The Springs Preserve

Classes started again for Zorah which makes things kind of busy around here. It's not that she has so many in a day as much as that they are at weird times. They are almost all at 4 or 5 pm, which makes it hard to plan the day and get dinner done at a reasonable hour. I have to find quick easy meals that I can cook in about 45 minutes. But I digress.

I've been meaning to take Zorah to storytime at the Springs Preserve, which is a nature conservancy, I guess, one of whose goals is to teach visitors about sustainability, permaculture, and the like. Anyway, on Tuesdays in the morning they have storytime, and I thought it would be a good way to check the place out.

It really does have beautiful grounds and buildings. Even rushing past them all to get to the preserve library in time we could see that. Unfortunately, storytime was a bit disappointing. The reader didn't really get that you have to show the kids the pictures, and many of the kids were uncooperative and bored. One of the kids who was there was an exceptionally rowdy little boy, maybe two or three years old. His mother kept making comments like "I know you're a boy, but you could try to behave anyway." He was a terror, and even harassed Zorah a bit, but I had to pity him a bit. I can't imagine what it would be like to feel that kind of latent hostility coming from my mom all the time. Let's teach the boy to hate himself extra early. Sigh.

Well, Zorah and I didn't make any lasting friendships during storytime. When it was over, we went to the bathroom where they had the coolest hand dryer Zorah and I had ever seen. You put your hands in it and then it turned on and did a quick and fantastic job of drying. Zorah said she wanted one for the trailer.

After that we decided to walk around a bit. On our tour of the park we saw some interesting ideas, such as using broken glass as a decorative and functional mulch? I think that's what it is. It sparkles and holds the moisture in.

Then we saw a bird that we both liked.

We went the long way around the park, then Zorah found the playground. It seems they were having an archaeology workshop in the mammoth skeleton sandpit. While we waited for that to end, we played with a water fountain at the other end of the play area.

After the group left, Zorah helped the staff look for "artifacts" that had not been dug up during the excavation. Mostly she just played with their shovels and rakes. Then we had lunch together in the cafe and left. On our way out, we saw some teddy bear cholla, which is my particular favorite desert plant. Zorah insisted on having her picture taken sitting next to one which was peeking out from behind the rock she sat on.

After the preserve, we went to the Amber Unicorn, a used bookstore that I think I have mentioned before. We stayed there only an hour or so because we had to get home to get Zorah dressed for gym, but she was so tired from all our activities that she crashed in the car. I guess that made it a good day?