Arnold Arboretum

Last Saturday, I went to Harvard Arnold Arboretum. I had lots of fun there. I learned about the Black Walnuts and I participated in an activity called letter-boxing.

Did you know that black walnuts were once widely used as writing ink? To make black walnut ink find some black walnuts that have already started rotting. When black walnuts rot, they turn dark brown. put these walnuts in water. Leave them there for one day. The water will turn very dark. Boil this water and you will have ink!

Do you know what some people do when they see a healthy and mature walnut tree? They pull it out and sell it! Some black walnut trees have sold for 5 thousand or more dollars! Why do they sell so well? Walnut trees have an unique and beautiful original color.

This is what the black walnut looks like when it just falls to the ground. (These things are hard! Make sure one doesn't fall on you![laugh!] )


These are what the Black Walnuts look like when they are starting to rot. Many nuts we eat are part of the walnut family called Juglandaceae in Latin. The black walnut is called Juglans Nigra in Latin.


This walnut tree was struck by lightning. You can tell.


This is a grove of six walnut trees. Five of these were started from seed in 1874.

Arnold arboretum also is a great place to explore nature and have a picnic. You should go there as well!

The deCordova Sculpture Park

We went to the deCordova sculpture park. the sculptures there were very interesting.







This sculpture was made from a tire. I will always be amazed by that.



I thought this one looked a little disgusting. But someone else said that it was interesting and beautiful.

Unnecessary and Necessary Lies

Sometimes I wonder, "Is there such a thing as an necessary lie?"

Most parents and teachers I know say that it is never good to lie. But when you start thinking about this concept you realize that maybe a lie could be useful. For example, If you were fighting in a war and got held as a prisoner, to escape the country you would need to lie.

So I suppose that another question this question raises is, "If there are such things as unnecessary and necessary lies, then when would the lie be considered necessary or unnecessary?"

I think that this is a very interesting topic.