The world has amazing wildlife.  As we drove over 1000 miles in the country of Costa Rica (which is a little less than the state of Kentucky in size) I was amazed at the diversity of brilliant birds and animals that we saw without even going deep into the jungles (although we did do a little of that as well).  More than 25% of Costa Rica is parkland and groups of monkeys were jumping from tree to tree outside our hotel windows; sloths were resting peacefully in tree branches by the road and iguanas were sunning on the leaves at the tops of the trees as we passed by.  We took boat trips and saw more than 30 species of birds (there are more than 60 documented bird species in Costa Rica) and I particularly loved the flock of endangered Scarlet Macaws that flew around us in pairs. We climbed through the cloud forest to visit a volcanic lake, walked over the hanging bridges in the rain forest, swam in the hot springs and walked through the medicinal plants and trees of the dry, coastal forest. On the beach we toured the breeding nursery for the endangered leatherback turtles and played hide and seek with sand crabs. Brightly colored butterflies were everywhere and we visited a butterfly farm to visit them up close and an animal sanctuary to visit the animals up close.  We loved that all the vehicles stopped to let a little group of Coatimundis (Coatis) cross the road (he's the little raccoon like fellow at the bottom). There were too many other animal and bird encounters to mention; an amazing array in all.

These are some of the photos from our trip; I particularly like the one of the monkey at the top looking at us as we are looking at him; his eyes are expressive and I wonder what he is thinking.  Costa Rica is a beautiful country and the experience was thrilling. I like this quote: "Unless we learn how to conserve and sustain this delicate natural balance which has taken millions of years to evolve, the results could be disastrous and irreversible..." The late Dr. Mario F. Orjuela, IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group.
submitted by Laurenn (Mimi) of the Lae Lae team

Spring is evident everywhere I look. New green shoots sprout from limbs, and blossoms are in full bloom. This time of year our three Texas Live Oaks push old leaves out, with the growth of new ones, and drop fuzzy green pollen far and wide. It's a sure seasonal sign. To our consternation, the largest of the great oaks hangs over our pool and supplies an endless rain of debris into it for more than a month. Although my husband would love to rid the backyard of the offending tree, I absolutely love it and its removal is unconscionable. Just this morning, a pair of golden-fronted woodpeckers were hoping around its trunk. Its enormous canopy, already home to migrating birds, is filled with song. There is something quintessential and ethereal about the song birds' arrival with spring.   

Excitement comes when I stroll my backyard among the little grove of fruit trees. The orange, grapefruit (two varieties), lemon, apricot, peach, and plum are budding small white flowers, and bees buzz happily among them. The sage, rosemary, and basil bloom alongside the hibiscus tree. All, but my Spanish grapes, seem to be in full spring swing. 

This year we've had a long cool winter and a wonderfully wet spring. As a result, fecundity abounds in my garden. My little urban nature area relaxes and imbues the spirit. At the moment, I look out my window and see soft rain gently falling turning the grass emerald green. The roses appear luminous, their brilliant colors glisten in the diffuse daylight. 

It is an overcast Saturday afternoon. The kind of day to curl up with a good book, or wistfully compose introspective poetry with your "teetering bulb of dread and dream" (line in the poem the Floor by by Russell Edson). I think I'll give it a try...

           A Spring Day
           An auspicious day I suspect 
           when writers write, artists create, 
           and the mind quiets down to contemplate. 

           When soft rain melts away winter's shroud
           and awakens the dormant leaf
           When horizons roil in dark black cloud 
           and creatures revive from winter's release   - by Chelse Benham (a Lae Lae team member)

Above: getting ready to execute the double boat pose and the yoga "flash cards".

I have found a delightful and easy game to play with my small grandchildren, both the two little sisters and the two little brothers. In each set of children there is a two year+ age difference between the older and younger child and the age differences are from four to seven years old.  

At those ages, children are very different in development and that often means that the younger child is trying to keep up with the older one, often not very successfully.  Squabbling and unhappiness are the result.  It's difficult to find something where the two children can have fun together on an equal playing field.
 
One answer is The Yoga Game.  Yoga is an ancient art but is still healthy, fun and beneficial for all ages today.  What benefits do young children get from yoga? more energy, increased flexibility, less stress, better focus and a general feeling of well-being. And the best thing is that everyone, no matter what age, can execute a few simple yoga poses.

The game that I play with my grandkids is with yoga "flash cards".  The children take turns picking a pose to execute from the cards.  If they do it correctly they win a prize.  The poses are simple and can be done easily.  Sometime they even do the poses together which is a sweet and positive sibling gesture.  In their yoga game, my grandsons played for surprises in plastic eggs  and, in their yoga game, my granddaughters played for beads to trade.  The children were amazingly agile and limber at that young age and they all had a good "yoga" time. When it was over, they were nicely tired and ready to calm down for a bath and bedtime story.  The Yoga Game is totally positive and fun experience that I recommend! 
submitted by Mimi (Laurenn Barker) of the Lae Lae collection 

I am a person who immensely dislikes talking on the phone. I think it has everything to do with the fact that when speaking on the phone I never know where to look. Certainly, it's not the person's face that I can see, and so my eyes wonder and so does my mind. Talking on the phone is a distraction. It was a relief when technology filled the need to see the person I'm speaking to with free video chat. Gone are the antiquated days of expensive, poor quality video chatting. Now I use Skpye to have long conversations with family living across the country. But it is the most recent discovery of using Skype to meditate, alongside my mother living several states away, that sealed its usefulness for me.

My mother and I believe meditation is an extension of healthy living combined with exercise, a clean diet, and plenty of sleep. We believe meditation is a wonderful way to start and end the day. When we lived down the street from one another we used to get together and meditate before we exercised. It was our time to connect.

However, after we moved apart we were unable to continue the practice. Until recently, we hadn't meditated together for several years. Now Skype makes it easy for us to meditate each morning as if we are in the same room together. It's a lovely solution to our distance problem and a fabulous use of technology. I've read of other people using Skype to stay in touch in novel ways.  One woman sets her computer up at the end of her dining table, and her mother does the same thing at her end, and she schedules dinner together on Sundays. What a lovely way to use technology to stay close. I'm sure there are more examples out there. Perhaps, you can think of your own unique way to stay close using video chat.

- by Chelse Benham (Lae Lae team Member)

My daughter and I just finished a bright and happy art project with her daughter's first grade class of 25 children.  It was a cold and rainy afternoon when we completed the second of two days creating a spring garden mural approximately 10 feet long. 

The children did all the work; we just provided the backdrop paper and the ideas to copy (or they invented their own).  The children drew their creations with pencil and outlined them with black washable markers. After that was done, they colored them with oil pastels and smoothed the colors with baby oil on Q-tips.  After the oils had dried, they then cut out their beautiful butterflies, birds, flowers, clouds and even a little sun to paste onto the scenic mural of garden grasses that they had painted.  They took turns painting the garden backdrop and finishing the little garden creatures to go on to the backdrop and they all traded places so everyone was able to participate.  When they were finished with all the pieces, they each pasted their little creations on to the mural.  All together it made a wonderful bright reminder that spring is right around the corner.  I recommend this as a class project where everyone can contribute to a fun and creative project.