Deborah Costine Nature Puppets
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Beaver Activity in the Neighborhood!

12/5/2012

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There is a lot going on!  Each morning I look to see the latest work.  Hurricane Sandy had brought down half of my enormous old willow by the river.  The beavers have taken away all the smaller branches from my yard!  One night recently I stood by the river just waiting to see what I might see -or hear. In the moonlight I saw one smallish beaver bound over a log and disappear silently into the water.  Then later upstream a bit, came its warning “splash”!  Then another.  I stood for a long time watching the changing patterns in the water.  

One morning I saw that a Red Oak tree right on the edge of the river had just been partially debarked the night before.  I nailed a wire fence around that to protect it!

Another development I’ve noticed are “channels” that are veering off diagonally from the river into the wetlands. They are visible now that the water level has gone down.

So, I started thinking. These are young beavers from the family that live downstream.  Once the young are two years old, they get kicked out and now must make their own lives. Where are these young ones who inhabit my backyard each night planning to live this winter?  Wouldn’t they be building a lodge by now?  I haven’t seen one.

So, on Tuesday (a very mild December day) I put my kayak in and began paddling downstream.  I hadn’t gone far at all when I saw it! Right ahead of me by the little bridge! A brand new beaver lodge!  I was positively delighted and amazed.  How long had it been there?  Just last week I had stood looking at the river from that bridge and hadn’t noticed it.  But it must have been there (it is quite well camouflaged) because I could see that there were indentations of what had been underwater “path ways” for access to the lodge- back when the river was higher a few weeks ago.

All summer the beavers had been attempting to construct a dam under the bridge. But, to avoid flooded property, their human neighbor regularly undid what they had done.  Currently, there is no dam at all, and the lodge is a bit more exposed than they would like, I think. 

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Sharing Nature With Children

11/4/2012

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Yesterday I joined a small but enthusiastic group at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge for a workshop on sharing nature with children.  This is a topic that has become very important to me.  The program was led by Christopher Stix, a refuge volunteer and is based on work done by Joseph Cornell a man who has spent his career working in this field. 

One thing that resonated with me right away is that the basic philosophy is similar to that of environmentalist Rachel Carson. Rachel, who didn't have children  of her own, devoted a lot of time to the care of her nephew.  That time was mostly spent  just tromping around the fields, wetlands and coastline of her summer home in Maine.  The focus was not about teaching this young boy the names of everything they encountered.  Rather, it was all about the sheer joy of just exploring and discovering.  Love of nature begins this way.

At this workshop we went outside and Chris led us through a few of the many activities developed by Joseph Cornell to engage children in a fun way with their natural surroundings.  My favorite "game" was to be blindfolded and led by another, by a circuitous route, to a tree. My job was to explore the tree thoroughly with my hands to become so familiar with it that, once returned to my original position with blindfold removed, I could find that very tree.  What an experience! 


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Community Reading Day

10/5/2012

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Today in my town was "Community Readers Day." 
A day in which people from the Community are invited to visit a classroom, talk a bit about what they do and then read to the children. I was happy to have been invited, and was given a class of fourth graders. The book they were reading is "The Jacket." 
I brought all the puppets for "Turtle's New Home." The children were full of questions; good questions! It was a very good hour!


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Something New ~  A "Story Walk"

9/30/2012

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Yesterday I had an opportunity to test a new possible offering.  At Sudbury Valley Trustees (a regional land trust) Headquarters: Wolbach Farm, in Sudbury MA. I conducted a “Story Walk” for young children and their grownups.  I had visited the Lewis Nature Trail a few days ahead and walked slowly, looking all around to identify interesting natural phenomena, like a rotting log cut into several pieces that could have a salamander under it, or a part of the trail with bright yellow ferns on both sides.  Those things became a list of “Landmarks” that would lead them to a "special place."  When the children arrived I told them a little story:  “Today is mouse’s birthday and since he is new to this woods, the other animals are putting on a surprise party for him to show that they want to be friends.”  Those animals want the children to help decorate the party place.  They have provided a list of Mouse’s favorite things. (which, of course, are things plentiful along the trail) So, along the way the children searched for each landmark and collected Mouse's favorite things. Eventually they got to the "special place" I had set up ahead of time, and eagerly set about decorating it.

I was happy to see how totally involved the children (ages 4-7) were with looking for each landmark, collecting things and then decorating the party place.  In fact, the whole thing took almost two hours, a bit longer than I intend,  but at then end of it the children still wanted to stay in the woods!  


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ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

9/27/2012

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How fortuitous, that, with my show about a beaver, a turtle and a salamander that I have beavers building a dam very near my house!  Two nights ago, at dusk, I went out to put a stick into the edge of the water as a marker to see how the water level changes.  As I stood back up I heard a loud THWACK!  A beaver! -Just across the river in the high water in the woods! Then, another THWACK!  I stood still. I waited.  In the minimal light I couldn’t see the beaver.  Then just a bit downstream, in the light of the moon, I saw ripples on the surface of the water.  That’s it! Then I could see that the ripples were coming TOWARD me!  I watched, motionless, as the beaver swam right past me and back into the woods.   After a while, hearing nothing, I decided to walk down to the bridge that has the dam underneath.  I stood on the bridge looking at the dark water below. Nothing. Then some movement caught my eye and I could see an animal coming out from under the bridge on the large rocks.  I couldn’t make it out. Then, silhouetted in the light coming from my neighbor’s house, I could see it was a fox! It stopped and watched as a little dog ran into the yard barking.  When the owner called out, the fox turned, ran back across the road by the bridge and disappeared into a bit of woods.   I looked up and watched a bat flapping against the dim light of the sky.  I could not have felt happier.

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"Snuffleupagus" and "Telly" give me two thumbs up! 

9/18/2012

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On Sept 7, 8 and 9,  I participated in “Puppet Homecoming” in Rhinebeck New York. It was a gathering of about 100 puppeteers from the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions to share puppet performances, workshops, ideas, and supplies.  I had been invited to perform “A Woodland Cinderella.”  Performing for one’s peers is always a nerve-wracking experience, no matter how many years, or performances, or awards; you are on your toes and your nerves are on alert!  I enjoyed my performance, which I felt went quite well.  What I didn’t realize was that there were three Sesame Street puppeteers in my audience; Pam Arciero, who primarily plays “Grundgetta;” Leslie Carrara Rudolph, who plays “Abby Cadabby” and Martin Robinson who is “Snuffleupagus” and “Telly Monster” among others.  Martin came up to me immediately after my performance and was beaming as he said something like “I see a lot of puppetry and this is the best puppet show I have seen in a long time!”  (wow)  He also said “EVERYTHING was impeccable: the script, the voices, the puppets, the manipulation, the timing etc.”  Of course, this felt wonderful. It helps me to know that what I try so hard to achieve is happening.  He wants me to perform for his children’s birthday!  Could it get better than that?! 

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Hit "Publish" and go take a paddle

8/19/2012

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This new site was launched yesterday - August 18, 2012.
There are still a lot of things I want and need to do before it's really done. 
So, after I launched it and played with it a bit more, I accepted an invitation from my cousin Matthew to go to his little lake house which he refers to as a "wooden tent. "  We would go for a canoe ride, do some sitting just looking across the lake at boats and waves and light, and enjoy his gourmet cooking!  On our paddle we were very happy to come upon a large-ish bird standing on the shore in amongst the high bush blueberries growing out over the water.  It was heron-like but too small to be a heron.  I thought maybe a juvenile green heron.  I looked it up later and it was an "American Bittern."  How wonderful to see it!  You can see it here and don't miss the "sound" link it makes an amazing sound!:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Bittern/id
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    Deborah Costine

    Thanks for stopping in! 
    Since I am as interested in nature as I am in puppetry, my thoughts here will be about both.  My old house in a little neighborhood along the river provide me with daily opportunities for enjoying nature. I have a garden,two apple trees (which I love to climb and prune) plus a bit more lawn than I'd like.  I plant various shrubs and things to create pathways. From the back of my studio I can look almost directly down at the river. There is almost always someone paddling by; Mr Beaver, Ms Muskrat, The Otter twins- Nellie and MInnie, plus lots of ducks and geese - and the occasional human.

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