November Sunrise

Now that we are back to Standard Time and most of the leaves are off the trees, the sunrise is more noticeable from the front of our house. Last week, I was coming down the stairs at the right time and noticed the colors…grabbed my camera and stepped out on the front porch to take the picture.

Our oak tree is on the right…as is the silhouette of the corner of the house across the street. The trees have gotten so big that even in winter they will be part of the sunrise.

I like to start the day this way – with beautiful color – the calm of morning in the neighborhood before the school buses come through and most people are still at home.

When I came back in, our cat greeted me…seemingly curious about my morning activity on the porch. He’d probably watched through the window.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 9, 2019

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.

Infographic: How Air Pollution Could Affect the Brain | The Scientist Magazine® - A quick and disturbing summary. The evidence of harm: particles like those produced by vehicle engines found in frontal cortex (postmortem), reduced volumes of white matter, slowed development of children, inflammation related damage to brain cells, and higher accumulation of Alzheimer-associated proteins.

Happier Babies Have an Edge - Scientific American Blog Network – The more children experience happy emotions, the more time they spend building skills and relationships that help them in the future.

900 Pythons Removed from South Florida – That’s a lot of snakes. Kudos to the Python Action Team. There are other organizations (government and non-profits) working on this too. I wish the article would have included information about what they do with the snakes after they are captured. Presumable they are killed.

Study: 95 percent of baby food contains traces of toxic metals - UPI.com – Not good. The full report referred to in the article is available here. I wonder if pediatricians are changing their recommendation when it comes to some foods (like rice cereal for babies).

Newly discovered virus infects bald eagles across America -- ScienceDaily – Over 1/3 of America’s Bald Eagles are infected…and it might be causing a fatal disease – Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome.

BBC - Future - What life might be like in alien oceans – Lots of possibilities. It will be interesting to get some probes (submersibles, etc.) out to the moons of other planets in our solar system that have alien oceans…maybe life.

From quills to typewriters: how the industrial revolution changed our writing culture | Europeana Blog – A little history lesson.

National Science Board highlights Skilled Technical Workforce shortage in new report - The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy - AGU Blogosphere – “Without immediate action, the US risks falling behind other nations that are making significant investments in their Science and Engineering workforce and the Science and Technology enterprise.”  The whole report can be found here.

The Platypus Is Weirder Than You Ever Imagined – Cool Green Science – They don’t have a stomach, their venom can help treat diabetes, their milk can help fight antibiotic resistance….the list goes on.

Photography in The National Parks: Your Armchair Photography Guide To Olympic National Park, Part 2 – The Forests – National Parks….always a great destination for nature photography.

Staunton River State Park – Chaos Star Party

Continuing the posts about our trek to the Chaos Star Party at Staunton River State Park….

The Virginia LOVE theme cares to the state parks. Staunton River’s included the date the park was established…1936.

There were various signs for the star party in the areas of the park dedicated to it. The field was full of tents and campers and trailers. We were in our roomy tent with a screened area for my husband’s electronics and chair….with the telescope just a few steps away. Some people probably were staying in the cabins and coming to the field with their telescope at night. We preferred a place to sleep near the telescope…makes it easier to lay down once the clouds roll in or the dew gets too heavy for observing. My husband had two clear-sky nights and had some observational successes (I slept relatively well through it all).

Someone did an excellent job with a pumpkin near the cantina.

We managed a short hike. We’d been hearing a lot of birds, but they must have been migrating through – stopping for the night on the water. They’d flown off by the time we were up and about. We did see a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker making a hole in a dead branch (hanging upside down). I didn’t know what it was until after I got home and could check references. It was the drabbest woodpecker I’d ever seen! It will eventually have the distinctive red head.

The woodpecker was in some trees that were around the cabins at the park. Most of them were oaks and the acorns were plentiful….lots of food for the woodpecker and squirrels. There were some other nests around too but we weren’t seeing many other birds.

The sweet gums were full of color – reds and yellows. And the seeds…prickly.

A Great Blue Heron was one of the few birds we saw on the water. It was at the limit of the zoom on my camera.

I turned around on the beach and caught some motion in the leaves. A spider moving over the sand and onto a leaf where it was not as well camouflaged.

On the way back we noted the solar system model that has been set up starting with the sun (yellow orb) close to the observing field and extending along the road.

The morning we were getting ready to leave there was a sun dog. What a great serendipity for our last morning at the park!

Staunton River State Park Road Trip

Toward the end of October, the annual Chaos Star Party was held at Staunton River State Park. It was rainy early and then cloudy later in the week, so we were only there for two good nights. The drive between home and the park is between 4 and 5 hours. We waited to leave home until after the morning rush hour around Washington DC was mostly over.

The Virginia rest stops on I95 prior to Richmond had a few late flowers…and their LOVE signs.

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We stopped for lunch at an Arby’s….and I enjoyed their chicken salad on flatbread.

On the way home, I appreciated that the carrier bag on the top of our car accommodated enough of the normal expansion of packing up after camping; we didn’t feel like the car was overstuffed.

The drive on the narrow roads between the park and US-360 was full of fall color. And we relaxed into the drive home.

The drive on the narrow roads between the park and US-360 was full of fall color. And we relaxed into the drive ho.e.

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I’ll be posting more about this trip into next week. What’s not to like about a fall camping trip (cold at night but no rain)!

Conowingo in October – part 1

A couple of weeks ago we headed up to Conowingo Dam. This time of year the local Bald Eagle population is supplemented by birds coming from further north to enjoy the bounty of fish at the base of the dam through the winter. It was a clear and cool morning with the moon still visible near the treetops.

The water was much lower than earlier this year when the water was very high and fishermen/birds were elsewhere.

Fall was in full swing. The drought had reduced the color but there were still burst of color and seeds to notice while we were looking for eagles.

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My best eagle pictures of the day were of one that flew into a tree on the slope above us (i.e. we were between the bird and the river. I zoomed in for a picture of the head and the talons. The bird flew back toward the river a few second after the talon shot.

There are always a lot of Black Vultures at Conowingo and this time was no exception. They like the vantage point of some of the high structures on the dam and the abutment down closer to the water. Vultures are the bird version of a ‘cleanup crew.’ Based on the number of black vultures always around Conowingo, there must be a lot of carcasses (fish?) around there. This time we didn’t see any congregate near the parking lot gate….they were all out on structures or rocks…in the morning sun.

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Now for some challenge pictures. How many eagles do you see in the pictures below? Remember that juvenile eagles do not have white heads or tails. They are clearly different than the black vultures in the pictures.

There are 3 juvenile and 1 mature Bald Eagles. What about the next picture?

In this one there is only one juvenile Bald Eagle, but I took the picture to show how distinctive the wing tips of the Black Vulture are. They often spread their wings like this --- very dramatic black and white bird. In flight the white tips are also visible and make them easy to identify when they soar overhead.

Tomorrow I’ll post about the other birds we saw at Conowingo.

eBotanical Prints – October 2019

It took be almost 3 months to few all the Revue Horticole volumes available on Internet Archive. The last 26 were in October! This month includes primarily volumes from 1897 to 1922. The last volume I looked at was from 1860 which did not have color plates (or maybe it was the scan that made everything black and white. This publication was for gardeners…encouraging introduction of new plants into the gardens of France. This publication was for gardeners…encouraging introduction of new plants into the gardens of France. Some of the plants would require conservatories or greenhouses…others were new varieties of vegetables (see the potato plate).

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of almost 1800 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 30 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view) Enjoy!

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Revue Horticole (1897) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1897

Revue Horticole (1898) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1898

Revue Horticole (1899) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1899

Revue Horticole (1900) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1900

Revue Horticole (1901) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1901

Revue Horticole (1902) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1902

Revue Horticole (1903) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1903

Revue Horticole (1904) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1904

Revue Horticole (1905) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1905

Revue Horticole (1906) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1906

Revue Horticole (1907) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1907

Revue Horticole (1909) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1909

Revue Horticole (1910) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1910

Revue Horticole (1912) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1912

Revue Horticole (1913) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1913

Revue Horticole (1914) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1914

Revue Horticole (1915) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1915

Revue Horticole (1918) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1918

Revue Horticole (1919) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1919

Revue Horticole (1920) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1920

Revue Horticole (1921) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1921

Revue Horticole (1922) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1922

Revue Horticole (1911) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1911

Revue Horticole (1908) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1908

Revue Horticole (1916) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1916

Revue Horticole (1860) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1860

Favorite Foods – October 2019

My favorite foods were all about using the fall CSA bounty.

I made chicken salad with fennel (the feathery part and the stalk), raw sweet potato, spring onion, and bell pepper chopped up in the Ninja food processor with a little mayo…French fried onions on top. Tasty and nutritious. A meal in a bowl.

Popcorn is a favorite of mine but this October I worked for it a bit more. I got 4 ears of popcorn from the CSA and learned to rub the kernels off the cobs into a big bowl (so I didn’t have too many escapees). The popcorn had a few silks with it but by the time the corn was popped I didn’t notice them. I use a popcorn bowl (from Amazon) in the microwave then add garlic salt and butter just before I eat it!

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I also made butternut squash custard (using the same recipe as for pumpkin custard) since I had 3 large butternut squash from the CSA. I still have cooked squash in my freezer to use for another custard or two.

Zooming – October 2019

October was a great month for getting out and about. The weather cooperated. There were birds and butterflies and colorful leaves…some flowers and frogs…even a sunrise. I had a lot of pictures to choose from for this zooming post! I use the feature on my camera for most of my pictures…to get the image framed the way I want…avoiding the need to crop.  Enjoy the October slide show!

And Happy Halloween! A restaurant we went to recently had a clever Halloween decoration in one of their small bushes! I didn’t have to zoom for this picture…just stood on the sidewalk and took the picture with my cell phone!

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2019

October is a transition month – warm to cool (sometimes cold at night), leaves turning colors and falling. There is a lot to celebrate. Below are my top ten little celebrations in October:

The river at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area - It is a little hike through the woods to get to the Middle Patuxent River and then a scramble over rocks to set up our field tables and gear on gravel bars near the water. It’s a serene place before the students arrive…and then full of activity. Every field trip is a celebration of the natural world and the sparks of awareness/realization that happens for most of the students.

Arby’s chicken salad – I always celebrate when my husband’s choice of fast food place has their signature chicken salad…wish they had it all the time.

Heron standing on a turtle – Seeing something unexpected often sparks a little celebration that I was in the right place at the right time. A heron stepping on a turtle (and then being surprised when it moved) was one of those times.

Conowingo cormorants – We go to Conowingo Dam to see Bald Eagles, but sometimes other birds are more active. On an October morning it was the cormorants….successfully fishing. Often the fish looked too big for them to eat!

CSA popcorn – This was the first year that we got ears of popcorn from the CSA….the last two weeks of the season.  The kernels came off the cob with relative ease and I popped them in my usual microwave popcorn bowl (not all at once…a little popcorn goes a long way). The pop…the curling up with a good book while eating popcorn…a celebration on a rainy fall day.

CSA fennel – The CSA is my source for fennel…I like the bulb and the feathery top. It’s a different flavor from other veggies and one I celebrate as a rare veggie since I know it never looks as fresh in my grocery store and I haven’t found it in the organic section at all.

Mowing the whole yard – Usually my husband handles the mowing, but this fall I’ve done more since I decided to mulch leaves in place rather than rake. I started out doing half the yard…but I celebrated a day when I did the whole thing and the yard looked great….until the next round of leaf drop. There will still be at least one more mowing since there are still leaves on our maple.

Pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay – I celebrated to see so many pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay when we went to Smith Island. The birds nest and raise young in the area! Based on the number of juveniles we saw – 2019 was a good year for pelicans.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – What a great place in Richmond. I celebrated that we chose to make the stop in Richmond for a couple of hours….and was pleasantly surprised that my husband enjoyed it too.

A rainy day – finally – We had no rain for about 6 weeks in last summer and early fall…so when it rained, it was cause for celebration.

Brookside Gardens Conservatory – October 2019

After going to Brookside Gardens frequently during the Wings of Fancy exhibit (for volunteering and short strolls before or after), I only made it to the Gardens once during October! The mum exhibit was the highlight in the conservatory. The space that had been the butterfly exhibit had been transformed. Looking more closely at the ‘green’ parts….tiny buds everywhere so more mums will be appearing over the next month.

I took a closer look at the mums that were already showing their color. The way the petals are overlaid and then spread out --- a lesson in packaging. The shadow and light…curves. A round of macro photography in a conservatory is such a pleasure. Wind is never a problem here.  I was surprised that there were pollinators in the conservatory too – not as many as outside but there were still some. I saw at least one bumble bee.

The conservatory closest to the gift shop still has the usual plants (I always note the cycads near the entry). There are a few mums in that room too.

I learned that by the second week in November all the mum frames from the other conservatory will be moved to this one so that the Model Train Exhibit for December can be set up (the conservatory that houses the Wings of Fancy April-September has the model trains in December). I’m looking forward to that too!

Free eBooks – October 2019

Beautiful images from 3 books published in the mid to late 1800s….

Takahashi, Eiji. Kodai moyo shikizu ko. Tokyo: Santokukai. 1850. Available from Internet Archive here. This book was a mix of scenes from nature and designs. I enjoyed both. The scene with herons reminded me of birds in the snow (I remembered years ago the Heron Cam at Cornell’s Sapsucker Pond showing a bird hunkered on their nest during a late season snow…keeping eggs warm. The design pages gave me lots of ideas for Zentangle® patterns!

Colling, James Kellaway. Examples of English mediaeval foliage and coloured decoration, taken from buildings of the twelfth to the fifteenth century. London: author and BT Batsford. 1874. Available from Internet Archive here. More potential Zentangle® patterns…and I like the botanical skew…so many leaf and petal shapes! Colling was an architect that was well known for his architectural and decoration drawings and art.

Picard, Edmond. El Moghreb al Aksa : une mission belge au Maroc. Bruxelles: F. Larcier. 1889. Available from Internet Archive here. The author was a Belgian jurist and writer…and patron of the arts. I happened upon this book about Morocco (written in French so I was browsing for the pictures) while the Arab world was in the news again with the Turkish surge into Syria. Of course, the scenes in much of the Arab world have changed considerable since the 1890s…and much of what was historically precious and valued by inhabitants is pockmarked or destroyed with weaponry that didn’t exist until well after the 1890s. The main emotion, even from afar, is sadness for the peoples and the places.

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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.

Last of CSA Veggies

Last week was the end of the regular season with are Community Supported Agriculture (Gorman Farms CSA). The share was robust as usual. I was surprised by the late season tomatoes. They had both purple and green cabbage; I chose the purple, of course. The choice table was overwhelming, but I decided on the fennel after staring at it for a minute…with big a big feathery top that made the reusable bag look too small. I’ll use that top part first (chopped up and combined with grated sweet potato to make a colorful chicken salad.

I haven’t quite kept up with the veggies this summer. The freezer is reasonably full and a bit more will go into it from the freeze from this last week. Nothing goes to waste! I’ll enjoy the tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in at least one salad; maybe I’ll eat them fast enough to avoid putting them in the freezer to use in smoothies or soups. With the shift in seasons – I lean toward the soups. I’ll probably not buy any veggies in the produce section of the grocery store for at least 6 weeks!

I’ll miss the weekly newsletters and ‘about your harvest’ boards. Every season with the CSA is a learning experience.

This was the first year for popcorn. There were lots of my favorites too - veggies I’ve learned to love with the CSA (fennel, sweet potato leaves, all kinds of peppers, uncured sweet potatoes, all kinds of squashes, all kinds of tomatoes…the only thing I’ve not learned to love is eggplant). This year was a drought year and last year it was too wet. Our farmer pulled though with lots of good veggies in both years but the variety this year was greater than last. CSAs are a great way to ‘eat local.’

In the Middle Patuxent – Again

Last week, I was in the Middle Patuxent River again for a couple of mornings – a little downstream from the MPEA location that I posted about yesterday. The biggest difference was more water! It was wide enough to make using a seine possible although the D-nets worked well for collecting macro invertebrates as well. I celebrated that my last group found a hellgrammite!

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Another plus for the site – no scrambling over rocks to set up field tables and supplies for identifying the critters we caught. The access was down a steep bank with roots making reasonable stairs; no one had a problem getting down even in clunky river boots. And once the students were in the river…magic happened. Everyone participated!

The site was close enough to one of the schools that the students walked down. The path was a paved tail through forest along the river…with housing developments sometimes visible on both sides.

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The little streams that feed into the river are showing the erosion caused by the impervious surface that reduces the area’s ability to soak up water before it gets to the river.

But the trees are tall, and the days were sunny and just cool enough to realize it was fall. Excellent weather to be in the river.

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Middle Patuxent River at MPEA

Earlier this month I was in the Middle Patuxent River twice (with two different high schools) at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA). We got there by 7:15 AM to be ready for the buses with students to arrive at 8. We parked near the South Wind Circle trailhead and hiked through the forest to the edge of the river. Then came the tricky part - climbing over the big rocks to get down into the river and on the side with enough cobbles to hold the field gear for water assessment. The towels in the second picture mark the route over the rocks. Sitting down on the highest rock turned out to the be safest way to start the crossing.

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I took a few pictures of the quiet down in the stream after equipment was set up and before the students arrived. The river is very low this year but still picturesque.

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Once the students arrive, there is a flurry of activity with boots and macroinvertebrate finds/identification and chemical tests of the water. The students spend 2 hours in the river then hike back up the hill. Then we have a break before more buses arrive with more students from the same school. During that break, I always take the path up hill across the river from the path where we arrived some privacy. The path is covered with fall leaves and there are many Christmas ferns along the border.

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There is even time for a snack…and then we have another 2 hours of focused activity. At the end we pack up everything and the students help us carry all the gear up the hill before they get on the buses to go back to school.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 2019

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.

New report deepens understanding of wind-wildlife interactions -- ScienceDaily – This article overviews the report. The 24 page report is available here. The amount of collaboration between the industry, government, conservation, academic and scientific organizations is significant and ongoing.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Celebrates Forests – Maybe I’ll go to Vermont for this festival next September – if it’s an annual event.

These surreal jarred fish tell an urgent story of extinction – The Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection – nearly 8 million preserved fish…a window into how 20th century development changed the Southeastern US fish….a record of that destruction.

No bones about it, this protein slows down fracture-healing -- ScienceDaily - Abundance of ApoE may explain why older people have trouble healing broken bones. Turning off ApoE completely causes fat to be deposited in arteries (a cardiovascular problem) so treatment options may involve lowering ApoE for short periods of time.

O Canada! We Like Your Food Guide – Food guides from Canada (and some other countries) … some differences from the US. Canada merges ‘dairy’ in with protein foods rather than featuring it as an independent group.

Scientists Are Getting Better at Predicting Hurricane Intensity – A new algorithm has been developed to include the complicated physical mechanisms of tropical cyclone dynamics and the way they interact with upper-ocean and atmospheric circulation. It may reduce the error of tropical cyclone prediction within a 24-hour period by 16%. Every little bit of improvement in prediction means better preparations when an intense storm is approaching.

Artworks of the Dark Zone – From caves in Tennessee and Alabama. Artwork incised in mud and inscriptions. A slideshow.

How Penn State is Cutting Greenhouse Emissions in Half – and Saving Money – Kudos to Penn State. I wonder how many other universities are doing similar things.

Empty Meditative Landscapes Visualize the Tranquil Beauty of Silence – A visual treat

Ed Hawkins “Climate Stripes” May be the Most Important Science Image so Far in This Century – Effective visualization of lots of data…becomes information. The next step is action.

River Boot Tangle

I decided to make my river boots (that I use for field trips with high schoolers into rivers and streams looking for macroinvertebrates) unique with a Zentangle®.

I chose the gingo pattern – which has become one of my favorites since it was shared on the TanglePatterns site in late August. These boots are several years old and are scuffed from the river rocks near the foot part of the boots…but the surface I tangled was relatively smooth. I used a Sharpie and only worked on the outer side of the boots…so I still have room for more tangling.

So – even if I somehow take off my boots and they get in the pile of boots we have for the students…I’ll always be able to spot mine!

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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.

Flowers Unfurling

Back in September, I enjoyed photographing some late flowers at Brookside Gardens. I found myself more interested in the flowers that were just opening. It’s sometimes hard to fathom how the buds open into the flowers.

Other times there is a concentration of flower parts – smaller and more concentrated than the fully opened flower …like this hibiscus.

Sometimes there are many flowers on the same plant that are in the process of opening…like these angel‘s trumpets. I photographed many of the flowers and tried to order the sequence below to show the unfurling of the flowers.

Mt Pleasant in October

Last week, I got to Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant just as the sun was coming up over the place. There were a few fall colors even with the drought which is causing a lot of the leaves to change and fall very quickly.

We were working with high school students --- assessing the water in the Davis Branch with abiotic and biotic sampling. The water was very low.

We found some macroinvertebrates…but everyone was more enthusiastic than usual with other living things we found that weren’t part of the assessment. This large spider caused quite a lot of excitement!

I took a few pictures of fall plants between the early morning and late morning groups. Much of the meadow is turning brown early. Some of the gardens closer to the building may be getting a little watering and are more colorful.

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Beautyberry as Zentangle® Prompt

When I was at Mount Vernon in December there was an American Beautyberry growing at the edge of the bowling green. I took a picture of the bush then zoomed in on a stem with berries.

Nature is a great source of prompts for tangle patterns…and the purple clusters of the beautyberry are one of the easier examples. There is not much deconstruction required…the pattern is just some parallel dashed lines for the stem and filling the spaces between the stem lines with the tipple pattern. Easy!

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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.

Trees with Seeds

This time a year it’s easy to spot trees with seeds. Some are very colorful like the magnolias (they remind me a little or red M&Ms)

And the dogwoods.

Others are mostly brown like the golden rain trees

And maples (some trees shed their samaras in the spring…others, like these at Brookside Gardens, wait until the fall)

And red buckeyes with the buckeye nut showing where the mottled brown and green husk has cracked.

Then there are seeds that are still green…that will take more time to mature and dry…ready to be shed next spring. The tulip poplar seed pods are still closed in the fall…the seeds not yet mature. We always accumulate a lot of tulip poplar seeds in our gutters in the spring.

The sycamore seeds will get softer…the balls feeling almost ‘furry’ by the time they break apart dispersing the small seeds in the spring. Each bump on this immature seed ball will become a sycamore seed! When I show tulip poplar and sycamore seeds to preschoolers on spring field trips, they are always awestruck my how small they are compared to the trees!