both Mattie and I were intrigued by big chairs and whenever we saw one, we always had a photo with it. The Embassy still exists in this location, but the chair no longer does. When I pass this building on occasion, I do think about this particular moment in time and our day exploring the inside and outside of the building. 


Quote of the day: To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~ John Burroughs


As Burroughs quote so aptly states, there is something quite wonderful about the simple life. I am not sure I would have understood that or even appreciated his sentiments at all if childhood cancer hadn't taken over my life. But what he is saying has real meaning to me and it is in times where I can escape to fresh air, water, and be a part of nature that I feel more at peace. I only spent 14 months trapped in a hospital and living through the hell of Osteosarcoma with Mattie, but somehow that was enough of an experience to permanently alter my mental framework. It has influenced how I see, experience, and understand everything and everyone. I no longer take for granted the simple freedoms of my own space and privacy, because I know there are hundreds of families each day living in hospitals without it!

Yesterday we announced on Facebook our Amazon Smiles Campaign. It is our hope that our supporters who are Amazon users, will consider making purchases through the Amazon Smiles program. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. This will not cost you anything, you will just need to enter Amazon through this link:
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-1238358

We spent the July 4th inside working. Which is never a wonderful way to spend a holiday. This made both of us tired, edgy, and stressed out. This made for less than a pleasant day. So today we regrouped and got outside.

There are several places I love to walk. One of them is Huntley Meadows. Huntley Meadows has everything from beautiful trees, pathways, to an incredible boardwalk over a wetland.

The boardwalk to me was alive with greenery today! In addition to all the color, the sounds were incredible! I attached some links below so you have a feeling for exactly what we were hearing!

There were cattails every were today! I took photos of cattails because for Peter and I, they are symbolic of a very funny story! Right after college I moved to Boston to attend graduate school. Peter was also living in Boston as well. For one of my biology assignments, I had to take an undergraduate class to a swamp. Peter came with me. One of the things I took home from the swamp were a few cattails. BIG MISTAKE! Cattails are beautiful, but I did not realize that after a few weeks, their tops eventually explode and when they do, the pollen from the cattail head goes everywhere! Picture cotton balls everywhere! That is almost what it looked like, but much harder to clean up! I will never forget that incident, nor would I ever again pick a cattail! I learned my lesson! So now when we see cattails, we just LAUGH!

A photo over the marsh!

We saw several mud turtles today! While I was fascinated with this turtle, Peter was glued to a school of fish which were literally being chased by something called a Snakehead fish. I had no idea what he was talking about. He kept telling me he saw a snakehead, and I thought he saw a snake! Since I despise snakes, I stayed VERY clear of him. He then explained that he was referring to a predatory fish! So I looked up what he was talking about and sure enough as of 2004, Huntley Meadows has been dealing with Snakehead fish! I included a link if any of you are interested in learning about this problem!

http://www.friendsofhuntleymeadows.org/Resource%20Management/snakehead/snakeheadfinal.htm

Now this fellow caught Peter's attention right away! Peter called me over and frankly I just stared at it for a while not realizing what I was looking at. I hadn't seen a tadpole in a LONG time. But given the NUMBER OF FROGS we were hearing, it makes perfect sense that we had the good fortune to see this sighting of a tadpole in his life cycle process of turning into a frog. You may recall that I mentioned above the incredible SOUND I heard today at Huntley Meadows! Well the frogs were as loud as an orchestra! I looked up frog sounds, and this is what we were hearing..... the Green Frog! If interested, click on the link:
http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/sound/Green_Frog.mp3

Another wonderful sound all over the Meadow is that of the Red Winged Blackbird! It is very distinctive and at times sounds like that of a creaking door! I included a link below of the sounds of the Red Wing!
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/sounds

Huntley Meadows attracts serious photographers. I do not think I have ever been there when I haven't seen people there with their tripods and cameras. They capture birds, the water, you name it! Today was NO different. There was a father and son duo trying to snap photos of an elusive butterfly. While they were focused on the butterfly, we snapped the dragonfly! I did not want to get into their creative way! However, this butterfly was indeed beautiful, it caught my attention, and in my opinion, it paused by me to say hello! But then again, I always read into ALL butterflies and to me they flutter by as a sign from Mattie!