bio gels

Aren't these pretty? They are called bio gels and contain plant food that is activated when water is added. I found them for sale ($0.99 per package) when I went to the Infant and Early Childhood Conference a few weeks ago at a booth that is known for it's fabulous recycled items. For another dollar I found a gong made from the leg of a walker with string passing through one end of it. You tie loops on the ends of the string and hook each loop over one of your index fingers and place your fingers in your ears, bang the leg gently against a hard surface and the most beautiful cathedralesque tones resound. The richness of the tone stands in high contrast to the utilitarian, bent and slightly rusting qualities of the walker leg making the sound even more fantastic. Really fun and the kids think it's sort of magic, which most physics is! And most music and science for that matter. But these gels are so cool! They are not slimy, don't become so with age, last about a year and feel silky and cool when you touch them. They are actually designed to release water and plant food but for our purposes we roll them, sift them through our tiny chubby fingers, look through them at our buddies and, best of all, apply pressure and watch cracks and fissures split apart their surfaces making a crazy quilt pattern of pastel aspic. What is possibly not to love about these? We have tried to stack them, make mazes with them (I have many, many more than the ones in the photo) to drive tiny cars from point A to point B.

So far no one has tried to ingest one, though the package says they are non toxic but I am careful to monitor play with these as I am not that trusting a soul when it comes to commercial ingredients.

Slime mold update: It changed from pink to brown, dried up until the rain came. I was weeding near it and as the raindrops hit, a soft 'smoke' of spores emitted and drifted away. The next day there were bright pink colonies in a new location. Amazing stuff. Shoveled it up and it has not returned for 2 weeks but I rather think it's biding it's time, the lull before the massed invasion.

Visited dad last weekend and an osprey flew right over my head about 15 feet above me and 8 feet to my left as I sat on his covered deck overlooking the inlet. Startled me so greatly that I spilled my coffee :) A wonderful startling!