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| A duck blind, with windows for all heights. |
Walking down the trail at Smith and Bybee Lakes takes you into a surreal landscape. Fluff from the cottonwood trees is everywhere. It looks like the spiders that are also everywhere this time of year must be in a desperate bid for survival here, because as soon as a web gets spun, it's in danger of being coated with fluff. So they must spin yet more webs... We've been here a couple times on guided excursions, and wanted to return just to ramble and explore. More about Smith and Bybee Lakes here:
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=672&action=ViewPark
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A magnificent paper wasp nest.
The Canoe Launch presents a wonderful opportunity to get close to the water. There we saw millions of minnows. Maybe ten feet from the shore, small fish were leaping out of the water like popcorn. A great blue heron was having a feast. Bright metallic blue damselflies darted about. We scooped a jar in the lake and marveled at all the life in a few cups of muddy water.
 Jasper especially loved the cattails. Since he loves to draw and loves nature walks, we've been starting a nature journal. So he drew pictures of the cattails while I read about them from our guidebook. He took the time to look carefully at the cattails as he drew them and match their green color. Then he carefully printed "Cattails" on his drawing. He dictated the rest to me. I wrote down what his favorite things are that he learned about cattails, which are that the flowers are brown and that the Native Americans wove mats from their leaves. So then of course he wanted to gather a few cattail leaves so that he could try weaving himself.
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| Hard at work on his drawing. |
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| A cattail mat, Jasper's first try weaving! |
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