September 07, 2020

Maple Seedling

September 07, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

2020 09 IMG_1743 (7).jpg — A maple seedling has been added to the row of Kombucha bottles on the windowsill in my office. I did this several years ago with a smaller seedling and it lasted for a long time – the leaves eventually turning red (long after the leaves fell from the red maple tree in our yard). This one will have a place with the cut flowers for the next few months.

2020 09 IMG_1743 (4).jpg — I pulled the seedling while I was working in the front flower bed. It must have missed my attention previously. My husband filled the bottle with water for me to put it in since my boots were muddy.

It was one of four red maple seedlings I found.

There were 5 tulip poplars!

I filled the wheelbarrow with bush trimmings and milkweed (without caterpillars) – once again using that as the metric for my morning round of yard work.

When I took the wheelbarrow back to the brush pile to empty, I noticed that the small puffball I had seen over a week ago was done with its development – had puffed its spores away.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Miniclover. My husband mowed at the lowest setting (i.e. scalped) the areas of our yard that tend to have problems keeping their turf…we raked over the areas…and planted miniclover. In the past we’ve tried over-seeding with grass seed and it hasn’t worked very well so we decided to try something different. Now we are watering every morning (if it didn’t rain overnight) for the next week or so….and we’ll see what happens.

September 06, 2020

eBotanical Prints – August 2020

September 06, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

20 botanical eBooks in August 2020! The time range is quite long in this group from 1700 to 1999. The 4 Weinmann books are the only ones in color this month and they are quite old – from the 1700s.

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of 1963 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 20 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

Phytanthoza iconographia, sive, Conspectus aliquot millium V1 * Weinmann, Johnn Wilhelm et all * sample image * 1737

Phytanthoza iconographia, sive, Conspectus aliquot millium V2 * Weinmann, Johnn Wilhelm et all * sample image * 1737

Phytanthoza iconographia, sive, Conspectus aliquot millium V3 * Weinmann, Johnn Wilhelm et all * sample image * 1737

Phytanthoza iconographia, sive, Conspectus aliquot millium V4 * Weinmann, Johnn Wilhelm et all * sample image * 1737

The Agricultural Grasses of the United States * Vasey, George; Richardson, Clifford, US Division of Botany * sample image * 1884

Pomona, or, The fruit-garden illustrated - containing sure methods for improving all the best kinds of fruits now extant in England * Langley, Batty * sample image * 1719

Icones pleurothallidinarum V76 1999 * Luer, Carlyle A. * sample image * 1999

Icones pleurothallidinarum V39 1991 * Luer, Carlyle A. * sample image * 1991

Jacobi Zanonii Rariorum stirpium historia : ex parte olim edita, nunc centum plus tabulis ex commentariis auctoris * Zanoni, Giacomo * sample image * 1742

Institutiones rei herbariae V2 * Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de * sample image * 1700

An illustrated guide to the flowering plants of the middle Atlantic and New England states * Stevens, George Thomas * sample image * 1910

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XXXVIII - 1900 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1900

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XXXI - 1893 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1893

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign LVII - 1919 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1919

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XLIV - 1906 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1906

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XLVI - 1908 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1908

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XXV - 1887 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1887

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign XXII - 1884 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1884

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign LIII - 1915 * Britten, James (editor) * sample image * 1915

Botany of to-day, a popular account of recent notable discoveries * Eliot, George Francis Scott * sample image * 1911

September 05, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 5, 2020

September 05, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Why cavemen needed no braces – Our diet and behavior have changed a lot since the stone and hunter/gather stages of our species….and those changes have impacted our jaw (and teeth and air way). There are more health consequences than just crooked teeth. I’ve bought the book (Kindle version) to learn more.

Characteristics that give viruses pandemic potential – An article from The Scientist that is more future oriented. What we are experiencing with COVID-19 is something that could happen again. The article talks about various types of viruses that pose the greatest threats.

Peer into the Past with Photorealistic Portraits of Roman Emperors – Taking historical sculptures and drawings to the next level. The Smithsonian Magazine summary has images of Augustus, Maximus Thrax, Caligula, and Nero….the rest can be viewed in Daniel Voshart’s site.

Amazing Macro Winners of the International Garden Photographer of the Year 2020 – Visual treats. This it the type post that gives me ideas about things to try with my own camera.

1,200-Year-Old Soap Factory Unearthed in Negev Desert – The soap was made from olive oil and the ashes of the saltwort plant. The factory produced enough for export to places like Egypt and other parts of the Arab world.

Low humidity increases COVID-19 risk: Another reason to wear a mask – This finding does not bode well for the winter when many homes and workplaces have much lower humidity because of furnaces.

Top 25 birds of the week: Birds in Pairs – Beautiful birds….I always enjoy looking at the 25 pictures each week.

Hawaiʻian Snails: A Tale of Discovery and Rediscovery – I remember seeing a snail in a planter box at the airport on the big island while I was waiting for my luggage a few years ago…and I dug up the picture I took when this article prompted the memory.

Wolverines Seen Roaming About Mount Rainier National Park – What a boon remotely triggered cameras can be….and then DNA testing of hair to determine relationships!

Meet the Squad of Mosquito-Eating Species – Birds, dragonflies, newts, aquatic turtles, and bats. We haven’t noticed very many mosquitoes around this year, but we try to replace the water in our bird baths frequently and make sure our gutters are draining properly. Having the birds around our house probably helps…and the turtles at the neighborhood pond do their part.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Going to the basement during a storm. Our phones went off with tornado warnings – which is rare in Maryland. We went to the basement. It turned out to be only heavy rain for us (not very windy either); to the east and south of where we live there was a lot of damage with trees/big branches falling and shingles flying.

Cleaning the leaves off the deck. Over the past week we’ve had several fronts come through that have blown leaves and branches onto our deck. They were still wet when I went out to clean up. I dumped the sediment that had accumulated in the bird bath too.

Finding Witches’ Butter. I photographed the fruiting bodies of Witches’ Butter on our deck railing. The deck is over 25 years old and even regular treatment can’t keep it clear for fungus; it is only visible during times when the wood is wet for several days.

I’m more concerned about a window frame that has the same fungus growing. I’m not keen about replacing the window but we might have to consider it.

September 04, 2020

More Butterflies at the CSA

September 04, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

There seemed to be even more butterflies at the Community Supported Agriculture cutting garden when I went to cut my flowers and stevia this week. I’d remembered to take my better camera so got some reasonably good pictures. I managed to identify all of them using the Maryland Butterflies web page when I looked at the images on my big monitor.

I’ve seen the Common Buckeye many times but they seemed to be a lot more of them in close proximity than I had seen before.

The Pink-edged Sulphur was a new one for me. I knew it was a ‘sulphur’ when it photographed it but didn’t see the edges clearly until it was on the big screen.

The Red Admiral on the cone flower was one I don’t remember seeing before but it is evidently found through most of Maryland.

I’d seen the Palamedes Swallowtails in previous year’s Wings of Fancy exhibits inside the conservatory. This was the first one I’ve seen in the wild. I realized it was a swallowtail when I photographed it and that it looked a little different than the dark morphs of tiger swallowtails that often are more common in this area.

What a thrill to see three new-to-me butterflies this week!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Car service. We took my husband’s car to the dealership for a gear shift button repair (it popped off!!!). It turned out to be a recall item and they had the replacement part. Now the service is up to date on the car as well. My car will get serviced next week. We haven’t been driving much this year….but the cars do have a maintenance schedule.

Yampa Valley Festival of the Cranes. I started making my way through the videos. They are well done. It is positive story as well because Northwest Colorado’s Greater Sandhill Cranes have gone from endangered to threatened (1993) to special concern (1998). I’d like to go to the festival held just before their fall migration south some year….see the young cranes leaving the nesting grounds. Some of them end up in Bosque del Apache where we’ve been twice to the festival in November (cancelled this year).

Fledgling chipping sparrow. This is the time for fledging chipping sparrows (probably second brood). There was one that was trying to come to the feeder while I was out with my morning caffeine. It couldn’t quite manage getting on the perch so would flutter down to the deck railing and an adult bird would bring some seed. Hopefully, it will become coordinated enough to get its own seed soon.

September 03, 2020

New Phone

September 03, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

My new phone is a Samsung Galaxy S10e – that is the smallest of the current Samsung phones (the others are too big for me to mange one-handed). I got it set up on the same day as it arrived with a little help from my husband. Last time I bought a phone the initial set up was done at Best Buy. This time the phone was delivered to the house from Verizon and we did all the set up at home. I have all the apps I use all the time working as expected and will do the others as I need them.

Setting up a new device is always a high-stress time – remembering infrequently used passwords…trying not to mess up the set up and having to back track (or worse yet…not be able to figure out how to back track)…somehow losing something unrecoverable in the transfer. With the phone I had the added challenge of applying the screen protector…making sure it was very clean before the application and that all the bubbles were out before the adhesive set.

I’m past the anxiety now and enjoying the new device. The sunflowers cover I got Is OK but I think I might order a more unusual one (orange jewelweed) as a treat…maybe to remind myself that the phone is the ‘big present’ for my birthday later this year.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Clearing the crispers. I had quite a lot of produce left from last week’s share on the day I picked up the new one so I spent time in the morning putting as much as I could in the freezer. I’d managed to eat the 4 pounds of larger tomatoes but still had 2 pints of the cherry size…which freeze well with just a simple rinsing and then placing in a Ziploc.

The beets were more challenging. They had to be scrubbed and then cut up into bit size pieces that could be used in smoothies or cooked (stir fry or soup).

All the mild peppers I cut up and put in a Ziploc. The jalapenos I cut up and put in their own container….I’ll use them in small amounts – making taco filling (beef or chicken).

I still need to cook the spaghetti squash (next time we turn on the oven for something else). All the other things I had left, I ate as part of my lunch before I made the pickup later in the afternoon.

September 02, 2020

Zentangle® – August 2020

September 02, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

There were a lot of tiles made in August….more than 3 per day. Picking just 31 of them was challenging. 16 of the ones selected were rectangles cut from separator cardboard in boxes of cat food. The rounded shapes in some of them are inked indentions from the cans of Fancy Feast! My plan for September is to limit myself to 2 tiles per day…but then ‘color’ old tiles if I want some more ‘pen in hand’ time. The rectangular tiles created with black ink are prime candidates for this activity.

There are two series that I developed during the month and some of them made it into the 31 selected: 3 of the ‘5 gingo’ series

And 4 of the ‘x string’ series.

And then here are the rest of the square tiles.

Most tiles were made in my early morning outdoor time on the deck…and I am increasingly sitting in a chair using the back of my iPad as a surface for the tile. I like the freedom to grab a pen and some tiles and just go wherever I want in the house or yard. That means there is no shading (don’t want to deal with the pencil and tortillon rolling around)….and I’m fine with that sacrifice.

The new pen I am experimenting with is a white Sakura Gelly Roll 08. The Sharpie Ultra Fine points are still my favorites, but I am experimenting with other pens that I have around. It’s been over a year since I got quite an assortment at the CZT class and I want to use them before they dry out.

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.

September 01, 2020

Grasshopper

September 01, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Our weather is getting a little cooler. We are back to mornings in the 60s. It’s a good time to see some insects before they warm up enough to be more active. On a recent morning, the temperature was key to my photographing a grasshopper. It was still the entire time I watched it; I walked around trying to get a better angle.

2020 08 IMG_1620 (5).jpg — It is a Differential Grasshopper – note the patterns on the hind legs. It’s common throughout most of Maryland and evidently does very well in urban/suburban environments. It can cause crop damage but also has the redeeming characteristic (for allergy suffers) of eating ragweed.

The rest of my walk provided some other photographic subjects – plants around the pond and reflections of park benches/trees/fire hydrant in the pond. The light was good from certain angles but almost too bright otherwise.

2020 08 IMG_1620 (1).jpg — I noted that there was a Bradford Pear hanging over the fence of one of the backyards that border the neighborhood water retention pond and a lot of small Callery Pear (the escaped and invasive form of the Bradford Pear) youngsters coming up milkweed meadow. Maybe the meadow will be mowed to keep the pear trees in check.

I didn’t see any sign that the milkweed plants have been eaten by Monarch caterpillars this season. The pods are not covered with milkweed bugs either. Overall – the area looks too free of insects and I wonder if it was treated with something – which destroys the value of having a milkweed meadow.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Yellow leaves in morning light. The morning sun hit the tops of the tulip poplars while I was outside, and the foliage looked very yellow. The leaves still look green in daytime light….but it won’t be long before they will turn yellow and swirl away from the tree.

August 31, 2020

Zooming – August 2020

August 31, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The images this month come from around my house and neighborhood…from the CSA. I didn’t get out and about to other places because it was too hot on so many days rather than any heightened risk relative to the pandemic (it declined a bit in Maryland during August compared to July). More than half the pictures were taken in my office, either through the window or of the flowers on the windowsill. The zoomed images of flowers are probably the ones I fined the most appealing. Photography is a key component to my enjoyment of having flowers around. Enjoy the August 2020 slideshow!

August 30, 2020

Ten Little Celebrations – August 2020

August 30, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Celebrating that everyone in my family is healthy….staying vigilant with masks and distancing. And then there are 10 little celebrations for August.

There were three celebrations associated with melons which are always a big part of August **– a sweet cantaloupe, a yellow watermelon, and the 6-part symmetry** **in a red watermelon.**

2020 08 IMG_1318 (9).jpg — **Sunrise at the neighborhood pond.** It was a celebration to begin the day.

**Photographing a cicada.** I always celebrate a cicada that I manage to see…and that remains still long enough for me to photograph!

The (clean) glass birdbath. The glass birdbath is always pretty….but when it’s sparkly clean it’s even better.

Sweet potato sprouts. Finding new life in the pantry….letting the roots start growing…planting them outside. I celebrated that it happened…would have been eve better if it were earlier in the season.

Best picture of our cat. The cat is 18 years old and I finally managed a picture of him in motion that captures his overall personality.

Dryer fix. My husband I celebrated that our dryer is fixed (that we didn’t have to buy a new one).

Kombucha bottles with flowers. I celebrate the flowers on my windowsill every time I look out the window. It’s a mood brightener every time.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Smartphone replacement. I noticed that the side of my phone has spilt….the case was holding it together; otherwise it might split the rest of the way. It’s over 3 years old (I posted about it here back in 2017). My husband ordered a new phone for me and I found a case that I like…ordered a screen protector at the same time. More about the adventure of getting a new phone in a contactless way over the next week….

August 29, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 29, 2020

August 29, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Ancient Artisans in Arabia, the Americas Invented Same Technology Independently | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Stone fluting… and the fluting is not the same so it may have had a different purpose.

Baby boomers show concerning decline in cognitive functioning: Trend reverses progress over several generations, study finds -- ScienceDaily – The impact of modern life in the long term?

Ramesses II Statue Unearthed in Egypt - Archaeology Magazine – Multiple statues have been found…made of black and pink granite.

Top 25 birds of the week: #Waterbirds – Beautiful birds…not as many from North America as I expected.

Stone Sculptures of ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Characters to Adorn Medieval Church – Replacing weathered carvings. There are 14 limestone carvings that will be displayed at ground level for visitors to see before being installed on the church’s exterior.

On the Delaware, A Promising New Era in Cleanup of an Urban River – Like many urban rivers in the US – a lot of progress has been made since the mid-20th century….but there is still a ways to go. Many of the urban rivers are clean enough in some stretches for recreational use….but often not after storms when sewage systems and extra industrial waste might be in the water along with the storm water.

Are you being served? A short history of waiters and servers in restaurants – Many of us are still in the mode of only getting carry out!

Examining the Chemistry of Yellowstone National Park's Thermal Waters – A little chemistry lesson in this post. Many of the hot springs and geysers are basic…mud pots and steam-driven fumaroles are acidic.

U.S. Commercial Rooftops Hold 145 Gigawatts of Untapped Solar Potential – The big challenge is logistical and financial. It seems that a partnership between commercial properties and community/utility solar would be worthwhile. It would be much better to use commercial rooftops than farmland for solar panels and many of the rooftops are in areas that consume a lot of electricity as well.

Record-Breaking 60,000 Flamingos Flock to Southern France -The picture of an adult flamingo surrounded by babies/juveniles caught my attention. I didn’t know that young flamingos are gray!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Flu shot. I got to my grocery store’s pharmacy just after they opened at 8:30 AM – got a flu shot. The store was busier than when I do my grocery shopping staring around 6:30….but it was still mostly possible to social distance…and everyone was wearing masks. I’ll stick with the earlier time for my grocery shopping.

August 28, 2020

Butterflies in the Cutting Garden

August 28, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I took a few minutes when I was in the CSA’s cutting garden this week to photograph some butterflies. The first one is a battered Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (dark morph) on a sunflower. I always try to check to make sure it’s not a Spicebush or Black Swallowtail. This one has dashes on the edge of the forewing (instead of spots)….which distinguished it as the dark morph of the Tiger Swallowtail.

There were skippers all over the cone flowers.

I took a series that shows the proboscis in different positions…and why they stay for such a long time on one cone flower (there are a lot of places to find nectar)!

Aside from cutting some flowers, I also cut stevia. I chop it up to steep in tea….a nice light sweetness for the whole pot. I don’t think very many others know where it is because the plants don’t look like they’ve been snipped much. Their loss…my gain!

By the time I finished the bit of cutting and photography in the mid-afternoon sun, my mask was becoming decidedly uncomfortable. I appreciated the air conditioner in my car for the short trip home.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Grocery day. Every time I shop, I realize I am becoming more accustomed to shopping every other week rather than weekly as I have for my whole life until this pandemic. I’m now beginning to think that I’ll stick with the less frequent shopping from now on. It takes a little more planning, but the benefits are reduced time for shopping and I seem to be spending a bit less (maybe because I am planning better). My grocery store is not that far from where I live – so halving the gas/electricity for the commute is not saving much – although it could add up over time. Overall – this may be a pandemic habit worth keeping!

August 27, 2020

Through my Office Window – August 2020

August 27, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The usual birds kept coming to our deck for the water or seed (or both) this month: Mourning Doves

2020 08 IMG_1236 (2).jpg — White-breasted Nuthatch

2020 08 IMG_1236 (14).jpg — Carolina Chickadees

2020 08 IMG_1236 (15).jpg — Tufted Titmouse

Carolina Wren

2020 08 IMG_1236 (12).jpg — With **occasional** visits from American Goldfinches

2020 08 IMG_1236 (20).jpg — Downy Woodpecker

The House Finches seemed to be the most frequent visitors to the feeder. Near the beginning of the month we were seeing parents bringing fledglings to the feeder.

And then in recent days there were birds that seemed to be getting adult plumage.

Also - near the end of the month a Chipping Sparrow brought its fledgling to the seed under the feeder. The young bird was still in the mode of waiting to be fed rather than finding its own seed.

And it was voracious – here is the “I’m still hungry” stance!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

20200826_072355(0).jpg — **More sweet potato sprouts**. I found more sprouts on the sweet potatoes in the pantry a couple of days ago and put them in water. And this morning they had roots and tiny leaves! I planted them outside in two places near the other sprout and watered all three. The day lily leaves are beginning to grow rapidly again, and I hope the small sweet potato vines will grow fast enough to not be down in the shade.

August 26, 2020

3 Free eBooks – August 2020

August 26, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The Internet Archive is such a great resource. I’ve been thinking recently about how frustrating it was when I was growing up – getting to the library…finding something in the card catalog then discovering that it wasn’t available. Or going to the ‘Books in Print’ reference and finding a reference to a book that I wanted to get…but then finding the library didn’t have it and didn’t have an easy way to get it. Periodicals were in thick bound volumes….if the library had the publication. Somehow my hours at the library were more frustrating than enlightening. I became aware early on that ‘research’ in the library was not as productive as I wanted it to be. Now we have access to so much via a simple search on the internet; the more challenging problem is checking the validity of the references found.

The items I find on Internet Archive are general books that are dated…but reflect a perspective of the time they were written/created. I tend to look more at the images than read the text….but what a rich experience that level of browsing can be!

Grindon, Leo H. Lancashire – brief historical and descriptive notes. London: Seeley and Co. 1892. Available from Internet Archive here. I gleaned images from the book that depict children…an immigrant mother hunched over her baby, children out and about in wet or cold weather, a dinner hour where a younger girl appears to be barefoot and without a shawl/scarf, and then children working in a cotton factory and glass-blowing. The late 1800s were a time when some children started working early in their teens and worked long hours….enough that it impacted their health (i.e. rickets, lung problems).

Holland, Clive. Things seen in Japan. London: Seeley and Co. 1911. Available from Internet Archive here. Again – I selected pictures that include children. In the first one I noticed the shoes – placed on the ground under the bench…and what about the other child on the bench a little further away. The ‘big sisters’ in the other picture look a little tired…and how did the photographer know that the babies were all ‘little brothers’?

Sakai Hoitsu (Japanese, 1761-1828). The slideshow of this artist’s work is available from Internet Archive here. Do you recognize the deciduous magnolia?

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

**Watermelon symmetry**. I cut the watermelon crosswise and noticed the 6 spirals…3 sets of 2 back-to-back spirals. Even familiar foods can surprise us! Maybe this could be a prompt for a hexagonal Zentangle pattern. Some paintings of watermelons before modern plant breeding show the 6 segments more clearly.

August 25, 2020

Toad, Tiger Swallowtail and Puffballs

August 25, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

While my husband mowed the grass this past weekend – I took the compost bucket out to the pile and swept the deck (including the stairs down to ground level). The first surprise was at the compost pile: an American Toad. It blends in with the sticks around the bin.

It’s possible that the toad’s ‘house’ is a cavity under the compost bin since that is where it headed as I tried to get closer. It’s fun to think about the toad being under my daughter’s old turtle sandbox which is about 30 years old and has a great second act as a compost bin/ (maybe)toad home.

I found a tiger swallowtail carcass amongst the leaves on the deck as I was sweeping. It was missing some parts (like the abdomen), but I saved it for some later photography. I see these butterflies frequently in our yard. The tulip poplar tree is a food plant for their caterpillars, and we have a large one at the edge of the forest.

After I finished sweeping, I noticed a white object – about the side of a tennis ball in the grass my husband had just mowed. When I looked at I more closely I realized it was a puffball. There was a slash in the ‘ball’ and it was disconnected from the ground…damage from the lawnmower probably.

There was another tiny puffball nearby that was still attached to the ground and an older one that had been slashed earlier or may already released spores.

Back to the Tiger Swallowtail….

I took close-up picture then got out the jeweler’s loupe to look at the scales.

The wings were battered (missing pieces, some scales rubbed away) so this was not a newly emerged butterfly when it died. The scales that remain are still vibrant….tiny jewels even after death.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

**Two tiny leaves on the sweet potato.** The sweet potato sprout I planted in the front flowerbed now has two tiny leaves. It appears to be getting comfortable in its new place – set to grow rapidly. The trick will be to keep it moist enough during the hot days we have in the forecast for the rest of this week.

I was checking the plant when I went out to do another round in the yard using the ‘fill the wheelbarrow’ metric. It was a tough hour since my first task was sweeping the driveway. Acorns are hard to sweep into a pile because they roll! And the ones that have been run over by our cars are in pieces that don’t sweep up easily either; the little bit of curve they have seems to help them stick to the surface. I stopped before the wheelbarrow was full this morning…deciding that an hour was enough as the temperature climbed.

August 24, 2020

The August Pivot

August 24, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

What a difference a year makes! Last year in August I was finishing up Zentangle sessions and butterfly migration games with Howard County Conservancy summer campers

And ramping up my volunteer shifts with the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit that would continue into mid-September.

My husband and I made a day trip to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge where I managed to photograph a cicada in foliage (following its sound).

Somethings were the same: there was the weekly pickup of the CSA share and grocery shopping (although I did it weekly rather than every other week).

Another aspect of the month that is turning out to be similar is the pivotal aspect of the month. For so many years of our lives, we have been so tuned to the school year that it only seems natural that August is a starting point – a change over from relatively free form summer to more structured ‘school.’ Even though we don’t have the forcing function of an actual school – we invent the pivot for ourselves.

Last year we were making plans for the fall and early winter: an astronomy focused camping trip, a birding trip to Smith Island, day trips to Conowingo (for the Bald Eagles), Thanksgiving in Springfield MO, a day trip to the Maryland State House, 3 days Delmarva birding, and the a trip to Texas for a family visit and then the Laredo Birding Festival. All in the September to February period. The travel was interspersed with lots of volunteer gigs.

The pivot is still happening this year but the plans are just for the early fall and are all birding festivals that have gone virtual: Yampa Valley (Colorado) Crane Festival Sept. 3-6, Puget Sound Bird Fest Sept. 12-13, Cape May Fall Festival Oct. 2-4, and Hawaii Island Festival of Birds Oct. 15-19. The two big festivals in November (Rio Grand Valley and Festival of the Cranes) have cancelled this year. I’m looking forward to the virtual festivals in September and October… and on the lookout for opportunities for virtual travel or online classes in November, December, and January.

August 23, 2020

Completed “to be continued” Zentangle® Tiles

August 23, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Over the past week, I finished all 18 of the “to be continued” Zentangle® tiles that I posted about last Sunday. I used a different color pin for my second pass at each tile so that I could easily tell the part that I added. Most of the time I used patterns that contrasted…but a few times I continued with the same one. All except one were completed in my early morning hour outside on our screened deck. In the mosaic below I’ve included the partial and completed tiles side by side.

I enjoyed this project…and may do it again in a few months. There are other variations I’ve thought of: 1) make a collect of 6 tiles with the same string (a relatively simple one so it is easily duplicated) and then use different patterns to complete them; 2) make a squiggled string with a lot of spaces on 5 tiles (not identical) and pick 2-3 patterns to use on all of them…..I’m sure others will occur to me. But I still enjoy making just one tile at a time without any plan for what the next one will be like. One ‘project’ a month is more than enough!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

**Melons.** We have 2 melons from this week’s CSA share – a cantaloupe and a watermelon. I was relieved that the watermelon was not huge since my refrigerator was already very full. The cantaloupe was the first to be cut. I enjoyed the first bites while I worked.

August 22, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 22, 2020

August 22, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Scientists Awaken Deep Sea Bacteria After 100 Million Years | The Scientist Magazine® - Learning more about the durability of microbes in extreme conditions….and thinking about how we look for life elsewhere.

How Ancient Monsoons and Tectonic Shifts Shaped This Flowering Mountain Hotspot | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – China’s Hengduan Mountains….a lot of rhododendrons and delphiniums

Idol of the Painted Temple - Archaeology Magazine – Pachacamac in Southern Peru…a place venerated even before the Inca Empire

5,000 Pythons Reportedly Removed from Everglades Ecosystem – A lot of pythons…but still more need to be removed.

How lockdown may have changed your personality - BBC Future – It might not have changed very much or permanently for most people. Most of us are resiliently adapting to lockdown…we’ll bounce back or continue the aspects we developed during this ‘timeout’ that are positive.

Alaska’s Vegetation is Changing Dramatically – The impact is still to be determined but rapid changes are rarely good for ecosystems….they decline because they can’t adjust fast enough to the rate of change.

Bees' buzz is more powerful for pollination, than for defense or flight -- ScienceDaily – There is not just one kind of buzz! And some bees (like honey bees) don’t buzz flowers at all.

Top 25 Birds of the Week: Raptors - The birds of prey…some are powerful looking, some are cute, some a ugly…but that’s just overlaying our stereotyping onto birds like we do with other people.

Why Plastic Waste is an ideal building material – We need a strategy to upcycle all the waste plastic that is accumulating since we don’t seem to be able to wean ourselves from plastic packaging at all.

Grand Canyon's Prehistoric Past Appears In 313-Million-Year-Old Tracks - Sandstone rockfalls….near the trail…first spotted by a Norwegian geology professor on a field trip to the Grand Canyon with his students.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Clothes dryer working. Our 20-year-old clothes dryer has a new heating element and the dust/lint has been cleaned out from around the innards. The first loads we did were towels!

Doe and 2 fawns in our back yard. My husband noticed the deer in our back yard in the afternoon. They stayed around long enough for me to get some pictures. In past years we’ve had a doe and 2 fawns in our yard more frequently. This year their main path back into the forest must be through another yard because we haven’t seen them as often…and so it is a special day when we do.

The fawns are good size now, but their spots are still noticeable…not quite as well defined as earlier in the season.

August 21, 2020

Sunrise – August 2020

August 21, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

It’s getting easier and easier to be up for sunrise. I was still a bit lazy this week and opted to photograph the sunrise from my front porch rather than getting in the car to find a place with a clearer view of the horizon. There are still plenty of leaves on the trees that block out any low view of the sun coming up in our neighborhood; a few clouds are required to see any color. It was a good view with the pink and orange wisps….and sky-blue background. Seeing a beautiful sunrise is always a good start to the day.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

3 glass jars of flowers in the window. I am enjoying the kombucha jars reused as vases for flowers cut at the CSA; each one is a good size to hold 2-3 flowers. I have three on the windowsill in my office. The flowers in the center vase are a week old…the other two are from this week’s walk in the cutting garden (I also snipped catnip, stevia, and basil).

In the afternoon I took pictures when the sun was shining on the flowers…a little artsy photography. I sat far back in the office, rested the camera on my knee and zoomed in to get the pictures I wanted. Using the zoom rather than getting close to the subject captures more depth of field…and often gives a ‘painterly’ blurring that I like.

Hibiscus. I couldn’t resist stopping to photograph some yellow hibiscus in one of the beds to the side of one of the CSA barns. There are lots of buds on the plants - so we have a few more weeks of these flowers to enjoy. I’ll have to remember to look every week when I get my CSA share.

August 20, 2020

Planting a Sweet Potato Sprout

August 20, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The sweet potato sprout that I found on a potato in the bin a few days ago, grew roots very rapidly…about 2 inches in 3 days.

I took it out to the front flower bed where the day lilies are just beginning to grow fresh leaves again…choosing a place that looked to be between those plants. There were still lumpy roots when I dug the hole (day lily roots) but I tried to push them to the side. The sweet potato sprout has one tiny leaf at this point. I’ll let it grow until the weather starts to get too cool. There probably is not enough time for potatoes to form but maybe there will be enough leaves to make a good salad.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Rain at sunrise. It was raining for my normal 6-7 AM time out on the covered deck. The rain lasted longer than was forecast and the temperature was a bit lower as well. I stayed out for my usual time – enjoying my morning caffeine…making some Zentangle tiles…doing a little reading…listening to birds. The cat came out but decided it was not a good situation for napping; he went back inside within 10 minutes.

August 19, 2020

Art of Bridges – August 2020

August 19, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Bridges in art is the theme for this post. I’ve collected the images over the past month as I browsed through art slideshows on Internet Archive. Sometimes bridges are a location for action – the people or vehicle on the bridge drawing the eye. At other times – the bridge itself is the main feature of the painting…as architecture. Most of the time there is a permanence to the structure – stone and steel. The bridges of wood sometimes leave a different impression.

The artist name/link goes to the slideshow to see more of their work. Enjoy these images…and take a look at the other paintings from these artists.

Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Eugène Atget (1857 - 1927)

Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927)

Kosta Hakman (1899 - 1961)

Bernard Buffet (1928 - 1999)

Walter Withers (1854 - 1914)

Christian Rohlfs (German, 1849 - 1938)

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

After the rain. We had blustery rain in the late afternoon. The following morning, I discovered one of the tie backs on the deck drapery had come loose and used that as a prompt to unfurl all of the drapes to make sure they could thoroughly dry.

Cat on the Deck. Our cat likes to be outdoors on the covered/screened deck for naps. He generally is outdoors with me in the early morning. Temperatures have been in the mid60s the past few days between 6 and 7 AM…and he curls up for a good snooze.

Later in the day – the naps are shorter…and he is easily disturbed. When I went out to take a picture of the unfurled drapes….I didn’t realize he was there until he started moving. He wasn’t happy with me and headed inside to complain to my husband.