Saving the turtle

On Thursday around noon we headed out to run a quick errand before Sofia's nap and turned onto the main road to find a rather large turtle/tortoise walking down the middle of the lane! Luckily there were no cars around, so I quickly pulled over, grabbed the turtle and turned toward home. I figured he would be far happier in or near the little lake that is behind our neighborhood, so Sofia and I walked down to the lower area of the lake to leave him near the water so he could decide his fate. As soon as I showed Sofia the turtle she had a field day turning him over and over and patting his shell, so he hid so deeply into his shell that I was afraid he'd never come out! We set him near the water, gave him a final pat and left. I tried to stay close just to watch what he did, but he never came out. I think he was still traumatized by a two year old!

We also ran into our neighbor across the street, Ann, who is a wonderful, vivacious, interesting and very friendly professional painter (www.annhardy.com - check her out!). Ann always makes a point to talk with Sofia and she gave her a cloth Frankenstein candy bucket for Halloween! Sofia loves it and calls it her "purse." We quickly found that it is perfect for carrying mail in from the box and she has experimented with all sorts of things that will (and won't) fit into it! We sent Ann a thank you card and included one of Sofia's "paintings."

Due to all the rain we've had, Sofia is a huge fan of picking mushrooms and we have some very large ones around here! So, she'll pick one and carry it around all day, before I take it and either throw it away or set it on craft paper to release the spores (we used to do this at the ranch all the time). I love how interested Sofia is in exploring and looking at everything. We can hardly walk to the mailbox without picking up rocks, acorns, inspecting the ants and any dead insects and looking for mushrooms. I love it!

Sofia and her mushroom. In her other hand is a lime from our little Mexican lime tree that is in a pot near our pool - it's small but a HUGE producer!


Inspecting...


With her new Frankenstein candy collector (and mail inside!)


Checking out her new present!


The turtle/tortoise - patting it's shell


THe turtle/tortoise's new home


Waving to Chocolate Kitty - a neighbor's cat who is incredibly friendly and forgiving with Sofia


Inspecting a dead bug!


Mushroom spores!