November 22, 2017

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

November 22, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Our third day at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival did not start out well: our bus has a mechanical problem and our departure was delayed by about 3 hours. Fortunately, the replan included a lengthening of the trip by three hours and provisions (picnic lunch). On the plus side – we avoided some rain showers that moved through while we were waiting; on the negative side – we could have slept later (getting up at 4 AM is common at birding festivals!). Our destination was the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. We didn’t seen any ocelots that the refuge is trying to protect…but we did see plenty of birds. The days was very cloudy and misty – not good for photographing. I picked a few that were good enjoy enough for identification.

There were snow geese coming and going. I liked this line because of the different morphs visible.

There was a Little Blue Heron fishing in the shallows

And a Great Blue Heron standing on one leg surveying the shore.

A group of Forster’s terns, with the black feathers around and back from their eyes) were grouped along the shore (looks like the birds behind them were snoozing).

The Forster’s tern is in the middle of this image. The largest bird is a Caspian Tern and the one in front is a Royal Tern. The Royal Terns I’d seen in Maryland always looked like they were wearing a black cap but that is only during the breeding season…not this time of year in South Texas.

A brown pelican flew above – following the shoreline.

White Ibis wandered through the other shore birds.

The Crested Caracara were new to me. Since the ones I saw on the field trip were a little far away – I took a picture of a captive bird as the Expo.

I took a close up of a prickly pear tuna (fruit)…note the spines.

Side by side – a Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs.

We were all on the bus when a male Northern Harrier swooped down into the field beside the road and hovered over prey. I did pretty well taking this series through the bus window since there was no time to do anything better.

There is a platform where aplomado falcons are nesting. This is an exciting recovery story since this bird was gone from the area for years and has only recently been reintroduced and is breeding again in south Texas. I took a picture of the captive falcon at the Expo just as I had the Crested Caracara.

We stopped at the visitor’s center and walked around the cards there. Red-winged blackbirds are all over North America!

The white winged doves are summer birds in south Texas according to allaboutbirds but there were still a lot of them around in mid-November; I wonder if they are really year round in the Rio Grande Valley.

It was a longer day that we’d anticipated but better than we thought might happen in the hour or so after we initially learned of the bus problem. In the end we decided that the Laguna Atascosa trip was well worth it.

November 21, 2017

Estero Llano Grande State Park

November 21, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

We stopped at Estero Llano Grande State Park after our walk around Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. The day was still relatively cold and getting damper…but there were still birds active. A Snowy Egret was actively searching for lunch.

We also saw Blue Winged Teal. The males are easier to identify than the females!

A Scarlet Tanager posed on a lamp post across the water. It was far enough way that I had to maximize the zoom on my camera – not the best picture but clearly a scarlet tanager.

A Tricolored Heron was fishing the pond

As were the White-Faced Ibis.

By now the Northern Shovelers

And American Coots have become familiar to me.

The Least Grebes were a little too far away for a good picture in the dim light of the cloudy day…but their silhouette is distinctive.

We were a little damp, cold and hungry by the time we made a short hike. We decided to find someplace for a late lunch and discovered The Smoking Oak in Mercedes, Texas. Great barbeque!

November 20, 2017

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

November 20, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

The second day of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, we did not have any formal field trips scheduled. It was cool and cloudy – not a good day for butterflies, so we shifted our plans back to a focus on birds and headed for the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.Some of the first things we saw on our hike was insects – still with the cold: two dragonflies

Two caterpillars, and

A queen butterfly…not fluttering about.

2017 11 IMG_5383.jpg — I was pleased to see a land snail on one of the small trees. We’d seen a lot of shells on the ground (i.e. dead) at both Las Estrellas and Rancho Lomitas. We were told that sometimes roadrunners get hungry enough to crack the shells against a rock to get to the tasty morsel inside.

2017 11 IMG_5393.jpg — Ball Moss is something I had never seen. It is like Spanish Moss – also abundant on trees in the refuge.

Then we saw some duck: Northern Shovelers and Blue winged teal.

2017 11 IMG_5443.jpg — A group of chachalaca were in the trees beside the trail. It was hard to get pictures through the foliage and branches…we’d get better pictures on another day.

As we walked across an empty parking lot, we spotted a kiskadee on an electrical line

And then a flash of orange in the trees – an Altamira Oriole was on the move. It eventually made it way to the electrical pole as well.

2017 11 IMG_5479.jpg — The refuge has a swinging bridge through tree tops. On the day we were there, the birds were hunkered down but it was still work the climb and the look down into foliage.

At a bird blind, I finally got some good pictures of the green jay.

We made our way back to the visitor center and had a snack on our way to nearby Estero Llano State Park (topic of tomorrow's post). In this area of Texas there are a series of state and federal lands that make a wild life corridor…more meaningful than each standalone park or refuge.

November 19, 2017

Rancho Lomitas

November 19, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

After Las Estellas, the field trip group headed to Rancho Lomitas where Benito Trevino shared his knowledge of plants of the Tamaulipan thorn scrub. We learned about how cochineal became a valued commodity to the Spaniards. It is an insect that grows on prickly pear cactus (white mounds) and is used to produce carmine dye. Until the advent of synthetic dyes and pigments it was the best ‘red.’

Also the desert Christmas cholla’s berries can be used to sooth a sore throat….if one knows the process to remove the small thorns. First, use a stick to know off berries. Use the stick to separate the berries from the green part of the plant. Use a bunch of grass to move the berries around in the pebbles and dust. When the thorns appear to be gone…do it some more. I tried some. It tastes a little citrusy and would sooth the throat similarly to honey.

It was a mostly cloudy and cool day but the sun came out for a little while and we saw some butterflies.

There is a road runner that patrols the gardens.

We were walking along the road back to our van when Benito spotted a trap door spider and gently opened it with his knife; I would not have spotted it on my own!

A culinary treat for dessert after our lunch – some cookies made with mesquite floor. Maryland does not have mesquite trees but maybe I can find some if I visit my family in Texas at the right time!

November 18, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 18, 2017

November 18, 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.

The Acoustics of Ancient Greek Theaters Aren’t What They Used to Be | Smart News | Smithsonian – Legendary acoustics? Maybe not. But they are still very good even with the changes in the structures over time (pitting of smooth surfaces, no backdrops, etc.)

BBC - Future - The useless design features in modern products – copper rivets and watch pockets in jeans, cockpits with analog dials/leavers/knobs, and keyboard layout. The look of modern products has a lot to do with history!

Five Things to Know About the Yellowstone Supervolcano | Smart News | Smithsonian – I can remember my daughter being fascinated that Yellowstone is a Supervolcano when we visited. She was enthusiastic about finding a book about it and was puzzled when the person manning the bookstore seemed surprised that she wanted a book about super volcanoes!

Keeping Your Balance as You Age | Berkeley Wellness – Some reasons to do some balance exercises…and some easy ones that don’t need any equipment.

Some items about a favorite food around Thanksgiving: Pumpkin genomes sequenced, revealing uncommon evolutionary history -- ScienceDaily and 7 Pumpkin Recipe Ideas | Berkeley Wellness

Oldest recorded solar eclipse helps date the Egyptian pharaohs -- ScienceDaily – October 30, 1207 BC! A new calculation that, if accepted, could lead to an adjustment in the dates of the reigns of several pharaohs…enabling to date them precisely

Caribbean’s largest concentration of indigenous pre-Columbian rock art -- ScienceDaily - Artists before Columbus: New research on the Caribbean’s largest concentration of indigenous pre-Columbian rock art (how it was made, paint recipes). The pictographs are in very narrow spaces deep in caves. Follow the materials link at the bottom of the article to see some images. As I read the article, I realized that the research had probably been completed before the recent hurricanes.

Older Neandertal survived with a little help from his friends – Loss of a forearm, deaf…and he survived into his 40s…about 50,000 years ago.

The Weird Growth Strategy of Earth’s First Trees | The Scientist Magazine® - The first tree grew large very differently than modern trees!

4 Myths About Meditation and How to Overcome Them | Berkeley Wellness – For me – the ‘myths’ are no so important…the mediation is.

November 17, 2017

Las Estrellas

November 17, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Our first field trip of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was to Las Estellas – a Nature Conservancy preserve near Rio Grande City. The vans left at 5:30 AM…normal for birding festivals. The day was cool and gray…thankfully not wet. We had a rest stop along the way and spotted a Cooper’s Hawk on a light fixture in the parking lot. Not a bad way to start a birding week!

2017 11 IMG_5229.jpg — The preserve is not one that is open to the public. It protects some endangers Star Cactus. The previous weeks had been dry, so they were hard to spot – flush with the ground and blending in with the pebbles and sand. Once we spotted one, our eyes became more trained and more were spotted.

This will tree was in an area that is sometimes full of water. There was still a little water in the lowest part of the area – often enough to keep other plants from growing.

2017 11 IMG_5220.jpg — Walking around the preserve gave us a preview of many of the south Texas plants.

We could see the wind turbines through the mists. South Texas is evidently as much a part of wind energy in Texas as West Texas.

There were migrating butterflies that we saw in the air – but they weren’t settling anywhere (no photos). There two types of small butterflies that I managed to photograph: Reakirt’s Blue

And American Snouts – with very unusual mouthparts!

We didn’t see a lot of birds; the weather was cool and damp so they were not very active. A Northern Cardinal and a Green Jay were about all we saw; at least they were colorful.

On the way to our next destination, we saw a Harris’s Hawk. I managed to get a blurry picture through the van window…but it is good enough to identify it!

Next stop was Rancho Lomitas. I’ll post about our experience there on Sunday.

November 16, 2017

Home Again

November 16, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

And some wire art in the atrium of a medical building (noticed when a was chauffeuring to doctor’s appointments). I’ve posted about that first week.

Over the next weeks I’ll post about week 2 in Texas – near Harlingen, Texas in the far south where we made the most of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival…. lots and lots of birds. The Harlingen Municipal Auditorium was the headquarters for the festival with lots of buses and vans heading out to birding spots around Harlingen between 5:30 and 7 in the morning: birders are always anxious to get out in the field early!

We flew in and out of San Antonio so the last day, I spend the morning at the San Antonio Botanical Garden…well worth the visit.

As we took off just before 6 PM CDT, I took one last picture from Texas from the plane: a sunset just as the plane climbed above the cloud layer. We were headed home.

Yesterday I was challenged with a lot of catch up activities: groceries, laundry, verifying my 2018 medical plan selection, signing up for training for my December volunteer gig (it involves a model train exhibit) …and trying to get back to the east coast time zone. I put off the raking of leaves until today. They are a thick carpet in the backyard --- all the leaves from the maple and tulip poplar and sycamore are on the ground and the majority fell while I was in Texas!

November 15, 2017

3 Free eBooks – November 2017

November 15, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

So many books….so little time!

Evans, Henry Herman. Botanical prints with excerpts from the artist's notebooks. San Francisco: Freeman. 1977. Borrow from Internet Archive here. This is a book available from Internet Archive that is loaned for 14 days. I loved the prints in this book…well work the look. I appreciate that a lot of books that were previous hard to access because they were still under copyright but out-of-print (and expensive if they were available on the used market) are being digitized and made available this way. Kudos to the Internet Archive and the people that are working to make it possible.

Godey, Louis A.; Hale, Sarah Josepha. Godey’s Lady’s Book. Published in Philadelphia. The Internet Archive has many volumes…particularly issues from 1864 available here. The illustrations are snippets of fashion history at the that the Civil War was ending; the magazine managed to stay surprisingly apolitical. What do you think about these bathing dresses from July 1864!

Wight, Robert. Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis - or figures of Indian plants. Madras: Published by JB Pharoah for the author. 1840-1853. Six volumes (and other books by the same author) available from the Internet Archive here. I like the botanical drawings in these volumes as prompts for Zentangle patterns.

November 14, 2017

Gulf Fritillary in a Carrolton Garden

November 14, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I noticed a flash of orange and black in my parents’ garden and grabbed my camera hoping to photograph a migrating Monarch butterfly. But it was a different butterfly – a Gulf Fritillary. My first attempt to photograph it turned into an ‘art’ photograph with butterfly and flowers glowing against the fence slats.

Then the butterfly moved to a better position and worked it ways around the flower…an easy target for my camera.

It’s very easy to be enamored with all butterflies.

November 13, 2017

Birthday Cakes

November 13, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

My mother’s birthday was a few weeks ago and we celebrated over the course of a week while I visited in Carrollton. There were three cakes! I didn’t think to photograph the first one; it was purchased in a grocery store…a square carrot cake of about 3 servings with no icing on the sides. It was the old-fashioned kind of carrot cake with plenty of spices, raisins and pineapple (and carrots, of course). It was wonderful that the icing did not overwhelm the cake too.

The next cake was purchased by a granddaughter’s boyfriend from a specialty bakery – a Tres Leches cake decorated the glazed strawberries and Oreo cookies. Yummy! I just too the Lactaid…and enjoyed it tremendously.

A few days later, my sister bought Bundtinis – these are mini-Bundt cakes with a big swirl of icing on top. There were twelve each of red velvet, carrot, and cinnamon swirl. A good last hurrah for the birthday celebration.

November 12, 2017

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – Part 2

November 12, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the sightings at Hagerman…

We saw several Great Blue Herons (and there were probably more about than we happened to see. One of them was startled my something and I snapped a picture as it took off with its neck still straight out rather than folded into the tight S for longer distance flying.

There was an Osprey eyeing our cars from the top of the road we were on – the top of a dike between two ponds. My sister contorted herself through the sunroof to take pictures! I had a better vantage point from the backseat comfortably seated although I did catch the edge of the opening in one of the pictures. The osprey migrate through this area.

2017 11 IMG_5119.jpg — We saw a blob of white out in the lake and watched it as we got closer. It became two white blobs. Then we were close enough to see what it was: two American White Pelicans. They are well known for migrating through Hagerman. I used my zoom to get some pictures of the one that was awake and preening.

Somehow I decided that most of the ducks were mallards and too far away to photograph on the cloudy day but the one picture I took of a duck and looked at on a larger screen when I got home turned to be a Northern Pintail! I should have looked more closely at the ducks…but I would have needed to take a spotting scope and spend more time; I didn’t have either this trip. This is a wintering area for pintails.

Heading back to the visitor center – we saw two Turkey Vultures in a field. These birds breed in the area but may not stay for the winter. They are stay year-round in Maryland so I was surprised to see the range map for them showing that they are summer residents only in North Texas.

Back at the Visitor Center, we spent some time walking around the butterfly garden and I was surprised at how many butterflies were around. I took two pictures of Sulphur butterflies and discovered when I got home that they might be two different kinds: Cloudless Sulphur

And Clouded Sulphur.

Our visit to Hagerman was a great way to spend 2 hours on fall morning. Next time, I’ll allow myself even more time and do some hiking along with the auto tour.

November 11, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 11, 2017

November 11, 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.

Water striders illustrate evolutionary processes -- ScienceDaily – Water striders are one of the favorite of elementary school aged students on field trip hikes…next time I’ll have them look for ‘fans’ on the tips of their legs!

New Google Maps Feature Lets You Explore Planetary Maps – Google maps going outside of this world!

Virtual Library Card Gives Access to 2,000 Architecture Books Online – There are a lot of books on Internet Archive that are new enough to still be under copyright protection…but they are available for checkout modeled like physical libraries. This article points to the architecture books; there are other topics as well.

Why we still don’t understand sleep, and why it matters | Mosaic – Nacrolepsy…what has been discovered…but there is still happy ending for people with narcolepsy.

Photographer Captures the Beauty of Colorful Birds in a Series of Portraits – Pigeons, doves and cockatoos…what a trio!

(Some) Birds of the Pantanal – National Geographic Society – More birds. Couldn’t resist.

The History of Mincemeat Pies, from the Crusades to Christmas | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history as we get closer to the winter holiday season.

Blood test can effectively rule out breast cancer, regardless of breast density: With over a 99 percent negative predictive value, a liquid biopsy test can help clinicians manage difficult-to-diagnose dense breast patients -- ScienceDaily – Hope this reduces the need for biopsies…and can be scheduled/processed more rapidly.

BBC - Future - An eco-friendly way to make smartphones – We have a long way to go to make smartphones in an eco-friendly way. The title of this article seemed hopeful but by the end, I was not sure that eco-friendly was motivating anything. Taking away China’s dominance of rare earth element production seemed the primary focus.

Transparent solar technology represents ‘wave of the future’ -- ScienceDaily – Wouldn’t it be nice?

November 10, 2017

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – Part 1

November 10, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge is located on Lake Texoma (Texas side) and is a stop on the migration of many birds this time of year. My visit was a week ago and before the peak of the migration but here was still a lot to see. The refuge includes a visitor center and auto tour….hiking trails. For this visit, we had a limited amount of time, so we only did the visitor center and auto tour; I’m already planning to go again whenever I’m in the area in fall or spring.

The first birds we saw along the auto tour were some crows. I did not photogram them…but the next grouping I did: cormorants on some snags in the water. There are parts of the lake that are shallow and/or seasonally flooded water impoundment ponds. The snags are ideal perches for many birds.

A little further along there were snow geese – lots of different morphs and maybe some Ross’s Geese mixed in as well. We used our cars as blinds and the geese continued to move around in the field…about 100 or so birds. Then something spooked them and they all flew up and circled; it didn’t take long before they came down in another patch of green.

More about Hagerman in my post for day after tomorrow.

November 09, 2017

Carrollton Garden

November 09, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I was working on a blog post last week and noticed a butterfly in the garden. I didn’t get outside fast enough to get a picture of it but is did notice that there were Cosmos still blooming that might provide some food for butterflies.

2017 11 IMG_5023.jpg — There was also some color left from summer: cockscomb (one being held by a dragon ornament in the garden)

And hydrangea.

2017 11 IMG_5042.jpg — The next morning I photographed another part of the yard. The red yucca seed pods are splitting. I hadn’t noticed how charred their seeds look when I’d photographed them on previous visits.

There is a mound of mums near a rock in the garden – a patch of orange on a cloudy morning.

November 08, 2017

A Walk to Josey Ranch

November 08, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Last week I was in Carrollton, TX and decided to get my exercise by walking from my parents’ house to Josey Ranch Lake Park. It’s about a mile each way. I printed a Google map for the walking route since the route meanders through a neighborhood. It was an easy morning walk. And there were some winter-time birds newly arrived for the season at the lake. The first ones I spotted were Northern Shovelers. They are easy to recognize by the bill that looks too big for the head.

2017 11 w IMG_4942.jpg — I’d seen American wigeons before…but not often enough that I remembered what they were. I took lots of pictures and then checked All About Birds to identify them when I got back from my walk.

The other bird that winters in this area that I saw at the lake was a cormorant. It was harder to spot because it was fishing (diving frequently) and it was seemingly alone.

There were birds that are in the area all through the year too: Common grackles

And American Coots (the two birds in the foreground below…with a Northern Shoveler behind them).

Now that I’ve identified the types of birds present…see how easily they can be recognized in these mixed group images. They were all feeding together at the lake.

I walked a little further around the lake and took pictures of turtles warming up for their day…I got a little too close and they plopped into the water.

I walked back to where I started the loop around the lake. I had just started taking more group pictures of the ducks when some American coots got into a tussle and startled the whole group….lots of splashing water as birds lifted off and moved to the center – safer – part of the lake.

As I walked hope I saw a very large katydid on a fence. It was turning brown with the season.

There was also a very dense group of weed flowers growing in a narrow band of dirt between the fence and concrete….a fall floral.

November 07, 2017

All Day in a Symposium

November 07, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Recently I spent a day at a symposium about the War of 1812. It was a learning experience for more than the topic!

I had not sat in an all-day meeting quite this dense with talks since I left my career about 5 years ago…and I was reminded how draining it can be. It is very difficult to be so sedentary for a day (and the chairs were more immediately uncomfortable). Did I used to just accept this situation as ‘normal’?

I also have assumptions when it comes to food – that containers will be opened/unwrapped, that napkins will be available, that there are some ‘healthy’ choices. Those assumptions turned out to not be correct for the meeting and I realized that my history skews my views of how food is presented as well as the food itself. Maybe 20 years ago I would have accepted that there were no veggies offered…I am more particular now.

On the plus side – the talks were interesting and well presented. I lasted from 9-4 and then was too achy from the length of time in the unpadded chairs to stay for the last 2 hours. It was a day too long for me!

November 06, 2017

Nemours Mansion and Gardens – Part 2

November 06, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

2017 10 IMG_4824.jpg — The gardens at Nemours are very well maintained. While we were there the big pool was being rebuilt; there was a lot of dirt! There are historical gates on the two sides of the house. The bus stops at the British one and across the front of the house is the heavier looking Russian gate.

The view from the front of the house is down hill to the mid-garden structures…female sphinxes on both sides of the porch.

Walking around the house toward the Russian gate, the turtle pond garden can be viewed from ground level.

The weather vane glowed in the afternoon sun.

Looking back to the house walking down into the garden….

2017 10 IMG_4848.jpg — The maple tree lined drive used by the bus that carries everyone between the visitor center and the mansion (no pedestrian entrance or exit).

Many of the sculptures must be reproductions or otherwise very well maintained. The marble ones looked too good to be 1920s vintage.

Structures divide the gardens into ‘rooms’ making the transition to less formality further from the house.

We noticed a bridge by one of the ponds and walked over. The reflections of trees in the pond viewed from the bridge was one of my favorite scenes of the garden.

2017 10 IMG_4882.jpg — There is a temple with a Houdon sculpture of Diana at the far end of garden. We walked toward the road and found the bus to take us back through the security fence to the visitor center.

November 05, 2017

Nemours Mansion and Gardens – Part 1

November 05, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I had toured Nemours Mansion and Gardens (in Wilmington, Delaware) several times in the past but I had been more than 10 years since the last visit. A lot has changed. The tours are now self-guided and paced rather than guided…but the docents in the mansion are still very knowledgeable and welcome questions. One of the first questions I asked was about the chandeliers. The house used electricity from the beginning for lighting but many of the chandeliers were retrofitted – antiques by the time they were acquired for the house. One of the ones visible from the foyer has perfume bottles that diffused scent from the days it supported candles! There were chandeliers everywhere. Formal rooms, bedroom (my favorite is one with Murano Glass flowers) and handing in the curve of the grand stair case. Now the fixtures have LED bulbs (probably illuminating in a way that does the least damage to textiles and paintings).

The ceilings and upper walls are also worth noticing….lots of variation in plaster and gold leaf.

Everywhere one looks there are things to notice – cork on the kitchen and butler pantry floor, an elaborate leather screen and the powder room.

There is a basement with lots of dark woods with bowling alleys, built in benches around pool tables and A. I. duPont’s home office.

There are paintings of the inhabitants of the house: Jessie Ball duPont that lived in the house longer than anyone; she died in 1970 and the house was open to the house several years later.

The little girl that grew up at Nemours has several portraits as well. The docent commented that the child came back to the house when she was very old and told them that the picture younger version was her favorite picture of herself….but she never liked that dog!

My favorite room in the house is the garden room – windows on 3 sides, black and white tile pattern on the floor, bird cages, and trellis on the walls.

Above the garden room is a terrace entered from Jessie’s sitting room. The terrace is vacant now but had black wicker furniture when the house was occupied. It overlooks a garden with a turtle fountain.

Coming down stairs I noticed some laps with butterflies painted on the shades. Wish I was talented enough to paint a lampshade with butterflies!

2017 10 IMG_4792.jpg — After touring the house – the gardens beckoned. The gardens are the topic for tomorrow’s post.

November 04, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 4, 2017

November 04, 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.

How to Access Your Medical Records | Berkeley Wellness – I like the patient portal idea…just wish that every provider seems to have their own separate one.

First floating wind farm, built by offshore oil company, delivers electricity | Ars Technica – Hywind Scotland began producing power in September…now delivering to the Scottish grid. The turbines don’t require a firm attachment to the seafloor…using suction anchors like offshore drilling.

Germany Sees Drastic Decrease in Insects | The Scientist Magazine® - This story was reported in several my the feeds I monitor. A 27 years study….insect biomass declined by about 75% in that time. And the sampling was done in nature preseves!

Symmetrical Eyes Indicate Dyslexia | The Scientist Magazine® - Interesting….but what next.

The Millipede That Protects Itself with Cyanide – Cool Green Science – We found millipedes at the Belmont BioBlitz…but not these cyanides producing ones. Still – fascinating critters of the forest.

Stone Age Britons Feasted While Building Stonehenge | Smart News | Smithsonian – Pigs – maybe fattened with something sweet, like honey – that came from all over Great Britain. Cattle to a lesser extent.

The Real-Life Whale That Gave Moby Dick His Name | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history behind the novel.

Compound Interest - Broccoli colour changes and cancer-fighting compounds – I tend to eat broccoli raw but have noticed the color change when it is cooked – never thought about why it did.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #110 and #109 – Birds and more birds…I can’t resist including them.

Prozac in ocean water a possible threat to sea life -- ScienceDaily – Medications can have unintended consequences far beyond out intent.

November 03, 2017

Fall at Brookside Gardens

November 03, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Last week my sister and I walked around Brookside Gardens. As we parked I noticed a tall Bald Cypress that was dropping its needles – a good sign of fall. Up close the cones were still a little green compared to the needles.

The gardens were full of plants that can survive the cooling temperatures for a little while. There was a new sculpture near the scent garden – a sphere of stones carefully pieced together without mortar. A few flowers were still blooming, and the bumble bees were active.

There was a monarch butterfly and I hoped that it would continue southward fast enough…not be caught here were we have our first frosts.

The area around the ponds and teahouse was partially closed (maybe some flood damage repair) but the bridge to the maze was a nice fall foliage scene. The maze itself has some sediment on one side – maybe washed there by recent rains.

Inside the conservatory, it was warm and lush – as usual.

The part of the conservatory that will be used for model trains during the holiday light exhibit currently has mums. The plants were formed into saguaro cactus shapes this year! It was quite different than I expected…but pleasant. The plantings are in pots, so they can be repositioned when the trains to be installed just before Thanksgiving.