Simple Saturday: Nature Soup

 No need to sneak kitchen utensils to mix ingredients for our Simple Saturday Nature Soup. Everything we need - other than a 2 to 4 foot long string, a pencil, and notebook - can be found in nature. Be it the beach, a hiking trail, or a neighborhood park, the ingredients required to make Nature Soup can only be found in the great out-of-doors!

Here's what you do. Take your happy self and your Simple Saturday supplies outside someplace. Tripod and I went to a lovely shaded park. We strolled together along the creek. I admired the ducks' acrobatic buoyancy. Tri trash-talked with the squirrels. (I don't think they were too wary of him. He's all bark and no bite.)

Search the ground to find a nice bed for your Nature Soup.  Tie the ends of your string together to form a loop. Lay the loop on the ground, spreading it wide enough to capture as many interesting items as possible. Then simply sit and observe. What's inside the loop? Look close, close, close. What do you see? Make a detailed list of the items. Detailed now - colors, shapes, sizes - you know. And then write a recipe for your little looped spot of the Earth. Use your imagination. Get crazy. Have some fun!

Here's what I came up with:

Peaceful Park Pizza

4 ivory colored sea shells (various degrees of tiny)

2 rocks of chipped limestone

1 long, thin grey stick

1 chunk of weathered driftwood

1 piece of wood (perhaps chipped off of a picnic table) 

1 mega-McNasty cigarette butt

1 brave little green elm leaf (curled)

Sprigs of desperately dry grass ranging in shades of green to tan

Arrange ingredients on a dry bed of small leaves of multiple shades of brown and various decomposed states. Bake in the 104 degree Texas sun for weeks on end.

Pray for rain. 

Simple Saturday Prep: Nature Soup

 Me, again. The perpetual teacher. Can't help it. Erasers and rulers are just part of my DNA.

Once again I'm going to remind you that your child's teacher suggested that you do some language arts practice during the summer, didn't she? Good gosh....you're thinking with camps and vacations and ball games and perpetual pool time, when in the world can you fit language arts practice in, right? I feel your pain, honey. I do.

  Tomorrow I'll show you a little simple something that can be done as part of a summertime outing. Bring a pencil, a notebook, and piece of string and join Tri and I as we hit the park to make some Simple Saturday Nature Soup. East McPeasy.

It's fun, fun, fun! Tasty? Ummm, I'll let you be the judge.

Simple Saturday: Private Pen Pals

You and your partner must make a pact. A pinky swear to keep a secret to the depths of your graves. Tell no one the deeds you are about to embark upon. You have the note card and pen, right? You need only one card to begin this writing voyage together. However, in the days to come, you'll want to have a surplus on hand to keep this quirky correspondence with one another going.

First you two must decide upon a place for notecard exchange, a sort of 'X marks the spot', if you will. Under a rug? Behind a chair? Near the dog bowl? Hmmmm, probably not. On the bookshelf? Yeah...that's a good idea. Decide on a place where notes can be occasionally hidden. Not every single day, mind you. Our game would get old then. One person writes a note and hides it. The private pen pal sneaks about, snags it from the designated spot, then finds a quiet place to read it. Now it is their turn to correspond!

Write silly jokes, light-hearted comments about work or school, find some specific wonderful attribute to praise, or express your affection for one another. Slip a little flower bud between the folds of the card. Maybe a handmade book mark or a nice piece of stiff, pink, cardboard-like bubble-gum. Simple treasures to be shared. Precious memories to cherish forever.

I have found that this game is particularily helpful when a parent has to travel frequently or shares custody of a child. Playing Private Pen Pals helps to ease the burning ache of absence from one another in a fun, simply silly way.

Warning, parent! This is not a time to lament over invented spellings. For now, enjoy your child's message. We'll work on that spelling later.

Simple Saturday Prep

Is there a child in your life learning how to read or write? One that may be needing emotional support of some kind? Or a child who simply enjoys a good joke? Well, Saturday's activity is one for you.

Do you have a stash of funky stationery? Stuff that you'll never use? Pull it out. We're going to use it tomorrow. The supplies needed for Simple Saturday fun are a note card and envelope, pen or pencil, and a pal to share in the adventure with you.