Gleanings of the Week Ending November 27, 2021

/

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.

Lots of wonderful photography posts to enjoy this week: Winners of the Weather Photographer of the Year Contest Celebrate the Beauty of Nature, West Coast Landscape Photographer Perfectly Captures the Region’s Magical Vistas, Awe-Inspiring Winners of the 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards, and Photographer Zooms in on the “Hidden Beauty” of Small Seeds and Fruits – Not sure why there seemed to be so many of these in my feeds this week….

What is Play-Doh made of? – Thinking of toys this time of year….play-doh is something that has been around a long time. We don’t have any young children in our immediate family and I’m missing the joy of watching a child at play.

How your house will go carbon free – Efficiency and renewable energy. At least some of the technologies already exist and many can be retrofitted into existing houses.

Armadillos advance northward as temperature rises – I remember seeing armadillos years ago in Texas when we were camping….maybe we’ll be seeing them closer to Missouri and Maryland in the near future – although hopefully not digging up my yard.

Catching up on Top 25 birds of the week: Breeding and November 2021 – I am ready to do some birding…my husband registered us for a birding hike in a Baltimore hike in December and I hope the pandemic will wane enough that the birding festivals will be back in 2022.

Red, White and Green: Winter Colors in Arches are Awaiting You – My husband and I visited some of the Utah parks in October several years ago…and there was already a dusting of snow on some of the mornings and in the mountains. Maybe we’ll go in November next time.

California Condors Surprise Scientists With Two ‘Virgin Births’ – Maybe this happens in other species too. There was no way to verify the phenomenon before genetic testing became available.  

Seeing Red: What the Color of House Finches Can Tell Us – House Finches are frequent visitors to our bird feeders. It was good to learn more about them from this blog post.

For women, greater exposure to estrogen in life may protect brain regions that are vulnerable to Alzheimer’s – This post left me wondering if estrogen mimics in our environment (i.e. pollution) might be protective as well…and, if so, will younger women be less likely to experience brain shrinkage after menopause than the older generations of women are experiencing.  

Why mandatory vaccination is nothing new – A little history of vaccine mandates. I didn’t know that George Washington required all troops to be inoculated against smallpox in 1777!

Country Life (magazine) in 1918

/

The two volumes of Country Life Magazine from 1918 (V34 and V35) include articles about World War I as it was ending. The illustrations are in color and worth a look --- a window into the way people were thinking about the war just as it was ending…before the passing of time made it into history.

There are also photographs. The one of the US Capitol at night with a reflection of the dome is appealing; photography has always been a technology that can be art as well as utility.   

The other articles in the magazines depict life continuing in relatively ‘normal’ fashion for wealthy people of the time.

It was a very different time than we find ourselves a little over 100 years later although there are similarities too. The 1918 flu was continuing and would eventually kill more people than the war; there were few effective treatments and no vaccine as we have for COVID-19. The capitol in 1918 was not a place a crowd of people would attack although there was a frenzy in the country with social change (increasing industrialization and a migration of population to the cities, electricity becoming more widespread, etc.) that led to the roaring 20s and then the crash into the Great Depression of the 1930s.

My Blog’s 10th Anniversary

/

I started my blog 10 years ago this month. It was part of my transition from being career focused for more than 40 years. And I’ve kept it going – it’s an enjoyable daily rhythm for me. I’m savoring my history of the past decade in this post.

The blog posts from 2011 included a trip to Longwood Gardens and a long road trip to Tucson, Arizona (with photos of rest stops along the way) where my daughter was in graduate school. I stated the gleanings of the week and enjoyed posting recipes and photographs of places I was visiting. The new technology was a Kindle Fire; I was making the transition from physical to digital books…it would take several more years to complete the transition and I’d graduated from the Kindle Fire to an iPad, Smartphone (and laptop) for reading. Some of my favorite posts form 2011 include: Recipe of the Week: Homemade Soup for a Cold Day, Water Lily Pictures, and 10 Cosmetics from the Kitchen.

In 2012, I started the monthly ‘10 days of little celebrations’ and experienced the trauma of my parents getting older…beginning to experience substantial health problems. We added a bird feeder on our deck – visible from my office window and I started enjoying birdwatching through the window. Some of my favorite posts include: Birds from my Office Window, Gray Day Reflections, Yucca Seed Pods, and Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2012.

The next year I started the zooming and free eBooks posts. Over the years my camera’s optical zoom capabilities have improved dramatically and I enjoy using it to get better images. By this time, I was almost completely transitioned to digital books too. We made a road trip to Florida for a satellite launch at Cape Canaveral and I got my first close view of Sandhill Cranes in the Orlando airport cell phone lot waiting for my daughter to arrive. Some of my favorite posts close to that anniversary include: 3 Free eBooks - December 2013, Sandhill Cranes in Florida - November 2013, Herons in Florida - November 2013, and Zooming - December 2013.

In 2014, I started my effort to reduce the ‘stuff’ we had accumulated from living for more than 25 years in our house. My volunteer work has gradually increased…and would be easily sustained until the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of my favorite posts from the end of 2014 include: The Grand Cleanout - December 2014, December Sunrise, and Fall Field Trips.

The big event at the end of 2015 was our travel to the big island of Hawaii…including a day trip to the top of Maunakea. It was an wonderful experience but I find myself wondering if I ever want to take a long flight like that again.

2016 was our first birding festival – the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache. We also discovered the Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam, closer to home. I started my monthly Zentangle posts. Here are some sample posts: Highlights of 2016, Conowingo - December 2016, Zentangle® – November 2016, and First Day at Bosque del Apache.

I started the monthly eBotantical Prints posts in November 2017. I’d been browsing historical botanical books in the last decade of my career and was beginning to figure out a way to share my list. At the time I thought that I had about exhausted the supply, but I’ve continued to add 20 or so books every month until there are now over 2,200 books on the list!

In 2018 we attended our second Festival of the Cranes in New Mexico then enjoyed the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival early in 2019.

In the last few months of 2019, there was a last road trip with my parents at Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the Christmas lights near home and planned for a birding festival in Laredo, TX in the early part of 2020.

As we were coming back from the Laredo birding festival, COVID-19 was in the news and soon we were ‘staying at home as much as possible’. By November 2020, we were anticipating that a vaccine was going to become available and the pandemic would end. We were doing virtual birding festivals and otherwise keeping ourselves happy at or close to home.

And here I am in November 2021, still not like I was pre-pandemic. I enjoy many of the same things I have in the past 10 years, but I am not out venturing into crowds…not flying. I am facing a health challenge of my own (cancer). My parents are home bound in Texas, and I have made visiting them my rationale for 3 road trips since the spring when I became fully vaccinated. At this point, it is not the pandemic that causes most of my anxiety, but the changed behavior (sometimes abrasive and violent) of people under stress that has become so apparent over the past year.

The blog continues…it’s a way to document my present….and notice the subtle changes in the way I am ‘living well.’

Texas to Springfield, MO

/

I got up early on my last day in Texas – starting a load of sheets and towels before I loaded up the ice chest…got everything in the car; early enough to step outside in the cold morning to photograph the sunrise.

I was away by about 7:30 AM thinking I was going to experience a lot of Dallas rush hour traffic but most of it was going in the other direction; I was heading north – away from the city. My first stop was the ‘Welcome to Oklahoma’ rest stop provided by the Choctaw nation.  It was the first of two highway rest stops along my 6 hour route.

The other stops along the way were commercial gas/travel stops. The one at Atoka was nice. My daughter commented that she had good experiences at facilities owned/operated by the Indian tribes (cleaner…employees more likely to be wearing masks (and wearing them correctly)); I’ll try more of those next time I drive the route.

The last stop of the drive was at the Welcome Center in Missouri on I-44. The trees there were still full of fall leaves and I anticipated that my time in Springfield might be the best fall foliage of the trip!

The drive was easier than the previous ones along the route because 1) it was sunny (rather than raining) and 2) I had my new TxTag that worked for the Oklahoma tolls as well!

30 Years Ago – November 1991

/

In November 30 years ago, my two-year-old daughter wanted to be outdoors as much as possible. Playing in the leaves was her favorite activity there. She was relatively neat about it most of the time. She kept herself busy while I raked our back yard.

She developed a strategy of saying ‘not yet’ rather than ‘no and her day care provider was trying to teach her to whistle (with some success). Her favorite movie was “Fantasia.” I was already beginning to look at preschools for her to start the next summer or fall…had a Montessori school identified.

We were saving for a grand piano…more on that in upcoming months.

Both my husband and I were busy at work…and I was getting 4 crowns (temporaries at first and then the permanent ones). All 4 of those crowns were very durable; the first replacement happened this year; the other three seem to still be in good shape.

It was a mostly at month we spent at home (my husband made one short business trip to Boston)…catching up on work and getting ready for a busy December!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 13, 2021

/

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.

The great experiment to put a price on nature – Whether it’s toting up ecosystem services or simply realizing that Mother Earth is our one and only…we should all realize that we need to start taking care of ‘nature’ a lot better than we have in the past.

Microplastics May Be Impacting the Climate, Study Finds – A starting point for combining climate science and microplastic science into a model….still a lot if refinement/additions. We already know that the microplastics in our atmosphere are increasing so whatever impact they have it will likely be increasing during the time the model is being refined.

Ancient Stone Ram Heads Unearthed on Egypt’s ‘Avenue of the Sphinxes’ – New finds…and part of an advertisement for some restored places reopening in early November. Are tourists ready to travel again to places like Egypt?

Spending time in nature promotes early childhood development – A study from metro Vancouver of 27,372 children from birth to age 5… that pushes us to get serious about making sure spaces for children include a lot green space…that includes day care and preschools and K within the age range for this study. And while we are doing that – let’s think about how important green space is to everyone else too.

Meet the muskrat: push-up champion of cattail marshes – This article made me wonder if muskrats eat phragmites – and a plant that is taking over marshes. I found an article that says they do…at least in some situations.

Changing ocean currents are driving extreme winter weather – Looking at the impact of the slowing Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and extreme cold weather (like in Texas last February) using a high-resolution global climate model. They’ve only done the simplest model (turning off the AMOC) so far…but plan to refine it to address the more complex reality.

Finding Fall Colors At Bandelier National Monument – I hope everyone found someplace to enjoy fall colors these past few weeks. My main opportunities were in my own backyard and as I was driving down the highway between Maryland and Texas!

Cheers! Wine’s red grape pulp offers nutritional bounty – Not compost or fodder...getting more than wine from vineyards!

Hit the sleep ‘sweet spot’ to keep brain sharp – Evidently 5.5-7.5 hours of self-reported sleep is about right.

2021 EPSON International Pano Awards Celebrate the Creativity of Panoramic Photography – Enjoy some eye candy as the last of this week’s gleanings!

Snapshots of Indigenous Decorative Art in the early 1900s

/

This week the two books-of-the-week are about decorative art published in the early 1900s about native cultures on opposites sides of the world: The Huichol in Mexico and the Amur tribes in Russia/China (along the Amur River). Both have a relationship to clothing ornamentation.

The sample image from Decorative art of the Huichol Indians by Carl Lumholtz (1904) has a pattern called ‘double water-gourd’ in a ribbon and girdle.

The Decorative Art of the Amur Tribes  by Berthold Laufer(1902) also included designs in metal and ceramics. The designs are common in the broader Chinese decorative arts showing the long-term exchange and cultural linkage with these tribes to the rest of China…at least in the early 1900s. The sample image I chose includes a boot – showing how clothing items incorporated decoration.

I like browsing the books and letting the designs prompt Zentangle tiles. I am reminded that art is not static. It is a representation of the moment it was created – a communication through material culture into the future – different but as potent as the written word.

90 Years

/

Both of my parents are 90 years old this year. I’ve been thinking about the events of their lives and what has happened in the world during their lifetimes.

Their lives began during the Great Depression. They were both born at home; both families were living in rural Oklahoma and grew most of their own food. They were too young to fully realize the stress around the country…secure with their family and small rural community.

Their school memories are from the 1940s --- the World War II era. Their fathers were too old to go to war so the impact of the war on their families was indirect…primarily the rationing programs. Both went to schools where there was only a small cohort at each grade level. Later in their lives they attended high school reunions occassionally – keeping in touch with that small group that had mostly scattered across the country.

They were in college in the early 1950s – the boom years with the GI Bill funding returning veterans and college being encouraged for those just graduating from high school. My parents were ‘first generation’ to college for their families. They married, left the farm, and had 3 of their 4 children during the decade. My dad’s career stayed related to agriculture initially – at first requiring a lot of traveling and then into management of grain storage.

By the 1960s, they were in Texas living in a small city…children in public schools, living in an air-conditioned house (an important thing in the Texas summer). The big health improvement was the availability of the polio vaccine (we all got the vaccine via sugar cubes at school) and the waning of smallpox around the world even though we were still required to get updated vaccines when we traveled to Mexico.  In the mid-60s my mother returned to college for a degree in education…a career she started in the 1970s. My dad’s parents moved from Oklahoma to the same small city in Texas.

In the early 1970s, they moved to a suburb of a big city. They bought a house that accommodated the whole family, including my dad’s parents. My dad had transitioned completely from an agriculture related career to financial management and planning. My mother was teaching. All 4 of their daughters graduated from high school and went to Texas colleges (the last one just starting at the end of the decade). One daughter got married. My parents’ fathers died during the decade. Somehow everyone managed to stay ahead of inflation and pay mortgages that were high interest compared to today.

The 1980s were a very busy decade with careers of the whole family in high gear. My father was coming adept at digital spreadsheets…my mother was focused on reading for students in upper elementary and middle school. The youngest daughter graduated from college. One daughter (me) moved halfway across the country to the east coast and two others got married. My maternal grandmother died. Toward the end of the decade, the first two grandchildren were born.

In the 1990’s, my parents retired from their careers; they travelled and took care of grandchildren and helped with home maintenance (a total of 5 houses in the family!). Three more grandchildren were born, and the older ones started school.

Similar activities continued in the 2000s changing as the grandchildren got older…the oldest ones starting college.

In the 2010s, travel and engagement with family continued in a similar way for the first part of the decade; by the middle of the decade someone else was doing the driving on road trips and they stopped driving completely by the end of the decade. My paternal grandmother died; she had been living in the same house with my parents since the 1970s. Health challenges began to emerge for both parents…intermittent at first and then slowing them down in the last years of the decade. They both benefited from cataract surgery. Other surgeries and injuries required more recovery time…and sometimes recovery was not complete.

The last road trip was for Thanksgiving in 2019…to be with a grandchild. Not long afterward the COVID-19 pandemic locked down travel and they discovered the comfort of ‘stay at home as much as possible.’ Recently they have transitioned to primary care practice that comes to their home for checkups, blood work and most other health needs. Their children and grandchildren come to them now. If they leave their home, it is a very special event. Four of their five grandchildren have college degrees – one has an MD…another a PhD. There aren’t any great-grandchildren – yet.

So many changes have occurred since they were born. Electricity and indoor plumbing were just beginning to be available on farms when they were born. They bought their first air-conditioned home in the early 1960s. Computers came along in the 1980s.

And now – my sisters and I are thankful they are still with us – still enjoying living independently in their home with support from the family, neighbors, doctors, and house cleaners – getting close to celebrating 70 years of married life.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 6, 2021

/

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 do we hate trash birds? – A little about the way we dismiss birds we see frequently (maybe too frequently) and the difference in the birds viewed that way in the US and Australia. The Australian white ibis is nicknamed ‘bin chicken’! Here in the US, some people think of pigeons and Canada geese and mallards as ‘trash birds.’

Flu and heart disease: The surprising connection that should convince you to schedule your shot – Flu vaccines save lives…particularly lives of people with heart disease. An improvement the article suggests: make sure cardiologists stress the need to get the flu vaccine to their patients – not just assuming the primary care doctor will do it.

AAA: Vehicle auto safety systems often fail when driving in heavy rain – I’ve observed this several times but is the first time I’ve seen the recommendation to ‘avoid using cruise control in wet and slippery conditions.’ The cars should probably provide warning messages more overtly to not rely on certain driver aids in bad weather.

By 2500 Earth could be alien to humans – The projections of models used now are out to 2100…that is not far enough into the future. We can’t assume that we’ll succeed in reversing climate change by that time…or maybe we are collectively so pessimistic right now that we think the world will end by 2100.

How to make sustainable choices for a long life and a healthy planet – A summary of some recent studies on health/diet choices and the relationship to climate change. It turns out that it’s pretty easy to eliminate some of the most unhealthy items like soft drinks and foods with lots of sugar. It’s a learning experience to shift to meals to plant based protein…for me – it’s still a work in progress.

The plastic recycling system is broken – here’s how to fix it – I agree that it is broken…but I’m not sure that what is suggested in the article would be enough. We need packaging solutions that are not plastic at all! I have tried to eliminate as much single use plastic as I can since even with perfect recycling, I’m not sure I want things like food to be in plastic packaging (how can we know that the plastic is safe for food). There are so many items that you can’t buy without plastic packaging. The consumer is forced to be part of the problem even if they want to be part of the solution.

How a simple tummy-rub can change babies' lives – Maybe baby massage techniques should be incorporated in all baby care courses, videos, and books!

7 underrated creepy creatures – A little hold-over on the Halloween theme.

From Homes to Cars, It’s Now Time to Electrify Everything – My existing house has a gas hot water heater and furnace; the other appliances are already electric and I drive a plug-in hybrid which means that most of my around town driving is in an EV. But I don’t have solar panels. My plan is to move in the next year or so and quickly arrange for solar panel installation and transition the house to be all-electric. Next step would be the addition of battery storage. I’m also intrigued by the idea of a wind wall (see next item on the gleanings list).

This ingenious wall would harness enough wind power to cover your electric bill – This could be something that would work for more homes and businesses than solar...particularly if they were relatively inexpensive to produce. There is an aesthetic appeal too.

eBotanical Prints – November 2021

/

20 botanical print books browsed in October and added to the list. The browsing seemed to clump by topic and some series. There were 2 volumes about plant fossils, 2 about flower/plant art, 2 books about apples, 5 about the flora of Austria (from the 1770s) 5 about flora around London from the same time period, and 2 about the grasses of Iowa.  Both the apple and grasses volumes were from the early 1900s; I wondered how many of the varieties in these publications still exist. Overall – a lot of variety in the October 2021 books.  

The whole list of 2,249 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the October books is at the end of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the October eBotanical Prints!

Atlas to the coal flora of Pennsylvania, and of the carboniferous formation throughout the United States * Lesquereaux, Leo * sample image * 1879

The Palæontological report : as prepared for the Geological report of Kentucky * Lesquereaux, Leo * sample image * 1857

Lessons in Flower Painting * Andrews, James * sample image * 1836

Sketchbook on pines and cactus * Roetter, Paulus * sample image * 1848

Art forms in nature : examples from the plant world photographed direct from nature * Blossfeldt, Karl * sample image * 1929

The bamboo garden * Freemon-Mitford, Algernon Bertram * sample image * 1896

The Apples of New York V1 * Beach, Spencer Ambrose; Booth, Nathaniel Ogden; Taylor, Orrin Morehouse * sample image * 1905

The Apples of New York V2 * Beach, Spencer Ambrose; Booth, Nathaniel Ogden; Taylor, Orrin Morehouse * sample image * 1905

Florae Austriacae V1 * Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Scheidl, Franz Anton von (illustrator) * sample image * 1773

Florae Austriacae V4 * Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Scheidl, Franz Anton von (illustrator) * sample image * 1776

Florae Austriacae V2 * Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Scheidl, Franz Anton von (illustrator) * sample image * 1774

Florae Austriacae V3 * Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Scheidl, Franz Anton von (illustrator) * sample image * 1775

Florae Austriacae V5 * Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Scheidl, Franz Anton von (illustrator) * sample image * 1778

Flora Londinensis - V1 * Curtis, William et al * sample image * 1777

Flora Londinensis - V2 * Curtis, William et al * sample image * 1777

Flora Londinensis - V3 * Curtis, William et al * sample image * 1777

Flora Londinensis - V4 * Curtis, William et al * sample image * 1777

Flora Londinensis - V5 * Curtis, William et al * sample image * 1777

The grasses of Iowa V1 * Pammel, Louis Hermann; Weems, Julius Buel; Lamson-Schribner, F. * sample image * 1901

The grasses of Iowa V2 * Pammel, Louis Hermann; Ball, Carleton R.; Lamson-Schribner, F. * sample image * 1904

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 30, 2021

/

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.

Environmentally friendly ways to cool homes – This will be an increasingly ‘hot’ topic for individuals and various levels of business and government. Many electrical utilities are already seeing increased energy consumption during the summer.

What’s Up with White Squirrels and Black Squirrels? – I haven’t seen any white squirrels but we have the occasional black one in our neighborhood (in Maryland).

Medical errors keep killing patients – but there are laws, incentives and mindset changes that could reduce the death toll – Medical mistakes are s leading cause of death, behind heard disease and cancer. This should not be the case. Surely incentives can be used to force changes to the unacceptable status quo.

Deaths linked to ‘hormone disruptor’ chemical costs billions of lost US productivity – A study that included more than 5,000 adults ages 55-64 done by NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The people with the highest concentrations of phthalates in their urine were more likely to die of heart disease than those with lesser exposure. I am no longer storing food in plastic containers unless they phthalate free…the bigger problem is cosmetics/hygiene products. It’s hard to know which ones have it.

Why are you seeing lots of vultures now? – Our area has resident turkey and black vultures…we see a few all year long. In the fall we might see an uptick because of vultures from further north migrating through.

Mushroom consumption may lower risk of depression – Yet another reason to enjoy mushrooms in your diet!

US Moving Towards 30% Electricity from Wind & Solar – By 2026! That is not that far away. I know I’ll probably have solar panels on the roof of my house well before that (and probably some energy storage as well).

Possible Mammoth Butchery Site Found in Arctic Circle – On an island off the northern coast of East Siberia. At the time the animal was killed (26,000 years ago), sea levels were lower, and the island was connected to the mainland.

Nature-based activities can improve mood and reduce anxiety – A metastudy that looked at 50 studies and 14,321 NBI records done by the University of York. Interestingly – they didn’t find that the activities improved physical health!

It’s Time to Ban Gas-Powered Landscaping Equipment – We already have some electric landscaping equipment: blower, trimmer, weed eater. The mower will be next. I am looking forward to it since I notice the exhaust smell and get a scratchy throat every time I mow.

Art and Archaeology – An Illustrated Magazine

/

There are 11 volumes of the Art and Archaeology magazine from 1914-1923 available on Internet Archive; it was published in Baltimore. Most of the illustrations are black and white photographs but there are occasional color ones. I enjoyed finding pictures that looked familiar…and realizing how long some of the places and artifacts have been featured in magazines: the Aztec and Maya from Central America; buildings in Greece and Italy and Spain and France from Europe; Egypt, Babylon, and Petra from the Middle East; the desert Southwest and Lincoln of the US….and these are just what is represented in the 2 sample images I picked from each volume. Some of the places are probably a bit more worn from tourists and damaged by air pollution 100 years later…some have been restored. Maybe I will do a side by side look at some historical pictures of a place I visit (when I start doing that kind of traveling again).

I hope that more of volumes of this magazine become available as the copyright expires; it was published into the 1930s. For now – enjoy the sample images below by clicking through the 22 images…or go to the volumes directly by following the 11 links.

V1 (1914-1915), V2 (1915), V3 (1916-1), V4 (1916-2), V5 (1917), V7 (1918), V9-10 (1920), V11-12 (1921), V13-14 (1922), V15 (1923 - 1), V16 (1923 -2)

Zooming – October 2021

/

I selected 19 images to represent this month.  Here are some stats:

  • The normal locations for photography: home(2) and neighborhood (1)…and then day trips to Patuxent Research Refuge (5) and Longwood Gardens (11).

  • 6 indoors (including the conservatory at Longwood Gardens and a high key image of a day lily from my office)…the rest outdoors

  • 17 plants (2 fiddleheads and 6 waterlilies), a bird and squirrels

Enjoy the slideshow for the October zoomed images!

I’m saving most of the fall foliage pictures for next month!

Longwood Gardens – WaterLilies

/

The water lily court at Longwood Gardens was open and beautiful. I am always fascinated by the large Victoria waterlily (the ones at Longwood are ones that they created in 1960 – a cross between Victoria amazonica and Victoria cruziana). The pads unfurl from the center and the outer edge stays vertical – showing the red underside of the pad. The flowers look like crepe paper as they unfurl rather than the spikey flowers of the other waterlilies. The buds have bristles. Look through my Victoria images by using the forward and backward arrows at the sides.

Of course – the other waterlilies are almost as exciting to photograph and they have brilliant colors. My husband had provided a polarizing filter for my camera which helps to surround the flowers with black background – sometimes. There were not many bees (late in the season for waterlilies) but I did notice one bee butt when I got home and selected images to use in this post. And there is one hibiscus in the slide show; I couldn’t resist the flaring of the petals…the color and shadows.

I always enjoy the waterlily court so I’m glad we got to see it during the first time back to Longwood since before the pandemic (I almost said post-pandemic but we’re not quite there yet!). It’s a great place for photography and has lots of benches to just enjoy the pools of waterlilies…and other water-loving plants lining the walls of the court and in pots standing in the water.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 23, 2021

/

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.

Roman noblewoman’s tomb reveals secrets of ancient concrete resilience – This research has application to the future: transitioning to Roman-like concrete could reduce the energy emissions of concrete production and installation by 85%...and improve the longevity of concrete by orders of magnitude.

How to bring more clean energy into our homes – It’s hard to know what to do that will make the most difference in decarbonization. Electrification is good…as long as the energy used to create the electricity is renewable. This article is explaining one attempt to make it simpler…but it doesn’t seem like it goes far enough.

Does the world need more sharks? – Evidently when sharks decline, herbivores increase and seagrass declines….resulting in less carbon sequestration in sea vegetation. So – more sharks would improve our climate change situation!

The incredible opportunity of community schoolyards – Transforming paved public schoolyard by adding trees, gardens and stormwater management systems and opening them to the public after hours….what’s not to like? It is good for children and the community…and reduces the heat island around the school.

Recycled concrete and CO2 from the air are made into a new building material – Potentially another way to reduce the energy and emissions to produce concrete…but there is still a challenge to make it strong enough for all the current places we use concrete - to make calcium carbonate concrete viable in the future.

10 Writing Awards for Cool Green Science – Some of the 10 have probably be in my gleanings before…but they are worth looking at again.

We need to talk about your gas stove, your health and climate change – 35 years ago, I thought gas stoves were wonderful….but I haven’t had one since 1986, and I won’t buy a house in the future with one (or I will replace it immediately). My current house does have a gas hot water heater and furnace…but I plan to jettison those too. And I don’t want a gas fireplace either!

Clean air matters for a healthy brain – I check the Air Quality Index on Weather.com and there are too many days that the PMI2.5 level is ‘yellow’ where I live now in Maryland. I try to not spend a lot of time outdoors on those days.  It’s another something to think about when/if I move out of the area.

The American Bumblebee Has Vanished From Eight States – The 8 states are: Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon. That doesn’t mean other places are much better. They have declined 99% in New York; 50% in the Midwest and Southeast.

Large scale solar parks cool surrounding land – The observation is interesting. I wonder if the solar parks that I’ve seen frequently around airports in the US are large enough to make up for the heat island effect of all the concrete and asphalt surfaces of the airports.

Hildegarde Hawthorne on Internet Archive

/

Hildegarde Hawthorne was the granddaughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne and a writer as well. I found 6 of her books on Internet Archive from the early 1900s – easy to browse. She lived until 1952 and continued writing so there are probably others that will become available as their copyright expires. The last one is probably my favorite.

Girls in Bookland

Old Seaport Towns of New England with illustrations by John Albert Seaford

Rambles in old college towns with illustrations by John Albert Seaford. The second picture below is the library tower at Cornell; it’s surrounded by more buildings now…I remember it from my daughter’s undergraduate days.

New York with illustrations by Lewis Martin

30 years ago – October 1991

/

Looking back at the pictures from October 1991 – it was a pleasant month. Work was still challenging but not as overwhelming as it had been in the previous months. One of my sisters came to visit with the priority to enjoy activities with my two-year-old daughter. We went on a steam train trip near Gettysburg, visited a toy store in Ellicott City, and bought apples at a local orchard (my daughter ate an apple on the spot to the delight of the owner).  I remember the outing to Mount Vernon vividly. We had lunch in the restaurant with my daughter in a highchair (antique style) pushed up to the table; she was thrilled with the arrangement and enjoyed the meal tremendously…charmed the wait staff. Then we opted to not go through the house…enjoying the grounds thoroughly. She hugged a big tree that George Washington had planted!

My sister was moving into a new house and had packed everything before her visit…and then moved almost immediately when she returned to Texas. It was a busy month for her. Another sister was pregnant with her second child and had some difficulties early in the month which were quickly resolved to the relief of the whole family. My parents were still working and trying to help everyone through the flurry of the month.

The leaves started to fall later in the month and my daughter became more enthusiastic than ever about being outdoors. Leaves and acorns are easily picked up and enjoyed. Her favorite movie was ‘Little Mermaid.’ She finally made the connection between saying numbers and counting things; that was the big ‘light bulb’ moment of her development in October 1991.

1991 10img021 (21).jpg

We borrowed a special costume for my daughter’s Halloween – a flowerpot for the body and headpiece with big yellow petals for around her face. It was very cute but not something she liked very much.  At that point in her life, she was not eating candy so there was little joy for her that Halloween!

1991 10img021 (23).jpg

Great memories from 30 years ago…

Cancer Diary – Entry 1

/

This is the first in a series of posts that I am writing as I make my way through the medical system after a cancer diagnosis….not focusing directly on the medical diagnosis or treatment…documenting the timeline, feelings and swirl of decisions that emerge over the coming weeks…and maybe months.

My doctor called in the early evening to give me the diagnosis from my biopsy. I appreciated the call and how he stayed positive re successful treatment but emphasized the next steps that needed to be taken. My first reaction was to fit in the surgery with what I already had on my calendar – which included almost a month-long road trip.  I shared the news with my husband; he was surprised since I am so rarely sick at all; I’ve only been in the hospital overnight twice in my life….and one of those was when I had my daughter!

During the hour or so between going to bed and getting to sleep, realized that my priorities needed to shift. I was too anxious about the diagnosis to not get the surgery as soon as possible. Early the next morning I sent a message via the doctor’s portal to indicate the change in my thinking. And started looking up fact sheets from the surgery center he’d recommended…and finding resources that rounded out what he had told me on the phone. I started a list of questions for the appointment with the doctor the next day….focused on the surgery and the medications required immediately and then after the surgery.

The doctor’s assistant called to confirm that she’d sent my records to the surgeon’s office and to give them a few hours before calling to get an initial appointment lined up with them.

I talked with my daughter and one of my sisters. Both were surprised and supportive of what I need to do.

I called the recommended surgeon’s office and made an appointment as a new patient. It is 2 weeks out…not too bad even though I would like to get started toward surgery faster. I now have yet another medical related portal too!

Overall – 24 hours into the experience, I’m pleased that there is forward momentum. I’m not sure how I’ll handle the 2 weeks of waiting…or the prospect of more weeks before the surgery can occur. Cancer is scary. I’m beginning to think about ways to keep myself busy enough to not be dragged unto a swirl of increasing anxiety.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 16, 2021

/

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.

How to Easily Catch Spotted Lanternflies Using a Water Bottle – These insects have invaded Maryland, but I haven’t seen them yet. Maybe this is a reason to put an empty plastic water bottle in the car – just in case.

Exposure to deadly urban heat worldwide has tripled in recent decades, says study – On of the topics in the schoolyard field trip for 6th graders was heat islands – it’s a good example of the impact of climate change around the world.

Smoky Clouds That Form Over Wildfires Produce Less Rain – Drought…forests burning…and then less rain. Aargh!

8 Fall Nature Experiences to Enjoy – There are so many things to enjoy in the outdoors during the fall – as the heat of summer fades away.

Exploring The Parks: 10 Historic Sites To Visit This Fall – More ideas for fall activities. I’ve been to all the sites they list that are on the east coast…but not necessarily in the fall.

NASA and USGS Launch Landsat 9 – The first Landsat was launched in July 1972 – the year my husband and I graduated from high school.

A new solid-state battery surprises the researchers who created it – Solid state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode – faster charge rates at room to low temperatures. There is a lot of battery research going on now …coming up with batteries that will help achieve the grid storage and transportation needs of the future.

Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change And Say Governments Are Failing Them – It’s not just young people that have this anxiety. Everyone I know has climate change anxiety….and say governments are failing us all.

Wind energy can deliver vital slash to global warming – It’s a component of the technology we need….it can’t solve everything alone but we have it ready to deploy now – and should just do it as quickly as we can. And it’s cheaper than using fossil fuels!

Yale Climate Change Maps 2020 – Results from a spring 2020 poll about climate change.

Sooty – An Aristocratic Cat

/

Internet Archive has quite a few of the Junior Press Books published by Albert Whitman & Company (Chicago) in the 1930s. Sooty – An Aristocratic Cat by Ambrosina Hurcum (1935) is one such example. Kittens and their antics must have been as popular in the 1930s as they are today. Like the other books…the story and illustrations are dated but they are interesting to browse keeping in mind when they were published. I wondered how realistic the illustrator captured clothes for children during that time. Did socks not have elastic in the 1930s? The illustrations look that way.

It was a stressful time in America with the Great Depression and so many people transitioning from the countryside into the cities for work. My parents were born in the early 1930s….a bit too young to read when this book first came out. I wondered how many children had access to books like this. My mother’s family moved from a rural area to a small town after she started school. Did the school have a library of books like this? It seems unlikely. My father grew up in the country and went to a small school of other farm children; it seems even less likely that he would have had books like this.

I’ve become a fan of absorbing history via books written in an earlier time. The authors were writing about their present and for a current audience (in this case in the 1930s and for children) without the hindsight employed in histories written about the same period today. The older books offer a way to step back and observe the author’s perspective…how it is the same or different than would be observed today in a similar situation.