clearing out the nature table

Our nature table (a little spot in the enclosed hallway where neither the cat nor the baby can roam freely) was getting crowded.  So we sorted through its contents.  And we photographed them for posterity.

We made one pile of items to return to nature and a second pile of items that might be useful in the building of fairy houses.  A few cool things, like the interesting skull, went onto a shelf in the library.  The only things that went back onto the table were the bark with the insect tunnels -- my choice -- and a cluster of leaves collected in Massachusetts -- her choice, from a very old copper beech  she named "the loving tree".

This was three weeks ago, I think.  The nature table is already filling up again.