Interests as a kid...

 

These shots were taken by my father in different years for different Science projects I'd been assigned in perhaps 6th and 7th grade? I don't exactly recall. However, by my 7th grade I can recall that I no longer needed glasses. The boy's ugly frames that I endured [I constantly broke girly frames as I was a tomboy] got put away for quite a few years.

The projects were leaf and tree identification and insect identification. My mom was all in on these projects. I'm not going to analyze it but without her help, I wouldn't have done half as well. On the leaf project, I recall getting an A. The comment below my grade was: Mrs. Rogers A+.

I fessed up that mom helped me. After all ironing leaves in wax and mounting them in an artistic way wasn't really my forte at that time.

The projects however were not lost totally on me even though I forgot all about them until my brother scanned these slides and sent them to us girls. My mom was an involved mom. There was no doubt that she was invested in us and our education. It was very serious business. Was it because her education was not that great? I won't know. Nor am I going to dwell on it. 

She however did teach us to be detail oriented. I wanted to label a leaf as Maple Leaf. Nope. It had to be the right description. Not just Maple. Sugar maple, Red Maple, Silver Maple, and so forth. We probably even typed in the Scientific name for each tree. Mom did the typing as she made less mistakes and didn't waste whiteout.

In a way, I wish the tree leaf project was still in existence. I think perhaps it would be fun to do this again. Collect leaves, photo them, ID them, and put it all on a photo page as my own private 'tree' book.

Back then, there was no Google Lens to discover what we'd seen. We'd collect, preserve, and look it up in a handbook. I still prefer to do things that way. Of course, my neighbor is a Forester and knows his trees, so if I really get stumped, I could ask for his help.

Years ago, I did a project like that with wildflowers and odd plants I'd come across while hiking within walking distance of our farm. It was a year long project and I used a handbook from the University of Wisconsin to ID wildflowers. The year was 2009 and Google Lens still didn't exist.

I found that this method of looking, taking photos and then looking through a book was for more educational than using an app. 

[Though it is fun to do, I think names stick with me better if I have to manually search and use my brain.]

So I shouldn't be surprised that I am following this path of interest. When you live a life with many hours of solitude, you start to take incredible interest in the things around you. 

Or...is it age? Why am I so intent on learning now and not earlier? More time? 

It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I enjoy it and it keeps me active.

The tree leaves below belong to a Slippery Elm [ Ulmus rubra ].
Oddly enough, the Box Elder bugs were gathered on this tree and not the Box Elder 10 feet away. I'm happy to discover that I can tell the Slippery Elm by its leaves and the feel of its leaves compared to the Ironwood which grows on the other side.

I still like learning. It is fun.