The May That Was...

...wet and cold, much like April. Will summer ever come? On Friday we took the kindergarten classes to Seward Park Environmental Center. During the 'Talking Tree' presentation the children learned about the importance of trees. They were told that because trees are living things they need to eat. The 'Talking Tree' in her leafy costume told them about trees needing to drink water and eat sunshine. Photosynthesis was touched on lightly, mostly learning to roll out those five syllables saying an approximation of the word. The day was partly gray. The first group of kindergartners had the weather gods smiling on them and not a drop of rain fell.Then it was our turn to take a naturalist led hike in the woods behind the center. It began to rain; heavily. Now you would think, living in Seattle, that parents when told repeatedly in notes from the teacher: "This will be an outdoor field trip, please dress your child for the weather." it would happen. Nope, guess again. Fortunately the center had umbrellas for the parent volunteers to borrow and once we were under the canopy of the trees, all was fine. The naturalist cheerily queried, "Now where DID that sun go?" and on cue a kindergartner piped up, "The trees ate the sun!" We all laughed and went gamely on our way.

The lack of sun has led to late blooms on just about everything. Lettuce and even sunflowers are doing poorly at germinating outside. BUT, everything green is growing gangbusters; grass, moss, Hostas, Solomon's Seal, Ferns, Disporium Hookeri (a favorite of mine), Mayapples with their gigantic leaves and the flowering Venus Dogwood in the front of our bay window.