Gleanings of the Week Ending December 20, 2014

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

The Hooting Season: Enjoying Great Horned Owls - I liked the owl pictures!

What Are MOOCs Good For? - I enjoy the Coursera MOOCs so I thought I would read a review of MOOCs in general.  I was surprised that the review barely mentions people like me that enjoy MOOCs to learn about a topic rather than to get a certification or qualification for a career. When I look at discussion boards - it seems like there are quite of few of us ‘post career’ folks taking MOOCs.

Walking Fish Model Evolution - I had heard about ‘walking fish’ but had never seen one in action. This post includes a video....and discusses how the fishes bones change if they are walking frequently.

Three ways cats can control our minds - There is a summary in the narrative of the three ways but the video is worth watching! Fun!

An Ocean of Plastic - I’ve been hearing more about this recently…we have to figure out how to stop putting more plastic into the ocean. On an individual level - recycling plastic is an OK answer but not really good enough. It’s hard to avoid plastic but that is what we need to think more about. I have already stopped buying bottled water and I carry reusable shopping bags whenever I shop (not just for groceries although that is how I started).

A Bird's Eye View of Humpback Whales Participating In Bubble Feeding - This is like the walking fish post - something I’d read about but never seen. The second video provides more narrative about how they do it (if you don’t hear the narrative check the audio volume).

EPA’s Energy Efficiency Action Week & New Energy Star Home Advisor - This online tool has been updated according to this post. The tool itself is available here.  Be prepared to hunt through records if your want to assess your house with this tool!

Absolutely Stunning Examples of Lakes and Rivers with Unearthly Colors - I appreciate the ones that are colors from nature….the ones from pollution are very sad.

Chemical-Sensing Displays and Other Surprising Uses of Glass - A peek at Corning research.

Desalination out of Desperation - There is a lot of water in the sea….but desalination is still very expensive. But we may be coming close to a time when we’ll pay the price.

Holiday Events

Part of the joy of December - the brightness in the season of short days - is holiday events. This year I volunteered at two events that ended up being in the same weekend. They were both so much fun I’ll do the same sort of thing next year! Somehow being part of the set up and behind-the-scenes logistics for an event makes it even more of a celebration.

I enjoy the decorations like the ones I posted about yesterday and the ‘pot people’ at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant farm decked out for the season.

Baking is an integral part of holidays for me…and it is so much better to share the products rather than overindulge. My favorite homemade goodies to donate for events are the always popular oatmeal raisin cookies and coconut macaroons. I was glad there were none leftover this year!

One of my volunteer jobs was to help bundle up donated boxwood and holly - to be sold at one of the events. I bought some and then took some of the remains at the end of the day for a vases and pitchers in my kitchen. It was the final bit of decorating around my house. What a reminder of the ‘good beginning’ of December!

Clothes for Cold Days

Now that our weather has turned decidedly cold - I have all my winter clothes out. I have lots of options but I find myself thinking more about what helps the most to keep me comfortable in the cold:

Shoes. My hiking boots are the warmest shoes I have. The thick soles - insulating my feet from the cold ground are the most important part of the shoe. I have some clogs which are my second warmest shoes; they are open in the back but their soles are thick and I wear them with thick socks if it isn’t wet or snowy.

Gloves. If it is cold when I go shopping - I have discovered that I am more comfortable putting my coat in the trunk of the car before I leave my garage….putting on gloves with my indoor winter wear (typically sweatshirt and jeans)…and walking fast between the car and the store. If I wear my coat into the store, I get too hot. Wearing the gloves keeps me comfortable for the minute it takes for the short walk. Somehow my hands are the first part of me to get cold. I also have mega-gloves for when I need to work outside (shoveling snow, for example).

Scarves. It is amazing how much extra comfort a scarf can provide when it is very cold. It seals off air leaks around the neck…or can be pulled up to partially cover the face if it is really cold.

Hoodie. I like to wear a hoodie under my coat. It is a good layer too…if it isn’t quite as cold as I thought. In really cold weather I wear a knit hat and pull the hoodie up over the hat!

Coursera - December 2014

Several courses finished in November: Modern and Contemporary Poetry from University of Pennsylvania, What Future Education from University of London, and Childbirth: A Global Perspective from Emory University. It is hard to compare them because they were so different. I enjoyed the variety of them…and looked forward to each week of new material. Earlier in my life, I chose courses largely based on the ‘fit’ toward my career goals. Now - the decision is based totally on my interests and I am discovered that my interests are very broad!

Two of the courses that started in October, continued through all of November and into December as well.

Water: The Essential Resource from National Geographic Society. The course is focused on teaching the topic to 4th-8th graders. I’ve learned some new things about the topic and about teaching.

Philosophy and the Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. The first part of the course was about cosmology and the second is about cognitive science. The presentations are informative about the science and thought provoking about the relationship between science and philosophy in these two areas.

Two new courses started in November and continue into December.

Origins - Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth, and Life from University of Copenhagen. The Cosmology section of the Philosophy and Sciences course dovetailed very well with the first weeks of the Origins course. Both presentations were very well done. At this point of the course, the discussion is on the ‘life’ part.  The snowball earth theory, impact of mass extinctions, and new DNA/molecular analysis to compare life forms are all new since I got my undergraduate degree in biology!

Recovering the Humankind’s Past and Saving the Universal Heritage from Sapienza University of Rome. This course has just started and is the only course that will continue through to January. I am already bracing myself; it will seem odd to only have one course for a few weeks! The first week of the course was thought provoking - pointing out the indications we have that people have not always viewed history or remains of prior cultures in the same way.

Frozen Days

We have already had some very cold days in Maryland this year - where the temperature did not get above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. That has prompted some thinking about the cold weather to come. What will I do differently than last winter?

I’ll empty the bird bath in the late afternoon or early evening on very cold nights and then refill it in the morning before I have breakfast. That habit would provide liquid water at sunrise and a few hours afterward for the birds when they are usually active around our deck. The bird feeder is hanging nearby but the bird bath has been very popular the past few weeks (when it isn’t frozen like it was when I took the photograph).

There will be a snowflake photography kit kept in a plastic container on the deck so I won’t have to wait for everything to cool down before I can get snowflake pictures. It will include: colored glass plates and a jewelers loupe.

An old coat and scarf will be kept in the trunk of my car. It is very easy to misjudge the cold when I am leaving the house since the car is in a garage. I’ve become more aware that a scarf makes a huge difference on bitter cold - or windy - days. I should also try to replace clogs with closed shoes. I rediscovered hiking boots last winter and wear them particularly on cold days when I know I will be outdoors.

I'll wear leggings under my jeans when I am outdoors on very cold days. They work better for me than long underwear! 

Hot drinks are always welcome on cold days. Tea has been my hot drink of choice for years but I am changing to hot water flavored with ginger root and lemon this year.

That’s about it for now….I’ll probably come up with more as the cold of the season deepens.

Last Leaf Raking of 2014

The last raking of our yard was done this weekend. I put it off until the loud noises from leaf blowers ended. I prefer to hear the noises of leaves and small animals in the yard and forest while I work. There were only a few places where the leaves were deep enough that the lawn mowing in a few days (the last of the season) would not shred them enough to feed the grass rather than smother it. The base of the maple was the largest area; I had already raked once but the tree still had half its leaves at that point.

I left the leaves in the flower bed. The mint seems to be enjoying the protection of the leaves through the recent temperatures in the teens and twenties; this calls for another small mint harvest to create a pot of fresh mint and ginger ‘tea’.

I am putting leaves around the base of the sycamore that came up in our backyard a few years ago. It is growing up: the bark is beginning to peel and it had one seed ball this year.

In a little over an hour, the job was done - mostly. I stopped because the base of my thumb felt raw under my work glove; sure enough - a few layers of skin had been rubbed away by the friction of the rake handle. 

The Compost Pile

This is my first year for a compost pile. I started it about a month ago by putting branches on three sides to contain the pile in a small area under our deck where the grass does not grow very well because of the deep shade.

The first layers of the pile were parings from the kitchen (veggie scraps), pine needles, and leaves. I collect the parings from the kitchen in a large bucket just outside the door closest to the kitchen. In a month’s time, I had about half a bucket collected…so they went onto the pile this week along with the plants (peppers, tomatoes, zinnias, and marigolds) that were wilting after the first frost in pots on the deck, some shelf fungus that our neighbor’s ground crew dislodged from an old stump, and more leaves/pine needles.

I hope the pile will ‘cook’ all winter and the compost will be ready to augment the deck pots and garden next spring!

Aloe Harvest

I made the decision in September to not bring the big pot of aloe back indoors for the winter. It overwhelmed the breakfast area last year. By mid-October when we started having some cooler days, I dug up two small plants that had come up from the roots of the parent and moved them to smaller pots that would easily fit on the plant table in front of a sunny window this winter.

I also harvested some of the larger plant. Instead of doing a lot of work peeling the pieces - I cut them in small wedges to expose the gooey pulp and piled them into ice trays to be frozen. Now the aloe cubes are popped out of the trays and stored in the freezer in a gallon Ziploc bag. My plan is to thaw a cube frequently to pamper skin and hair all winter long.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 01, 2014

We had 4 large bags of candy ready for trick-or-treaters last night and handed out 2 --- no tricks. This Halloween was a low in terms of children in the neighborhood for the 20 years we've lived in our neighborhood. The rest of the candy will be given away next week at the places we work or volunteer. Maybe next year I’ll try to figure out what to give away rather than candy.

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

Tap into the Potential of Taproots this Fall - There are a lot of root vegetables to try. This article highlights jicama, parsnips, beets, carrots, and celery root.  Carrots are a veggie I always have on hand. The CSA prompted me to try beets and no I have Fruit Beety in the freeze for a pretty and tasty dessert. The other three I’ll probably try this fall. What about adding turnips, radishes and sweet potatoes to the list?

Your Life on Earth - A web site from the BBC that explores what has changed in your lifetime.

New Energy Efficiency Ranks Released - How the states rank based on a score card. Massachusetts  is the best, Maryland is 9th, Arizona is 15th, Texas is 34th.

The Chemistry of the Colours of Blood - Did you know that blood can be red, blue, green or violet? And all the molecules look complex. They all contain iron except for the blue bloods - which contain copper.

The Future of Lifelong Learning - I was a little disappointed that the infographic did not pick up on my demographic and learning rationale a bit more. I think people that are post-career are significant participants in the MOOCs particularly and they are motivated by personal interest primarily. They are often learning for the joy of learning something new. The application may be when they travel (i.e. taking an architectural course then noticing more architectural features when in a new location) or volunteer (i.e. applying ideas from an education course when leading a nature hike for children). But there may not be any application at all. It’s not about graduation or certification either. Educators need to internalize this when they are evaluating their offerings.

Does having children make us any happier? - My husband and I fit the ‘older parents’ and ‘more educated’ demographic....and we sustained the higher level of happiness after our daughter was born over 20 years ago just as the study found.

Interview with Janet Echelman - This is an recent interview. There is also a TED talk from 2011 by this artist available here that I had watched previously. It was good to get an update on what she has been doing since the talk.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins - I collect pumpkin muffin recipes. I like this one because it has a lot of pumpkin…but maybe I’ll use honey or maple syrup instead of the sugar. Sometimes I substitute butternut squash or sweet potatoes for the pumpkin (it has to be something yellow/orange!).  I bought another pie pumpkin at the grocery store this week since they all seem to disappear right after Halloween.

Is There A Limit To How Big Vegetables Can Grow? - And one more item about pumpkins - huge pumpkins.  I can’t image one that would weigh 2,323 pounds! Are they edible?  If they are that would be a lot of pies and muffins!

What School Should Be: The Strength of Student Voice - Results from a workshop for high school students about the way schools are/should be.

CSA Week 21 - The Last of the Season

The only left over veggie I had in the crisper from week 20’s share was a bell pepper. That was a very good thing because the last week for the Gorman Produce Farm Community Supported Agriculture was quite a lot:

• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 3 garlic
• 2 baby lettuce
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bunch chard
• 1 bunch watermelon radishes
• 4 snack peppers
• 1 bunch turnips

The turnips and watermelon radishes were about the same size. I’m going to cook the green tops too!

The garlic and peppers are pretty enough to be a centerpiece.

And the lettuce is a melding of gentle green curves.

I am going to miss the weekly trek to the CSA and the bounty of fresh veggies. It is going to take some focused attention when I go grocery shopping next week to buy a similar range of vegetables in the produce section of the grocery store; the CSA has broadened my palate. Now it is up to me to sustain the improved eating habits that have developed over this summer and fall.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - October 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations’ - as had been the usual for the past few months. Here are my top 10 for October 2014.

Nature hikes for elementary school students. The hikes I guide for groups of kindergarteners, 1st graders and 2nd graders are all celebrations - of nature, of fall, of being young and outdoors exploring. It is a near perfect volunteer gig! Yes - sometimes it rains and sometimes it is cold….but even with those challenges, something interesting and memorable always seems to happen.

An afternoon volunteering at my daughter’s high school. My daughter graduated 7 years ago and this was my first time back at the school. I celebrated that the building has been renovated, the crew of students picking up trash that had blown onto grounds (it was a windy day), and that it still seemed to be a well-run school! All the changes I noticed were positive.

Interesting elders. I celebrate the older people I volunteer to drive to their appointments or shopping. They are independent and savvy and full of life experiences. I get all kinds of ideas of how I want to be 20 or 30 years from now!

A whole pumpkin.  I bought a pie pumpkin - cooked it whole - ate a serving with butter and cinnamon as soon as it came out of the oven - made the rest into pumpkin/ginger scones and pumpkin custard.  I’m still celebrating the goodness…and hoping they still have some pie pumpkins at my grocery so I can buy another later this week.

Kohlrabi. This is my first season with kohlrabi and I like it so much that I celebrate every time I eat it. It is still new to my list of ‘normal’ foods.

Fall foliage. I have always liked the colors of fall ---- and October is the month for them in Maryland.

Cooler days. Along with the colors - cooler days make it easier to enjoy hikes. We’ve already enjoyed a trek in Catoctin Mountain Park and Cunningham Falls State Park in Central Maryland. Being in motion outdoors surrounded by trees and lakes and streams is a great setting for celebration.

Newport. I always include vacations as celebrations…they always turn out that way. There is always something that makes a place memorable. Newport is quite a collection of house tours...worth celebrating.

Coming home. After each week or more away - I always celebrate coming home. This time was no exception. It took me almost week to get caught up on processing the veggies from the CSA shares, course work, and laundry!

School. October is probably my favorite school month because classes are well underway and the upcoming holidays are not detracting. October always seems to be a peak learning month of the year…and I’m celebrating that realization.

Eggs in a Nest

My favorite concoction in recent weeks has been ‘eggs in a nest.’ It is a veggie stir fry with eggs added at the last minute into a well in the center. On my stove, I turn the burner off and put a lid on the skillet until the eggs are cooked. I’ve made it three times this month

The first time I stir fried the stems of the chard (yellow and red) a little before adding the leaves, arugula, mushrooms, and a scallion. I used a little table blend Mrs. Dash and some orange peel. When it was cooked I added sesame ginger sauce and stirred it in. I made a well in the center of the mass and poured in two eggs. Then I turned off the burner and put a lid on the skillet. After I put the whole on a plate, I put crumbled kale chips on top (the ones that had a little too much garlic salt). The egg yokes were a little soft in the center but the whites were thoroughly cooked. It was a little like an inside out omelet - more veggies because they did not have to be contained in the egg!

The nest for the second ‘eggs in a nest’ was made with eggplant, onions, mushrooms, arugula, and kale chips with spicy spaghetti sauce added at the last minute. The sauce gave it a very different flavor - I’ve always like tomatoes with eggs.

I was really hungry when I started the ‘eggs in a nest’ for a third meal. I stir fried kohlrabi (bulb, stems and leaves!), mushrooms, onion, and garlic. The sauce was the sesame ginger sauce. It was my big meal of the day!

What a yummy way to include eggs as the main protein at lunch or dinner!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 25, 2014

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

You Probably Never Realized How Marble Is Harvested, but It's Beautiful - A short video, with big equipment cleaving very large blocks of marble from the mountain (in Italy).

Klyde Warren Park Wins Open Space Award - I walked through the Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas last spring (posted about it here). It is well deserving of the award --- and a visit if you are in the area.

Smart List: 50 Great Blogs & Blasts - There are a lot of great places where education topics are presented, discusses, argued….there is a lot going on. I try to take a couple of education courses per year in Coursera; I have been surprised at the wealth of materials available, how tech savvy teachers are becoming and the ability of student to utilize the online tools in a focused way. Learning expectations for K-12, college and throughout life are increasing because there is a blossoming of learning opportunities!

Olive oil more stable and healthful than seed oils for frying food - I was glad to see the results of this study since there is so much confusing information out on which oils are best at high temperature. I have always used olive oil as the primary oil for all my cooking.

Positive subliminal messages on aging improve physical functioning in elderly - I liked this finding that positive subliminal messages on aging led to individuals’ positive age stereotypes which then strengthened their positive self-perceptions….and then improved their physical function.  Perhaps what we learn most from this kind of research is a recognition of how often negative stereotypes appear in our media; older people have to intentional either avoid or supplant those negative messages about aging.

Air New Zealand's New Hobbit Video Is Greatest Flight Safety Film Ever - What fun!

The Sun Is Beautiful When Its Magnetic Field Is Angry - I had to include at least one solar related post this week. We tried to see the partial eclipse on Thursday but it was cloudy in our area.

Which States Have The Most Restrictive Voting Laws? - I included this post since the mid-term elections are coming up; early voting has started in a lot of states. There is quite a lot of variability in voting laws.

In East Coast Marshes, Goats Take On a Notorious Invader - Evidently, goats have been used to control kudzu in the south but this study extended to marshy areas with different invasive species.  What a great way to reduce the use of herbicides (which have broader negative impacts on the environment while they kill the invasives).

Birth season affects your mood in later life, new research suggests - Some the descriptions of the statistically significant trends are so general that they sound like horoscopes. Do you fit the trend for the season you were born in?

CSA Week 20

Sigh….Next week will be the last week for our CSA. I’ll miss the creative meal planning to use up the weekly share; I’ve enjoyed it. I’ll have to shift the way I shop in my grocery’s produce section to achieve a similar result. In past years, it has been too easy to slip into the purchase of the same fresh veggies week after week.

We managed to eat the entire week 19 share so I had both crispers clear for the week 20 produce. That has worked out well. The pac choi is huge! I traded the hot peppers for arugula (someone getting a full share had put it on the trade table) but otherwise cheered for the variety and quantity of peppers: green bell peppers, sweet pepper mix and colorful bell peppers. There were the slender Japanese eggplants in the mix; they are my favorite for stir fries.  I used one in the stir fry last night along with stems and leaves from one of the kohlrabi, some arugula, and some pac choi.  I am trying to decide if I want to use the broccoli in soup or salad!

I have a few things that will last for quite a while from the CSA: garlic, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. I’ve added the sweet potatoes from the CSA to the ones I harvested from by deck garden. The pile is in the glass bird bath that I recently brought indoors for the season.

CSA Week 19

Wow - I ate a lot of veggies in the past week. All that was left of the week 18 share was a few leaves of kale which I used in a stir fry with onions, mushrooms, edamame and carrots last night. I used the last of some roasted garlic hummus to make the ‘sauce.’

This week 19 of the CSA there are a lot of greens again. I’m celebrating and have meals in mind to use it all up before week 20!

Half the dinosaur kale and collards will become ‘chips’ (I project for tomorrow afternoon) and the rest will be used in stir fry.

Romaine lettuce, tender beet leaves, mizzuna and cauliflower are for salad.

Beets will become fruit beety (another project for tomorrow afternoon).

The larger beet leaves and tougher stems will be used in stir fry.

We’re cooking a big pot of chili this week and those green stir fries (kale, arugula, collard) will make a good ‘bed’ for it when I want a light meal.

Clothes for Cooler Days

Yesterday was a cool, rainy day…perfect for putting away summer clothes and bringing out the layers that work for the range of temperatures during fall days.

Last spring I decided to re-purpose some suitcases that I rarely used to store out-of-season clothes. I started with the unpacking of the heavier pants/jeans and sweaters that were in the suitcase. I packed it up again with skirts, T-shirt dresses and capris. I found 2 old totes (one still had an address tag from over 20 years indicating that it had been stored away for a long time!) for shorts and summer tops.

I did not find many items to give-away.

Most of my warm weather items are things I actually wear even if there are too many of them. It will take me many years to wear out the all the shorts I’ve accumulated!

There could be some things in my closet that are too big now that I have stabilized at a lower weight and am confident I have to willpower to stay there.

I also have jackets from the last years of my career that I like too well to give away…but I don’t wear them very much these days. Some have been in dry cleaner bags for over a year. I’m considering dressing ‘business casual’ rather than ‘casual’ on any day I leave the house to create an opportunity to enjoy the jackets again this winter. I did wear two of them on my vacation to Rhode Island and now I want to wear the others too!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 11, 2014

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

Grandchildren—The Dessert of Life - I loved the sentiment and phrase ‘dessert of life’!

Three Technological Innovations that Could End Asphalt as We Know it - Solar roadways and glow-in-the dark paths - very clever.

Haunting Cave Paintings in Indonesia Are the Oldest in the World - Symbolic expression developed in Asia and Europe about the same time (almost 40 thought years ago). A new dating technique using the mineral deposits on top of the paintings was used for dating the Indonesian paintings.

Active aging is much more than exercise - Think broadly about what ‘active’ means. It’s all about everyday lives, quality of life, and general health. Older people are not homogenous. Being interested in something other than illness and aches seems to be an important component too.

Are we hard-wired to doodle? - I hope so!

5 Festive Pumpkin Recipes for Fall - I like pumpkin and am always looking for new recipes this time of year. There is something dramatic about cooking a whole pumpkin and then using the bounty in old and new recipes. Last year my favorite recipe was Pumpkin Ginger Scones. This year I will try the Pumpkin Bread Pudding in this post….although I am thinking maple syrup rather than caramel sauce! I already make pumpkin soups (sometimes with peanuts…sometimes with other nuts).

The History of the English Language in One Chart - Lots of additions along the way. No language is completely static.

The expert guide to space colonies - A preview to a topic of the BBC Future’s World-Changing Ideas Summit that will be held later this month.

Watch Over 100 Baby Turtles Make It to the Sea - Just a little over a minute....worth a look!

10 research tips for finding answers online - We all have techniques we have developed over time - but tips like these give us a chance to benchmark what we do and perhaps do some refresh. Often judging the quality if what we find is the hardest part.

On Eating Out

While I was traveling, I was still able to cook or prepare most of my meals….but there were enough meals out that I discovered that eating out is not something that is as ‘good’ as I used to perceive it.

A fast food hamburger and French fries seems bland except for the fatty ‘sauce.’ I was surprised to realize that the meal is not all that enjoyable. If I do it again it will only be to savor the relationships with people that do still crave hamburgers and French fries.

Chinese food has been a favorite of mine for years. Now I am realizing that I need to select dishes that have less meat and more veggies. The sesame chicken that has been a recent favorite is now too skewed toward meat. And I don’t really like rice that well either.

I went to a steak place and discovered that the organic steaks we buy and prepare at home have better taste! Maybe the more expensive restaurants would have better steaks, but how does one know in advance when traveling?

Salads are generally better but they are boring in terms of the number of ingredients and the diversity of salad dressings. I’m spoiled by the CSA bounty of this summer!

So - I am rethinking the way I eat when I travel. Often there is not time or place to prepare a meal for myself….so other restaurants or other menu items or ‘to go’ items from a grocery store are ideas I’ll be considering.

Coursera Experience - October 2014

Several courses ended in September (Social Psychology and The Camera Never Lies). I still have some items in the ‘to read’ pile/list from the Social Psychology course. More importantly - I find myself looking at media - particularly visual media - very differently; both courses increased my awareness of overt and subtle changes that happen with our exposure to real and virtual experiences. Are we ever fully conscious of all the ways we are being changed? 

Beauty, Form & Function is just about finished. I watched all the videos about enjoyed most learning about symmetry in tiles and crystals…and the bonus video about how nano-manufacturing is done.

The first weeks of Modern & Contemporary American Poetry have introduced me to the thorough reading of poems. The videos are panel discussions of each line in selected poems. My initial reaction to modern poems (too intentionally lacking context to the point of being evasive and not readily understandable….always a puzzle) has not budged but I am gaining a better understanding of the poems included in the discussion.

There are 4 courses starting in October….it’s going to be a busy month for me with these and the peak in fall volunteer naturalist activities and some travel.

I like the variety of topics in these new courses: education, health (childbirth), resources (water), science/philosophy. The global perspective should be well reflected because of the topics themselves and the institutions offering the courses. This will be my first course from the National Geographic Society. The previous courses I took from the other organizations were all excellent. 

Going Vegetarian

More and more of my meals are plant based these days. I think of myself as along a path toward becoming a vegetarian. There have already been several steps along the way. Over the past few years, I’ve eliminated some things completely.

• Dairy. I discovered that I felt better when I didn’t drink milk…then gradually eliminated cheese and, last of all, yogurt when they seemed to bother me. I now read the labels on salad dressings that might contain dairy products. I do still have butter occasionally (l love the flavor on baked sweet potatoes and butternut squash) and it does not seem to bother me, probably because it is mostly fat rather than lactose. It was very easy to switch to Almond Milk as my primary source for calcium.
• Pork. Ham, pork chops, and bacon - I opted to stop eating pork because of the high salt content (ham and bacon) and the commercial farm production methods for hogs. Occasionally I want the flavor of bacon with a salad….and satisfy it with the soy based ‘bacon bits.’
• Turkey. I didn’t eat it frequently anyway. Now I don’t eat it at all.

Some things I have just cut back on.

• Beef. We are eating organic beef…and eating less of it than we did a few years ago. Eventually we’ll probably cut back more to reduce our overall carbon footprint.
• Chicken. We are eating organic chicken. Like with beef we eat less. The meat component of our meals is not the ‘main dish.’
• Eggs. My husband and I eat about a dozen eggs a month. I use them in my occasional baking (yummy butternut squash custard, for example), hard boiled eggs for salads, and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

So - since what are my favorite sources of protein these days?

• Chickenless-nuggets. My grocery story has a great version of these that does not have too much breading. I like them cooked and cut up to top a salad….or to include in a stir fry.
• Veggie crumbles. These do best in recipes that are highly seasoned otherwise like a stir fry with lots of veggies and flavorful sauce.
• Dry roasted soybeans. They fit into meal preparation the same as peanuts do!
• Beans + grain.
• Quinoa.
• Mushrooms are one of my favorite stir fry ingredients.

At the rate I am going - I’ll probably be totally vegetarian within 5 years or less!