Its Fall, my favorite season. Mostly because all of my favorite colors are displayed on the deciduous tress. The radiant reds, bright neon oranges, and the shining yellow... throw in some pink and its basically sunsets in the trees. Its beautiful, often times mesmerizing. This season has really inspired me for some new ideas for Cool Things in Nature (stay tuned). We have a lot of fun projects in the works here at CTiN, and we are striving to grow, improve, and continue to share with you the cool things in nature all around us. Coolia is continuing to bring you Ecosodes from our visit to Acadia National Park in Maine. So far we have learned about the nesting Peregrine Falcons and the struggle they have had making their return to the park. We also had a great guest host, Kevin, tell us about what the fauna goes through living on the top of Cadillac Mountain. If you haven't seen these definitely check them out and let us know what you think, and stay tuned for even more from this East Coast Park. JessiCool has been living in Maine and out searching for her favorite animal in the wild, the Moose! Well she finally got some on video, and is working to create an Ecosode to introduce you to these majestic creatures. She has also entered some Cool Things in Nature photos and videos into some contests just to get CTiN out there some more. Both Coolia and JessiCool are gearing up to present at the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education conference at the end of this month. They are presenting on bridging the gap between nature inquiry and technology. This is a great experience for CTiN, because it gets us great connections, feed back, input, and also helps other environmental organization incorporate technology into their education to help inspire people to learn about nature and then get out and explore it. JessiCool's cousin Cool Chris, is currently editing a CTiN special all about Yosemite National Park. It is looking great, and has some amazing footage and information. Definitely keep your eyes open for that. So there you have it, a complete update on what CTiN is up to currently, now we want to hear from you... any nature topics you'd like to know more about, or topics you'd like to see posted about? We will be doing out best to blog regularly as well as delivering the fact of the day on our facebook fanpage. Our video views have doubled in the last 2 months, we would like to take the time to thank everyone that takes the time to watch/comment/like/share all of our hard work. CTiN is growing and its because of you. Thank you for your support. Now its time to get outside and explore the cool things that nature has to offer, and let us know what cool things you find! I am going to leave you with this poem about Fall.. -JessiCool In the other gardens And all up the vale, From the autumn bonfires See the smoke trail! Pleasant summer over And all the summer flowers, The red fire blazes, The gray smoke towers. Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall! -Robert Louis Stevenson

Update

Hello! I know it has been a little while since our last CTiN blog, but don't worry JessiCool and Coolia are back, and we have some great things to tell you about!

First off I'd like to thank all the people who have been viewing our Ecosodes, and giving us feedback! We hope you are enjoying the videos, and hope you are excited for what is to come with CTiN in the next couple of months. Well here is a little update on what we are up to and what we are working on:

Both JessiCool and Coolia are working with brand new cameras! One video camera was generously donated to us by the Conserve School in Land O' Lakes, WI! So we will be bringing you some great quality videos that are not interupted by the wind. We are both excited and love using the new equipment. JessiCool's camera was partially funded by some generous donations from some amazing family memebers who are big fans of CTiN.

Coolia is continuing her grad school fellowship at The Conserve School, and is busy working on a presentation about SCAT! Even though she is busy with school, she is never too busy for some Cool Thins in Nature. She is currently working on a series (you may have seen some of the Ecosodes already) on tree identification in the winter. She has recently posted some great Ecosodes to kick off her winter series, so definitely go check those out and stay tuned for even more!

JessiCool recently started a new job as a traveling naturalist in Maine and is really excited to film some Ecosodes there (we don't have any from Maine yet, yay a new state)! She works with some amazing animals and is planning on starting her own series and teach all the CTiN viewers about these cool little critters she works with. Also be looking for two Cool Things in Nature specials on Sequoia and Yosemite National Park that are currently in the final stages of the editing process.

Our special guest host, Jared, is heading to New Zealand and is going to help us make CTiN international by bringing back some spectacular Ecosodes for us from his 6 week backpacking trip so keep checking back for updates on where he is and what he's doing!

That's what CTiN is up to right now, and we definitly would love to hear any feedback or ideas on what you'd like to see from us. We have a draft of a new logo that is being tweaked as I type, so we would love to hear what you think about it. We have some awesome CTiN stickers available if you'd like some (take some to pass out to your friends). We will have a new batch of stickers as soon as the new logo is finalized, so we are looking forward to continuing to stick those up all over the country. Coolia also just finished the Bio page on the website so if you would like to know more about JessiCool and Coolia be sure to take a look at that page at www.coolthingsinnature.com. You can stay up to date with the recent Ecosodes on the website, as well as on our channel on youtube.com, and our fanpage on facebook. You can also get updates by following us on twitter @coolthingnature, so there is always a way to contact us here at Cool Things in Nature. Just drop by to say hi when you get a chance, but don't stay too long because you should be out exploring COOL THINGS IN NATURE!

We look forward to hearing from you and sharing our new adventures!

Until next time,
-JessiCool