I’m feeling slightly guilty. We woke up around 8:00 yesterday morning, ate breakfast, did a little organizing and tweaking around the Airstream while Elise played with some new friends. Then we went to the nature center and heard a very nice presentation on sea and freshwater turtles. For example, there are only 8 species of sea turtles left on the planet and 5 migrate past Long Island each year. Turtles are reptiles, but they have less in common with snakes and lizards than birds do. After the presentation we wandered around the butterfly garden and through the salt marsh. We plan to help tag Monarchs on Saturday in order to track their migration to Mexico…
So I’m feeling guilty because we’ve had a similar day today and can do this again tomorrow and the next day and so on! It’s definitely as much an education for Danine and I as it is for Elise.
Last night we met up with Barbara and Maggie along with Barbara’s friend Claudia and her two boys. We ate at a fish fry joint (which is great, but only after long intervals for the sake of your arteries). It was great to see them one more time!
A whelk shell is at the far right.
Today we went on a nature walk along the beach. We’ve been really pleased with the Nature Center, in particular Russ who gave us our own family beach tour. We collected as many different kinds of shells and seaweed as we could find, then spread them out, and he told us about each one. My favorite are whelks. They are related to snails and have lovely shells that curl into a point. They use the edge of this point to pry open mussels. Once a whelk has opened a mussel just a crack, it squeezes its stomach into the opening and digests the poor mussel. It’s a gruesome business living under the sea.
The sky here has been incredible, bright blue with ever-changing clouds. The pictures turned out well, which is a testament to a good camera (Nikon D40) and a good sky, not so much my jittery photography.
Time to go back to the nature center for the snake presentation!
September 14, 2007
