From Tom's Desk: Thought of the Week 2/27/15

“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.”
Abraham Lincoln

Day’s end Overlooking the Breakwater:  Photo by Robert Dennis

A Little Perspective Never Hurts

This was an interesting article from the Biomimicry Institute in Montana.
It makes an interesting point, and makes you think for a bit.  So think about this today as we drive around in our cars, fly in the sky and do all the things that humans do and have just figured out in the past few seconds...


From the Biomimicry Institute:



 

It's midnight at the International Date Line. That means...

 

It's officially Life's B(earth)day!

Life's B(earth)day is derived from what is often called Earth's Calendar Year. When we compress the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) into a single calendar year, we can better understand our place in the vast time scale of evolution. For instance, Life first appears (as single-celled organisms) on February 25. Remarkably, nucleated cells don't appear for another five months, on July 15. And you have to wait until December 13 to see mammals emerge!

How much of the year do you think humans have been around for? 

 



From Tom's Desk- Thought of the Week 2/20/15

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus

Sunrise over Goat Island Lighthouse: Photo by Dan Viehmann

Crazy Beautiful Nature

Sometimes when we are looking out our windows at work, and all we can see is... well... This:

We can start to get a little stir crazy.  Maybe start to feel like there might never be a view out the window again that doesn't involve a white mass.  Then when we look at our smart phones, we want to tell them they are just dumb because they are showing snow flakes for every day of the week these days...   My daughter actually said, "Seriously, how much more snow can Mother Nature make?"

My guess?  A lot more, so I am just not answering.

But let us not forget the wonders of the outside.  It is still a good time to go out and explore, the snow filters the sounds, and makes it quieter, more possible to hear all the wonders that are out there.  It is enough to remind us how amazing our world is if we just venture out of doors to greet it... without your snow shovel... leave that behind, because heaven knows, we have all bonded enough with them this winter.

Instead of seeing that huge mound of snow, look for that one red bird in that white tree... and be reminded that there is color out there.  So break out those snowshoes, skis, and probably a face mask for the cold, and come on out to the trails, and do some tracking, listening, and get a deep breath of fresh air.

If you aren't willing to see anymore of the white stuff... take an adventure online to remind yourself how amazing nature can be and check out these amazing pictures HERE of the 15 craziest things in nature.

 If you are reluctant to click there, let me give you a teaser....

Its better than the view out my window!

From Tom's Desk: Thought of the Week 2/13/15

“If ever there is a tomorrow when we’re not together. . .there is something you must always remember.  You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart. . . I’ll always be with you.”  A.A. Milne in “Winnie-the-Pooh”

The South Congregational Church on a Winter’s Day:  Photo by Robert Dennis

Even More Reasons to Play Outside in the COLD!!!!

So while we are feeling totally trapped under mounds of snow and gray skies, there still is a reason to get outside and get off the computer.  (Yes I understand the irony as I sit here typing.)  This article: 

Four Crucial Ways Playing Outdoors in Winter Benefits Children  

Gives us some reasons why it is good to get outside even when we feel like we are buried in more ways than one.  There are all sorts of reasons we should be letting our kids play outside, and somehow all of us let fears get in the way.  Whether it's fear of strangers, or fear of frost bite, maybe we can all take the common sense approach and head out of doors for the day.  After reading this article we will "Trust in Education" that advice.  (Yes we just used our name as a verb... tricky) While the article is written about getting kids outside... we are all kids at heart... heed this advice and use it for yourself as well!

1)  Remember that the rub down that we give our kids with anti-bacterial doesn't necessarily do the trick.  Getting them out for fresh air (which isn't recycled like in closed windowed houses and schools) is critical.  Its amazing how filling our lungs with that fresh cool air can make you feel totally new.  Now granted, lately here in Maine taking a big breath of air may include and inch of snow, so choose your breathe wisely, and remember, the great outdoors is large... the bacteria might lose you!

2) Exercise is a big must in the winter.  Many of us believe that we are headed for hibernation and start eating like wild beasts and being less and less active.  All this does is make us more tired, less active and our pants too tight.  Kids especially who are using their brains to learn every day at school, need the exercise to keep those synapses firing and keep their brains active by keeping their bodies active.  Remember, trudging through the 4 feet of snow in the front yard, is a lot of work...and perhaps just what the brain ordered.

3) Playing outside creates problem solving and use of imagination.  It is hard for us to look at the snow and see an underground castle, or the Himalayas, or even some fun snowmen, or disturbing snowmen like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.  Kids don't have that problem... they see a blank canvas, let them be artists!  Just think with the mounds of snow that we have built up, just figuring out how to get through the yard without getting buried could be a pretty intense physics problem... we could be raising geniuses folks... geniuses!

4)  Getting our Vitamin D.... we can only get that through sunshine or a little jelly pill...which is more appealing? 

So while Trust in Education can put a silly spin on a serious article, please read it and get outside, enjoy this beautiful place that we have to live in, and reconnect with the outside...  There is always hot cocoa on the other side of the front door!

If you are looking for trails and places to play, Visit our website: www.kporttrust.org/kctholdings
to see our properties where you can run and play and love Kennebunkport!

From Tom's Desk- Looking Back 2/10/15

“Gentlemen, I cannot but acknowledge myself obliged to you for the regard you have shown for me in the general invitation you have given me to settle in the ministry amongst you. . . I have at last concluded to accept of your call, upon condition you will grant the following. . . That the town shall take the £100 which they have voted to me towards my building in the town, and build and suitably finish a house 38 feet in length, and 18 feet in breadth, having four rooms and a garret; and also that they build a kitchen on the back side of the house: which house shall be given to me, my heirs or assigns, &c.”  Rev. Thomas Prentice to the committee chosen to bring the first settled minister to the town of Arundel (now Kennebunkport) 1730

The Olde Garrison House, Winter of 1956 and 2015

Another Snow Day? Seriously! What to do with all this snow if you are home with kids? Make it fun!

The Snowpocolypse is starting to get people down.... don't drown in the snow, have fun with it.  

There is no reason to stay inside...bundle up and learn about snowflakes!  I know its cold, I wore two pairs of pants the other day... 2!  I wasn't even sure that was possible.  But throw on 3/4 of your wardrobe and try just a few things that we did the other day with the First Grade at Kennebunkport Consolidated School... you can even bring nature indoors with you.

On Friday when we met with the First grade, we taught about snow flakes and how snow forms.  Kids find it fascinating that snowflakes much like our fingerprints are never the same...  they all have 6 sides and are formed by ice-crystals forming around a piece of dust.   This means that the there is a potential for 10 feet of snow inside my house if I had clouds in there!  They found that fact rather amazing.  Here are some ideas so that you too can learn, teach and have fun with nature, and those 5 foot piles reaching your window sills!

Grab their interest with these fun tidbits:

In the Guinness World Records the largest snowflake ever measured was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick!  It was observed in 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana. It is said that ranch owner Matt Coleman took the measurement and he later described the snowflake as being "larger than milk pans" in the journal Monthly Weather Review journal.

AND

The largest snow woman built in the world, named Olympia, was made in Bethel, Maine.  It was named after Maine senator Olympia Snowe. It was 122 feet, one inch high, she is dressed in a 100 foot scarf, has 27 foot evergreen trees for arms, eyelashes made from old skis, and car tires are her buttons!

Once you have their attention on snow, maybe try a few things... you can bring snow it or even better head outside to have some fun.
TRY:

Catching snowflakes
Place a black sheet of paper into a freezer until cold. Take outdoors and use a magnifying glass to view snowflakes that land on the paper.
 
Saving snowflakes
Materials:

• clean microscope slide or small piece of thin Plexiglas
• clean, empty plastic container
• spray can of clear lacquer
• magnifying glass

Allow all materials to be outside for a while to get to outside temperature, this way snowflakes won’t melt when landing on the slide. Spray thin coat of lacquer on slide and tilt so any extra spray runs off. Allow lacquer to set for a few minutes. Catch several snowflakes on slide and then set back into container and cover with lid. Leave slide outside to harden for three to four hours. View with magnifying glass. 

If this seems to be a little much for you...  Just check out Snowflake Bentley.    Wilson Bentley from Jericho Vermont, took hundreds of pictures of snowflakes in the late 1800's to early 1900's.  You can even search for images of these snowflake pictures and see how amazing they are.

A good read:  Flakes and Flurries  This book will teach you all about how snow forms, and the way snow flakes are formed.  Did you know that there are different forms that snow flakes take?  

Make your own snowflakes:    It can be tricky, but if Trust in our Children can get a whole room of first graders to make one, we have faith that you can too!  They are fun and pretty...  if you choose to use glitter to decorate them... good for you...just have a broom handy!

Here are the instructions that we use at the Trust:

These directions were compiled from the Martha Stewart Website

Have fun, and get outside or just learn a little about nature today on this snow day.  Then you can have some hot cocoa and huddle up in your PJ's before you have to go shovel some more!

From Tom's Desk: Thought of the Week 1/6/15

“My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.”
Michelangelo (1475 – 1564)

A Smith Preserve Moon Walk: Photo by Chris Smith

But...It's a Blizzard Outside

Sometimes we just need to overcome inertia…  I find that as adults we are far more deterred by what we see when we look out the window than kids are.  Proof in point.  We had a “Winter Adaptations” field trip for the first graders of Kennebunkport Consolidated School on Friday. 

As adults we looked outside and thought… seriously? We want them to go out in this?  We will either loose them in the 3 feet that got dropped 2 days prior, or they will complain to death because of the nearly white out conditions now.  But guess what?  Not one of them disappeared into the snow drifts for eternity, and they had a ball catching snowflakes on their tongues, hefting their snowshoes through the snow and looking for signs of life in the woods.

Often times out own moods about the weather deter us from sending our kids out to play.  This was not the case with my mom, who rain, snow or shine, thought I was much better to play outside than under her feet… all in loving materal-ness I am sure.  Perhaps we should see everyday, every kind of weather as an opportunity to teach something new. 

After all, what better way to teach about how animals have to adapt to the Maine winters than to go out and experience one!

From Tom's Desk: Looking Back 2/3/15

“When it comes to life in Kennebunkport, Beryl Bilderback has pretty much done it all. The 90-year-old who lives in Cape Porpoise operated The Captain's Restaurant for nearly 30 years, served on the Board of Selectmen in the early 90s, as town moderator in the early 80s, on the town's Sewer Committee, the board of the Atlantic Hall and more. ‘I never thought I'd make it, but here I are,’ Bilderback said jokingly. "I didn't sleep much, I can tell you. I learned to sleep standing up.’" Jennifer Feals “York County Coast Star” April 19, 2012

Beryl Bilderback: April 15, 1922 – January 26, 2014
Eddie & Beryl Bilderback, at Walker’s Point, 1940

From Toms desk: Thought of the Week 1/30/15

"If there was a fog or thick snow, navigators would run for the bell. Even if the night was clear when we went to bed, we often would wake with a start and could feel the fog coming in. Elwon would go to the bell tower and start the bell." Connie Scovill Small in "The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife"
 

The Goat Island bell tower, seen through the sea smoke at sunrise: Photo by Robert Dennis