Beaver

Beaver, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

It is always wonderful to visit the local parks with camera in hand. My friend took me to one I had not visited before: Parc de L'île-Bizard. There is a large pond / swamp where we saw a variety of wildlife. And what a delight to watch this beaver grooming while its friend slept in the sunshine.

The turtles were enjoying the warm sunshine. In some spots we could see them lined up along a log. Ducks were busy tipping upside down, finding their favourite repasts. Then they would come out of the water to preen.



Red dragonflies flitted around, landing momentarily, but wary of the click of the camera. Spotted, but not photographed: a kingfisher, a green heron, grebes, a hawk, terns. A great blue heron stood majestically by the water, then lifted off to find a better spot to fish. Altogether a splendid walk.

June 2/10: Not Quite Wildlife

June 2/10: Not Quite Wildlife, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Daily Shoot: Sunday challenge time! Find any sort of wildlife today, and make a photo. Get in close if you can and focus on the eyes.
Some weeks (never mind days) are just not meant for stalking wildlife. And it's not even Sunday...
This turtle is one of my collection from the days I taught in elementary school and MicroWorlds was a major part of my program. The logo turtle (which was later a logo of a turtle as "turtles" could transform into so many things) was important and so the turtle collection started. I wrote about it in more detail here.

I am delighted in the upsurge of interest in Scratch - a free version which resembles MicroWorlds in some ways. The possibilities are endless - it is really a sandbox with limitless opportunities for creativity.

Day 279: Turtles

Day 279: Turtles, originally uploaded by susanvg.

The Turtle
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
Ogden Nash

How do collections start? My turtle collection began because I was the computer teacher and I loved logo, the programming language. Shelly the turtle, lived in my room. The first one was a small china turtle that came in a box of tea. Then I bought a turtle puppet. The moment you have two of something you have a collection and people start supplying you with turtles. I have everything from a large turtle pillow (from my daughter) to jewelery, to many turtle sculptures made of wood, stone, plastic, shells, glass... I am no longer in the classroom and the turtle is no longer part of my teaching life (though I still think Logo, Logowriter, Microworlds and subsequent incarnations of logo are powerful tools for teaching children to think and problem solve in an authentic way) yet I find it hard to part with them as each has a story and a connection to the person who gave it to me.

I can remember when one boy came into my computer lab with a paper bag and a shy smile. He had gone through his toys and picked out the plastic turtles to give to me. I have a couple of turtles which were given to me by a class at the end of the year. The glass one in the photograph is one. The ornate turtle is a candle which came from a very dear friend; I dare not burn it. And the yellow and green fellow is one I bought myself, in a clockwork and music player museum in Utrecht, Netherlands. It plays The Internationale, which I find somewhat amusing for a turtle.

So Ogden Nash - one turtle led to many. And along the way they inspired students to create, to solve the problems they set for themselves and to collaborate. You can read an article by one of my former students in LEARNing Landscapes. Select the article by Stewart Adam - his explorations with the turtle were in my class. Turtles are fertile indeed.