Curlews

It was Teen Knitting Club and fair weather this morning, so here are a few photos. I remembered someone commenting that she was fond of curlews, and there were two on the mud flats, though one was a little far to get a good snap. If you magnify these photos, the resolution should be high enough to show some nice detail. They are such lovely birds.

My willet friend was grooming himself and not photo-ready (the mud flats were a bird salon; I seemed to hit the moment of the day when all birds fuss over themselves). I did get a snap of a young willet who was striding along the water's edge as fast as I was walking up on the path!

A photographer from the local paper came to club today, but so did over thirty kids! Nearly every teen who has said he would come back another day came today. My 7th grade regulars stopped by for a moment and were overwhelmed by the crowd so left immediately. Only three of the knitting 6th graders braved the zoo. I ended up making three stations, one for knitting, one for pompoms, and one for friendship bracelets. Luckily, I had kids at each table who could teach the others, and I spent my time helping with paperclips (hook through the end of the bracelet braid, then through a belt loop), teaching half hitches, and knotting pompom leashes.

I felt today as if I achieved my goal of giving the kids some fun stress relief. I took a moment to look around the classroom and saw all the school's cliques mixing, helping each other, 6th graders teaching 8th graders and vice versa. Last fall I had envisioned a table of happy knitters, and some weeks that is what we have. Most days are like today, a beehive of busy teens playing with color and string, learning that knots really do matter, that scissors can be used for more than paper, that hands are handy.