March 20, 2020

2020

March 20, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday…a cloudy day that started out very wet:

Trying another grocery store – first thing in the morning again. We found meat! It wasn’t our usual organic…but we bought it anyway. We also found some spray Lysol but not disinfecting counter cleaner…we are using our backup plan which will involve gloves, open windows and fans on (fortunately we are going to have some warm days). We got the medicines we would need if we got sick and my husband’s favorite protein shakes. Still no toilet paper or cat food. We ordered the cat food online when we got home.

Reducing toilet paper consumption dramatically. We have water in spray bottles beside our toilets now. We haven’t eliminated toilet paper entirely…but we are building up our skills with the water. It should enable us to manage with the toilet paper we have in the house for a few weeks even though we have not been able to find any in stores recently. Maybe this strategy will last beyond this crisis….it would make sewage treatment easier and reduce the number of trees felled to make toilet paper.

Noticing that I am sleeping as well as ever (according to my Fitbit…and not feeling tired). It’s an indicator that I am still handling the stress of the pandemic and changing habits very well. Another indicator from my Fitbit: my resting heart rate has stayed below 65 (normal for me) the whole time.
Cooking sweet potato hash browns. We cook and eat at home most of the time. But I have more time now, so I am beginning to experiment. I got the idea for hash browns from my husband requesting the frozen variety of hash browns when I went to the grocery store…but I changed the potato from russet/white to sweet for my dinner! I scrubbed the sweet potato and cut off the ends…chunked it so it would fit in the food processor with the shredder attachment…cooked them in a little olive oil seasoned with onion flakes and no-salt seasoning. It made a good meal with scrambled eggs…pretty orange and yellow colors on the plate.
Filling the bird feeder. We let the bird feeder hang empty for the past week to discourage a hawk that has become too interested in our backyard. Now we get to observe how long it takes for the little birds to find the seed again. Are the juncos still around?
Unpacking the bin prepped for a Zentangle® class. My plan for 3/19 from back in January was to lead a Zentangle session for my fellow volunteers after a training session for spring field trips. That has all be cancelled – of course. I am unpacking the bin I had already prepped: color zipper pouches with square paper coaster tiles, Pigma Pen 05, and pencils. I am going to use the bin to put all the photos I found in decades-old boxes in our basement…put the smaller bin of pouches on a shelf in my office. I couldn’t resist opening one pouch and tangling!

Browsing through emails and feeds with suggestions from others re navigating through the upheaval coronavirus is causing. An email from Coursera (lots for free online courses) had several interesting links that I want to pass along:
- If you or someone you know is learning online for the first time: You can share these 8 tips from our Teaching & Learning team.
- If you’re looking for ways to keep learning with your kids: Talk with parents around the world and share your favorite resources.
- If you’re looking for advice about moving in-person learning online: You can reference these best practices from our Teaching & Learning team.
- If, like Coursera, you and your team are shifting to remote work: You can join others in our community to discuss strategies and share advice.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18

March 20, 2020

Brookside Gardens South Conservatory in February

March 20, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Update: This blog post is about a visit to Brookside Gardens early in March. Like all Montgomery County Parks facilities the conservatories are closed today as part of the strategy to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check the garden web site for more information.

Continuing about my walk around Brookside Gardens into the South Conservatory…

This is where the butterfly exhibit will be housed by the later part of April. For now, it is full of blooms. The snapdragons are dominant. The day I went was sunny and I enjoyed trying to get positioned so that the throats of the flowers were fired by the sun – making them look more like dragons.

The sun coming through the Amaryllis blooms make the edges pop.

But my favorite Amaryllis shot was one in the shade.

All kinds of flowers take on a different look depending on whether the light is behind or above or in front of the flower.

I took a last look back at the conservatory and used the zoom to get two more flowers…

Then went outdoors to find out how far along the spring bulbs in the garden were.

March 19, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/18/2020

March 19, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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

Going to the grocery store turned out to be a rather overwhelming experience. The store opened an hour later than posted on their website (the decision evidently made last night after I checked) and there were more people that had accumulated by the time they opened. After sitting in my car for about 30 minutes and just before the doors opened, I walked over to the far edge of the parking garage to photograph the sunrise. It was the last calm moment of today’s shopping.

The carts were all lined up outdoors and we entered the store single file….spaced out. More than half the people looked 60+ (like me). Everyone was wiping down carts, using hand sanitizer and trying to keep 6 feet apart. My plan is to shop weekly to maintain the 2 weeks of food and supplies in the house.

We were running low on disinfectant for our counter tops because I had not been finding it recently; they didn’t have what I wanted today either, but I did buy something else. I didn’t find disinfectant wipes either.
No toilet paper. I’m down to about a 1.5 weeks supply in the house…so I need to find some soon.
I did find buy some boxed flax milk that can be stored in the pantry rather than the refrigerator because keeping 4 cartons of milk in the refrig at all times (which is what is I drink in 2 weeks), takes up too much room.
The meat counters were bare as was the canned chicken shelf so we are dipping into our two-week supply if we don’t find any at the store we will try tomorrow morning.
They had cat food but not the kind we were running low on. I didn’t buy any. That could become an issue next week. Hopefully the cat will eat some foods that he typically does not like as well (we pamper him…he’s 19 years old).
I couldn’t find any dried beans. I cooked what I had in the pantry recently…wanted to restock.
Medication we would typically use for a cold or the flu….just in case we somehow get sick…was sold out. My husband had bought a small supply before but it’s not enough if we both got sick and needed it for a week or more. We need to find some tomorrow.
My husband’s protein shakes were not available in the flavor he likes. I’m not sure what I am going to do about that.
I found everything I wanted in the produce section (radishes, celery, kale, bananas) – fortunately.

After this experience – I might change to curbside pickup or delivery for next week.

Here are the unique activities for yesterday that helped me recover from the overwhelming start to the day:

Ordering protein powder (NutraBio® 100% Whey Protein Isolate) based on my daughter’s recommendation – just in case we are challenged to get enough protein at some point. It also has the advantage of being a pantry item rather requiring refrigeration. I’ve enjoyed the beet powder I bought before all this ‘stay at home as much as possible’ started for the same reasons: great nutrition in a small space and long shelf life. They’re both smoothie ingredients! I’m wondering if the combination of the Dutch Chocolate protein powder, banana and the beet powder will be like a ‘red velvet’ smoothie!
Watching the 5th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell – Will I ever meet aliens?
Noticing that my neighbor’s forsythia is blooming…and that the spicebush in the forest is blooming too. It’s not as showy…but it’s a native. There is a butterfly that needs spicebush for its caterpillars too: the spicebush swallowtail. I’ll put on my hiking boots and tuck my pants into socks (to avoid deer ticks and Lyme disease) to troop back into the woods to get some pictures of their flowers someday soon.
Responding to an email query about tips re cell phone nature photography….and was pleased to provide some links to two blog posts (one and two) with tips illustrated by examples that I did a little over a year ago. It’s nice to have some two-way interaction beyond my immediate family!
Ordering some bugs from https://www.thebutterflycompany.com/ for a photographic project. My husband is the one that suggested it. We are anticipating needing to supplement the projects we’ve already started for ourselves while we are ‘staying at home as much as possible.’ We ordered: cecropia moth, Luna moth, eastern comma butterfly, question mark butterfly, zebra swallowtail, and eastern Hercules beetle.
Watching the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari – Sihil the Ocelot.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17

March 19, 2020

Brookside Gardens North Conservatory in February

March 19, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

On cold days, the Brookside Gardens Conservatories are a warm place out of the wind. I went last week to take some pictures. The North conservatory is the one closest to the gift shop…and first one I walked around. I liked the plant flowering near the door and experimented with holding the camera upward to capture the inside of the of the flowers.

I always note the cycad and white bird-of-paradise (both are planted near the center of the building to that they have room to grow tall) …. And anything with color.

This time I didn’t spend time looking at the cactus corner, but I did notice the azaleas in bloom…a seasonal addition to the conservatory.

I noticed some water droplets on a big leave close to the surface of the water feature in the southeast corner and then

Realized there was a web and a spider just a little above the leaf! Maybe the spider is keeping nuisance insects controlled in the conservatory. Hope there are not spiders in the south conservatory where the butterflies exhibit will be by late April.

March 18, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/17/2020

March 18, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Picking earrings to wear that I haven’t worn in a long time. Yesterday I wore some from Orlando FL and today they are from Watkins Glen NY. Earrings are my favorite item to purchase when I travel…small keepsakes that I can wear! Both are over 10 years old, but I still remember where I got them.
Maintaining the compost pile and walking around the yard. I’m trying to get out of the house at least once a day….enjoy that it is springtime here!

Watching the second installment of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari (about Rico the Porcupine). They have established a website where all the videos will be available after they air live. I am watching the recorded version, so I don’t have to pay attention to the time to be online at 3 PM EDT!
Calling family far away, I had planned to be in Texas this past week…but I was already ‘staying at home as much as possible’ a few days before I was going to get on the airplane. Talking on the telephone is the next best thing for keeping in touch until it is not as risky to be out and about in larger groups of people.
Making a Zentangle® butterfly. I was straightening up my office and found a few extra butterfly tiles left from last summer’s experience with summer campers. I couldn’t resist using the tile…thinking that this would be a good activity for anyone needing a quiet calm time. If you want to learn a new pattern, checkout out https://tanglepatterns.com/ . Later in the afternoon. it was warm enough that I saw a real butterfly - a cabbage white.

Watching the 4th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell - Why didn’t dinosaurs build a space program? His pet gecko, Europa, is part of the lecture too!

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16

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.

March 18, 2020

eBotanical Prints – February 2020

March 18, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

19 botanical eBooks found in February! There were two series about alpine plants and then one series about medicinal plants. The publication dates range from 1868 to 1971…although heavily skewed to the second half of the 1800s. I always enjoy looking at botanical print books but in February – when the view from my window is winter trees – I find them even more appealing.

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of about 1,850 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 19 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

Common Weeds of the United States * Reed, Clyde Franklin * sample image * 1971

Atlas Rostlin * Joh, Jan * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V1 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V4 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V5 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Fleurs des champs et des bois, des haies et des murs * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1922

Atlas der Alpenflora V1 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V2 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V3 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V4 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der officinellen Pflanzen - Band III * Berg, Otto Carl; Schmidt, C. F.: Meyer, Arthur * sample image * 1899

Atlas der officinellen Pflanzen - Band I * Berg, Otto Carl; Schmidt, C. F.: Meyer, Arthur * sample image * 1893

Pflanzen-Atlas nach dem Linné'schen System * Hoffman, Carl * sample image * 1881

Botanischer bilder-atlas nach De Candolle's Natürlichem pflanzensystem * Hoffmann, Carl * sample image * 1884

Traité pratique et raisonné des plantes médicinales indigènes, avec un atlas de 200 planches lithographiées * Cazin, F.J.; Cazin, Henri * sample image * 1868

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 1 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav); (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1887

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 2 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav); (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1890

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 3 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav); (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1898

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 4 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav); (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1899

March 17, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/16/2020

March 17, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

2020 03 IMG_8476 (2).jpg — Discovered some to go peanut butter in my pantry that are ‘best if used by’ April 2020 which prompted a snack of peanut butter and celery….and taking everything out of the pantry to see if there was more items that needed to be used promptly. There was some cocoa that should have been used by 2014 and some coconut flour by 2017…into the trash they went. The before and after shot of the pantry is below….it was a good ‘cleanup and out’ project for the day.

Continued “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series” videos from Dr. Charles Cockell – Is there life on Mars? And Will Samples from Mars cause a Pandemic?

Cooked pinto beans. I soaked them for a full 24 hours (part on the counter…then in the refrig) then cooked them in the morning and ate a small portion with some leftover stir fry chicken for lunch. Yum!

Learned about Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae Cyanotype Impressions in a Europeana Blog post (one of my news feeds) and then searched to find an online copy. I was frustrated that the Internet Archive only had one print! It turns out that The New York Public Library Digital Collections has a digitized copy of the volumes once owned by Sir John Herschel. I enjoyed the first volume and added the others to my reading list for subsequent days.

Watched the first Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Home Safari…daily at 3PM EDT…for children but interesting for adults as well…the first video is about their young hippo Fiona. From their Facebook Page.

Went to dentist to get permanent crowns. I was worried about the temporary ones that I had for over 3 weeks coming loose/off at a bad time….having a painful dental problem when the office might be closed. So - I had a very short breach of social distance…but I decided it was worth the (slight) risk.

Overall, this is my 8th day of adhering to the low density, 6 feet rule (except for the dentist which was low density but could not always achieve the 6 feet separation)…stay at home as much as possible…hand washing with soap/not touching face. The last time I was at a place with more than 25 people in a room was 19 days ago. I’m beginning to realize that some of what I am doing now (like the more frequent hand washing with soap) might be on the way to becoming habits.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15

March 16, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/15/2020

March 16, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I normally do a daily blog post…but during this time, I might do an extra post from time to time. Since I am ‘staying at home as much as possible’ to reduce our COVID-19 exposure (and potentially slow the spread of the virus), I have more time at home.

Normally this time of year I travel, get training for upcoming volunteer activities, and take day trips---as spring is unfurling. This year was no exception, but it all came to a screeching halt last week. So – what am I doing with this extra time at home? Fortunately, I have a house that I enjoy and there is a lot to do. If you are at home and getting a little low on ‘things to do’ maybe these extra posts will give you some ideas.

There are the usual things that I always try to work into my day (but don’t always succeed when I have a lot of other things going on):

Zentangle (more than one)
Breathing App (this is an smartphone app that provides tones for breathing – in and out – in a rhythm that people meditating achieve….I find it very relaxing for 15 minutes…better than a substantial nap and makes me even more focused on whatever I do afterward)
Yoga (I’ve already built up my routine in the past week!)
Browse through 3-4 books on Internet Archive and other online sources. (I like variety. Today I am still working my way through 1) The Vermont Life magazines – I am up to Autumn 2011; 2) Starting The English Home magazines; 3) Working backwards through the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri – I am back to 2013 now…getting to know to birds found in the state where my daughter is living; and 4) Keeping in reserve the Internet Archive collection by or about Alphonse Mucha.)
12,000 steps (this one is a little harder being at home all the time although I am taking walks around the neighborhood or working in the yard on days that the weather is good)
Pictures of birds at the feeder or birdbath – right now the feeder is empty because we are discouraging a hawk from frequenting our back yard and it’s been raining so the birds don’t need the birdbath as often

But what I am doing more than the usual today…what are some ‘different’ things that I did today to keep boredom at bay?

Cleaned the foyer and kitchen floors. I don’t do this often enough.
Dusted the top of all the door frames. It might have been over a year since I did it. They were dusty!
Photographed the plum tree (once the rain was over). There were blossoms at different stages of development and the day was cloudy enough to avoid the harsh shadows of sunny days.
Read a chapter in a physical book (I usually read online these days but have a stack of books I’ve been meaning to read for several years)
Started soaking some pinto beans (the bag has been in the pantry for over a year, their ‘best if used by’ date was December 2020...I’m going to cook them to use in chili…we have plenty of time to do slow food!)
Watched Are Viruses Alive? Video by an astrobiology professor from University of Edinburgh (recorded at home for his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series”). I enjoyed his Coursera course several years ago.

What I am trying not to do?

Eat more than usual
Spend too much time looking at COVID-19 news and analysis

March 15, 2020

Mycology Class Remnants

March 15, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Way back in the 1970s when I was working on my undergraduate degree in Biology, I took a mycology (study of fungi) class. It was one of the most memorable upper level courses in my undergraduate work…but it’s been a long time. The textbook, lab book and spiral notebooks are long gone. When I was cleaning out the basement (continuing projects during the ‘stay at home as much as possible’ strategy to avoid COVID-19), I found remnants of the course: some black and white negatives in protective sleeves – unlabeled. As soon as I looked at them, I knew they were microphotographs of the microscope slides I made during the mycology lab even though I don’t remember which species they are (some are penicillium species).

The negatives were somewhat deteriorated – maybe they were never crisply focused. I scanned them with my Epson V600 Photo Scanner then clipped the best portions of some of the frames and colored them blue in Microsoft Powerpoint. They have an abstract art look.

I remember that in the lab we inoculated growth medium (agar and other types), let the fungus grow onto the glass…then stained the fungus (methylene blue, I think) to make the filaments and fruiting structures and spores appear blue under the microscope. I would love to take a mycology lab course again….and take lots of pictures!

March 14, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 14, 2020

March 14, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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.

Shrikes: Meet the Bird That Impales Prey on Spikes – The bird creates its “pantry” on barbed wire…other spikey objects. Gruesome…but it’s an adaptation that works for the bird.

The color of your clothing can impact wildlife - ScienceDaily – For water anoles – orange is better than green if you want to see the lizards!

We're Destroying Virgin Forests for Toilet Paper -- What Are the Alternatives? | CleanTechnica – Not good! We in the US are the biggest users…change is hard.

Why Clouds Are the Key to New Troubling Projections on Warming - Yale E360 – Fewer clouds as the planet warms? If so, we’ll heat up more because more solar energy will strike the planet. That’s what the most recent models are predicting and real-world data from satellites suggests that the modelers’ predictions may already be coming true. We’ll have less snow and ice around too to reflect solar energy back into space. It seems like we should make all sky facing manmade surfaces (like roofs) white or lighter colored (unless they are generating energy)…and look for other opportunities to reflect like clouds.

New Research Rewrites the Demise of Easter Island | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – There is mounting evidence that Easter Island people created the statues until at least 1750 – after contact with Europeans. And their population has been relatively stable since the 1400s. By the time the British explorer James Cook arrived in 1774 the statues were in ruins. By 1877, just over 100 people remained on Easter Island.

How do woodpeckers avoid brain injury? – Woodpeckers avoid concussions with some adaptions: 1) specialized skull bones, neck muscles, beaks and tongue bones 2) less internal fluid surrounding their brain to limit the motion of the brain during pecking. Interesting…and maybe can help devise ways to protect and heal human brain injuries.

Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night -- ScienceDaily – Some research…potentially a way to balance solar power over the day-night cycle.

How did the last Neanderthals live? - BBC Future – From caves in Gibraltar….the insight that they were much more like us than we once believed: they exploited seafood and marine mammals (they could swim…hunted dolphins), wooly mammoths, woolly rhinos, ibex, birds (maybe used their feathers…particularly the black ones); they decorated walls and shells; their hyoid bone was like ours (which means they might have had speech like ours); they made tools of bone that were copied by modern humans.

Florida scientists study health effects from exposure to toxic algae - UPI.com – Blue-green algae toxins make people sick (liver damage/disease, skin rashes, headaches, trouble breathing) but does it cause disease when it is absorbed via breathing (i.e. airborne particles) during algae blooms? Fish kills are bad too. It’s good to research the topic but shouldn’t we do everything we can to prevent the blooms in the first place?

Researchers Find Cell-Free Mitochondria Floating in Human Blood | The Scientist Magazine® - Surprise! Now to figure out their function….

March 13, 2020

From the basement: pictures from house hunting in 1983

March 13, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I’ve found boxes of old pictures I hadn’t looked at since we moved into our current house about 25 years ago in the basement during my increased time at home. It’s hard not to go off on a tangent and think about that history while I am scanning pictures (and/or the negatives). This post was prompted by pictures from when my husband and I moved from Texas to the east coast for new jobs in 1983. At the time there were house listings, but they were accessible only to realtors and they didn’t include any pictures. We had a week of house hunting paid for by our new employers and we were in the process of buying a house at the end of that week! We took pictures of the top contenders with a Polaroid as well as my husband’s Canon: the Polaroids to help us decide (not rely totally on our memory of each house while we were debating) and the others to develop after we got back to Texas so that we could make detailed plans on how we would arrange our furniture in the house when we moved in late June/early July.

The pictures of houses we didn’t buy are thrown away…and the ones I’m using in this post are the film photos (I was surprised that the Polaroids were still in good shape as well) of the house we bought. The house was about 30 years old and had some light remodeling. It’s the only house I’ve owned that had a gas stove…and no fireplace. It was my first house with a basement. The yard was the high point of the place: large oak and beech tress…mature boxwood and azaleas…raised beds on two sides of the back yard. The backyard had more moss than grass. It was like a green carpet. It was quite a change from the smaller trees and overall drier conditions in the part of Texas I was moving from.

1983 05 img429 (0).jpg — My favorite aspect of the kitchen was the pantry!

OK – now I’m telling myself to get off this tangent and back to cleaning out the basement….

March 12, 2020

Early Morning Grocery Shopping

March 12, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I left the house about 7 AM to do some grocery shopping having decided to ramp up supplies to 3 weeks so that I would always maintain at least a 2-week supply in my house until this initial wave of COVID-19 wanes. With daylight saving time in effect since Sunday, the sun was just rising. I took a quick picture through my car window before I turned out of my neighborhood.

I often shop early but this trip was a little earlier than usual. The store had been open for more than an hour but there weren’t many cars and I didn’t see anyone buying more than an item or two while I was there. They were out of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and foaming hand soap. I have some supplies of those items and have backup plans should they run low: regular household cleaners, liquid and bar soaps. We found some additional travel sized hand sanitizers that will last if we use them only when soap and water is not available.

The jarred spaghetti sauces were very picked over, but I managed to find a jar of my second choice. The same was true of non-dairy milk. I was in no mood to wait until the shelves were re-stocked.

I selected fresh veggies that like usually buy (this week it was cauliflower, celery, 3 kinds of potatoes, dandelion greens) and then some freezer veggies that I will keep in case there is a week or two that I don’t want to go to the grocery store at all (so no fresh veggies).

There was only one checker open when I was ready to leave….but no waiting. I loaded everything in the car by shortly before 8 AM. The parking area for the store was still relatively sparse; there were probably more employees in the store than customers!

March 11, 2020

Staying at Home as much as Possible

March 11, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The CDC guidance for people at risk for serious illness from COVID-19 has changed over the past week. A few days ago, the first bullet basically said ‘stay at home as much as possible.’ Now that advice is the last bullet and it is only if there is a COVID-19 outbreak in your community. There are some disconcerting cases near where I live (a rector at a church and at person at a large conference) that are not travel related; I guess we will know in 5 or so days how contagious the individuals were. There does not appear to be a lot of testing happening in my area yet so it’s hard to know if there is an outbreak of not.

So - I am trying to chart a middle course….

I am in the higher risk group because I am older although I rarely get sick, so my main concern is for others close to me that are also older and have chronic conditions. I don’t want to be a carrier of COVID-19! At this point I am:

Stocked up on supplies (food, household supplies)
Avoiding crowds (when I do need go for groceries, going in the early morning; not going to classes; thinking more about ‘social distancing’)
Not flying
Washing hands frequently and practicing not touching my face during times I am out and about.

This is a change from the norm for me….but one that I am enjoying so far. The sudden shift to being at home more has me savoring the place….noticing the red maple blooming as I look out my office window, cleaning out the basement, pulling weeds/grass in flower beds and noticing the bulbs planted out in the yard by squirrels. I’m getting a lot done that I have been meaning to do but never seemed to have the time available. I’ll be posting more about my ‘living in COVID-19 times’ over the next few day

March 10, 2020

Full Moon

March 10, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Sunday night was clear – and I took pictures of the full moon before I went to bed and when I got up. I used the ‘night scene’ setting on my Canon Powershot SX60 HS bridge camera which takes multiple shots and melds them in the camera. The picture I took in the evening was focused on the moon. There is an unfocused branch in the across the lower right of the picture.

The picture from the morning is focused on the tree branches – clear enough to know that it’s a tulip poplar! I like it better than the evening picture.

Both pictures were taken though second floor windows of our house. We have so many big trees that it’s impossible to photograph the moon close the horizon where it can be yellow orange. Still – I liked what I got…pleased that my hands could hold the camera steady enough for the ‘night scene’ setting to work.

March 09, 2020

Brookside in the Cold

March 09, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week I was at Brookside Gardens for their annual all-volunteer training. I got there a few minutes early to see the witch hazel in bloom. It was a very cold and blustery morning, so I only went to one location where I knew there were trees. One seemed a little past full bloom….another still had a lot of the streamers on its flowers!

But – there were other things in bloom too in the same area! There was winter jasmine,

Paper-bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) which I hadn’t noticed before, and

Camellias.

2020 02 IMG_8199 (10).jpg — The camellias prompted me to walk over to the Children’s Garden. It was empty of children (early and cold) but it was evident that it would be a fun place for children to visit in warmer times.

And then I made a brisk walk around to the front of the visitor center to get warm and enjoy the training session.

March 07, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 7, 2020

March 07, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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.

Chasing Little Frost Trees in a Prairie Wetland | The Prairie Ecologist – We haven’t have many days for me to look for frost trees here in Maryland this year. This is always a matter of taking advantage of a frosty sunny day when it’s fun to look for interesting frost formations on exposed surfaces – grass – windshields, etc.

Stoneflies and mayflies, canaries of our streams – It’s great to see an article about the adult forms of the insects we collect as macroinvertebrates (larval form) when we do water quality monitoring either quarterly or with high school students on a field trip to a river.

Earthquakes in and around Yellowstone: How Often Do They Occur? – There are lots of them! About 5 that are strong enough to be felt have happened each year over the past decade.

Top strategies for successful weight loss maintenance-- ScienceDaily - Choosing healthy food, tracking what you eat and using positive self-talk….seems like common sense, but it is not ‘easy’ and so we struggle on. It comes down to making changes for the long term rather than just for a little while. New habits are always tough but, once truly habitual, become just the way be live our lives.

Eero Järnefelt, painter of Finnish nature | Europeana Blog – Images of the natural world in the late 1800s. Koli National Park in eastern Finland was visited by the painter frequently.

Sustainable Farming Comes to America's Heartland | CleanTechnica – Iowa farmers…leading with their actions…responding to climate and environmental changes to farm better.

Can we heat buildings without burning fossil fuels? - BBC Future – Capturing heat from nearby places…using it for heating. It’s geothermal in the cities!

Bloom in McMurdo Sound – Green swirls in the water off Antarctica (some of the green color might be on the ice as well.

Camera Trap Chronicles: Cool Critters of New Hampshire – Maybe sometime we’ll put our camera, currently pointed at the birdfeeder, in another location….see what comes into our backyard. I know we have deer but there could be other things as well. Our camera already picked up what looked like a racoon on our deck.

Top 25 birds of the week: groups of birds – Beautiful birds…a good ‘last addition’ to the gleanings list this week.

March 06, 2020

Winter Yard

March 06, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

We haven’t had very much winter weather this year. Last week I walked around my yard looking for early signs of spring and I found some. The bulbs are coming up. Daffodils and maybe an old hyacinth bulb have come up in the leaf mulch I left in the front flower beds.

There are some irises too. I’m not sure when they came up; they all have leaf damage so they may have emerged very early during a warm spell. They haven’t bloomed the last few years, but the leaves are tough enough that the deer usually don’t bother them.

The little holly that came up in the bush by the garage is growing enough that I’ll trim back the deciduous bush that has always been a challenge to keep trimmed. I’ll let the holly take over!

Under the deck where the moss died back in last summer’s drought, we have ferns that seem to be enjoying this warm winter in their protected location. I’ll spread some compost around them.

The red maple buds are swelling. The tree has had less success in making seeds these past few years with a cold snap coming as the blooms are full and vulnerable. Hope that doesn’t happen this year.

I took a picture from another vantage point of our bird feeder and the camera. The deck is 1 story off the ground where I am standing. My office window is visible in the right of the picture.

Overall, the yard looks pretty good. It hasn’t rained hard enough to make any muddy spots without grass. So far it looks like my decision to mow the leaves into the yard is working very well. There are some sticks around the base of the oak and sycamore that I need to pick up…and the front flower beds need to be cleaned out. Maybe I’ll start those chores on our next warm day.

March 05, 2020

Robinson Nature Center - Inside

March 05, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I was at Robinson Nature Center for my usual Sunday afternoon volunteering for the saltwater Touch Tank. It was a relatively busy day; there seemed to be more people in the room that usual when I started (I had one of the older children help me set up) and families seemed to just keep stopping by to see and touch the sea critters. The animals were tolerant enough of my handling and the children’s gentle (one finger) touches to still show off when they were on their own: the milk conch eating algae from the sand and the chocolate chip sea star holding firmly to the glass side.

In the only lull of the afternoon, I took a few pictures of the new extension to the wall painting in the Discovery Room. My favorite is the sycamore trees in winter.

The tulip poplar seed pods are in the scene too.

And then there are critters!

There are some people sketched into the scene…maybe the painting will be further along next time I am at Robinson.

March 04, 2020

Flower Photography Experiments

March 04, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

My husband and I set up a vase of flowers with lights and cameras on our kitchen island for some photography experiments. It was a good winter-time activity for us.

My first experiment was with my Canon SX 730 HS in macro (flower symbol) mode. I tried handheld at first…but the tripod made for the better pictures. The shallow depth of field is always a challenge.

Next I put a petal on a clip in front of the light source and used my 15x macro clip-on macro lens with my Samsung phone. Both of the pictures below were taken with the light shining through the petal.

A day or so later I realized that it would be handy to have a light source that I could easily take into the field for macro shots of things like macroinvertebrates. The solution I came up with was my iPad.

I simply turn the screen to its brightest…bring up something that is a white screen…and put the specimen on top of the iPad. Then I can use my phone’s camera with a clip-on macro lens or

Rest the phone on a jeweler’s loupe (the one I have is 22x magnification).

For macroinvertebrates that are in some drops of water, I could protect the iPad by covering it with a clear plastic bag. Depth of field is still a big issue; the specimens that will look the best are ones that are flatter and not too opaque.

March 02, 2020

Robinson Nature Center - Outside

March 02, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I was at Robinson Nature Center on two sunny days. On the first day I was volunteering to photograph a public program (a class for adults teaching or volunteering young children). I took a few pictures of the building through the dried plants in the center of the circular drive

And some witch-hazel that was blooming near the water feature to the right of the walk into the nature center. The bright color of the witch-hazel stands out this time of year.

I had gone to the training offered by Robinson to photograph for them….the types of photographs they need for grants, brochures, posters. It is a different kind of photography than I normally attempt – a lot of people in action…capturing the essence of a program. As part of the sign-up process for a public program, the participants sign a waiver for the center to photograph them during the program (and that was my assignment). It’s a new photographic challenge for me and I hope Robinson can use some of the results.

There was a short hike during the program and I took a few seconds to photograph some sights along the short trail rather than people. Skunk cabbage was coming up and blooming near the stream that flows into the Middle Patuxent nearby and

Snowdrops were already blooming.

I couldn’t resist a picture of a tall snag (where piliated woodpeckers nested last year) – its the tall trunk with no branches a little to the right of center. Can you pick out the sycamores too?

The next day I was back for another volunteer gig – opening the saltwater Touch Tank for an hour. I got to Robinson early enough to do a little ‘cell phone’ photography.