Crepuscular < Our word for the summer

The shadows lengthen and a light breeze is blowing.  The temperature still hovers above 100 degrees, but with no sun beating down from overhead the dry heat is bearable.  Dusk approaches and just as most desert animals come out of hiding now, so do we.

The boys race ahead, thrilled to be free of the confines of the indoors.  We stop and inspect our shadows, in awe at how tall we’ve become.  The boys notice that the Mesquite trees are once again dropping seed pods.  They reminisce about gathering them last year, grinding them into flour and making our own mesquite tortillas.

We are mesmerized as we spy a lizard doing push-ups.  Boys soon find feathers and brainstorm how colonialists must have made their own ink for quill pens…  They collect feathers and plot a course of action.

I smile and sigh as Treyton runs up to me with his fresh wound over one eye from an encounter with our wicker cabinet and the DIY haircut that he began.  Yes, we need this time outdoors.

As we run free, I remind them of all of our desert animal friends and I re-introduce them to a favorite word of mine this time of year:

CREPUSCULAR: (of certain insects, birds, and other animals) active at twilight or just before dawn.

That is what we resort to each summer – venturing out in the early morning or after dinner.

It’s been a busy week and I’ve been a bit under the weather.  But spending these moments outdoors at dusk tonight help me release the guilt of nature-mapping goals not yet accomplished and remember that even in open-ended nature walks their observation skills are honed and we are ever learning.

I not only recognize the benefits of making a plan, but am also thankful for the fresh reminder to appreciate the beauty of keeping it open-ended too!   The bottom line is that we NEED that daily time outdoors!