<p>
	<em><img alt="" src="{filedir_5}IMG_0685-300pxl-adjusted.jpg" style="width: 275px; height: 205px; float: right;" />Whether the weather be fine<br />
	Or whether the weather be not<br />
	Whether the weather be cold<br />
	Or whether the weather be not<br />
	We&rsquo;ll weather the whether the weather<br />
	Whatever the weather<br />
	Whether we like it or not.</em></p>
<p>
	<em>Now we long for spring to come<br />
	To see the flowers bloom<br />
	But with it comes that rain again<br />
	And we are filled with soggy gloom.</em></p>
<p>
	-Charlotte Anselmo</p>
<p>
	I think it is fair to say that we are ready for spring sunshine here at Au Sable. The few sunny days we have experienced have only created a longing within in me for more vitamin D. I am ready to put on the shorts and chacos.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	This is my 4th year in a row visiting, studying, or interning at Au Sable. I think this place is important to me because it is where I have most noticed that I am actually growing up and getting older. As each year passes this place has given me time to look back on where I have come from and where I am now. It is also where I am constantly reminded to take on a &ldquo;sense of wonder&rdquo; and thoroughly enjoy the world that surrounds me. This year, that wonder has come through in getting into living history with the third and fourth graders of the area. They are rambunctious but so aware and inquisitive. &nbsp;Teaching is a great way to discover the world through the eyes of a child. I constantly try to understand and remember how an eight year old sees nature.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	During plant study with the first graders, I was given one of the more challenging groups of kids. The morning lessons had high and low points, but it was the nature walk that I was most nervous about. Before we even made it 100 feet down the trail, we had to stop to talk about manners and the right way to treat each other (I love that grade school children are just little people learning how to live). These moments are tough. Mine however led to a wonderful twinkling of discovery. As I had the children sit in a circle around me and we remembered the right way to behave, we heard a woodpecker in the distance. Slowly and quietly, we got up and tiptoed closer to the sound until four Northern Flickers flew through the trees overhead, and we discovered how much fun nature has. This was the quietest and the most attentive my group had been all day. They were immediately rowdy moments later, but for that instance of discovery they were fully present.</p>
<p>
	Life lessons indeed.</p>
