Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference – Day 1

The Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference (MACCEC) was a conference that went virtual because of the pandemic.  I anticipated that it would be an intense 4 hours in from of my computer. I set up to use both of my screens – one for the WebEx and one for note taking/agenda/etc. Initially, I thought I might use a headset for the audio but quickly decided that 4 hours was too long for that. I also thought that I might get up and move around more during the sessions, but I was too busy interacting with polls and chat…and taking notes. I only got up and moved during the breaks!

Now that it is the ‘morning after,” I’ve had some hours to digest what happened on the first day. It was overwhelming at times while it was happening – and in a different way than an in-person conference is overwhelming. The flow of chat during the presentation is often invigorating but also distracting. It requires multi-tasking. Sometimes I tuned it out to focus on the presenter entirely.

Like most conferences, the speakers were often rushed so that we could stay in the time windows on the agenda. The charts were posted which made up for the rush somewhat…but not completely.

There were breakout sessions that ended up having some similarities with in-person conferences since one time I got lost for about a minute…couldn’t find my session!

The big take aways from the first day were:

• information is out there for climate change educators…choosing what works best for their situation

• education on climate change is interlinked with JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion)

• always get to solutions…don’t stop with defining the problems

The ice-breaker activity was to determine the native inhabitant of land where participants were located using the https://native-land.ca/ website. I learned that where I live is Piscataway land. Where my daughter lives in Springfield MO is Kickapoo, Osage, and Sioux land. The land where my parents and sisters live in Texas (Carrollton, Flower Mound, and Sherman) was Kickapoo and Wichita land. Got us all thinking about how the land, water and air have changed since then…what we can and should restore.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Deer found the day lilies. The deer ate many of the day lily buds in the past few days. I am cutting a few every day as they manage to mature enough to bloom indoors.

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I found one already blooming under the milkweed this morning – a different variety than I had cut before. The stalk was shorter which probably helped it escape deer notice. Other buds are hiding in the same way…and I hope they will remain for few more days until they are ready to be cut.

Oak shedding acorns. Our oak tree dropped quite a few immature acorns on our driveway in the past few days. There are so many…. not many left on the tree to mature over the summer.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2020

We are still at home almost all the time, so the celebrations are mostly based there. There are two that celebrate the changes that we made in June that are away from the house….creating a sustainable new normal for the coming months.

Double rainbow. Seeing a rainbow is such a great way to celebrate summer! We’ve been having last afternoon thunderstorms and one of them was moving fast enough that the sun came out while it was still raining in the east….and it created a double rainbow! The arch was interrupted by our oak tree – but the colors were vibrant for enough time that I got a good series of pictures. I was so engrossed in taking pictures from our front porch that I didn’t notice our 18-year-old indoor cat escaping until he meowed; I was able to catch him before he escaped into the bushes.

Day lilies. I enjoy having flowers in my office. It’s a way of bringing a bit of the outdoors into a place I can celebrate at closer range.

Ice maker fixed. My husband and I installed the part he ordered to keep our ice maker from allowing water to overflow into the rest of the freezer…..and it worked. We are both celebrating that we were able to do it ourselves rather than requiring a maintenance person.

Deck drapery. The deck drapery turned out to be a great project for us and we are celebrating the extra time we are already spending on our deck.

Black squirrel. The black squirrel has only come to our deck once. I celebrated seeing it when visited because it was different than our usual squirrels….and it didn’t try to raid the bird feeder.

Fledgling red-winged blackbird. If I hadn’t seen the parents nearby – I don’t think I would have seen it or be able to identify it. It’s a celebration of new life at the neighborhood storm water retention pond.

Plastic containers. The cabinet where we keep plastic containers in the kitchen had gotten so disorganized that it seemed to be overflowing…with us not adding anything new. I took about 30 minutes to reorganize it – putting the things we use most in the easiest to reach places…and putting some things in the recycle, trash, or give away. Moving from disorganized to organized is always something I celebrate.

Pleasant early mornings on the deck. Even on hot days, the early morning is wonderful on the deck. It’s a great way to start the day – often feeling like we are in the middle of a bird celebration.

Grocery shopping. Beginning to do my grocery shopping again is worthy of celebration. I take precautions (wear a mask, lots of hand sanitizer, go in the early morning, use self-scan and checkout, shop for 2 weeks rather than 1) but getting out just that little bit has made the new normal a lot easier to sustain.

CSA season. I always celebrate the beginning of our Community Supported Agriculture veggies. Picking up the share requires a mask and hand sanitizer…just like the grocery store. It’s an adjunct to the grocery shopping that makes the summer foods easily and abundantly available.  

Unique activities for yesterday:

Rearranging deck furniture. The first afternoon I sat out on the deck to test the effectiveness of the deck drapery, I discovered that the table and chairs were not well positioned. They were in the patch of sunshine coming through the triangle of undraped screen near the ceiling.

It was too hot to rearrange furniture that afternoon, so I did it during the cooler morning temperatures. I am also going to buy another prong to tie back the drape near the bird feeder (in the far left of the above picture) so that we can see the bird feeder when the drape is tied back.

Gleanings for Week Ending June 27, 2020

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.

What if all viruses disappeared? - BBC Future – We are more aware of pathogenic viruses….but there are a lot more that are not pathogenic to humans….and are often beneficial (directly and indirectly).

Scythian Warrior's Genome Analyzed - Archaeology Magazine – Surprise! Discovered in 1988 and assumed to be a young warrior based on the weapons in the grave. DNA revealed it was a girl and was younger than 14 years old.

90 Percent of U.S. Could Be Powered by Renewables by 2035 - Yale E360 – Technically feasible…but do we have the determination as a country to do what we need to do for future generations?

Repetitive negative thinking linked to dementia risk -- ScienceDaily – But can training/therapy to reduce negative thinking reduce the risk? Whether it does or doesn’t – it seems that people who perceive the positives in their lives are more satisfied/happy….so teaching strategies to enhance that kind of thinking is probably worth it.

How Iceland is undoing carbon emissions for good - BBC Future – Examples of how Iceland is pushing the technical envelope for carbon capture even in heavy industry.

What Makes Some People More Resilient Than Others - The New York Times – Tools most common in resilient people: realistic optimism, a moral compass, religious or spiritual beliefs, cognitive and emotional flexibility, social connectedness.

Memory consolidation during REM sleep: Researchers identify neurons responsible for memory consolidation during REM sleep -- ScienceDaily – I remember the babies I’ve known well having frequent REM sleep….they are doing a lot of memory consolidation!

Top 25 birds of the week: Camouflage – They are easy to spot in these zoomed pictures….in the field, their camouflage is highly effective.

Urine test reveals quality of your diet -- and whether it's the best fit for your body – Interesting work. Maybe in the future we’ll get feedback from the toilet about the ‘health’ of our diet as easily as we get feedback about heart rate and sleep quality from wearable devises now.

The Winnowing of the Wilson’s Snipe – A bird that could fit in the camouflage group…but this bird is special – it makes sound with specialized tail feathers!

Unique activities for yesterday:

Three kinds of day lilies. I have three different kinds of day lilies blooming right now. I love having the flowers in my office and something new opening every day!

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Ice maker repair. My husband ordered a replacement part for our ice maker once we started having water overflowing the unit and accumulating in the freezer. He’d done some research online and it seemed likely that the new part would fix the problem. It came and after a few days of the box sitting around to decontaminate, we pulled out the refrigerator to install it (using the opportunity to clean the floor too). This is the type of thing we would have called for repair service pre-pandemic. There are areas where we’ve become a lot more resourceful in recent months and I wonder if we’ll continue that trend post-pandemic.

Deck Drapery Project

Our screened deck is on the west side of our house, so the afternoon sun has always been a challenge. We had two sets of rolled shades that lasted about 10 years each before they began to fall apart (we’ve been in the house about 25 years). This time we opted for indoor/outdoor drapery. The drapes we purchased are light green and have metal grommets for hanging. Our initial experiment was to see if the hooks already above the windows would hold them (and, if so, we would simply add a few more hooks to make sure the last gromet on each side would have a hook).

We hung two of the panels up just before a blustery thunderstorm came through. The drapes got wet, but they stayed on the hooks!

So – our next step is to add the additional hooks and create some tiebacks to use when we don’t need the shade (there are already some hooks that were used to tie the pulls for the old rolled shades that can anchor the tie backs). Even on sunny days we’ll enjoy our deck in the afternoons (when it’s not too hot).

Unique activities for yesterday:

Sycamore leaves. There were thunderstorms and winds…..and then sycamore leaves on our deck. And down in the yard.

I arranged a size sequence of leaves to show how much the size varies. The leaves continue to grow larger as long as they are on the tree so as the season progresses there are more very large leaves. This year the tree is scraggly with the damage from the late frost in May. It still has lots of new leaves developing and – I hope – will look better as the season progresses.

There were leaves on the stairs from the deck down to ground as well. Note the dark mass under the leaf on the right side of top step. It’s racoon poop!

I looked at the bird cam videos and the racoon visited early Sunday morning (6/21)…and left a ‘present.’ (Two views of what the bird cam captured are below). I think the racoon must come through the yard relatively often since I found 2 poop piles when we mowed the grass on the 13th.

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Another color of day lily. The darker orange day lilies are beginning to bloom. Once the buds are developed enough to continue opening, I cut them…denying the deer a flowery treat.

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Slideshow of Collected Images

I enjoy browsing vintage books online (usually on Internet Archive) and gleaning images that I like from the old books. I created a slide show of some from this month – one from each source. The botanical prints are a continuing interest and I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find books of prints that I haven’t seen before. There are quite a few books about birds too. I mix in art and history books. Sometimes I realize that because the books are old…every image is a bit of history. When there is an image of a child, I realize that the individual is probably already buried; many are from a time that childhood was a dangerous time of life and some might not have survived to adulthood; others could have lived a very long time but would be improbably old by now. The image is just an instant of the past – unreal in the sense that is frozen. The depictions of places people lived and the things they were doing is also historical. There are 36 images in this show.

I have discovered that I like to take a break and just watch the images play from the folder I collect them in for myself (as many as I like from each volume). I use the Windows File Explorer – Picture Tools – Slide Show. Once it starts you can change the speed and shuffle/loop with a right mouse click.  It’s relaxing to look at interesting….often beautiful…images.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Chairs and wagon on the deck. I enjoy my breakfast on the deck and listen to birdsong. There are a couple of items on the deck that we don’t use very much….they have been there for a long time without getting much use. The white chairs were purchased in 1984 – the year after we moved to the east coast….and have been moved with use from Virginia to our first house in Maryland and now to this one. My best memory of them is from shortly after we bought them, and my grandmother visited; we ate our lunch around a table on the patio sitting in the chairs – dogwood petals falling from the tree overhead.

The wagon is more recent…probably purchased in 1992. There was a trauma involving the wagon just as my daughter was learning to talk clearly. My mother was pulling her in the wagon down the slope of the driveway and my daughter fell out. She lay sprawled on the concrete and looked up and said, “Was that an accident or on purpose?” We moved it to our current house when my daughter was 5 years old…but I’m not sure we’ll move it again.

Black Squirrel

We have lots for gray squirrels that come to our deck – trying to get seed from our feeder and water from the bird bath. Yesterday was the first time I’d seen a black squirrel there. Its the same species as the typical color squirrels. The black color means that both parents carried the recessive gene. I noticed that the pink color of the skin (ears, front paws, along the tail) was more noticeable because of the higher contrast with the fur color.

The first time I saw a black squirrel was in the mid-80s at Dumbarton Oaks. The tail looked scrawny and the squirrel seemed more aggressive. The tail on the one that came to our deck was about the same as the other squirrels around. It didn’t go all the way up to try it get seed out of the feeder but made a thorough search of the area below the feeder and got a drink at the bird bath before heading out. I wonder if we will see it again.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Rain in the bird baths. Rain showers came through – some quite heavy. But the sky was bright enough that I decided to photograph their impact on our birdbaths. The larger one among the day lilies just looked turbulent. The smaller one in the back was more interesting with the impacts of the rain drops on the water surface more defined.

Lots of cats. My daughter took a picture of this house in her neighborhood in Missouri as she took her daily walk. How many cats do you see? And they appear to be social distancing!

Gleanings for Week Ending June 20, 2020

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. Note: I am skewing toward the visual with the collection this week. There seemed to be a lot of them as I was looking through my feeds.

Mesmerizing Video Shows Swimming Feather Star  - A short video of a beautiful organism…aptly named.

Photographer Reveals the Beauty of Beetles Through Macro Photos – An intersection of science and art…a visual treat.

Woman Sets Up Backyard Bird Feeder Cam to Capture Feathered Friends – A more sophisticated bird cam that the one I have….it’s a kickstarter at this point.

Top 25 birds of the week: June 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution – Celebrating birds (there is another ‘top 25’ this week as well)!

Breathtaking Photos of the Milky Way Shining Above Bioluminescent Water – Awesome night landscapes.

Fisherman Finds Suspected Medieval Statue in Spanish Riverbed | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Maybe with the faces removed? The story behind the statue still TBD.

Top 25 birds of the week: Birds in Flowers! - Wild Bird Revolution – Birds and flowers…probably my favorite group of  the ‘top 25.’

Molecules that reduce 'bad' gut bacteria reverse narrowing of arteries in animal study: Promoting a healthy gut microbiome may be a powerful strategy for lowering cholesterol and other heart attack risk factors -- ScienceDaily – Eating differently could help…but eventually we might take ‘medication’ that helps us reduce or eliminate the unhealthy gut bacteria even if we are not as mindful about what we eat.

Study Suggests Human Relatives Were Genetically Compatible - Archaeology Magazine – Using genetic distance values to predict that hybrid offspring of Neanderthal and Denisovan would have been health and fertile…and thus explaining why modern humans have traces of their DNA.

Travelling for pleasure: a brief history of tourism – A little history lesson of travel…..more of a virtual experience right now rather than planning to travel anytime soon.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Still life. The petals are falling off the bouquet that I bought at the grocery store over 2 weeks ago. I like the curves of the petals against the pattern of the scarf I have on the tabletop.

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Eggs with garlic scape. One of my favorite ways to have eggs….and only available during the early weeks of the CSA. This ‘first time for the year’ was for lunch with some left-over corn muffins I made a few days ago. Dessert…a few hours later was the last of the strawberries I got at the CSA.

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Just being in the outdoors. I ate breakfast and lunch out on the deck. It felt a little cool for breakfast – made worst by the very cold breakfast smoothie - and then warmer and muggy by lunchtime. This month I have been intentionally spending more time outside and broadening what I am doing there…it is not just about lawn work or hiking or nature photography…I am reading and interacting with the cat and writing blog posts (i.e. making the covered part of the deck a ‘room’ of our house). The point of it all is to just be outdoors. The only negative would be if I was allergic to something, but it seems that most of the pollen that bothers me is not around right now. All I am experiencing is the positive.

Neighborhood Pond

Earlier this week I made a circuit of our neighborhood’s stormwater pond. I noticed the painted turtle on a rock just breaking the surface. The morning was still cool, and the turtle was warming up. It stayed were it was the whole time I was at the pond.

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As I continued around the pond, the light changed enough to make the water look more interesting around the turtle. This was my artsy photo of the morning.

A few years ago, the county cleaned out our pond and eventually replanted the slopes with vetch and clover (I am guessing…since there is a lot growing there now). The crew that maintains the area has finally decided to not mow the slopes as frequently, so we have flowers.

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Another area they aren’t mowing has turned into a milkweed meadow.

There were mating milkweed beetles on several plants close enough to the edge for me to photograph without being in the taller vegetation.

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But – the highlight of the morning was a fledgling red-winged blackbird! I was hearing a lot of red-winged blackbird calls and had seen both males and females around the pond as I walked. A female flew up from some cattails and, when I looked more closely at the area she left, there was the fledgling. It is still mostly bald on its head and the tail feathers are very stumpy.

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The female kept an eye on me from the cattails a little further around the pond.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Wegmans shopping. Grocery shopping has become a bit more adventurous these days. This is my second time in the ‘new normal’ for grocery shopping. I’m not quite comfortable yet.

I printed out my list in the order I traverse the store rather than hand writing it like I did the first time; the scanning app the store provides really does need to incorporate a list function since switching in and out of the scan app and the Our Groceries app (that I use for my list) is too much flipping around on the phone.

Shopping every two weeks rather than each week is still a little challenging but I am sticking to the strategy. This time my cart was very full because the store had both toilet paper and paper towels – which it hadn’t the week before.

I am getting used to wearing a mask; it didn’t feel as strange as it did last time. However, the day was very humid, and my glasses fogged more frequently.

Overall – it was another good experience and right now I can’t think of anything I’ll be doing differently when I shop again in 2 weeks.

CSA Begins

Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) finally started this week. The cool weather in mid to late May slowed down the development of the items normally ready in the first weeks of June. I am so ready for the glut of fresh veggies! We sign up for the medium share which is always a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Last year I was traveling a lot in June and the freezer got filled up very rapidly. I did learn to prep and freeze leafy greens for use in smoothies….my favorite summer breakfast.

The farmer has added signs to the side of the barn where the shares are distributed emphasizing the changes this year because of the pandemic. There were yellow markers sprayed on the gravel 6 feet apart so the line could space out appropriately. For the first day of the season, everything worked very smoothly – even for the two people in front of me in line who were new to the CSA this year.

The first share of the season included (from left to right):

• Butter lettuce – I had the outer two rounds of leaves in a salad almost immediately.

• Radishes – I cleaned and froze the leaves to use in smoothies and had one radish in the salad with the butter lettuce

• Garlic scapes – I will have these cooked with scrambled eggs or as a topping on chili or in a salad. These are one of the treats of getting veggies from the CSA.

• Collards – I had a choice of kale, collards or chard and picked the collards because I already have some kale left from the grocery store and I like collards better than chard.

• Strawberries – These will be gone very quickly…another treat of the first weeks of the CSA.

• Red leaf lettuce – I could have gotten Romaine, but I opted for the more tender and colorful red-leaf.

• Spinach – I was pleased it was in a bunch rather than having to weigh leaves -  always slow going. I cut the root end off the bunch and cleaned the leaves thoroughly before putting it into the same bag as the radish leaves….to use in smoothies in the upcoming week.

 That’s quite a pile of veggies!

Unique activities for yesterday:

Climate and Sustainability Webinars (via Zoom). The first one was yesterday and was focused on healthy soil. They continue every other week for the remainder of the summer. I’m looking forward to the upcoming topics: regenerative gardening, regenerative landscaping, what can the pandemic teach us about being (un)prepared for climate change and other global disasters, the power of individual choice and climate change is bad for your health. I am already way over the number of education hours needed to sustain my Master Naturalist certification for 2020 but these are too interesting to pass up!

Turkey Vulture. Just before the webinar started, I noticed a vulture swooping low over our yard…and then – Surprise!!!e - it landed on the roof of our covered deck. It seemed to be making eye contact with me through the window.   I see them frequently soaring over the landscape….but usually not at such close range! I took a picture zoomed a little then zoomed more to get more detail on the feet and head.

30 years ago – June 1990

Thirty years ago – June was a busy month. I had rejoined the work force part time and my daughter was adjusting to day care very well. The high with her in June 1990 was her enjoyment of a small swimming pool. The first time was a little too cool for her, but she still liked being outdoors and in the water. The next time was warmer and even better.

The low with her was a trip to the hospital early one morning when she had croup. I held her in the vapor tent, and she got better…enough that they didn’t have to medicate her. There were evidently other children with the same problem that night. We were all very hungry for breakfast when we go home.

I picked 7 pounds of strawberries at a farm that is now a housing development. It only lasted a couple more years after 1990.

We had a chipmunk that came up to our deck. My mother-in-law put out seed for it. The baby and the cat were intrigued by the rodent’s antics.

We were on the wait-list for a senior living facility for my mother-in-law…hoping that she would get in before I went back to work full-time and she would be alone in the house too much of the time.

We were primed for a bit of travel in early July….a weekend away for a road trip.

Unique activities for yesterday:

More pictures from Texas. Since I had yard pictures from 2 of my 3 sisters, I asked the other sister for a picture and she sent more than one: sunflower, lantana, hibiscus….and a bunny!

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Then she realized that there was more she wanted to share: lavender hibiscus, blue salvia, dusty miller, and red yucca.

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Her yard probably has less grass as the years go by! She has quite a riot of color.

Grapevine Wreath

When I was working in the front flower bed, I found a wild grapevine growing up through one of the bushes. It’s native but not growing in a place I could let it continue. I pulled it out but instead of carrying it back to the brush pile with the blackberry vines and grass and weeds….I kept it…thinking I would make a small wreath. I’d learned how in some class I had taken over 30 years ago; simply coil the vine and then twist until it holds the coil.

I got busy with other things and didn’t remember my plan until the next day. It occurred to me that it would be its most flexible before it dried. When I examined it more closely, I realized that it had some small branches of the bush I had pulled it from; its tendrils were stronger than the twigs’ attachment to the bush. I untangled the twigs and then began the wreath making. I opted to make the wreath with the leaves intact – knowing they would dry up and be easily crumbled off before I would add a red bow or a sprig of holly next December. Of course – I might decide to put a red, white, and blue bow on it for the 4th of July.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Pretty fly. It seems like every time I take a quick look at the front flower bed there are different bugs to photograph. This one was on the milkweed. I only got one picture before it flew away. The black lattice of the wings and the red of the eyes are quite striking. I used my usual technique: taking the picture with my cell phone as close as I could focus then clipping the part of the image I wanted to show with more magnification.

Fallen day lily. Sometimes the color deepens as the flower ages. The day lilies I brought inside are on the second round of flowers. The flowers start out a robust yellow and then are almost orange when they are ‘spent.’ This dried one is from the first round. It detached itself as the second round started.

Cardinal nestlings. My sister sent me a picture from her house in Texas. The nest is in a boxwood by her front door! Now that we are all at home more, we have time to savor these natural events.

Magnolia blooming. I love to photograph the big white magnolia flowers, but we don’t have a tree in our yard. My sister in Texas has one…and took a picture!

Flowerbeds in the Morning – Part 2

One of the advantages of cool mornings is that the small critters move a little more slowly – making them easier to photograph. It was in the mid-60s on the morning I went out to work in the front flower beds – and took a few minutes for some photography. The first insect I noticed was a small damselfly flying around and then landing on a day lily leaf. I sat there in the sun long enough for me to get a picture with my phone. I clipped the best part of the image.

I used the same technique with the bee on the clover. The bee was working its way to all the tiny flowers.

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The oak had a lacewing larva several years ago, so I always check the lichen for another; I didn’t fine one this time…. But there was a slug moving over a lichen patch.

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Later – after I finished most of my work, I noticed a fly on a milkweed leaf. It too was a little sluggish because of the temperature.

Overall – I was pleased with the photographic results – concentrating on taking focused pictures without using the digital zoom on the phone – then clipping the portion I wanted for macro viewing.

Unique activities for yesterday:

First Fawn. When I first went into my office about 6 AM – I saw a doe and fawn in our backyard….headed toward the forest. By the time I got the camera turned on and zoomed, they were at the forest edge. This was my first fawn sighting of the year. Last year we had a doe with 2 fawn that came through the yard frequently all through the summer. There don’t seem to be as many deer this year; the path into the forest is growing over with vegetation and my day lilies have not been eaten. It would be good if the deer population were trending lower – although I enjoy seeing them in the forest.

New low weight for the year. I’m 7 pounds lower than my max weight for the year! I celebrated with dark chocolate for breakfast – of course.

Gleanings for Week Ending 6/13/2020

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.

Why some older adults remember better than others -- ScienceDaily – The article seems to be more about the technology that enables these studies….hints at findings that may eventually be actionable.

The World’s Forests Are Getting Younger and Shorter, Research Finds - Yale E360 – This article is a little confusing. It says that ‘climate change is altering the age and structure of the world’s forests’….but it’s more than climate change. It’s also land use decisions (like logging , conversion to agriculture, introduction of invasive species) that have changed the forests. I was disappointed in the article although the last sentence seems obvious: “We as a human society are hitting these forests so rapidly with so many different changes that they can’t keep up.” Now the big question is – what are we going to do about it?

Remains of 60 Mammoths Discovered in Mexico | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – North of Mexico City.

Photographer Captures ISS Transiting the Sun in First Solar Photo Shoot – A challenge…requiring lots of planning, practice….and then success!

Top 25 birds of the week: LBBs - Wild Bird Revolution – Little brown birds…. they are everywhere.

Ancient Roman Mosaic Floor Unearthed Beneath Italian Vineyard | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Finally returning to a site first discovered in 1922 and making this find within a week of starting excavations. The mosaic floor is well preserved a few meters below the vineyards surface and is thought to date from the 3rd century AD.

The Infant Gut Microbiome and Probiotics that Work | The Scientist Magazine®  - Evidently the infant microbiome has changed in the past 100 years…even among breastfed babies. And maybe that explains some of the immunologic problems in young children. There are indications that the probiotic helps babies nutritionally and immunologically.

Two bacteria allow spittlebugs to thrive on low-nutrient meals -- ScienceDaily – One of the bacteria uses aerobic glycolysis to process glucose to synthesize 7 essential amino acids plus 2 biproducts that the other bacteria uses to create ATP to produce 3 additional essential amino acids. It’s a similar two cell type process used by cancer cells.

An Encounter with Mating Gopher Snakes – Springtime out in nature…. this article from Idaho.

The gilded mummy of Lady Isaious | Egypt at the Manchester Museum – A Graeco-Roman Period mummy from the 1st century CE.

Unique activities for yesterday:

A large Zentangle tile. I printed a page (on card stock) from The genera of the plants of the United States illustrated by figures and analyses from nature by Asa Gray and Isaac Sprague published in 1848 available from Internet Archive.

Then I used the lotus as the ‘string’ for an 8.5x11 Zentangle tile. Like most strings….it mostly vanished. It took me about three days working for short periods of time to finish. Next time I’ll use more colors so that the botanical print ‘string’ remains more visible.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

A Year Ago

What a difference a year makes….

Last June I made the road trip from MD/PA to MO twice (beginning and end of month) to help my daughter move to Springfield MO. On the first trip we were in one car and I was in the passenger seat when we drove into St. Louis…was able to take a picture.

The only sightseeing we did that trip was to the Springfield Art Museum when the key to the house my daughter had rented would not open the door and we had to a few hours waiting for the landlord.

The highlight of the drive leaving Springfield on that first trip was a luna moth at our first rest stop.

On the trip toward the end of the month, we took a break before the movers arrived to visit the Springfield Botanical Gardens….saw zebra swallowtails in their butterfly house and a clever Monarch butterfly life cycle playground.

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This June I am not traveling at all because of the pandemic. I am also not volunteering. Last June – between the two road trips – I was volunteering with two organizations: Howard County Conservancy field trips (there was a particularly memorable session with preschoolers learning about trees) and Brookside Gardens in their Wings of Fancy exhibit.

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I miss the traveling and volunteering but have so many things I enjoy doing at my house that I am not feeling the pinch as much as I thought I would by this point. I credit the forest view from my house and the pleasant company of my husband and cat too.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Browsing National Geographic magazines. I’m slowly working my way through the digitized versions on Internet Archive (issues from 2009 – 2013). They always have wonderful pictures. So far – I’ve been limiting myself to 1 or 2 per day…giving myself time to savor the stories in each one.

Cat on the deck. Our cat is an early riser but not as early as me. He can be loud if he wakes up and no one is about so I listen for meows when I am out on the deck in the early morning….and encourage him to come out with me rather than waking up my husband. The cat usually settles down for a nap even if the birds are active around the deck. He wakes up and does some grooming when I start moving around…ready to go inside. I took a picture of him as he finished. He doesn’t look like he was ready to move but he got up immediately when I headed for the door.

The cat is 19 years old and has a cauliflower ear and is missing part of his jaw….still able to go up and down the stairs in our house although he chooses to not do it as frequently as he did years ago.

Blue Jay Photo Shoot

Unique activities for yesterday:

Blue Jay photo shoot. I was in my office early and responded to a nearby blue jay call by grabbing my camera and going to the window. The bird was on the deck railing but on the move before I could get my camera turned on. It flew down to check the seed scattered under the feeder. Unsatisfied with that, the bird flew into the sycamore and started some great moves…quite the model bird. There were times I thought that he saw me through the window and treated me as an audience.

The temperature was still in 50s and the bird sported fluffed out breast feathers to provide more warmth. It is surprising how much fatter a bird can look when they are cold – all with a small reorientation of their feathers.

It all happened in just under 30 seconds. The bird flew off to the left.

A code orange air quality day. I spent an hour on the deck reading before the temperature climbed into the 70s (and kept going) …. already aware that there was an air quality alert for our area. I opted to not work in the yard. My husband took a walk in the neighborhood a little later and came back saying that it felt hot and humid even though the temperature was only about 75. We stayed indoors for the rest of the day. I wonder what caused the air quality issue. I heard pre-pandemic level traffic noise while I was out on our deck; our part of Maryland is in stage 2 of COVID-19 recovery as of last Friday at 5 PM. I’ve been at home since then so the traffic noise from outside my neighborhood is my first direct observation of the change.

A Zentangle Prompt

Experiment with the DIVA DANCE pattern in all its forms: waltz, foxtrot and rock ‘n roll! So many possibilities.

Here is a tile I made yesterday based on the prompt: Make a tile with TWISTEE and UNDLING

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

The New Normal – New Goals

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

The New Normal – New Goals

Many of the goals I’ve had for years still make sense –

• Steps per day

• Books per month

• Mindfulness (meditation and Zentangle) every day

• Weight control

• Writing (words) per day

• Giving back

But the way I achieve them might be different…the balance has shifted. For example – the steps are now all on my own instead of being part of hiking during volunteer gigs. I have increased my reading a little….it fills time that I might otherwise fill watching too much news. Mindfulness has shifted toward Zentangle – I think because I am trying new patterns…invigorated by the increased variety. My husband and I are changing our eating habits…what better time to do it than when we are at home for every meal; I’m not sure he is losing weight, but I am (slowly). I find myself writing about different topics these days because I am filling my days differently. The most substantial change in my goals – and one I am still struggling – is with giving back; my volunteer activities are gone right now (and probably until a vaccine is available) so I find myself paying more attention to financial donations – but it’s not the same.

Now – as we’re entering the 2nd phase of our ‘stay at home as much as possible’ – I’m thinking of new goals for this summer and into fall.

Maintain our vigilance re COVID-19 preventions: distance from other people, face mask, hand washing, no face touching…still at home as much as possible. We are getting out for groceries and CSA pickup….but still taking precautions.

Enjoy the covered deck to relax outdoors. I’ve always wanted to use our covered/screened deck more…but I haven’t. Now I have established a goal to be out there at least an hour every morning which I started on June 1. So far – it’s been nothing but positive. I choose the hour that is the best temperature and usually our cat joins me. Bird song and walls of green leaves…best hour of the day!

Do more for the yard than mow the grass. I learned to mow leaves last fall and have taken over mowing at least half the yard from my husband so far this summer. Now I am ramping up to do more clearing out of the flower beds and trimming of bushes and trees.

That’s enough for goals…if I am comfortably achieving all of them through the next month…I’ll add to the list later.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Getting to know my daughter’s cat virtually. I am in Maryland…my daughter is in Missouri…and that’s where the new cat in the family is. My daughter has been texting pictures to us. The cat was supervising the lawn mowers this morning. Even in a pandemic – grass mowing is something that must go on.

Tom Roberts paintings. A little art…a little history. Internet Archive has a 171 image slide show of his paintings. He was Australian and painted portraits, places, and activities of his time. The last category was probably my favorite….and is reflected in the sample images I’m including with this post.

A Zentangle Prompt

Two patterns today: GINGO and TUMBLEWEED. I like both these patterns (although I usually just use one of the tumbleweeds as a string rather than a ‘pile’ of them).

Here is a tile I made yesterday based on the prompt: Three patterns for today’s tile: SAFFLOWER, SQUID, and TRIADZ. This was the first time I used SAFFLOWER patterns in a garland. They do very well for the border of the tile!

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

The New Normal – Relationships

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

I try to put something new into every day…something that is not just routine…that stretches me in some way. It’s the best way I know to put a positive spin on being at home virtually all the time during the pandemic….and trying to stay resilient to the wave after wave of negative news. I am appalled by the racist behavior exhibited by police (and other parts of our government). All Americans need to take as stand against racism – particularly when it is in institutions that every American should be able to trust.

The New Normal - Relationships

Being at home for months changes relationships to other people.

There are no interactions with people like I had through my volunteer activities – leading hikes for school field trips at Howard County Conservancy, introducing visitors to the Touch Tank animals at Robinson Nature Center, and maintaining containment/assisting people that came to the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy exhibit. I enjoyed my conversation with fellow volunteers as well. Similar conversations happened when we attended birding festivals too. There is no replacement for those short duration, stimulating interactions. The partial substitute I’ve nurtured is watching a variety of videos of wide ranging topics (astrobiology, birding, zoo, Coursera lectures to name a few, and a virtual Cape May Spring Festival). The reason videos are only a substitute rather than a replacement is the one-way nature of watching a video; there is no interaction or relationship --- even if you are learning something new from watching the video.

Then there are the synchronous but virtual forms of relationships that allow real-time communications; phone calls and Zoom sessions are two examples. These are OK and they probably allow maintenance of long-standing relationships…but they aren’t the same as being in the same place and face to face. They are often more planned, not as frequent, and can be awkward.

The only face to face relationship maintained through the pandemic is with my husband. It’s a good thing we get along well! We have shared some projects, but we also have activities we enjoy on our own and our house is big enough for us to be ‘alone but not too alone.’

So – what is the new normal when it comes to relationships? It’s a work in progress. I am not keen on Zoom meetings. I do enjoy the more frequent phone conversations with family members. My husband, and I are probably doing more shared projects around the house than we did previously. I’ll be thrilled when we get a vaccine for COVID-19 and I can get back to my volunteer gigs. Travelling is something that we can look forward to as well.

Unique activities for yesterday:

SongSleuth app. Every morning that I sit outside, I realize I am hearing birds that I don’t recognize. When I came indoors today, I looked for an app that might help me identify more of the birds in our forest that don’t come to the feeder where we can easily see them. I opted to try SongSleuth. I’ve done a ‘test’ with a Carolina Wren (in the forest…and I knew what it was) to learn how to record something…select the clip…and then see what the app tells me. The app identified the bird! I’ll take my phone out with me tomorrow morning to see how well it works identifying birds whose songs I don’t know. By the time I go out in the field with the app…I need to be well versed in its use!

Gustave Caillebotte slide show. Internet archive has 258 images by this French painter. He was also a patron of the arts, particularly the Impressionists. The slide show has a brief biography under the panel that displays the paintings. I enjoyed the gardens and botanical images the most but his choice of subjects and perspective (buildings and city scenes, people on balconies…rowing….refinished a wood floor) were interesting too.

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A Zentangle Prompt

Three patterns for today’s tile: SAFFLOWER, SQUID, and TRIADZ.

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Here is a tile I made yesterday based on the prompt: Make a two tangle tile today with ROSCOE and SAND SWIRL. SAND SWIRL is one of my favorite patterns. It’s easy and the result varies….emerges as the pattern is completed.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Gleanings for this week

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.

Volunteers Spot New Sites in Aerial Images of England - Archaeology Magazine – Volunteers and lidar scans…a productive combination!

Seven highlights from 70 years of the National Science Foundation - The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy - AGU Blogosphere – Deepwater Horizon oil spill, public radio and television, ozone hole, strong curricula for introductory science, deep-sea exploration, student opportunities, and COVID-10 response. It seems like the list it too skewed to recent years.

We don’t need nearly as much protein as we consume - BBC Future – Another recommendation of getting nutrients from food rather that highly processed food or supplements….and moderation too. Skewing the diet toward protein at the expense of other nutrients is not healthy!

The Coolest Kingfishers from Six Continents – I’ve seen the first three! All three in south Texas and the Belted Kingfish elsewhere too.  Kingfishers are an easily recognized shape….heavy bill, bigger head relative to body…etc.

How Americans are coping with COVID-19 stress -- ScienceDaily – This report was prior to the additional stressor of George Floyd’s death….the racism of police evident in the videos of the event and the response to protests that seems too militarized. It seems like 2020 will be a pivot point in our nation’s history and how we all respond to the stressors of the year is important in the outcome. I hope that we can show the best of ourselves…our utmost caring for all people and our planet that is our home.

Ice Arch Persists Despite Warm Arctic – It won’t last long…the ice arch which prevents sea ice from drifting south generally breaks up in June or July. Last year it broke up in mid-April.

'New' Footage of Benjamin, the Last Tasmanian Tiger Ever Seen Alive | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A 21-second video from 1935.

Top 25 birds of the week: Seabirds - Wild Bird Revolution – I’ve seen most the North American birds in these photographs….except for the puffins.

Babies know when you imitate them -- and like it -- ScienceDaily – Most parents probably realize this to some extent…but the research teases out more specifics about how babies respond to knowing they are being imitated.

The remarkable power of the prickly pear - BBC Future – Grown as a crop for food in arid areas and then using the waste left after the food is extracted to generate biofuel. Wish we had more processes like this.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Aftermath of thunderstorm. I did another early morning in the outdoors – noting the aftermath of the thunderstorm the night before. Both birdbaths had been filled by the rain. The one in front is surrounded by day lily leaves…I’m not sure how often it is used by birds, but I like the way it looks from our front door.

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The sycamore tree trunk still looked very wet. I had forgotten the Virginia creeper climbing up. There were a few sycamore leaves that were blown into the yard…but the wind must not have been too bad.

The wetness of the leaves kept some of the maple leaves flipped over. It’s always surprising that the underside is so light in color.

Finally, I noticed a dead bee just before I settled into my chair. It must have gotten into the screened part of the deck and not been able to escape.

The rest of my outdoor time I spent making a couple of Zentangle tiles….and listening to the birds.

Mint as a fresh veggie. Mint grows so easily and comes back year after year. My front flower bed has a lot of it…enough to use it for more than a garnish. I cut a handful of stems and strip the leaves – it is the leafy green in a smoothie with chocolate protein powder. Yummy!

A Zentangle Prompt

Make a two tangle tile today with ROSCOE and SAND SWIRL.

Here is a tile I made yesterday based on the prompt: Three patterns to combine in a tile today: FAUX WEAVE, FEATHER FALL, and MEER.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

The New Normal - Shopping

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

The New Normal – Shopping

From the later part of March to the end of May, we didn’t go into a store at all. We had groceries delivered to our house, picked up orders a curbside at Target and Pet Smart, and items from Amazon and other vendors delivered to our porch. The single most expensive item was a new desktop computer for my husband – shipped from Dell. Grocery type items were the most numerous…mostly coming from the grocery store delivery but soft drinks and cat food were sometimes obtained from Target or Pet Smart when we couldn’t get it from the grocery. We had enough problems getting tomato soup and my husband’s favorite brand of canned tamales that we ordered them from Amazon. And we got masks from Amazon.

We are shifting now to in-person grocery shopping…which is one of the major changes that marks ‘phase 2’ of our coronavirus strategy. I can a good first experience this week – going first thing in the morning, wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer frequently…and then handwashing after I had put the perishables away, disinfecting surfaces touched inside the house as I brought groceries in. Prior to the pandemic I always shopped once a week, but I am shifting now to every 2 weeks to reduce risk.

I’ll pick up my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share every week once it starts (hopefully next week) so fresh veggies will come in every week. The less frequent shopping might become a habit that will continue after the pandemic is over. It takes more time to shop in one week…but nets a reduced shopping time since there is only one trip to the store every two weeks.

Pre-pandemic there were a lot of products that we were already buying online; that shift is more pronounced now. Something that is a variation in that trend is new: ordering online from a local store and then picking it up at curb side just outside the store. We are thinking about buying an electric lawn mower…and that is probably how we would buy it.

What about things that we like to examine before we buy? Aside from food there is not much. I suppose there are some types of clothes I would want to try on….but I don’t need any new clothes at the moment. If I think back, I’ve been ordering clothes all my life….starting with the Sears or Wards catalogs! Shoes are an item I like to try on before I buy…but I don’t envision needing any new shoes in the near future. Now that the weather is warm – I am going barefoot around the house and wearing sandals or flip flops when I am out…an old pair of hiking boots when I mow the grass.

We aren’t in the market for a car. In the past we have always taken a test drive of the car we bought. I’m not so sure we will do that for the next round although I’m not sure the pandemic has that shift (it was already the trend). My current car is a plug-in hybrid and the next one will probably be all-electric. My husband’s next car might be a plug-in hybrid…or maybe an all-electric (it depends on the infrastructure available for road trips).

Related to shopping --- it’s not just how we shop…it is what we are shopping for. Three thoughts:

I am buying more things locally and buying some items I want to have in the future that I didn’t buy frequently in the past. Cut flowers is something I am buying more frequently; once I discovered how much I enjoyed having the irises in my office, I decided to buy a bouquet every time I go to the grocery store (when I don’t have something blooming in my garden to bring indoors). I want the vendors to stay in business. As far as buying locally – I’ve gotten produce from my nearby CSA for the past few years and will continue to do so. I’ll also be more likely to buy items from local stores that I can pickup curbside rather than having larger items sent through the mail…to reduce transportation costs.

There are somethings I am more likely to not buy at all. I’ve become more intentional about my buying during the ‘retreat’ at home. I am more likely to think harder about whether something I am purchasing is a need…or a want. If it’s a want…I want to understand clearly why I want it. Once I do that, it is often an easy decision to not make the purchase.

Buy ‘green’ whenever possible. An example is replacing an aging lawn mower with an electric version. It’s good for my lungs…and for the planet! I am keen to avoid plastic – particularly single use plastic; I’m thrilled that going back to doing my own grocery shopping means that I can avoid plastic grocery and produce bags.

In a few days, I’ll share my thoughts about the new normal…interactions with people.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Enjoying flowers in my office. I bought a bouquet of cut flowers at the grocery store yesterday – the least expensive they had at $4. It’s a little splurge but worth the positive vibe it adds to my office; it puts the room over the top just a bit more than it already is as my favorite room in the whole house.

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Writing most of the blog post sitting outdoors in the morning before it got hot. I typed on my laptop for about an hour before 8 AM. I heard some neighbors out enjoying the morning too…on the other side of some pines along the property line. The temperature forecast was over 90 degrees for the afternoon. It was good to get an hour-long nature fix while the temperature was still in the low 70s. Being about a story off the ground and having the greens of cedars, maples, tulip poplars and pines filling my field of view everywhere my laptop screen was not….it was a great start to the day.

A Zentangle Prompt

Three patterns to combine in a tile today: FAUX WEAVE, FEATHER FALL, and MEER. We already made MEER Feathers back on May 24th…this time try a more traditional use of the MEER pattern.

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Here is a tile I made yesterday for the tangler’s choice day.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

The New Normal - Kitchen

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

The New Normal – Kitchen

One of the big changes early on for us was internalizing the food needed for 2 weeks – keeping that much on hand at all time. It was harder to do because we couldn’t find everything we normally purchased…and didn’t have alternatives. During phase 1 we learned to manage….and developed some additional places in our house to store non-perishable foods.

We have prepared most of meals at home for quite some time but as the pandemic we got closer to 100%. We used a few more kitchen gadgets more frequently and prepared foods that was usually reserved for special times of the year – muffins and custards and spice cake and apple crisp. I reverted to things I’d done earlier in my life when we were economizing on food: cooking a pots of dried beans, buying meat in larger amounts/freezing it in amounts I would cook, using up leftovers completely, eating wild greens as they were available (mint, dandelion leaves) and tweaking the balance toward non-perishable forms when I could (i.e. keeping canned chicken, dried beans and protein powder in the pantry instead of relying on forms of protein that require refrigeration).

Now – at the beginning of phase 2, I am taking the next steps in the kitchen.

As I start doing my own grocery shopping again, I am not as concerned that there will be shortages in items because I have developed alternatives for almost everything and the Community Supported Agriculture farm will be start shares next week (probably). I will shop at the grocery store every other week and it’s OK if we don’t have 2 more weeks of supplies in the house just before I shop again.

It might we worthwhile to move some non-food items from the pantry to the laundry room and bring food items stored elsewhere back to the kitchen area. I should have already done it, but I was bombarded with too many changes at once and was not in good problem-solving mode. We’ll be in the mode we are starting this June for at least another 3 months…probably longer. We need to make it easy for ourselves to sustain.

We are still planning to prepare most of our meals at home. My husband has been getting a take out pizza occasionally and we might do more kinds of takeout. I can’t image feeling comfortable eating in a restaurant anytime soon.

Tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts about the new normal…for shopping.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Groceries shopping. I went to my local grocery store for the first time in over two months. It was a good experience. They had re-configured the store to have one entrance and one exit….there was sign saying masks were required at the entrance and a policeman just inside. I went a little before 7 AM and there were not many people; everyone was wearing a mask. The chain has a new SCAN app that allows people to use their phone to scan items as they shop and load things into their own bags. It was my first time to use it and I found it intuitive…had no challenge using it. In the produce department, items can be weighed and then the bar code on the screen is scanned. Checkout was via the self-service checkout…scanning the bar code on the screen to get the order up then putting my credit card in the chip reader. It probably took a minute or less. I shopped for two weeks which is a risk reduction strategy….I’ll probably continue in that mode but I’m reassured by my experience this morning. The transition from grocery delivery back to buying my own groceries was an easy!

Photo clips. I created a little project for myself – pick some from May and clip a portion of them to magnify. The resolution of the camera is quite an enabler.

One of the first things I looked at was the ruffles and curves of iris buds ready to burst open.

The Nine Bark bush in bloom and with new leaves was also interesting magnified.

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And then there were the eyes of birds: cardinal, goldfinch, indigo bunting, nuthatch, and red-bellied woodpecker!

A Zentangle Prompt

It’s tangler’s choice today. Instead of trying a new pattern – pick ones from the last week to make again – in a new combination or as a monotangle. Take your pick from: TRIPOLI,  MAELSTROM, SeZ, HEXONU, HURRY, MSST, Angel fish, Indi-rella, FESCU, POKELEAF, and ZINGER. Or maybe decide to take a break and just admire a mosaic of your tiles made over the past 6 days. Here is a mosaic of my tiles for the past week.

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Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.