Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 2)

I am continuing the series of nature photos from my trek around Mt. Pleasant Farm last week. Friday’s post contains the earlier ones.

The last hike of the day started in the Honor’s Garden….and a frog in the lily pads. It sat very still ---- plenty of time for the campers to get a photo.

There was one water lily flower nearby….quite a scene in the small pond.

The garden is planted with plants native to the area. It is full of summer color in August.

There are several water features.

And the Joe Pye Weed is very popular with all kinds of insects.

I was pleased to photograph both a male

And female tiger swallowtail within a few minutes!

Just outside the garden was a sweet bay magnolia with seed pods is very stages of development.

We hiked down toward the meadow and along the path that borders the stone wall and line of large trees.

We reached the stream and many of the campers focused on trying to capture ripples and reflections. I liked the small leaf that was the bright color in the rocks along the bank.

We started back up the hill from the stream and noticed that dark, angry clouds were taking over the sky. We took a few more pictures as we walked back…..and were very close to the nature center when the first rumble of thunder came. That was the end of the outdoor nature photography for the afternoon!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 15, 2015

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.

Is Modern living leading to a ‘hidden epidemic’ of neurological disease? - A study that compared 21 countries between 1989 and 2010 found that dementias are starting a decade earlier than they used to in adults. In the US, neurological deaths in males 75 years old and over have nearly trebled…gone up five-fold for females in the same age range. The rapid increase points to environmental influences. Scary.

A single image captures how the American house has changed over 400 years - The link at the bottom of the article will take you to the full poster. I like history themes that go way beyond what I learned in school (which seemed to be mostly about conflicts and wars).

Deer Management Solutions: It Takes a Village - We have way too many deer in our area. Fortunately I have not been involved in a collision with one….but I see deer grazing near the roads and the occasional carcass from a collision at the roadsides. Our trees and bushes show evidence of deer browsing…we see deer in our backyard. Very few buds on the day lilies survived to become flowers!

Mapping how the United States generates its electricity - Lots of graphics. The first bar chart shows that there is still a lot of coal used for power generation. It accounts for more than 15% of the generating capacity in 15 states. In my home state (Maryland), coal is used for 44% of the capacity.

Global Risks - Richard Watson posts some thought provoking graphics. The subtitle on this one is ‘How would you like your apocalypse?’

Great plains agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated - adoption of best management practices (no-tillage agriculture and slow release fertilizer, for example) can substantially mitigate agricultural greenhouse gas fluxes. The challenge is to overcome the cultural and economic barriers (higher cost of slow release fertilizer, new equipment/training required to convert to no-tillage agriculture) to best practices..

A Self-Taught Artist Paints the Rain Forest by Memory and The plants cultivated by the people from the center in the Colombian Amazon - Beautiful and informative work. The second link is for the free eBook. The text is in Spanish…but the drawings are the reason to download it.

Web-based patient-centered toolkit helps improve patient-provider communication - It seems like this is something that should already be in place in most hospitals although I know firsthand that it wasn’t a few years ago when I had a critically ill parent. It is frustrating that it is taking so long for health care organizations to apply data and technology in a way that keeps the focus on care for the patient….and consistent with patient (or their proxy) interaction re that care.

Astronauts Will Eat Space Lettuce for the First Time Next Week - This article is a little dated….they’ve eaten the greens already.

Artist Quits Day Job to Pursue Passion for Beautifully Quilled Paper Art - I like the spiral shape and this art form is all about spiral shapes with colored paper. 

Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 1)

I was at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm earlier this week to lead a nature photography activity for their campers (ages 5-12). By the end of the day I had over 1600 photos from the children that I needed to review during the evening and a few of my own. Now that I’ve had a chance to review my own - there are a few worth sharing via this blog….in the same order that I took them so they do reflect the hiking we did.

Just behind the nature center a large limb had been cut recently.

We went past the bee hives…down the hill…past the butterfly garden

And stopped to look at the mossy logs that have fallen over the stream.

Then we walked along the path toward Hodge Podge Lodge. The goldenrod was starting to bloom along the grassy path.

The shingles of Hodge Podge Lodge caught my attention….lichen, moss, and leaves.

The path to the side of the Lodge down to the stream looked wet from the rain the night before.

And we started to close the loop by walking toward the community garden. I didn’t notice the bugs on this plant until I was looking at the photos…and have not identified the plant or the bugs!

We started the hike for the second group on the path downhill from the back of the nature center. This red bud was early on the trail….with lots of seed pods.

The jewelweed was near the stream.

The mile a minute seems to be taking over this bird house.

Back up the hill and down the road toward the meadow - we stopped in the old orchard. The apples were beginning their turn to red.

There was lots of milkweed pods (still green) in the meadow….and some had beetles.

And every flower seemed to have an insect of some kind.

To be continued in Sunday’s blog post…

Found Feathers

Back in June I posted about finding a lot of feathers on a walk around Centennial Lake. It probably resulted from a sad ending to the bird.

Most of the time I find only one feather at a time and feel happy about finding it - a little treasure. The blue jay feather I found in Texas is a good example. It was still in near pristine condition so I must have found it shortly after the bird lost it.

Feathers get bedraggled very quickly after they are lost. It’s an indicator of the effectiveness of the preening birds do.

This feather was in grass that had been recently mowed. I wondered if the feather had survived the mower or whether it had been already scruffy looking with the bird lost it.

Through the Kitchen Window

We have a goldfinch that frequents our deck - getting a drink at the bird bath and

Enjoying the Black Eyed Susan and Zinnia seeds forming on the plants growing in pots. I have enjoyed watching the bird - at least I think it is the same one - for the past few days. Rather than going outside to photography him I’ve been attempting to capture his activity through the kitchen window.

The seeds must be very tasty!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 8, 2015

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.

Washington, DC sinking fast, adding to threat of sea-level rise - Evidently the sinking is not due to human influence (like groundwater withdrawals)…but the effect of the long ago glacier further north --- a bulge under the Chesapeake Bay from the weight of the ice sheet that covered the area north of Long Island NY. The bulge is now settling back down and will continue to settle for a long time to come.

Money Talks: New Climate Pledge Enlists 13 US Businesses worth $2.5 Trillion - The American Business Act on Climate Pledge. The companies are big ones: Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, UPS, and Walmart.

Why to babies laugh out loud? - Lots of people (Darwin was one) have been interested in the question. This article talks about a recent study. One finding: babies are far more likely to laugh when they fall over, that when someone else does.

NRDC: EPA’s Clean Power Plan Is Economically Beneficial for USA Due To Health Benefits - The Natural Resources Defense Fund report can be found here. Some of the focus areas in the report are: extreme weather, the health imperative, benefits (which far outweigh the costs), business opportunities, and the moral imperative.

The Healthiest Cities in the US - The criteria for choosing these cities is interesting. But does having higher percentages of people with insurance always mean a city is ‘healthier’ than a city that does not? I am not convinced.

Bering Sea hotspot for corals and sponges - Endangered by bottom trawling…maybe before we even fully know they are there. The research points to Pribilof Canyon as an area that could be conserved without disproportionately impacting the commercial fishing industry.

A Simple Guide to Neurotransmitters - You’ve probably heard the names of the neurotransmitters - the graphic provides a nice summary of their role and structure.

The Wild Alaskan Lands at Stake If the Pebble Mine Moves Ahead - A photo gallery from this area of Alaska.

Black Bears of Yosemite National Park - Includes a video…with lots of bear action about what happened when the park closed the trash heaps in the 1970s….and the continued challenge to keep bears from becoming acclimated to getting people food

Growth (2015) - I enjoyed this video. It is just a little over 15 minutes long...photographyed from overhead.

Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy - August 2015

We made a second trek to the see the butterfly exhibit at the Brookside Gardens conservatory - a great outing for a guest in town for the weekend.

Often the contrasting colors of the flowers and the butterflies prompts me to take a picture.

Sometimes a tree trunk seems to be a favorite resting place for butterflies. One had at least 6 on it as I walked by.

I wondered how this morpho was still flying. Parts of both wings are missing.

There were several that hung gracefully upside down on their flowers.

Others fluttered to keep their place or move slightly to the next flower. Sometimes the slightly different motion of the two parts of the wing can be detected.

Some butterflies are more colorful on the underside.

When butterflies perch close to each other - resting - I often wonder if they are aware of each other.

Last but not least….I am always on the lookout for Monarchs. I wish we had them in our neighborhood like we did 20 years ago…but now I seem them most often in exhibits like this one.

Nature Photography for Summer Campers

Yesterday I lead a Nature Photograph Introduction for summer campers at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. It was an exciting and gratifying volunteer gig - exceeding my expectations in just about every way. I worked with 5-8 year olds in the morning and 9-12 year olds in the afternoon. The campers became so engaged in taking photographs that they were surprised when it was time to stop! And they took some excellent pictures.

I used 8 pictures to introduce nature photography before we hiked into the forest - tailoring the discussion a little for the age group but both groups had a lot to say about each image and used some of the ideas in their photographs during our hike. I’m including the ‘priming’ images in this post and a few notes about how I talked about them.

Image 1: What story does this picture tell? Concepts: leading line (path), foreground/background, person for scale

Image 2: How was this picture taken? (Remember you don’t have to always point the camera straight ahead or down!). Concepts: bright spots, attention to light

Image 3: What is this? (birds nest fungus) Concepts: scale…approaching macro photography…get as close as your camera will focus, different stages of fungus development in the same image

Image 4: What is it? (blue bird)  Concepts: zooming, introduce possibility of cropping (older group)

Image 5: What is the butterfly doing? Concepts: photograph butterflies when they are still (eating or drinking), zooming

Image 6: What is it? (blue jay feather) Concepts: photographing things you shouldn’t pick up, get as close as your camera will focus

Image 7: What is it? (mouse ears) Concepts: get as close as you can, if you want to identify the flower later - take pictures from several perspectives and at least one that includes the entire plant

Image 8: Let’s review some concepts - light (some overload)…leading line…hints of color

Then we reviewed how to hold the camera (strap around the wrist at all times), how to turn it on and take a picture, and how to zoom…..how to hold the camera while we were walking (turned off, camera in hand, strap around wrist).

And then we were hiking and finding a lot of the natural environment to photograph!

Brookside Gardens Walk

When we went to Brookside Gardens last weekend, the parking lot at the conservatory was already full just after 9 AM…so we parked in the Nature Center lot. I will be glad when the main lot is finished but the estimate now is late fall or even into winter. We walked over the boardwalk that traverses the woodland and stream between the Nature Center and Conservatory.

Hibiscuses are blooming where the boardwalk joins the Brookside path.

Instead  of turning toward the Conservatory - we walked toward the Tea House with woodlands on the left

And the renovated ponds on the right. A dove was getting a drink from the rocks where the overflow water from the ponds runs off.

We walked to the far end of the gardens and out the gate toward the larger pond in Wheaton Park in search of dragonflies. We saw the insects but they were not sitting on anything long enough for photography. I liked the islands of vegetation in the pond…and their reflections.

Occasionally there were leaves already changing color. It’s a little early for that but it is not uncommon to see colors like this pop out of the greenery.

Back in Brookside Gardens we saw a toad crossing the path

And pink lilies like my parents have in their garden in Texas. These are near the visitor center and there were more in the woods seen from the path between the visitor center and conservatory.

The Wings of Fancy exhibit is inside the conservatory but there were a lot of active butterflies in the gardens. This tiger swallowtail is reaching way down into a petunia.

Some flowers were very popular. Even the mothers that often look rather drab - are photogenic with a pink, yellow, and green background.

The most butterflies I got in a single picture was three!

Online Classes - August 2015

After a hiatus from Courses for about 6 weeks - I couldn’t resist starting Geodesign: Change your World from PennState. The topic appealed to me and I am enjoying the short introduction videos, guest lectures, readings, and activities. These days knowing something about geodesign comes close to basic literacy because so many of the issues we have  are only understood if integrated spatial relationships are considered. This is far beyond the basic map reading I learned in school 40 years ago and the statistical analyses I specialized in during the 1980s and 1990s. Geodesign thinking is helping everyone cope with the increased complexity in the world.

In a departure from Coursera courses - I also did a Creative Live course while it was recorded (and free): Outdoor Photography Experience with Chris Burkard. They are recorded on the west coast and I am on the east coast so watching it ‘live’ means watching from noon to 7 for two days! My husband and I watched it together….he is interested in everything; I am more interested in composition and locations than equipment. These video courses are different in that they are all video - no embedded quizzes, no readings, no web based activities. I take notes while I watch….still learn something…and they motivate me to learn more about my camera and try new things photographically. In the particular class - the discussion about water housings got me thinking about getting one for my camera…using it when we travel to waterfalls in western New York and in a few months to Hawaii.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 1, 2015

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 art of the interchange - Where megahighways cross….17 interchanges seen from above.

Mammoths killed by abrupt climate change - Rapid warming….rather than sudden cold…appears to have been the cause of massive extinctions in the past. The research is based on DNA analysis of ancient DNA and improved statistical processing of the data.

Dumbledores and Bumblebees - Take a look at the great pictures…then read the article. Did you know that Dumbledore takes his name from an Old English term for the bumblebee? And this is an upbeat article…pointing to ways individuals can help out the bumblebees! There are about 250 species of which 25% are in that ‘steep decline’ category.

Explore 25 Lost Cities with This Video - How many of these lost cities have your heard about before?

U.S. breast milk is glyphosate free - Good to know.

Summer Bugs that can Bite You - A summary from a medical perspective. I was disappointed that they didn’t suggest Epsom salts soaks and/or baking soda to reduce discomfort. I often find the calamine lotion and/or hydrocortisone cream ineffective for bites - particularly chiggers.

Sea Otters Use Tools and Archaeologists Are On the Case - ‘Tool making’ used to be thought of as a uniquely human trait…but now there are other animals that make tools. In the Sea otter’s case - they use rocks as tools to break open shells of their food. This article discusses how archaeologists are figuring out how far into their past the animals have been using tools.

The Subway Stop to the Underworld - A beautiful spot in Zion National Park.

Link between intelligence and longevity is mostly genetic - The study involved comparisons of fraternal twins….and probably raises more questions than it answers.

Here's the Weird Reason You Get Tartar on Your Teeth - The info about calcium in this article is more interesting to me than the tartar aspect.

Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy - July 2015

Brookside Gardens has a live butterfly and caterpillar exhibit in their conservatory running from July 1 to October 25. We tried to go last Saturday but it was too crowded; parking is very limited because of ongoing construction of the lot associated with the visitor’s center. Sunday was better; we arrived at 9:30 AM when there was still plenty of parking and took a look at the outdoor gardens before the exhibit opened at 10.

The exhibit was warm and humid - wonderful for butterflies and only a little uncomfortable for humans. I was glad the space was not overly crowded. My husband and I managed 45 minutes in the sauna like conditions!

There were lots of butterflies to photograph and we made several rounds spotting butterflies that were feeding or resting at every turn. I challenged myself to try capturing butterflies in different poses than the usual wings-spread/from-the-top view.

The patterning on the underside and the intricacy of the head parts show up better in many of these views.

Sometimes a bit of structural color shows up that wasn’t noticeable before…like the bit of blue along the lower edge of the wings (below).

Sometimes it is not clear how they are balanced on the plant…and I’m always surprised when they look ‘hairy.’

I was trying to capture butterflies but noticed that this plant looks a lot like a fiber optic light! The butterfly seems so precariously perched but it was stable enough feed on the flower.

Many of the butterflies looked battered but could still fly effectively and continue to feed.

The one with the pale green area and darker green iridescence might be my favorite for this year.

The large morph butterflies are difficult to catch with their wings open. This one feeding on watermelon had lost part of one wing so the blue color of the other wing was revealed. I saw several with wings like this - and they were still flying!

A clear winged butterfly sat on an elephant ear leaf…and sipped at a water droplet.

3 Free eBooks - July 2015

The three picks for this month are all biologically oriented - flowers, quadrupeds and birds…and they are all a series of books (so instead of just 3 books - the total is more like

Knowles, George Beauchamp and Westcott, Frederic. The floral cabinet and magazine of exotic botany. London: William Smith. 1837. Three volumes available at the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3. Keep in mind the date…and enjoy the colorful renditions of flowers - some of the very familiar like the poinsettia I clipped as an example.

Audubon, John James; Bachman, John; Audubon, John Woodhouse. Quadrupeds of North America. New York: V.G. Audubon. 1851. The volumes available at the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume3. John James Audubon is famous for birds but this series - published at the end of his life - shows that he was interested in more than birds. His son did some (maybe most) of the artwork in the series. Some of the animals are posed awkwardly - just as some of the birds were in earlier work. I liked the chipmunks.

Wilson, Alexander. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States : illustrated with plates engraved and colored from original drawings taken from nature. Philadelphia: Published by Bradford and Inskeep. Printed by Robert Carr. 1808. There are 9 volumes on the Internet Archive: V 1, V 2, V 3, V 4, V 5, V 6, V 7, V 8, and V 9. Wilson was the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon.

Blog: Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2015

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. Here are my top 10 for July 2015.

Fireworks on the 4th! -Fireworks are often use as a ‘symbol’ for celebration….I like them in small doses and not too frequently. Somehow the 4th of July is always my favorite event to enjoy fireworks and this year is was so simple - walking about a block from my Parent’s house after spraying myself with insect repellent. It was 15 minutes of summery celebration.

Goldfinches - We have goldfinches that are frequenting our bird feeder and the plants on our deck. I always celebrate seeing them - both for their color and their loopy flight pattern.

A new Coursera course after a hiatus - I had about 2 months of absolutely no Coursera courses….and celebrated starting a new one about Geodesign this month. I’ll ramp up again in the fall probably - but I’m setting three as a maximum. I enjoy the courses tremendously but more than three concurrently is overwhelming.

A day at home - Now that I am post-career, I look back on the time of my life when I left home for work every weekday and some weekends…and I wonder how I did it. I find myself frequently celebrating a day at home these days…it is my favorite place to be!

Hydrangea on the desk - I like having flowers or something else from outdoors as a focal point on my desk even though the view from my office window is wonderful. When I close the drapes to block the afternoon sun - the piece of outdoors that I’ve brought in side sustains me until I can see outdoors again.

A new computer - Not for me…for my Mom.  She has had hand-me-down computers before…so we both celebrated a new one just for her (and that I was there to configure it the way she wanted).

A hike to the Patapsco River - I hiked to the Patapsco River from Belmont with summer campers. It was a hot day and we all celebrated wading in the river before we hiked back. I celebrated when I got home and discovered I’d already gotten the 12,000 steps for the day!

Bug Blitz - Another activity with Belmont summer campers. It was a warm (not too hot) sunny day - perfect for finding bug. The elementary school aged campers were very good at capturing the insects for a photo into iNaturalist. Their enthusiasm was contagious! My favorite was a small moth with orange markings - a chickweed geometer.

Blue jay feather - I found a blue jay feather. It was mostly black but has a rim of blue and black on one edge - unusual looking. I celebrated finding it…and realizing what it was.

Red highlights - We painted a concrete floor - base coat then sprays of green and copper. The final touch was some streaks of dusky red made with a paint coated marble. We all celebrated how great it looked!

Wishing you something to celebrate today!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 25, 2015

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.

It's official: Workplace rudeness is contagious and Kids expecting aggression from others become aggressive themselves - For some reason the results of these two studies seemed similar to me. They both found that our environment - and expectation of our environment - have impacts on our own behavior.

This New Map Shows Your Risk of Catching Lyme Disease - Maryland it in the dark blue - not a surprise. I hear often enough about people in our area discovering they have Lyme Disease. Wearing long pants tucked into socks is difficult when it is a hot day.

Iron: A biological element? - Much of the iron of our planet was deposited by bacteria living two and a half billion years ago. At that time in Earth’s development there was little oxygen in the atmosphere and many organisms metabolized iron instead of oxygen.

Intensive End-Of-Life Care on the Rise for Cancer Patients - As the population in the US ages, end-of-life discussion are important to more and more people - not just cancer patients.

What Happens to Your Blog when You Die? Why You Need to Appoint a Social Media Executor NOW - Another ‘end-of-life’ consideration…then one developing because of modern technology.

Let This Video Show You How Air Bubbles Form, Rise, and Erupt in Sand - For anyone that has ever wondered about craters or sand…..high speed video captures more than the eye can detect.

Organization of North America's bird species: List updated - The update includes some reorganization…but also some species new to North America!

E-waste: What we throw away doesn't go away - A problem for just about everywhere in the world…and it is about more than old phones and computers.

5 Simple Tips to Turn Your Yard into Pollinator - Some good basic tips.

The Women Who Rule Pluto - Good to hear that there are technical women behind parts of the Pluto stories in the news recently.

Zooming - July 2015

I enjoyed traveling over the past month and many of the places provided ample opportunity for some close photography. Some highlights in this set of zoomed images are:

• Bluebird
• Hollyhocks
• Bees
• Cone flowers
• Milkweed
• Butterflies
• Dragonfly
• Poppies
• Red yucca pods
• Swan

Enjoy!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 18, 2015

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.

Toward Blood-based Cancer Detection - Lots of promise….but it is still a work in progress.

Buzz Kill for Bumblebees: Climate Change Is Shrinking Their Range - Bumblebees prefer cooler temperatures than many other insects and they like open areas rather than forest. As the ‘normal’ temperatures get hotter, the bee’s southern range is creeping northward but the forests of the north are a physical boundary to their expansion…thus a shrinking area for bumblebees.

Why can’t we move? - A lot of people in the US spend too long commuting…stuck in traffic or on inadequate public transportation. The US has fallen behind the rest of the developed world in our ability to move people to and from and within our cities.

Solving the Energy Efficiency Quandary - It often hard to measure the efficiency of an improvement that is ‘supposed’ to save energy. Not there are some standards emerging that may help do that. It is something needed for homeowners to finally gain enough data to understand the energy use of their home…and guide their decisions re improvements that will have the most impact.

For the Love of Plants - I enjoy botanical prints in old books…and here are some modern ones from botanical illustrator Mindy Lighthipe! (art work) My favorite one is the Monarch Butterfly with milkweed; it includes the Monarch lifecycle.

How free is Your Produce? - How well do you know your 19th century history? Evidently the free produce movement was a food justice movement propelled by Quakers and other abolitionists who hoped to abolish slavery through food ways. And now we have the Fair Trade movement and Fair Food program which are very similar.  

The Chemistry of Ice Cream – Components, Structure, & Flavor - A favorite warm weather treat!

Dragonflies and Damselflies - Check out Elizabeth’s Wildflower Blog --- this time about insects rather than flowers.

Smoke North and Saharan Dust South - Smoke and dust travel a very long ways across land and ocean.

Photography in the National Parks: Framing Wildflowers in the Parks - Good photography tips…and National Parks offer so many subjects to choose from!

Josey Ranch Lake - July 2015

Every time I visit in Carrollton TX, I walk around Josey Ranch Lake and post some photos (February 2015, and August 2014). There is quite a seasonal variation.

The swans are a year round residents. There were adult swans this July - no juveniles (there was a juvenile in August 2014).

They were preening quite a lot - with down feathers stuck on their bills afterward.

I picked up a large white feather; it graces the pencil pot on my mother's desk now.

There are birds to hear and search for in the trees

and the cattails.

The nutrias that were evident back in February and last year were not around at all. Did the city manage to get rid of them somehow? They are invasive and probably made the maintenance of the wetland end of the lake more challenging.

The birds that come when someone throws bread/food to them are not as varied as in February. I only saw ducks, pigeons and the swans (the ducks always beat the swans to the food on land!).  In February there were acrobatic seagulls and coots too!

The ducklings from this year were getting their adult plumage. They tend to look a little scruffy and are doing a lot of preening.

The desert willows were blooming. The color of the flower highlights the light green of the foliage and the blue of the clear Texas sky on a very hot day.

There was a low growing plant with similar colors in the xeriscape garden beside the library and senior center on one side of lake.I was disappointed that I only saw one egret and no herons. In August 2014 there were several different species of herons at the lake. What a difference a month of so makes!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 11, 2015

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.

Exploring Vermont's Ancient Roads - (abstract of an article in The New Yorker: Where the Roads have No Name) Studying history through roads - some long abandoned but still ‘on the books.’

The oceans can’t take any more: Fundamental change in oceans predicted - A study that focused on the impact of climate change (specifically atmospheric CO2 increases) is likely to have on the oceans….it is not a ‘good news’ story.

Trails Win Big in Florida's 2015-16 State Budget - Hurray! This is important for Floridians and tourists that enjoy the outdoors in the state.

How did milk become a staple food? - Milk became the ‘super food’ of the early 1900s. This article provides the historical background for this ascendance.

Water usage for fracking has increased dramatically, study shows - And most of the water for fracking is disposed of deep underground, removing it from the water cycle. In areas of the world where water is already a problem - why would anyone want to take water out of the water cycle?

Rosetta's Comet Is Developing Giant Sinkholes before Our Eyes - Lots of changes to observe…and Rosetta is in position to do it.

The Best Places to See 10 Iconic American Animals - Bald Eagles, bison, gray wolf, moose, mountain goat, pronghorn, black bear, alligator, wild turkey, northern cardinal - oh my!

The traits that make human beings unique - Many traits once believed to be uniquely human have been found in the animal kingdom…what defines us?

These are the Minerals That Give Fireworks Their Colors - A follow-up to fourth of July!

A Satellite's First Look at Earth Has a Stunning Photo of the Sahara - An image from the second of six Sentinel missions to track land use, vegetation stress, soil and water cover…and for imagery needed for emergency response. There is a lot of information we need to guide our actions to sustain the planet.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 4, 2015

Hope you are enjoying the 4th of July! We’re going to see the local fireworks display tonight. 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.

Weight loss, combined with vitamin D, reduces inflammation linked to cancer, chronic disease - And the study was done with postmenopausal women! Quite a welcome change from the days where most medical studies were done with middle aged men.

The Mythology and Art of the American Road Trip - 100 billboards along I-10 from California to Florida.

The Colonial Revival Furniture Made at Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill Industries - I like the old fashioned writing chair. If I had one - would I use it for my laptop? I also liked this article because it reminded me of a road trip to New York (state) a few years ago that included a tour of Val-Kill.

Antarctic life: Highly diverse, unusually structured - Will the high diversity help the Antarctic ecosystem adapt as climate changes?  

Photo Gallery: Scenes from the Golden Age of Animal Tracking -  (click on the ‘View the gallery’ link under the three-toed sloth picture) Animals as subjects and samplers of the environment where they live.

Joe Mangrum's Temporary Sand Paintings Are Pure, Beautiful Magic - Videos of how the intricate paintings are made

This One-Ton Fish Is One of Nature's Most Improbable Creations - I’ve seen ocean sunfish in aquariums…and noted how odd they seemed. They can grow to be quite large (heaviest boney fish in the world!

Frame for displaying tiles - After I fill up all the space under the plastic sheet of my breakfast table with Zentangle tiles® - this is my next display strategy form my ‘tile a day,’

How to Make Vegan Parmesan-Style Cheez - Another recipe to try. I’ve noticed large packages of raw cashews in my grocery store; maybe there are more people trying recipes that call for them - like this recipe.

Presentation: Mobile is eating the world - Trends…..but there is a lot of room for disruption of the ‘mobile’ vision that we have right now.