Thursday, June 6, 2017

Thursday, June 6, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2003. Mattie was visiting Peter's parents in Boston and they surprised him with an Elmo toy. This Elmo was battery powered and could move and talk. This toy intrigued Mattie to no end. Check out Mattie's expression after I turned on his Elmo toy! PRICELESS!


Quote of the day: I can think of few better ways to introduce a child to books than to let her stack them, upend them, rearrange them, and get her fingerprints all over them. ~ Anne Fadiman

We ventured to Garden in the Woods in Framingham today! This is two miles of paths that meander over glacier-sculpted ridges and through narrow valleys. A pond, a wooded bog, several springs, and a brook bring a diversity of wildlife into the garden. The Garden in the Woods was founded in 1931, when Will C. Curtis purchased 30 acres in north Framingham, and began to create a botanical garden on the site. When Curtis died in 1965, the land and gardens were deeded to the New England Wild Flower Society. 

This is the plaque that stands by the entrance of the Garden. A sentiment by Curtis himself says.........

Garden in the woods is a dream in the realization. A years long dream about a big wild garden and finding out why wild flowers will grow here and not there. It is a tract of beautiful woodland and meadow only 19 miles from Boston where I am bringing together all the wild flowers and ferns hardy in this latitude and establishing them in natural environments where they can easily be reached and enjoyed by the interested public. In other words it is a wild flower sanctuary in which wild plants will be grown, their likes and dislikes discovered and the knowledge so gained eventually passed on in an effort to curb the wholesale destruction of our most beautiful natives. This is to be my contribution to conservation. ~ Will Curtis (1934) 

The Garden is the largest landscaped collection of wildflowers in New England, containing over 1,700 kinds of plants representing about 1,000 species, including over 200 rare and endangered native species, all nestled within a mature oak forest on glacial terrain of rolling hills, ponds, and streams that provide a variety of microhabitats.


This is a beautiful Trumpet Honeysuckle which greeted us as we entered. 

This was an Indian Pink flower. Something I have never seen before. 

This is a Turk's Cap Lily. If you look closely the yellow flower does indeed look like a Turkish hat. 

A pathway in the woods. The walk we took today was about a mile long.

The charming pond in the Gardens, filled with adorable turtles. A Mattie favorite!

A close up of the turtles! Can you see the baby turtle at the six o'clock position located near the round stone on the right?

Glorious honeysuckle..... and what an amazing fragrance that greeted us along the pathway. 

One of my favorites..... milkweed. A wildflower that attracts butterflies, especially monarch butterflies. 

This is a black eyed coneflower. Another one of my favorites, as it reminds me of sunflowers! 

The only Prickly Pear in the Garden, which maybe why it immediately caught your attention. 

Within the Gardens was a family activity center. I captured a photo of their maze, constructed out of leaves. I actually walked the maze, despite being an adult. I can assure you if Mattie were with us, he would have wanted to walk the maze with me. 

I snapped this photo to capture the woods all around us. 

Later this afternoon, we walked Sunny. Along our Walk, we came across three bunnies in the wild. 

This bunny is a little blurry, but nonetheless a cutie. A cutie which definitely attracted Sunny's attention. 

Can you see this regal bunny sitting on the lawn?