Sharing the Outdoors With Our Kids

[fishin_musician]

We all have had the pleasure of making little personal discoveries when we are out in the wild hunting, camping, hiking or fishing. Seeing a coyote, a new kind of waterfowl, or finding a big patch of mouthwatering black berries are the sort of value added experiences that make spending time outdoors so rewarding. We take our kids along and try to share the wonder that we have for the natural world. I show my little guys the discoveries that I have made. I hope that they will remember and take them to share with their children someday. Yesterday it was a new kind of wonder that was mine to treasure.
As mentioned elsewhere, I had my kids along yesterday over in Harding while I picked some clippers (helgramites) for bait. They had a great time tossing rocks in the river, playing hide and seek and making a fort out of stones.  When we were leaving I decided to take a detour and let them walk out along a fisherman's path. The path winds along the river bank through a big patch of Ostrich Ferns growing underneath some very large river maples. The woods are at their very best this time of year, very lush and verdant green. Young and fresh, before the spiders get their webs built and all has turned dusty and mature. So we are walking along the path, Mary is leading and I am bringing up the rear snapping a pic once and while. I stop to get a candid pic from about 30 feet back. A shot that will take in the big green woods and my little children. I capture an amazing moment. The kids had stopped of their own accord. Mary was talking to Mike about seeing a "cricket". She is pointing at the ferns and showing him as she sees one then another and another. She is suddenly realizing that the ferns are covered with hundreds of "crickets". I'm still in the back not having seen for myself what they are talking about, I wander up to have a look. My eyes go through the same process one, two, three. As my search image gets refined I suddenly see that almost every stemlet on the ferns has one or two of the "crickets" poised upon it. I took a bunch of pics for you guys, especially you "fly guys" If I had to guess I'd say that they were some kind of stone fly maximus. There were a few dried shell casings on the ferns here and there. It was really kool seeing my daughter make her little discovery. Something even I had never seen. Being able to catch the whole transaction on my camera was a unique piece of good luck. There is something to be said for taking the long way home.