Morning, Pa Skip. Here's an excellent lichen specimen.

I've made much (too much?) out of Audrey's interest in lichen because I hope she'll develop a passion for the sciences and soon begin gathering her own laboratory equipment like litmus testing papers and a magnifying glass and all that stuff-- oooh, I can't wait to foist all of my own interests on her! And won't she appreciate me for that!!

Anyway. She was genuinely excited to see this lichen. And we wanted to share our find with Pa Skip, geologist of the field. This rock is part of a big outcropping in a tiny patch of conservation land near our house. I have that mixture of delight-panic-dread about the on-coming cold; every walk or playtime outside feels like it may be the last for months. The inside of the house feels both cozy and confining. But the weekend was unseasonably warm and we were out collecting sunlight as much as we could, storing it up.