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.