My friend Sue A (another wonderful Sue) at the LIFE group organized this field trip day. When my Mom heard our plans, she decided not to use her day off to do yard work and prepare for the special meeting on Saturday at church, but to come with us. I was glad Mom came too, as we had to get all three kids and our lunch out to the car by 10:00 to get to the Roger Williams Park.
Our first stop was the Providence Mounted Police Horses
stables. Officer Nelson showed us around. This is Steel, a very, very tall horse. He made quiet the impression on M. I held K up to the window, but she seemed more interested in cuddling under my coat, it was a cold, raw day.
Officer Nelson showed how he communicates with his horse mostly through leg signals, partly so no one else can control his horse with voice commands, and partly so he can fake out drunks by pretending to loose control of his horse so they stop fighting, saying one thing and signaling the horse to do something else at the same time. If I had to break up a crowd of drunks, I’d want a 18 hand horse too.
Apparently my Mother read ALL of the Misty of Chintotigue books when she was a little girl, none of the new-to-me horse trivia was new to her! And I thought I knew My Mom really well.
After a brief lunch, those of us with older kids went across the street to the
Roger Williams Park Botanical Center
The warmth of the greenhouse was a welcome change. There were lots of benches to rest on and very clean bathrooms (with sturdy changing table). I surprised B and M with a sleeve of Brazilian wafer cookies. American wafer cookies always taste too sweet and soggy to me. The Brazilian ones from Seabra grocery store are great. Maybe it’s that the flavors are more exotic: dolce de leche , lime cream, or chocolate hazel nut. Maybe I just think everything my cousins who grew up in San Paolo recommend from Brazil is cool, because they are so cool.
Our tour was led by the president of the
New England Carnivorous Plant Society
John Phillip, Jr. We saw a chocolate tree, vanilla vine, fig tree, lemon tree, a very cute mouse asleep on a rock, and a guava tree. We smelled the lavender, rosemary and geranium. What a relief to let M touch something.
This is an American Oil Palm, where the oil for frying dough nuts comes from.
Here the kids are taking turns with the flowers from a non-edible ginger that spouts roots after it’s pollinated.
Here is John explaining how big the pitchers on this tropical pitcher plant can get, up to 3L. These kinds can catch small birds, gecko and rats. (Now this was a nature day my boys got into seriously!)
M holding a pruned off pitcher, he wanted to look at the sundews and Venus Fly traps some more, and didn’t smile for the camera very long. Good thing the kid setting on the camera keeps the blur down.
B was so absorbed in the lecture, I couldn’t catch his eye to take his picture. John gave each family a seed pod of Venus Fly traps, and invited us for a free bog walk this Summer. Sounds very buggy and hot, but since B wants to go, we will try very hard to get him there. Who cares about mosquitoes if the kid wants to learn science?
B and his friend C decided to sketch the Koy first. Sue had reminded all the families to bring sketch pads. The kids spread out throughout the greenhouses seeking things to draw, but the little girls lined up on a bench to beg turns to hold baby K first. M borrowed C’s flurescent markers to draw a "war turtle."
B gave me permission to put his drawings here:
The green pipe like thing is one of the tropical pitchers. John identified it in passing as he came back for his coat. The Venus Fly Trap seed capsules are on top of the drawing pad.