Making Raffia Bracelets and Rope

Hi Everyone! I created a short video that shows how you can make a raffia rope bracelets using a process called reverse twist braiding.  This is how rope was made, just with longer strands and more of them.

The first step is to take some raffia or ribbon and fold it in half so you have equal lengths and hold it from the center.  The right hand side will be the side you twist, after twisting you cross it over the left side like braiding, and repeat.  The movie shows it close up from a couple angles so that you can see how the reverse twist is made. 

You can make this with ribbon, long pieces of grass, or raffia.  Raffia can be found at craft stores in a variety of colors from natural tones to bright colors. Be creative, have fun!  Meet Me Outdoors.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Yes it is cold outside, and night time, but it is not often that you get to see a total lunar eclipse.  To be seen by all of North America and I am just waiting with anticipation.  I already took a peek even though I know it doesn't start for a couple hours. The whole thing starts at 1:32 a.m. EST when the full Moon starts to move into the shadow of Earth.  The Moon is fully in the shadow – and fully eclipsed – by 2:40 a.m. and stays that way until 3:53 a.m.  The darkest part of the eclipse occurs at 3:17 a.m., when the Moon is in the deepest part of Earth’s shadow.  From 3:53 to 5:02 a.m., the Moon moves out of the shadow.  

Next time we will get a total lunar eclipse in this part of the world will be in April 2014. So if you got clear sky's get outside and have a look. Join in the lunar fun and Meet Me Outdoors!

Winter is here... well at least the snow is

I hear the reports that many of the northern states have gotten tons of snow.  Blizzards and flurries alike, winter is here.  There is no escaping it. I know many of you want to try to escape the snow and the cold by going from one door to the next.  Snow can be lots of fun and great to explore.

With a fresh layer of snow you can look for animal tracks.  Think like a detective and find the answers to these three questions: Who do the tracks belong to? What were they doing? and Where did they go?  If you have no tracks to follow, make some of your own tracks and see if a friend can answer the same questions. Depending on where you are you may find deer, squirrel, rabbit, bird, even cat and dog prints.

If you have enough snow you can make a snowman or even a fort, have a snowball fight (keep it friendly).  There are endless possibilities.

These are some pictures of snow that I took and some pictures that have been sent in from others around the country.  Send in your snow pictures! I want to hear about your adventures in the snow.

Snow on Federal Hill, Maryland 12/2010

The first image is of Federal Hill covered with a nice layer of snow but the grass is showing through already.  The second was taken of the green roof on the Maryland Science Center, a green roof is basically a garden on top of a roof.  The other picture was sent in from Cleveland, Ohio as you can see they got more snow in Cleveland than Baltimore. 

Maryland Science Center's green roof blanketed in snow

Don't let a little snow keep you indoors. Bundle up and go outside, enjoy the season! Have an adventure.  You can always go back in to warm up with some hot cocoa.

Come along and Meet Me Outdoors!

Snow in Cleveland, Ohio 12/2010

It snowed!

It snowed in Baltimore! I couldn't believe it, and I have no proof.  All of the snow melted by the time I could get outside with my camera. It's like it never happened.

Me wearing my scarf

I can say that it is now time to break out the warmer coats and all the fun scarves, hats and mittens that help us stay warm in the winter.  If you are adventurous and patient enough you can always knit or crochet a hat/scarf of your very own, easy project for beginners.  I made a scarf last weekend and was glad to have it today.  I made it with multi-colored yarn as you can see in the picture on the right.  The color didn't come out as great in this picture but you get the idea. 

Bundle up and come Meet Me Outdoors!

Harbor from many angles

While I know that it has been some time since my last posting I have not given up my desire to spend more time outside.  Ok, ok it has been a month since my last posting but in that month I have made good progress.  I have seen the Baltimore harbor from many angles, different sides and have made some wonderful discoveries.

 Since the Inner Harbor is just one small section of the harbor I walked a little under a mile on each side over the last few weeks.  As far as Fells Point on one side and along the harbor near the American Visionary Art Museum (which, by the way, has a great sculpture garden). Each time I went a little farther out than the last hoping to see more.  Yes, the pictures are not great, but they were from my phone, so I am sure you can understand. 

Anyway, there was a lot to see and I still have not seen it all.  The first two pictures are from the south side of the harbor looking across to the northern side.  And the bottom two pictures are actually from the norther side looking back so still aimed northward, oddly enough. I guess I did that because I went out just before sundown and the light was coming from the southwest making the buildings on the northeast light up nicely. 

I truly like the autumn because of all the colorful trees.  Especially how in the city here there still are trees around, even where there are buildings that seemed squished together a bit of nature is still present. Being along the water is nice too because of how peaceful it can be just to look across at the boats and water all coming together.  There are lots of interesting features that make the harbor such a unique place. 

While autumn is coming to an end soon, we know winter is on it's way, with the beautiful snow that comes with it. For some of you farther north it may already be here.  I am new to living this far south in the states, so I won't be able to see as much snow as I am used to. Here is the next challenge for you.  I am going to need all of you readers who are in places where you will have snow this winter to go outdoors and take some pictures of the snow and email them to me.  I will post them so others can enjoy seeing your pictures of winter as well.

Let's have some fun this season! Come along and Meet Me Outdoors.

Ciclovia - Halloween bike ride

Ciclovia 2010 - The cyclist are in the distance

This is my first year taking part in a special Halloween bike ride event of Baltimore called Ciclovia, which is Spanish for bike lane. The road was closed to cars and motorist opened it to cyclist and walkers.  My family walked with the dog and watched as others biked around freely on the road.  I took some pictures along the way. It was nice to get out of the house, and see that others do the same.

Aren't the colorful leaves amazing?!

It is all so great to see that the colors of the leaves change now that it is autumn.  My favorite part of autumn is the leaves. Even though I am no longer a kid I still I like raking them up and jumping in the pile. (Of course I make sure that there are no sticks to poke me.)  I haven't done that yet but I will once more leaves fall from the trees. What is your favorite part of the season?

Join in the fun! Meet Me Outdoors.

Patterson Park Pagoda

I know it has been a few weeks since I last posted, but I have been going outside and exploring the great outdoor adventures that Baltimore has to offer.  One of them is seen on the right. The Patterson Park Pagoda. Great alliteration, right?

Anyway, I saw Patterson Park on the map and as I am still new to this part of Baltimore I asked my aunt if she'd take me to see the park.  We were only able to walk around part of the park since it was so big.  The Pagoda had actually been something that she wanted to see at the park and go to the top of but has never had the chance to because it was usually closed when she was there.  Since it was a Sunday, and not yet the end of October, it was open to visitors we took turns going up (we had brought her dog with us for a walk around the park but dogs are not allowed to go in the Pagoda).  I went up first, and for those who don't know me I am actually a tiny bit afraid of heights, so I only made it to the first level up and didn't want to stay there long.  It was a great view but I was not ready to climb to the top for the full city view so I came down and let my aunt take her turn. She went all the way to the top, and had me take a picture of her there with her camera phone.  Unfortunately, my aunt didn't stay in one place when I switched to my camera phone so she isn't in the picture you see with this post.

Patterson Park has stuff to do for the whole family. Has lots of green space to explore and play, places like the Pagoda overlook the park, athletic fields, community gardening space, nice paths to walk/run/stroll, and in the summer there is a pool while in the winter the ice rink opens.  I know that I will have to go back many times to see all that there is to see. So come along, Meet Me Outdoors.

"Welcome to Baltimore"

No two harbors are alike.  There may be similarities, like features, but each have a special uniqueness that separate them from the rest.  For example, while the Boston Harbor has the USS Constitution the Baltimore Inner Harbor has the USS Constellation.  Both are historic tall sail ships, both are open to the public to take a tour of the ships, (see the "Visit Us" section on their corresponding websites) and both have great a history, yet I have only witnessed one of them have some guy in period uniform load and fire a cannon over the water (no cannon ball, just loud bang). 

That's right, I was sitting outside overlooking the harbor admiring the view, when BANG out of no where the cannon was fired, gun-smoke coming from a cannon sitting on the top deck of the USS Constellation.  I watched as the man reloaded the cannon and waited, half expecting a second round to be fired, but nothing came. He just stood watch waiting, in the chill of the afternoon by the cannon.  All I could think after that was, "Welcome to Baltimore."

Time for you to come along and join in on a new adventure. Meet Me Outdoors.

Views of the Boston Harbor

Since it was my last day in Boston I decided to go take one last look at the Boston Harbor and walk along the water front.   It was a bit cloudy but really nice out.  The waterfront area is very walkable in fact there is actually an interconnected pathways and boardwalks long the waterline that is part of the Boston Harborwalk. There are blue signs along the walk to mark the area and you can get a map on their website. I just walked it without a map following the edge. On the harbor there are lots of places to go and explore that are family friendly and just fun for any age.  There are harbor cruises, whale watches, islands with old forts, islands with great picnic areas and hiking areas and much more.  (Ideas can be found on the Boston Harborwalk site.)  I have been to some of the islands in the past but didn't have time to go back.  But I know that it will always be there for a visit.

These pictures I took with my camera phone since I didn't have my camera with me.  I took them on the northern part of the harbor, it was a short walk from Faneuil Hall Marketplace were I started my harbor walk.  The marketplace not only has great shopping and restaurants but also has street performers and activities for the whole family.  I saw a juggling act, musicians and dancers as I was passing through.  It was a fun time overall.  I hope that I will be able to find similar kinds of places to go and see now that I am in Baltimore.  Come along and join in on the adventure, Meet Me Outdoors.

B'town to B'more

Going from B'town to B'more, both cities near or on a harbor that lead out (eventually) to the same ocean, but each have totally different views.  Coming from Cleveland where the metro-park system was known as the Emerald Necklace, Boston also had a park system by the same name.  Odd isn't it? While I have only had a chance to explore parts of Boston's Emerald Necklace most of it that followed the Charles River, and the Cleveland version slightly more so, I am looking forward to a new place to explore.  Seeing one harbor is not the same as seeing all and I am ready to see what is out there and will share my findings with you.

I know that readers of this blog-post live in various parts of the U.S. probably have your own places your regularly explore.  Some of you may have also traveled outside of your home location to other parts of the country or even the world that I have yet to see, and perhaps will be given the opportunity someday.

I hope all of you reading this have had the chance to take up some of my neighborhood challenges - Ten Step Challenge and the Once Around the Block adventure. There are stories that go with every adventure and every adventure has a story.  I have heard from some of you and hope to hear from more as well. You can respond by adding a comment below or by sending me an email.  So, please join in the fun and come Meet Me Outdoors.

Once Around the Block

If you have not taken the Ten Step Challange then go do that first to prepare yourself for this next challenge then come back and tell me about it.  For those of you who have done the Ten Step Challenge it is time to go beyond those ten steps and take on a new challenge.  Think of it as a mini-adventure.  This time let's go once around the block.  Some of you may have a larger block to go around, while others it's a tiny loop. If you live in a rural area you may choose to go into town and walk around the town square or even just once around the outside of your house. 

You may wonder what the challenge is in this, so I'll tell you. Your challenge is to take a look at your surroundings through new eyes. What I mean by this is you probably walk, drive or bike past one part of your block all the time without paying attention to your surroundings and everything becomes a routine.  Nothing changes, and you are likely going too fast to notice if anything changed at all.  I am also guessing that many of you reading this, myself included, focus only on the road they live on and not what happens on the other side of your street or even the street behind yours or in front of yours.  Why would you? I ask, why not?  Why not get to know your whole surroundings?  So go. Go walk around. Look at the houses, buildings, gardens, odd looking trees. Does your neighbor have a garden gnome on their lawn? A bird's nest in the big tree? Maybe a window box with some pretty flowers growing out of them?  (Remember, think safely about where you are going first before you venture out on your walk.)

I don't know what you may find going once around the block but I do know that your are not going to find out staying here at the computer and reading this. So go on and Meet Me Outdoors.

Looking from a different perspective

The other day I mentioned that I was going to an Observation Night at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA.  What amazed me most beside getting to see some celestial objects like the moon and some planets was seeing the Boston skyline at dusk, just after sunset. Of course my camera is not the best for taking night pictures I still wanted to take a couple to remind me of how cool it was.

Where the red is in the sky is where the sun went down, so the first picture was taken earlier than the second picture because there is more light along the horizon. These were taken from the roof of the Museum of Science's garage.  The tallest building on the left is the John Hancock Tower and the second tallest on the right is The Prudential Center, aka The Pru.  I actually went to the top of The Pru, for someone like me who is afraid of heights it was not so bad as long as I didn't look down. But to see it from this angle at night it was a different experience. The horizon is where the ground meets the sky it is also called a skyline.  What do you see along the horizon where you live? Do you have tall buildings, trees, houses, mountains? Do you live near a lake or ocean where you see the water and sky meet?  

That night I also tried to take a picture of Venus which is the really bright object in the sky in the 3rd picture.  It is much more exciting to see in person than in this picture.  So I do encourage you to go and look for it on your next clear night.  Venus is visible just as the Sun is setting in the western part of the sky.  Some times it is seen right before the Sun rises. This is why Venus is nicknamed "The Morning and The Evening Star," even though it is really a planet not a star.  It is bright enough to be seen in the city, you just have to find a spot to look for it where there are no buildings blocking your view.  There is a simple trick you can use to tell if an object in the sky is a star, a planet or airplane. Light traveling from a star has to travel many light years to get here and comes to our eyes in points of light, as these points of light travel through our atmosphere it bounces around giving it a twinkly appearance.  While light reflected off a planet comes to our eyes as disks of light since they are closer to us than the stars so they do not twinkle. An airplane will be moving faster across the sky and has blinking lights of different colors like green and red.

Go and discover what you see on your horizon.  Compare looking at night versus looking during the day. What changes?  Come along and Meet Me Outdoors.

More photos from Fells Reservation trip

Me on the boulder -  GM 2010

I have been going though the mass of photos taken from my trip to Fells Reservation.  As mentioned in my other post about the trip, the pond was dried up leaving it as a boggy marshland.  The friend I was hiking with insisted we walk along the logs that lead to mini-island in the center of the pond.  There was a boulder that was at the end of the logs and about 20 feet of very wet mud separating us from the island.  I sat on the boulder as my friend attempted to go ahead of me though the mud laying some dead branches down to act as a bridge.  The picture of me on the rock was taken by my friend from the island.  I was about to put my camera away when I was told to look up for the picture.  What I like about this picture is that you can see a waterline on the boulder that shows the level of how deep the pond is usually.

The other picture that I found from that trip was the one of raccoon prints I saw in the mud.  They look like little hand prints.  If you click on the picture you can see it bigger.  There are other interesting animal tracks through the mud you can find in this picture.   What do you see?  What do you think happened here?

Have any of you gone on a hike lately?  I want to hear about your adventures and if you have made any interesting discoveries.  Send me your pictures and tell me your stories, you might just find it here for others to read about.  So what are you waiting for? Come along and Meet Me Outdoors!!

Observation Nights

Many planetariums, observatories and science centers have what is called an Observation Night.  They pull out their telescopes, a few binoculars and invite the public to join them each week (weather permitting of course) to view some of the unique objects in our nights sky.  I went to one last week at the Museum of Science in Boston (at the observatory on the 5th floor of the garage) and had a blast.  They focused the telescopes on Venus, the Moon, and on Jupiter.  The event was free and open to the public, families of all ages encouraged to come.

If you can't make it out to an observation night, you can have one of your own. Check your local science center or observatory's website to find a map of the night sky and print a copy. (or see Resources page for StarDome sky map maker) Make sure it is the right month, because the constellations and planet positions change depending on what part of the year it is. Once outside with a sky map in hand, your task is to find North so you can orient your map (point it in the right way). To find north, if you don't have a compass, use the stars. Locate the Big Dipper in the sky, seven stars that look like a giant spoon - 3 stars make up the handle 4 make up a the bowl of the spoon - with the two stars on the outer edge of the bowl of the spoon imagine that you are pouring liquid out of the spoon and following it as it spills until it lands on a star. That star is Polaris the North Star, a star that doesn’t move as time goes on because it is located directly above Earth’s axis, the invisible line that Earth rotates around. Now that you found North, hold the sky map so that North is on the bottom. All of the stars on the bottom of the map are in front of you, stars in the middle are above you and the stars at the top are behind you.  Now you are ready to start identifying some stars and constellations.

So are you ready for Observation Night?  I am!  Let's go look at the stars!  Come and meet me outdoors!

My Hike at Fells Reservation

A friend and I went out to to Fells Reservation, located north of Boston.  Fells Reservation is family and dog friendly nature reserve that has nicely laid out marked trails, some even stroller friendly.  At the main entrances to the reserve's hiking trails there are bulletin boards with maps of the trails, and postings of regular activities and events that happen such as hikes for all ages and interests. Many nature reserves have websites that hold all of this information that you can check ahead of time.

My friend and I both like to explore as we hike so while we kept mostly to the marked trails, there were a couple times when we decided to go explore a bit off trail.  Going fully off trail is not recommended for families with small children, but there are some more challenging trails that may be good for families with older children and can be used as a fun orienteering experience. On our off trail hike we followed along a stream that was dried up.  We had to navigate a few obstacles like plants with thorns and fallen trees or branches that hand to be navigated around as well as poison ivy patches.  These types of obstacles are more avoidable if you stick to the trails because they are supposed to be maintained well.

Along the pond trail there were small pathways to the pond's edge.  Since it is late in the summer most of the pond was dried up leaving a boggy marshland (very wet mud) with some areas that still had water a couple feet deep. Basically, where the pond stood was now wet muddy land with lily pads, logs, and some rocks.  I decided I wanted to look closely at what is living in this bog. I found some animal tracks that we identified as raccoon tracks, heard the persistent chirp of a black bird, saw some water-striders going across the small puddles and a few turtles in the distance.

Can you find the hidden frog?

My favorite animal find in the bog/pond area was when I rolled over a log (replacing it to its original place afterwards, of course).  I found under the log, what my friend identified as, a spring peeper, it's totally cute. I took a couple picture of the frog before it decided to hop away.  It is hidden well because of its camouflage coloring he just blends into the surroundings. 

Can you find the frog in the pictures? HINT: He is between the two sticks.

 Can you find him in this picture?

Next time I'll have to remember to bring my binoculars.  There were some animals in the distance, like a turtle swimming in the center of the pond and a few birds that we heard up in the trees, binoculars would help us get a closer look.

Going on a hike

I was invited by a friend to go hiking in one of the local reservations called Fells Reservation.  A reservation is a large area of land that has been set aside in as a nature reserve where you can hike the trails and explore.  The one that we were going to has a few simple trails laid out and some more complex hiking areas, also if you get to the top of the hill see great views of the city of Boston. While I may not be an avid hiker I thought I could give it a try. 

Public parks like the Fells are great places to bring the family or explore with a friend.  Remember to think safety. These parks have trails laid out so follow the trails provided, take a map if there are any, and have a plan for where to go. But most importantly have fun!  If you and your family are a regular hikers and want to try something new, print and take a Nature Bingo board and see how many items you can find.  This is a great activity for children 5 and up.  Nature Bingo can be played with younger kids as a way to get them look closer at their surroundings. 

I will let you all know what I find when I get back from my adventures.  Let me know what you have found, too!  Come along and Meet Me Outdoors!

WhatBird

Recently, a lot of my outdoor experiences have occurred on my walk to and from the train. This morning was no different.  I just left my house and heard some peeping sounds of a bird in the tree that is in the house across from mine and was curious to see what it was.  I slowly walked toward the tree so not to make noise or sudden movements that might startle the bird. Peering through the branches and leaves I finally saw this little black and white bird that had striped and spotted pattern on its body and was hanging almost upside-down on the branch.  As I reached into my bag to grab my camera the bird flew off to another branch and hopped around a bit before hiding in a higher part of the tree.  The pattern on the bird made it hard to see it among the leaves and branches, this is called camouflage.  Camouflage is a natural coloring adaptation that allows animals to blend in with its surroundings.  Since I couldn't take a picture of the bird with my camera I had to take a mental image, remembering its color, size and how it sounded and how it was hanging on the tree.  These details are important when identifying birds.

A good online resource for identifying birds is a website called "WhatBird." WhatBird is like the dichotomous key for trees but instead of asking about leaves and seed shapes it asks about size of the bird, shape of body, shape of bill, color, location, and other identifiers like song or call.  This may be complex for a young child to navigate on their own but with a little help from a grownup in asking comparative questions you can identify the bird together.  The bird that I saw was a woodpecker but since I could not get a picture of it to identify it more specifically I will have to try to find the bird again.

Have you seen any interesting looking birds?  I want to hear what you have found!  Come Meet Me Outdoors!

Community Gardens

Practically everyday I take the same shortcut that follows a bike path to the train.   I pass the same trees, the same little garden patches and the same sign that says "Community Garden."  But until the other day when I walked by I didn't stop to look at what this patch of greenery really was.

There are flower patches, small vegetable patches, a tin-man of sorts made from recycled parts and some very odd looking trees.  For some reason what was coming from the trees is what made me stop and look.  Picture a tree that seems to have  long green beans growing from it and that is what this tree looked.  I took photos of this tree and when I got home I used the dichotomous key same as I had used earlier for my Ten Step Challenge tree to find it, however it was not listed.  This meant I had to use a more advanced one, but I am skeptical of what the key told me is really the same tree because the pods in the picture of the key look different then the one of the tree I found. The key said the tree is a Redbud tree because it has a heart-shaped leaf and a legume for fruit. I decided to check my Golden Guide Tree book, just to be sure.

This is the tree that has green bean shaped fruit

As it turns out, this tree may not be a Redbud but a could actually be Catalpa tree.  The beanlike seed pods of this tree are closer to what the picture shows in the guide book that I have than what is shown for the Redbud tree.  I'll have to take a closer look again next time I go by to be able to identify it properly.

Leaves of the tree I found

After taking the pictures I continued walking and admiring the garden and wondering if there are other community gardens out there that I did not know about. As it turns out Somerville, town outside Boston, MA where I was walking, has 12 community gardens and there are many more through out the Greater Boston area.  If you go the website of the American Community Garden Association you can use the search box in the bottom right and corner to find community gardens in your area.

Is there a community garden in your area?  Go and explore some of the different gardens and tell me what you find.

Come along and Meet Me Outdoors!

Explore your town

Today I decided to take a different route to the train and in doing so I got a chance to explore a really cool area that I may not have normally gone.

Living in Boston, MA means that at almost every corner has some history to it.  I stumbled on a lovely park now named Powder House Square named for an old mill from 1704 turned gunpowder storage building during the 1747, and then later used in the Revolutionary War.  Now it is left as a landmark and public park.  The Powder House structure is on a hill you can see it from the picture on the left, and a closer view from the base of the structure below, I took both with my phone.

There is a stone wall on the far side of the hill from the building that looked like it would be awesome to explore. I would have stayed to check it out more but it started to rain and I wasn't prepared for it.

I stepped outside my normal path and discovered something new today.  Will you do the same? Come on and Meet Me Outdoors.

Ten Step Challenge Results

Hey Everyone!
Last post I challenged readers to start simple and take a Ten Step Challenge to see what you can find if all you did was leave to go out the front door and take 10 giant steps in any direction. To prove how easy it was I will show you what I found in my Ten Step Challenge.

OK, so  after finding this tree out in my yard from my Ten Step Challenge and I wanted to identify it. I went online and found what is called a dichotomous key for trees. A dichotomous key is kind of like playing 20 Questions and is used as a tool to identify something.  Today I used it to identify the tree but there are dichotomous keys for other items found in the natural world (the Resource Section has good ones to check out).  After answering the questions that the dichotomous key asked it told me that the tree I have is likely a black cherry tree.  I am going to leave the eating of the fruit of the tree to the birds.


Here is what some readers sent in from their Ten Step Challenge.

This picture was sent in by Jake who noticed that the flowers were packed down in one area.  Jake guesses that an animal like a deer could have walked on them or rested in the patch of flowers causing them to be flatten. Nice observation Jake!

Nahama found this patch of clovers on her Ten Step Challenge. She said she tried find a 4 leaf clover in the patch but couldn't find one.  Keep searching, you might find one some day. 

On Jimmy's Ten Step Challenge he heard some birds and in his ten steps he was able to sneak up and get close enough to take a picture before they flew away.  Can you find the birds in this picture? There are two that I can see.

Keep sending in your results!  I am glad that you all could Meet Me Outdoors.
Stay tuned for our next adventure!

Time to Go Outdoors!

Sun is shinning, birds are chirping, trees are swaying in the breeze and I am... inside sitting in front of a computer.

Something is wrong with this picture. What is it?

Oh, yeah I am inside on a beautiful day, I should be outdoors. Come to think of it so should you! It is time to go on an adventure and explore the amazing world outdoors.

Don't believe me? Fine. Let's start small. Whether you live in a city, suburb or rural area there is lots to discover. I bet that if you go out the front door and take 10 giant steps in any direction and look around. You may find something new. Just to prove it I will go do that right now. Time for the Ten Step Challenge!

Come on now it's time to go and Meet Me Outdoors!