Friday Fun

by Dr. Lisa Doran, ND

I wanted to write today about something my boys and I do every Friday after school because today I realized how much it has come to mean to all of us. We have a family night that we call Friday Fun. No homework. No music practice. No other obligations but our family and perhaps a neighbourhood child or two who tags along. We try and plan activities that are child centered, joyful, outdoors if possible and just plain fun.

Today we went fossil hunting. It was awesome. The Brickworks on Bayview Ave. is a City of Toronto Conservation Area or Green Space and my kids and I spend a lot of our time there – which is wonderful for the simple fact that what we have been finding is that the more time you spend in one place and the more familiar you become with it that the more you notice and come to anticipate. And this time of year is just so full of wonderful things to see and hear and touch and smell. It is a complete and wholesome experience for our senses. And there is nothing more relaxing to my kids and I than being filled with that sense of wonder that nature brings.

Before we even got to the fossils we checked for turtles in the big ponds right near the parking lot – we saw 3 large painted turtles and 2 smaller snappers sunning themselves on the logs in the pond. The boys caught water striders and got grossed out by pond scum. They found stinging nettle by one of the ponds – unfortunately Jacob didn’t believe me that stinging nettle means that it STINGS! However, it lead to a long discussion about plants and their characters and the usefulness of stinging nettle as a plant – how nourishing it is and how to dry it and use it in teas. I also showed the boys the proper way to harvest it – the underside of the leaves have no stingers so if you are very careful you can usually get away without getting stung.

As we wondered slowly into the Brickworks we found a robins nest high in a fir tree, checked out the sandy patch where the turtles climb up at night to lay eggs this time of year, saw another couple of turtles, exclaimed about the tamarack trees in bloom, found that shady corner of one of the ponds where the giant abandoned goldfish hang out and found about seven red winged black birds nests among the reeds.

Fossil hunting was fun – there is a bed of shale along one side of the brickworks – it’s from a 438 million year old lake bed that used to be there. We had brought a hammer and goggles so they could break some of the rock and look – we spent an hour totally engaged and engrossed in hunting for treasure. We found shell fossils, fossils of maple keys and wings and a back bone of something. The kids were fascinated and had a great time. I sat back on a log in the fading light of the glorious day in May and watched a duck preen herself and saw a pair of cormorants land and then take off in their strangely graceful way. I watched the swallows glide and field content to sit in the bottom of this ancient lake listening to the water fall while my kids smashed stones and just take in everything I could see and hear around me.

A trip to the Brickworks is never complete without climbing the billy-goat trail up the mountain to the look out and sitting there admiring the view for a bit. Then it’s a run down the hill and back to the car and home for dinner – rosy cheeked, everyone smiling and treasures in our pockets!