November 02, 2017

Fort McHenry

November 02, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine is only about 30 minutes from where I live. I spend a morning there last week – a great outing to do with out-of-town guests. We got there shortly after then opened and headed to the visitor center where we saw a film and started learning about the timeline of the Fort. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812 – and Francis Scott Key’s description of it at that time…”the rockets red glare…our flag was still there.”

It’s an easy walk from the visitor center to the fort with signage along the way. The modern harbor is also on view.

And then there are guns from 1814 when the fort protected Baltimore from the British.

The fort itself is brick, stone, and earthen mounds. It changed after 1812 and there were more forts built like it since it had proved effective. We were there to help with the morning flag change. It was a very breezy day so they weren’t putting up the largest flag. I helped take down the flag that had flown during the night (not a large flag) and was surprised how tired my arms got from holding the rope waiting for the daytime flag to be readied…and the lowering it into the arms of a partner. I’d forgotten the details of proper flag folding that I learned as a teenager (but managed to do my part with some prompting from the ranger).

As we were about finished with our visit, there was a small re-enactment with a boat on the water about the distance from the fort as the British ships….

And a group of men firing a canon!

November 01, 2017

Zentangle® – October 2017

November 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Zentangles at Staunton River were done on a clipboard – newly purchased, with a compartment that was more than sufficient to hold all the pens and blank tiles. The light outdoors and inside the tent was very bright (sunny days). The Zen of creating the tiles different-than-usual. I picked 10 tiles I made during the 4 days.

I am still enjoying the tiles made from the Seltzer Water cardboard. The color and weight appeal to me. The paper cutter to process the boxes has a semi-permanent home on the island in my kitchen.

zenoct (17).jpg — Picking an old business card as a tile is my favorite for a ‘quick’ Zen fix. I am noticing that I am making a dent in the business cards left over from my career. It feels good to be pre-purposing them rather than simply dumping them in recycle.

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.

October 31, 2017

Thrift Store Finds

October 31, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I love the bargains I find at thrift stores. The thrift store jeans and other pants I bought when my daughter was a senior in high school (over 10 years ago) are wearing out…so it is time for some ‘new’ finds. On my first foray to the local thrift store, I found 3 pants; they cost a total of $16! I’ll clean out the old pants from my closet and put them in the giveaway pile although they are very worn and might only be good for rags at this point. The serendipity find of the day was a pair of winter boots that are warm and not too clunky. The soles don’t look worn at all and they are very comfortable. I always wonder at these ‘like new’ items; how did they come to be in the thrift store? I bought them for $9 and plan to enjoy them all winter.

October 30, 2017

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2017

October 30, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

October 2017 has a myriad of little celebrations – just as every month – but there was a big one this month as well: my daughter was awarded a grant that will fund her post doc research for 2 years! My husband and I celebrated as much as she did…such a relief that she can continue her work.

There were several celebrations associated with the Staunton River Star Party:

Anticipating the trip…noting the improving weather forecast for sunny days and clear skies as we got closer.
The warmth of our mummy sleeping bags in the early morning when it dipped below 40 degrees.
Four clear nights for observing the stars and solar prominences observed on 2 days – what makes a star party worthwhile.

I celebrated the finale of this year’s CSA – all the fabulous fall veggies in very generous portions. I’ll miss the CSA this winter and celebrate when it begins again next June.

The butternut squash soufflé I made with maple syrup rather than sugar – fabulous.

The butternut squash soufflé I made with maple syrup rather than sugar – fabulous.

The Fall Festival volunteering – big map and pumpkin painting – was a great way to celebrate the season too.

Bioblitz days with 5th graders are an annual celebration of nature through the eyes of students.

Finding a caterpillar new-to-me – a sycamore tussock moth caterpillar – was something to celebrate on another day.

Visiting Soldier’s Delight was a celebration of being outdoors on a sunny fall day.

October 29, 2017

Zooming – October 2017

October 29, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Using the zoom on my camera keeps be out of the tall grass (and away from the ticks and other biting insects). I spotted shelf fungus growing on stumps and trunks of trees cut down along the road to Belmont Manor and Historic Park on my way to an event…and stopped on my way out in one of the nearby pull off areas. The largest ones were growing on a large trunk facing the road but there were more in the space where a log was cut. Some of the pieces were removed but others were left to rot in place.

Another example of staying out of the tall grass, but getting the picture I wanted – milkweed seeds bursting from their pods at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

And some other fluffy seeds on a plant growing on the slope of our neighborhood’s storm water retention pond.

The zoom is almost always used for bird photography….but even with the zoom they still sometimes notice me and fly away. This house finch was busy getting breakfast from the feeder.

Sometimes zooming enables a better composition. The tree was mostly green but zooming – just a little – made the oranges and reds a more pronounced part of the picture.

This is a ‘get close’ picture rather than a zoomed picture…of the edge of a rotting stump. I liked the curves and the colors.

October 28, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 28, 2017

October 28, 2017/ 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.

Get Stuck on Band-Aid History | Smart News | Smithsonian – Patented in 1926….and still basically the same!

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition 2017 Winners – The amazing natural world too small for us to see without technology…captured in photographs.

Beyond Biodiversity: A New Way of Looking at How Species Interconnect - Yale E360 – Going beyond simply counting species…understanding their role and importance to the ecosystem.

Pompeii vs. Herculaneum - Mountain Beltway - AGU Blogosphere – Both destroyed in AD 79 by an eruption of Vesuvius but excavated differently...body casts in Pompeii, skeletons in Herculaneum. Lots of pictures of both places.

Derinkuyu Underground City, the World’s Deepest Subterranean Metropolis – Discovered in 1963…an 18 story underground city that once houses up to 20,000 people in Turkey’s Cappadocia region. Started in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE….flourished in the Byzantine period from 780 to 1180….but there are alternative theories. There are over 200 other subterranean cities in the area!

BBC - Future - The great thaw of America’s north is coming – What happens when permafrost thaws? Infrastructure (houses, roads, airports, etc.) can crack or collapse. Whole villages will need to move…an expensive undertaking and it’s not clear that they would not have to move again when the new area became unstable.

Tower of human skulls found by archaeologists in Mexico, throwing Aztec history into doubt | The Independent – A tower of skulls was mentions in writings of the Spanish conquistadores. It was believed that the skulls belonged to male warriors killed in inter-tribal combat. Now that the structure is found and being examined with modern techniques – it is revealed that the skulls of women and children are included in the tower.

Do You Live in One of the Happiest American States? – I always enjoy looking at the graphics and trying to understand how the data was rolled up. However - I am always suspicious: summing up data about ‘well-being’ is not all that important because it is not something I would use to decide something for myself or my family.

Kitchen of the Future: Smart and Fast but Not Much Fun - The New York Times – I enjoy cooking….not sure I want or need something that prompts me for every step. Most of what I cook does not take very much time as long as the ingredients are in the house. I wonder how much of the technology mentioned in this article will become reality.

Guide to Greener Electronics 2017 - Greenpeace USA -My laptop manufacturer is a C+; smartphone manufacturer is a D-; and Amazon is an F. I have started keeping my laptops for a longer time but they are not built to last. My oldest laptop has a somewhat broken case so it no longer is no long moved from its place in my office.

October 27, 2017

Company Coming

October 27, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

2017 10 IMG_4568.jpg — The prospect of overnight visitors is always a good forcing function to get the house is better shape. I vacuum regularly but the parts of our house that we don’t use frequently (like the guest bedroom and bathroom) are not dusted and cleaned as often as the rest of the house.

And we tend to accumulate things on the surface areas in the kitchen – breakfast area – den. We have a lot more space than we need, and I’m always surprised at how long items remain in place once they are put down. So now I am feeling good about getting spaces cleared off and the house changed from summer to fall/winter. I brought in the glass birdbath bowl, cleaned it thoroughly, and filled it with the CSA bounty of winter squash – a great center piece for the kitchen island.

October 26, 2017

Staunton River Star Party Solar Observations

October 26, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Most of the action at a star party is in the dark…but there are a few daylight activities as well. The sunset on the first night was scenic – with a few clouds near the horizon and tree line.

On Thursday morning I took sunrise pictures. Clouds helped make it more interesting. The picture below was taking about 15 minutes after the one to the right.

My husband brought his solar telescope and used it on 2 days. There were solar prominences on both days! On the second day – the prominence seemed to be changing as we watched it. I put my camera up to the eye piece of the telescope and got some pictures. The prominence on the first day was toward the bottom of the disk. On the second day, the prominence was in the upper left.

October 25, 2017

A Stump at Staunton River State Park

October 25, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

In a grassy area near the visitor center – I noticed a stump. Someone had left a pumpkin on top, probably while they were decorating for the Star Party. I walked over to get a closer look. It looked like it had been cut down recently.

The rings stood out a lot more than the rings of the Silver Maple at Mt. Pleasant. This stump had not been sanded either. I counted 74 rings but there were some very narrow ones from recent years that were harder to count….so I estimated it was about 80 years old when it was cut down.

The people in the Visitor Center told me that it had been cut down recently and that they thought it had been planted near the time the park was created in 1936. But they didn’t know what kind of tree it was. The next morning, I talked with the park manager that was manning the outdoor grill at the Cantina for breakfast and found out that it was a Post Oak and he had counted 84 rings when it was first cut down. The CCC did most of the work when the park was created so it is likely, because of its location, that it was planted by them. The tree had leafed out last spring but then dropped all its leaves during the summer. It had been struggling for the past few years and looking at the stump shows the evidence of that struggle in the outermost rings.

October 24, 2017

The Staunton River Star Party Observing Field

October 24, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Staunton River State Park hosts two Star Parties each year – one in the spring and one in the fall. We’ve gone to the fall Star Party for 3 years but have always decided that the one in March is too cold or too wet. Maybe we’ll go in 2018. The park has a large field that has been used long enough that the soil is packed down almost as hard as the asphalt road (where the Visitor Center….and bathrooms (hurray) are located). The ‘road’ to our camp site started between the orange cones and was the closest we’ve ever been to the Visitor Center – something I noticed every time I made the trek to the facilities in the dark.

There are lots of different set ups but probably the most honed for astronomy is a tent that has an opening for the telescope (the black patch on the top). They are relatively expensive and probably not something we’ll ever do but I can still appreciate the idea.

There are power cables from central posts out to hubs that are covered with big buckets on the field and everyone picks a spot close enough to one of them to have the power they need. There are many kinds of tents and campers…some people brought their gear in a small trailer and then used the trailer to sleep in. There is also a lot of variety of telescopes and covers for them during the day. Almost everyone has a computer along with their telescope – and the associated table and chair for it. Awnings help with the sun during the day and dew at night.

For the first couple of days, there were fewer people than I remembered from previous years. By Thursday the numbers were increasing, and people were still arriving when we left on Friday – before Saturday when there were more lectures and public observing in the evening. I wondered who would get the spot we left open on the field….a prime location.

October 23, 2017

Our Camp at Staunton River

October 23, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

We set up our new tent on the observing field as soon as we got there. It was large enough for all our camping gear inside and had a screened section on the end for my husband’s observing chair and laptop. When he’s observing he spends more time in front of his computer than he does outside at the telescope. The new tent worked very well since the screened portion protected everything in it from dew almost as well as being inside the tent proper.

We had luxuries such as air up mattresses, pillows, warm sleeping bags….and a small coffee maker to heat water for tea on the cold mornings. Once the sun came up the tent became warmer than the outside temperatures very quickly – which was welcome since the days started out in the 30s. We opened the window covers as the day warmed into the 60s. There was enough breeze in the afternoon that the tent never became overly hot.

The field had electrical cables all we needed was an extension cord to connect out outlet strip – power to charge batteries (the telescope itself ran off batteries), laptops and phones. The telescope was the only item outside the tent…and it had its own cover for after the observing for the night was done.

The car seemed very full when we left home and was full to the brim coming back since we didn’t manage to pack as well. It’s a good thing we has freed up space by eating the food we took!

Tomorrow’s post will be about the other types of tents and campers and telescopes on the observing field.

October 22, 2017

Staunton River Star Party

October 22, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Last Monday, we headed down to Virginia for the Staunton River Star Party. The event is held at the state park – a dark sky site. We waited until most of the morning rush hour was over since our route included the Washington DC beltway. There was still traffic, but it was moving at highway speeds even around the Mormon Temple. The rain from earlier in the morning had stopped and the clouds were beginning to break up.

We made a stop at the first rest area we came to on I95 south of the Washington Beltway – anticipating easy traffic for the rest of the way.

Lunch at a Chipotle was our mid-point break.

2017 10 IMG_4541.jpg — We arrived at the park about 3 and began setting up. I always enjoy the creative pumpkin carving that sits beside the door of the cantina. All the windows on the park buildings are covered with red cellophane and lights to mark paths are red as well.

I’ll be posting about the events of the week in the next few days….but I’m wrapping up this most with the road trip home last Friday.

We left the park about 10 and stopped at a fast food place for our first rest stop since we were not on an interstate yet and it was cool enough that my husband wanted something hot for brunch. We stopped for lunch at an Arby’s later then got on I95 shortly thereafter.

We stopped at the last rest stop on I95 before the Washington DC – obviously in Virginia.

But this rest stop has something I had not seen before – a toddler potty! I wonder if these are going to become more common as rest stops are remodeled.

We were glad to get home after crawling through the Friday afternoon traffic from 2-4. We waited until the next day to put the tent up in the backyard to dry out (we had to pack it up before the dew dried).

More to come about the Staunton River Star Party in upcoming posts.

October 21, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 21, 2017

October 21, 2017/ 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.

What’s With That Dam? : The National Wildlife Federation – We got to Conowingo to see bald eagles….so I was interested in learning more about it. Evidently - the dam’s current impact on the Chesapeake Bay is not a positive one.

On Bee-ing – Cool Green Science – About the Minnesota Bee Atlas.

Stunning Video Captures Humpback Whales Catching Fish with Nets of Bubbles | Smart News | Smithsonian – I’d heard of this phenomenon but the video is still thrilling! Well work the 40 seconds!

How honeybees read the waggle dance -- ScienceDaily – The field trip the Howard County Conservancy does for 3rd graders includes a segment on the waggle dance….so I read this article to find out more about it….both the history of its discovery and the current research on the neurons responding to the dance.

Bathtub Bloodbath, 1793 | The Scientist Magazine® - A famous painting of Jean-Paul Marat murdered in his bath…what he was before his revolutionary activities.

Adaptation as Acceptance: Toward a New Normal in the Northwoods – Cool Green Science – Forests are changing – with climate change and invasive insects like emerald ash borer and woolly adelgid culling some trees that were, until recently, common in our forests. There is a grief for those lost trees that will not make a comeback. This article is about finding hope via adaptation. The forest will be different…but still forest.

Meet the Transgenic Silkworms That Are Spinning out Spider Silk | The Scientist Magazine® - Spider silk combines elasticity and strength but has been difficult to produce. Now the fiber is produced by silkworms and the increased availability makes it viable for a host of applications. It will be interesting to observe how the market develops.

Treetop Walkway Provides an Elevated Path Through Danish Forest – What an awesome way to observe a forest!

National Mall and Memorial Parks – Hope the laser ablation of the biofilm on the Jefferson Memorial works as well as the test spot. The dome has gotten a lot grayer over the years from ‘biofilm.’

Seeing Big Changes in Baltimore: The National Wildlife Federation Blog – Hurray for the schools and students in Baltimore provided wildlife habitat!

October 20, 2017

End of the CSA Season

October 20, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

The end of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season was this week. I’ll miss the weekly share – bursting with freshness and flavor.

There are some things that will keep and be used over the next few months - white potatoes that I’ve stored in paper bags, sweet potatoes that are simply spread on a tray in my darkened dining room, and winter squash that I’ll eat up before the potatoes.

I have tomatoes, diced hot peppers and leafy greens for soups in the freezer. I’m planning to eat up all the other fall offerings over the next few weeks. They are fresh enough to last that long in the refrigerator: carrots, beets, turnips, cabbages, peppers, scallions, cilantro, arugula, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli in salads and stir fries. The eating will be so good…

October 19, 2017

3 Free eBooks – October 2017

October 19, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I am always thrilled to find a new source of eBooks. This month it was the Smithsonian making 1,000 illustrated Japanese Texts available online. I’ve just started making my way through. Here are three eBooks I’ve enjoyed so far.

Kono, Bairei. Bairei gafu. Yamada Unsodo, Kyoto, Meiji 38 [1905]. Three volumes available from Smithsonian Libraries here. Birds!

Utagawa, Sadahide. Bansho shashin zafu. Sonoharaya Shosuke, Toto, Bunkyu 4 [1864]. Available from Smithsonian Libraries here. Nature and art…a great combo.

2017 10 ebook3.jpg — Kobayashi, Bunshici. ***Bansho zukan***. Kobayashi Bunshici, Tokyo, Meiji 34 [1901]. Two volumes available from Smithsonian Libraries here. More plants and animals...the bamboo images would make an elegant wallpaper.

October 18, 2017

Steps in the Silver Maple Stump

October 18, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

The Silver Maple Stump that I wrote about a few days ago has been made accessible for shorter visitors! There are steps cut into the side that was not sanded to reveal the tree rings!

We looked at dogwood and Paulownia tree cookies to learn how to count tree rings and notice how the rings look different – the spacing, the shape, etc. The kindergarteners were thrilled to climb up onto the stump – three at a time – to gather around the center and count 5 rings from the center. The tree was not very big when it was 5 years old!

They were also surprised that the water on top of the stump was coming up from the roots…and that the stump was not perfectly round. They also noticed some ants that made their home near the outer edge of one of the steps…and a daddy longlegs spider climbing the steps too.

On the down side, when the steps were cut, additional rot was found so the stump may not last very long…I’ll just enjoy it as a field trip stop while it lasts.

October 17, 2017

Mt Pleasant Meadow

October 17, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Late Last week, I arrived at Mt. Pleasant early enough to take a short walk in the meadow before a kindergarten field trip. I was surprised that there were so many people already there. It turned out there was a high school filed trip already in progress! I watched them head down the path to the stream. The morning was cooler than the stream field trips I’d helped with in September and earlier this month. Hopefully no one got water inside their boots.

The fields that are mowed for hay around the conservancy have bales now and the parts that are left for meadow are full of goldenrod and plants going to seed – typical fall. The late summer and fall has been drier than usual and the trees may never achieve the bright colors this fall. Some of the trees already look like they’ve lost their leaves – or may those are the ash trees that are succumbing to emerald ash borer (very common in Maryland). The meadow still has a few Callery pear saplings but they are gradually being removed (hard work!). Otherwise – the meadow looks good this fall. There is plenty of goldenrod for any migrating Monarchs that come through.

October 16, 2017

Silver Maple Stump

October 16, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Last month, two silver maples were cut down near the farmhouse at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm because they were dropping large limbs and endangering nearby structures. One of them is conveniently located between the drive that loops around the farm house and the Honors Garden. When I first looked at it, I was thrilled that the stump could be used to talk about tree rings generally…and the history of Mt. Pleasant specifically. The first challenge was that the saw marks were so deep that it was difficult to see the tree rings.

Fortunately, several volunteers stepped forward to sand the smoothest part of the stump so that the rings would be easier to see. It was still a little challenging. The stump includes rotting areas and splits near the center. The stump is still very much alive as well – with sap coming to the surface as the roots continue to collect water and nutrients from the soil. The first time I attempted to count the rings it was a cloudy day and the size of the stump was a bit daunting. I realized I needed a step stool to see the rings toward the center. I came back on a sunny day and climbed up to sit on the stump when I realized that the slope was not going to work with my step stool. I managed to count 124 rings!

I made a strip of lightweight cardboard with years on it (counting from the outermost ring) and a page that talked about tree cookie parts. For kindergarten and 1st grade students that hike by the stump – we’ll talk about counting rings and then either count 5-6 rings from the outer edge (how much did the tree grow since you were born) or from the center (how big was the tree when it was as old as you). For adults, I have a time line for what was happening at the farmhouse and Mt. Pleasant over the past 124 years and plan to develop some discussion about the weather over the life of the tree. The 1940s and 1950s were the best years for the silver maple!

October 15, 2017

Stream Assessment – October 2017

October 15, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I had planned to volunteer at two stream assessments by 9th graders in October. Both assessments were scheduled to be at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area but one was cancelled after a heavy rain caused a dangerous situation at the stream – so I only have pictures from one stream assessment. The stream was smaller than the two other locations along the Middle Patuxent that were assessed in September. We crossed it on some rocks (the path came to the river near where the big log is lying on top of the rocks).

All the gear for the abiotic and biotic assessments was set up on the side of the stream across from the path. It was very calm and shady as we set up.

Then the students arrived…60 in the first group…a little break…and then another 60. I took a few pictures of critters during the break.

One last picture before the second group…what a great place to escape into nature. I’m not sure that the students experience the psychological rejuvenation I often feel in places like this when they come with the larger group (and they are teenagers) - although it was obvious that most of them enjoyed being outdoors and in the stream. When we finished the assessment, the students helped carry all the gear – including the boots – on the 15 minute hike back to the road where they got on their buses and we packed up everything into cars….another stream assessment day complete.

October 14, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 14, 2017

October 14, 2017/ 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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #107 – National Geographic Society (blogs) and #108 – kestrels and hummingbirds and kingfishers…oh my!

What Skills Will You Need to Be Employable in 2030? – It’s hard to predict the direction of technology…but we know that some types of jobs are easier for machines to do than others. What is left that humans will need to do?

13 Ways to Cut Cancer Risk | Berkeley Wellness – Hopefully none of these are new…they have all be publicized before but maybe not in a consolidated list.

Century-old cactus used for target practice in Saguaro National Park – Very sad. I hope the culprit is cost. It seems like penalties should be higher for this kind of vandalism in a national park.

National Audubon Society Offers Great Educational Resources - I find myself checking in on the puffins and hummingbirds!

Rome's Colosseum Is Reopening Its Upper Tiers to Visitors | Smart News | Smithsonian – The upper levels have been closed for 40 years due to structural concerns. Now restoration efforts have allowed then to be re-opened.

A Little Calm in a Noisy World | The Prairie Ecologist – The restorative power of spending a little time out in the natural world.

Incredible Macro Photography of Peacock Feathers by Can Tunçer – I am a fan of peacock feathers; one of my grandmothers raised peacocks and I have some feathers she sent to me from the 1980s.

"Living" Chandelier is a Green Lighting Piece Filled with Algae – I like items that are beautiful and serve another function at the same time. I hope eventually that light fixtures are available…and affordable.

BBC - Future - Anti-ageing: Is it possible, and would we want it? – An update on science…and prompting for thoughts of the domino changes that would occur if anti-ageing was reality.