Gleanings of the Week Ending May 27, 2017

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.

US life expectancy varies by more than 20 years from county to county – So many variables…lifestyle, healthcare, poverty. The result is a daunting public health picture.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week # 87 – The kingfisher is my favorite in this group of images.

17 Mummies Unearthed in Egypt – There could be even more. They appear to be from Egypt’s Greco-Roman period. Hopefully more details will be reported as the excavation continues.

Several articles about women’s health that came out reclently: 1) We’re Ignoring Women Astronauts’ Health at our Peril – The surprise is how little we really know about human health risk (there isn’t much even on men’s health although the Twin Study has provided an uptick of information) of long times in space. There is a lot to learn as humanity enters spacefaring. 2) Focus on infants during childbirth leaves US moms in danger – This one came out a few days before Mother’s Day. I was appalled that women are dying during or immediately after childbirth in the US that I thought were well within our expertise to prevent.

The most dangerous highways in America – I am on the one listed for Maryland often!

Mega trends and technologies 2017-2050 – a graphic to display in large form (if you have it up in a browser – click on it to enlarge then scroll up/down and left/right.

Chihuly’s Colorful Glass Sculptures Sprout Up in the New York Botanical Garden – They will be there until October 29, 2017.

Don’t Screen for Thyroid Cancer, Task Force Says – There is enough experience with the results of increased testing over the past decade or so to determine that the ‘harms outweigh the benefits’!

Photography in the national parks: Birds, Beaches, Blooms, and Bottles at Padre Island National Seashore – Padre Island looks like a good destination for a birding trip…maybe next fall.

How to Clean the Eiffel Tower – A 43 second video shows how it is done….approximately every 7 years.

Zooming – March 2017

I decided against creating collages this month for the zoomed images and tried to pick images I had not used elsewhere. Early in the month there is a little winter weather and I used the camera to create some zoomed images through my office window: snow on maple blossoms and

The top of our bird feeder.

Then it was onto some warmer March days: new leaves on a rose bush trimmed last fall,

Dutch iris in a garden in Texas, and

A cat surveying the neighborhood from the top of a gate (also in Texas).

A few days later – there were lots to zoom items at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh: a slipper orchid,

A Chihuly bowl, and

The inside of a tulip.

The following day there were the birds at the National Aviary: an ibis,

Flamingo feet,

A hornbill (with feathers that look like very long eyelashes and a lot of cracks and scars on the bill), and

The complex features of an Andean condor.

Back in Maryland – the bark of a persimmon tree and

The delicate petals of a daffodil that survived snow and ice a few days prior to this picture.

Phipps Conservatory Chihuly Glass – Pittsburgh

The times I had been to Pittsburgh in the past offered no time for touring so I looked at places that could be enjoyed on the cold days we were in the city. On our first day in the city, my husband and I walked around the inside of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (i.e. the Conservatory). We easily found parking in the Conservatory parking and I discovered it was difficult to get the whole conservatory in one image!

There was a lot to see inside too….so much that I am dividing it into 2 posts (today and tomorrow). The focus today is on the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture that is nestled in the plantings. The glass often has plant-like forms…but draws the eye with brilliant color.

The large ruffled edge bowls look like flowers.

At other times, the glass blends in with its surrounds. Is it glass or a very unusual plant?

Then there are the chandelier pieces that are suspended over the plants like an alternative sun.

Some are so complex that I find myself enjoying them for a second or third look via my camera zoom.

Tomorrow I’ll focus on the plants in the Phipps Conservatory.