Around our (Maryland) Yard in November 2012

Maryland in November is the time the raking of the leaves peaks. The leaves on our sycamore have stayed on longer than I thought it would since we already had a few of them falling in early October.

The hydrangea blossoms have deepened their color as they’ve dried. I am considering bringing some inside for a dried flower arrangement. 

The seeds for next year’s crop of onions are ready to fall in the garden.

And it’s definitely time to rake the leaves into mounds to they won’t kill the grass. The maples and tulip poplars are the most prevalent in our yard.
 

Fall at Centennial Park

This past weekend was probably the peak for fall foliage at Centennial Park in Howard County, Maryland. We stopped at the boat launch area first - and a Great Blue Heron flew up and stood for some moments on a pile of rocks! After that start to the hike, we began the 2+ mile loop around the lake. Enjoy the fall scenes in the slide show below: red dogwood leaves, the reflections of trees in the water, water droplets on a grass seed head, a boat on the water, cattails, Canadian geese taking of, lady fingers, faded lily pads distorting the reflection of lots of yellow trees, a frost damaged poke weed, and the lake through an oak curtain…..the scenes of fall at Centennial Park.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 13, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

IGNITE - Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution - the program in Seattle schools that is a best practice for educating young women about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, well documented and is spreading to other school systems. There is a toolkit available.

Prairie seeds - a collection of seed pile pictures - guess what they are! The answers are at the bottom of the post. The rose hips are the only truly easy one!

Fall prairie pictures - from the Prairie Ecologist

Evolution of Milkweed Eating Insects - I actually propagated milkweed at the woods edge in my yard….for the monarch caterpillars!

Doctors Speak out About Unnecessary Care as Cost Put at $800 Billion a Year - As a patient….how does one distinguish the unnecessary care? How many times has a side effect from unnecessary medical treatment created another problem? This is not only expensive…it is also dangerous to health.

Nora Denzel Keynote Speech at Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2012 - youtube video

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2012 wiki - links to information about each talk

Coursera - take the world’s best courses, online, for free

Extreme Weather Photo Contest Winners - From NASA. Shelf clouds, thunderstorm, walls of dust, lightning

Is reading in the dark bad for your eyesight? - It depends. Take a look at a summary of research on the topic.

The Beauties of Early Fall

As we walked around the Smithsonian Mall and the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC, the plantings were representative of ones that are truly at their best in this area just before the leaves turn and then fall. The roses like the cooler weather. The grasses have full seed heads. The asters show their blue and purple color liberally. The dogwoods lead the color change and the winterberry has bright red berries that contrasts with the green leaves still on the bush. There may not be as many butterflies but the ones that are still around may be easier to see because they don’t flutter as rapidly in the cooler temperatures. Enjoy the slide show of these beauties of early fall and celebrate fall!

Monarch butterfly

Grass

Dogwood

Persimmon

Winterberry

Aster

Rose

Flower glow illusion

Celebrating October 2012

What do you celebrate in October? Here are some ideas:

Apples and squash. The new harvest is in and apples are at their best. There are a large number of varieties to try other than ‘Delicious’ – so experiment and find a new favorite! Many communities host festivals that feature the produce of fall and fresh apple cider or apple butter.....and all those colorful squashes.

Foliage. Take a drive or a hike through a forest of deciduous trees. Timing it just right is always a challenge – but easier now that there are so many web sites that predict the peak color and even have pictures of areas.

Leaves. Play in piles of leaves. Yes – the raking is a chore…but make it into a fun activity while you are at it.

Cooler weather. After the swelter of summer and even September – October has some very welcome cooler days. Celebrate with some outdoor activities and enjoy a picnic.

Halloween. Buy those bags of candy and be prepared to offer a treats to all those goblins that come knocking! We purchased a plastic jack-o-lantern that looks like the real thing years ago; turned out to be a great purchase to decorate the front porch for the big night.

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Granola

The scent of pumpkin pie wafting through the house is probably one of the most enticing aromas of fall. That’s what gave me the impetus to try this pumpkin granola….and I wanted something that would travel well for our fall outings. Size the recipe for the amount of pumpkin you have; the 15 ounce can I had was 1 1/2 cups of puree.  

The goo: 

• 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 

10 cups old fashioned oatmeal

2 cups whole almonds

2 cups raisins (or dried cranberries)

~~~~~

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit.

Combine the ‘goo’ ingredients in a large measuring cup.

Combine the oats and almonds in a very large bowl.

Pour the ‘goo’ on to the oats and almonds. Mix thoroughly. I find it easiest to just use my hands.

Put in one very large pan or two smaller ones. You will need to stir the pans to don’t fill them too full.

Cook for 15 minutes and then stir. Then repeat until it has cooked for about an hour and a half. Add the raisins for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Let cool.

Store in closed containers. Freeze any that your household will not eat within a few weeks….or give it as a gift to celebrate the coming of fall.

Catoctin Mountain Park - August 2012

We took advantage of a cool, cloudy morning recently to revisit Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland. It’s a forested area with hiking trails and winding roads. For us - it’s a place to celebrate all the times we’ve been there before (over the past 20+ years) and the beauty of the place even in August: (from the top down in the collage below) Catoctin geology, tiny mushrooms in moss, sunflowers at the visitors center, Cunningham Falls - not much water but the scour holes to the right of the water are indicators of how much there is at other times of the years, and a blue chicory flower.

This time of year the fungus steal the show from wildflowers. The slide show below captures some of my favorites. There are a lot of tree falls and forest mulch at Catoctin that provide lots substrate for these decomposers.

And last but not least - there were a few colorful leaves….reminding us that fall is just around the corner.