Moving in Containers – Part 3

I posted about the containers being loaded up in Tucson more than a month ago (part 1 and part 2). A couple of weeks ago, the 1^st container packed up in Tucson was delivered to the Pittsburgh apartment. Instead of an apartment parking lot, the container had to be parked on an urban street. Fortunately, there was a parking space right in front of the apartment building. It was a harder job to unload because there were steps up to the building and then the apartment was on the second floor once the movers were inside (so 2 floors of steps). There was some grumbling about the stairs. And it took them a little longer to do the unloading than it had when the container was loaded.

Everything inside the container was in good shape – no breakage. Some of the boxes were crushed enough that they will just be recycled rather than reused. There are still two containers that we delivered in a few weeks to their apartment in State College...but so far – moving in containers has been a positive experience in terms of service and cost.

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.

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2017

March was a more hectic month than usual….but full of lots of little celebrations!

Potluck lunch. There was the potluck lunch for volunteer naturalists at the Howard County Conservancy – celebrating our time together for training…getting ready for the field trips that will start in the next few weeks and continue until June. The food is always luscious.

Snow. We haven’t had much snow this year…the first one of more than an inch was this month – much later than usual. I celebrated the beauty of it all and that I didn’t have to get out in it until the streets were all cleared by plows and salt application.

Ancient Egypt course. I celebrated the last modules of the Coursera course --- and am savoring the book written by the teacher.

There were three celebrations involving travel in March:

Old friends. I celebrated visiting with people that have known me my whole life…savoring the time with them. I also celebrated renewing friendship with someone I had not seen in 40 years!

Phipps Conservatory. I like conservatories…and this one in Pittsburgh was one to celebrate.

National Aviary. The walk around the National Aviary in Pittsburgh was a hours long celebration of the diversity of bird life --- and becoming very aware of the fragility of that diversity around the world.

And then there were outdoor activities and photography to celebrate:

Brookside Garden skunk cabbage. It finally was up even though the plants looked like they were trying to hide again under the bald cypress needles from last fall.

Rockburn Branch macroinvertebrates. Yes – is was part of training…but I always celebrate that we find the creatures so easily.

Pileated Woodpecker. We had one the visited our yard – scouting apparently. The birds was on the sycamore at first, then on a neighbors deck, then the trunk of a pine tree, and the roof of our covered deck…finally into the maple tree. I had lots of opportunities for pictures.

Khepri (morning) light. I liked the Ancient Egypt class so much – I am calling the excellent light for photography that happens as the sun comes out after the Ancient Egyptian god for sunrise and rebirth…celebrating that time of day!

On the Road in Pittsburgh

We visited my daughter and son-in-law in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh and the pizza place where we ate dinner has a painting of itself as part of its decorations! We sat by a window…but not the one that was by the fire hydrant.

I took some pictures of the city as well as we were driving (my husband at the wheel…so I was not being a hazard on the road): University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning (I have heard that they decorate for the rooms for Christmas….something to see next December),

Bridges (the challenge of having so many rivers through the city), and

Cliff faces with development just above the river and then on the cliff top…with incline (rail…funicular) transport between the two.

I already have some sightseeing objectives for out next trip to the city! My husband and I will be visiting the city several more times while my son-in-law continues his postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh…plenty of time to explore the city.

National Aviary – Pittsburgh

We got to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh just after it opened at 10 AM....early enough to find parking very easily in the aviary’s parking lot. It was a good outing on a cold day just as the Phipps Conservatory had been the day before. A few of the exhibits are birds in large cages or enclosures but most the birds are in open areas and sometimes they will walk right up to where you are standing on the walk. It makes taking pictures a lot easier.  I developed a strategy for causing my camera to autofocus on the bird rather than the wire mesh or smudged glass (pick birds further from the wire mesh, point the camera at something else that was about the distance to the bird…then go back to the bird). The snowy owl in the slide show below was photographed using that technique. All the birds were inside except for the snowy owl, bald eagle, and Andean Condor (near the end of the slide show).

Something l learned that surprised me was about penguin’s beaks. They get furrows in them starting at the part closest to the head and extending further toward the tip as they older. This is an old penguin!

Phipps Conservatory – Pittsburgh

It was very cold the day we visited the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens last week. I only went outside once…drawn by the red branches of a Japanese maple…and then quickly went back inside to enjoy the lush plantings that bask in the glass house warmth even in winter.

As usual – I was drawn to closer looks at cactus spines.

There were a lot of people working on garden decorations for the spring exhibit that will debut this week. Some were made of plants or plant materials…all were set among beds that develop over the months of the exhibit. I think my favorite was the rabbit with a dried hydrangea flower for a tail. The three bears with a hobbit like house were in the same area.

Fiddle head ferns are another classic draw for me to photograph.

The orchids were in a room with glass figures (long, slender…as alien looking as the orchids themselves). Slipper orchids are always my favorites.

I finally understand how ‘screw pines’ got their name. The way the leaves come off the trunk really is just like a screw. When I saw one in Hawaii, I was more interested in the fruit….didn’t even look closely at the trunk.

I’ve grouped the ‘best of the rest’ in these last collages. There were so many great plants to photograph…and the conservatory was not very crowded the afternoon we were there. I want to go again already!

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.