Breakfast on the Deck

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Now that the deck staining is complete, and we’ve moved the furniture back and hung the deck curtains to block the afternoon sun – I am having breakfast on the deck. My breakfast is in 2 parts: a first breakfast at about 7 AM which always includes dark chocolate (usual herbal tea to drink) and then a second breakfast about 10 AM which varies more. On the morning I took the picture it was crustless quiche with sunflower seeds on top with diet Pepsi.

I open at least one of the drapes so I can see the maple tree. The birds are generally active during the early morning – blue jays and grackles were the noisiest on the morning I took the pictures. The vegetation is so thick this time of year that they are heard more than seen.

Sometimes I take supplies to make a Zentangle tile after I’ve eaten the dark chocolate. On this morning I was surprised at how cool it felt….I opted to make the tile indoors.

Overall – the morning is the most pleasant time to be on the deck in the summer. Some outdoor time is a great way to start the day.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 17, 2021

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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 'Zoom Boom' Can't Save the Midwest – People are leaving dense, high-cost urban metro areas…but very few of them are going to the heartland.  Maybe some of the areas will benefit from migration because of climate change. Or maybe the Midwest should simply focus on investments to help their economies and create places people want to live….do the groundwork to encourage people to move to the region.

Poison Mushrooms: How to Tell – From the Natural History Society of Maryland…good pictures.

The Avenues of America – An overview picture of Washington DC taken from the International Space Station.

The Invasion Of The National Park System – Quagga mussels, Burmese pythons, feral swine, household pets gone wild, tamarisk trees….and those are just the ones pictured!

Incredible Footage of Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall Volcano – And there are people in many of the pictures to provide scale!

Major advance in fabrication of low-cost solar cells also locks up greenhouse gases – There are so many articles about technologies that sound promising toward creating faster pathways away from fossil fuels….hope a lot of them move forward.

Elephant Trunks Can Suck Water at 330 Miles Per Hour – Wow

Pyramid made of dirt is world’s oldest known war memorial – Located in Syria…and at least 30 people – male and presumed to be warriors – buried in horizontal steps.

COVID-19 pandemic has been linked with six unhealthy eating behaviors -- ScienceDaily – Eating disorders are one of the deadliest psychiatric health concerns and 6 of them have a correlation to the pandemic: mindless eating and snacking, increased food consumption, generalized decrease in appetite or dietary intake, eating to cope, pandemic related reductions in dietary intake, and re-emergence or marked increase in eating disorders.

How flooded coal mines could heat homes – Evidently the water in the mines could be tapped as a source of geothermal heating/cooling!

Alice B. Woodward – Illustrator

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I found and browsed 5 books illustrated by Alice B. Woodward in June. They are all freely available on Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg.

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The first one I found was published in 1895: Eric, Prince of Lorlonia, Or, The Valley of Wishes: A Fairy Tale of the Days of Chivalry. It is one of her earliest books.

She became a prolific illustrator in the early 1900s. The other 4 books are from that period. The illustrations are richly colored….full of detail…enhancing the story the book is telling.

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The Brownies and other Tales by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing in 1910

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The Pinafore Picture Book by W.S. Gilbert in 1908

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The Story of Peter Pan Picture Book by Daniel O’Connor in 1915

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The Story of the Mikado by W.S. Gilbert in 1921

She continued to work into the early 1930s so there could be additional books that become more accessible as the copyright expires.

30 Years Ago – July 1991

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In June 1991, we had guests from Texas at our house. In July 1991, we went to Texas. I remember it vividly and was surprised when I looked back through my notes from the time to find that we were only there for 4 days. It seems like we did so much: went to the Dallas zoo, did a lot of water play with hoses and plastic bins big enough for each 23 month old girl to have her own, and explored several playgrounds where the swings were big favorites.

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It seemed like my daughter had a step increase in language and coordination…..and became a lot more opinionated about what she wanted to do. Maybe that last part was a precursor to her ‘terrible twos.’

We had two rounds of colds – before and after the trip to Texas. My husband did the best which was good since he was settling into his new job. My daughter had an eye infection along with her cold. I had an eye and ear infection that took 3 different antibiotics back to back; finally the last one worked.

The garden my mother-in-law had tended the previous summer was producing tomatoes, chives, dill, oregano and sunflowers. She died in Fall 1990 and we felt closer to her in the garden she had created than at the cemetery where she was buried.

Home Maintenance

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We’ve been catching up on some home maintenance this month.

My husband had started the process to get the deck stained back in June but there were so many rain days that it was only completed recently, and we moved all the furniture back that had been stored underneath the deck in the interim. The table had accumulated quite a lot of pollen and dust.  We also hung the curtains to block the sun in the afternoon. I’ll start spending some time on the deck in the mornings.

We also fixed a divider piece between vinyl and carpet flooring that had come loose. I held the piece while my husband hammered in some longer nails with small heads. It is great to have it firmly in place again.

Last but not least, I discovered another chair that belongs with a kitchen table my daughter has in Springfield. It needed some wood glue and screws tightened before it was in good repair…ready to be taken on my next road trip to Springfield…and left there.

It feels good to be working off out ‘to do’ list of things that need to be done around the house!

Cat Comfort

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My daughter’s cat has thoroughly acclimated to the larger house over the past month or so. There were 4 or 5 days where the cat was traumatized by the move –

  • First in the old house as things were moved out (favorite cat places went away)

  • Then in the new house closed in the sunroom at first while the movers handled the heavier furniture

  • Finally the doors opened.

The cat stayed in a small portion of the house for the first 24-48 hours and then started exploring. My daughter put furniture in front of windows for the cat to monitor bunnies and birds and squirrels. They bought a new cat tree and scratching post.

Now the cat is comfortable…enjoying finding new blankets or cushions that he needs claim as his own…new hiding places (seems to like the shoe rack in the cedar closet).

Enjoying grandcat pictures!

Day Lily Portraits

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Day lily flowers are at their best outdoors in the morning….just after they open.

We have day lilies in three areas of our yard: the front flower bed near the garage, in the back in an area close the house that now gets too much shade for them to do well, and at the base of the oak.

Most of the buds are eaten by deer before they can open so I try to cut the flowers if they manage to open outdoors and the buds when they are large enough to continue their cycle in a vase. The images below show a bud that opened indoors on the first morning….and one that had opened the previous morning.

I like to try high key images with the day lilies indoors as well.

The flowers dry and fall off after they bloom. They retain some of their color and I like the curls, twists, and wrinkles.

I also photograph them with the clip-on magnifier for my phone…and the clicker to cause the phone to take the picture (making it easier to hold the phone steady). The color and texture look different when they are magnified. The pollen is visible if a petal did not cover it as the flower dried.

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16 months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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16 months into the pandemic with vaccines available to anyone 12 or older…and the Delta variant is surging in some areas where the percent of the population vaccinated is low. Unfortunately - Springfield, Missouri is one of those places. It is frustrating that the deaths and the start of long term disabilities from COVID-19 that are happening now could have been avoided via vaccination….that the impact on lives of individuals and the economy (through increased health care and loss of productivity for those that became ill and didn’t fully recover) will be part of the legacy of (what I hope is) the late stages of the pandemic in the US.

I was at home in Maryland – a state with a high vaccination rate – for most of June. Even with Maryland’s stats, the Delta variant has me still wearing a mask any time I am in an indoor space like the grocery store (early morning when there are not many people around) or doctor’s offices (catching up on appointments I put off during the pandemic). We are still in takeout mode for restaurants and my husband wears a mask when he picks up our food. At other stores, we are doing curbside pickup. I wear a mask at the Farmers Market even though it is outdoors because it is difficult to keep distance while I am shopping. By this time, I had hoped we would be at the point of not needing masks, but the variants have changed the situation.

We are enjoying outdoor places: Brookside Gardens, Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant, Centennial Park, and Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. We choose times where there won’t be many other people around – usually in the mornings. I’m glad we’ve been able to avoid crowds/not wear masks since sometimes the temperature is warm enough that masks would be uncomfortable. Our yard is a great place to enjoy the outdoors as well; I enjoy yardwork in short bursts…when it’s not too hot.

Webinars have been a boon during the pandemic and this past month included one of the most thought-provoking: The Institutions of Extraterrestrial Liberty. It was an interdisciplinary 4 days of sessions (Day 1: https://tinyurl.com/4t7zjv72 Day 2: https://tinyurl.com/2f9n4b72 Day 3: https://tinyurl.com/48rbba2k Day 4: https://tinyurl.com/5bbey7pr)).

I’ve been thinking about the most effective pandemic coping mechanisms for me…deciding that the variety of strategies I’ve developed over many years have all contributed. It is having many familiar strategies to choose from that is important….and utilizing them often – together or alone. There are some that are part of my daily routine: journaling, 12,000 steps,  browsing 4 online books, mindfulness/yoga, blog post, noting something I am celebrating, creating Zentangle tile. My office is arranged such that the view from the window is a wall of trees with a roof at one side where birds occasionally perch. My husband and I try to plan one ‘field trip’ each week – a garden walk, birding, hiking, astronomy. Overall…we’ve settled into a routine that is sustainable.

I have road trip plans for the next month….and will be taking precautions to stay well while I am on the road and visiting family.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 10, 2021

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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.

Fibromyalgia likely the result of autoimmune problems – Maybe this change in thinking (neurologic to immune system) will improve diagnosis and management of the disease.

How freezing changed the green pea – A little food history

Massive Antarctic Lake Vanishes in Just Three Days – A lot can be learned with observations from space…and once we see something interesting like this there is historical imagery that can provide a view from past years too.

Tuberculosis: The Forgotten Pandemic – The search for a better vaccine for TB….some history of the past 100 years of TB around the world.

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Interactions! – Birds with others…of their own species and sometimes another bird species.

The Finalists of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2021 Are Announced – Just found this post that came out back in April…enjoy a double dose of bird photos in this gleanings list.

Photos of the Week – June 17, 2021 – Spider photos from The Prairie Ecologist

Fire Destroyed 10 Percent of World’s Giant Sequoias Last Year—Can They Survive Climate Change? – Very sad….and this year there could be more fires.

6 Surprising Tales of Predatory Birds – The 6 birds featured are: pelicans, great blue herons, turkeys, crows, kelp gulls, and vampire finches.

Coelacanths may live nearly a century, five times longer than researchers expected – An ancient form of fish that evidently lives a long time, reaches maturity at about 55 years old and gestates offspring for 5 years. This slow life history has implications for conservation of the fish. I also wondered how many other species we know only from fossils had slow life histories compared to organism we observe today.

eBotanical Prints – June 2021

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20 botanical print books browsed in June and added to the list. I finished the Flora Brasiliensis volumes (started back in April) in June. There is quite an age range in the books for June

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The earliest (Nederlandsh bloemwerk) from 1794

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And the latest from (The Whole Fungus) from 1979.

Lots of changes in the types of images possible for publications!

The whole list of 2,167 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the June books is at the end of this post.

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

Flora Brasiliensis, enumeratio plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarum :quas suis aliorumque botanicorum studiis descriptas et methodo naturali digestas partim icone illustratas V14, pt 3 * Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von; Eichler, August Wilhelm; Urban, Ignatz * sample image * 1906

Flora Brasiliensis, enumeratio plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarum :quas suis aliorumque botanicorum studiis descriptas et methodo naturali digestas partim icone illustratas V14, pt 4 * Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von; Eichler, August Wilhelm; Urban, Ignatz * sample image * 1906

Flora Brasiliensis, enumeratio plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarum :quas suis aliorumque botanicorum studiis descriptas et methodo naturali digestas partim icone illustratas V15, pt 1 * Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von; Eichler, August Wilhelm; Urban, Ignatz * sample image * 1906

Flora Brasiliensis, enumeratio plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarum :quas suis aliorumque botanicorum studiis descriptas et methodo naturali digestas partim icone illustratas V15, pt 2 * Martius, Karl Friedrich Philipp von; Eichler, August Wilhelm; Urban, Ignatz * sample image * 1906

Eversley gardens and others * Kingsley, Rose Georgina * sample image * 1907

Roses and Rose Growing * Kingsley, Rose Georgina; Page-Roberts, F. * sample image * 1908

The ferns of Britain, and their allies * Deakin, Richard * sample image * 1848

Handbook to the Ferns of British India, Ceylan and the Malay Peninsula  * Beddome, Richard Henry * sample image * 1883

The flora sylvatica for southern India * Beddome, Richard Henry; Bentham, George * sample image * 1869

Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis V1 * Beddome, Richard Henry * sample image * 1874

Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis V2 * Beddome, Richard Henry * sample image * 1874

Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis V3 * Beddome, Richard Henry * sample image * 1874

The Ferns of South India * Beddome, Richard Henry * sample image * 1873

Nederlandsch bloemwerk  * T.B. Elwe in Amsterdam (publisher) * sample image * 1794

Grevillea * Williams and Norgate (publisher) * sample image * 1872

The Genus Rosa V1: pt 1-16 * Willmott, Ellen Ann; Parsons, Alfred (illustrator) * sample image * 1914

The Genus Rosa V2: pt 17-25 * Willmott, Ellen Ann; Parsons, Alfred (illustrator) * sample image * 1914

The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 * Fitch, W.H.; Hooker, Joseph Dalton * sample image * 1844

Flora vitiensis - a description of the plants of the Viti or Fiji islands * Fitch, W. H.; Seemann Berthold * sample image * 1865

The Whole fungus : the sexual-asexual synthesis V2 * Kendrick, Bryce * sample image * 1979

Cicada Aftermath

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The Brood X adult cicadas are gone; the outdoors is quiet in comparison to the way it was a month ago. The trees are showing the impact of the large numbers of cicadas that emerged this year…but not all the trees were impacted the same. Our oak seems to have the most small-stem breakage from the cicada eggs deposited under the bark…the larvae hatching and dropping to the ground. The stems split and the leaves past the split die. The condition is called ‘flagging.’

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Some of the leaves are already falling off the tree; they’ll be mulched into the yard the next time we mow.

There are other insects that enjoy our oak. I noticed that some of the leaves on the ground have holes in them. Without the cicadas, the leaves probably would have stayed green and on the tree for the rest of the summer.

The sycamore is impacted to a lesser degree.

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It appears from the yard that the small branches are falling off more quickly than the oak’s.

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I took some zoomed pictures of the sycamore branches. The color and shapes appeal to me.

Soon the aftermath of the Brood X will all be underground….the larvae beginning their 17 year journey.

There was a story in the news of some research into the blue jay and grackle die off recently….looking at whether the fungus that seemed more prevalent in the cicadas this year might have impacted the juvenile birds that ate them. The die off occurred in the same areas where Brood X emerged.

A Good Year for Virginia Creeper

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The Virginia Creeper seems to be growing lusher in our yard each year….maybe a step above the trend this year. I am letting it grow up the trunks of our sycamore and oak (planning to cut it back if it ever gets up too high in the tree and start interfering with the tree’s own leaves/food production).

The plant clings to vertical surfaces with disks rather than roots so I am letting it grow on the basement wall that borders the chaos garden – for now. The gentle arch and changing color of the leaves as they mature appeals to me.

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Supporting native plants in my yard has become increasingly important to me over the past few years – glad that I have native trees already present (oak, maple, sycamore, tulip poplar, black walnut). The Virginia Creeper is the ‘vine’ I am encouraging – it’s easier to love than the native grape that grows so rapidly and gets out of control…or the trumpet vine that needs more sun than I have and also tends to overwhelm everything around it. The Virginia creeper produces tiny seeds that provides winter food for birds and the leaves support several insect species. Virginia Creeper is the host plant for Virginia Creeper Sphinx moths. I’ll be looking for the caterpillars on the plants in my yard!

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens – 3

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Continuing the posts about our hike at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC…today the topic is everything I noticed other than the lotuses and dragonflies.

I looked for a shelf fungus on one the trees near the entrance that I’d seen over several years. It was gone but there was some pancake looking fungus patches on one of the high branches!

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There were other flowers blooming:

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Pickerel Weed. In past years it attracted tiger swallowtail butterflies. I didn’t see any in the gardens this year.

Hibiscus. Not as many as in previous years. This one was growing at the edge of one of the ponds.

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Water lilies. There were none of the giant lily pads that have been at Kenilworth in previous years and some of the ponds usually filled with water lilies were open water…but there were enough for  a few pictures.

Button bush. Again – not as many as I remembered. I wondered what happened to them since it seems like they would be durable along the pond edges from year to year.

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Trumpet vine. A robust native. My mother planted one in the 1960s in a corner of our back yard and then battled it with pruners to keep it from deconstructing the fence.

We walked on the boardwalk out to the mash and river. I was hoping to see herons but didn’t spot any.

At the very end there was a tree with lots of seeds growing in the loop of the boardwalk. It looks like a tree of heaven….a non-native and very invasive. I was surprised that it had not been cut down.

It was getting hotter, and we headed back through the gardens to the car. I was glad I had some cold water to drink on the drive home!

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens – 2

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Continuing the posts about our hike at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC…today the topic is dragonflies.

I tried to photograph the insects from different perspectives than my usual…for interest rather than identification. The very last picture I took is an example; I can’t identify the species but the pictures is interesting because it appears that one of the hind wings is broken. The insect flew to the twig just before I photographed it!

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All my identifications are tentative. I’m not an expert but I try to group the photos that look to be the same species together.

There were lots of Blue Dashers in different positions.

I got both male and female Common Whitetail Skimmer.

There were Slaty Skimmers.

And a Widow Skimmer.

Note – The sites I used for identification are: Insect Identification (Maryland) and out DNR’s Common Dragonflies of Maryland. I enjoyed comparing the species I saw at Howard County Conservancy a few weeks ago with the ones I saw at Kenilworth:

Blue Dasher (Kenilworth)

Common whitetail skimmer (both)

Eastern pondhawk (Howard County Conservancy Mt Pleasant)

Ebony jewelwing (Howard Country Conservancy)

Slaty Skimmer (Kenilworth)

Window skimmer (both)

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens – 1

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Late June is the time the lotuses bloom at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. We made the trek to the park last week. The pandemic has impacted the gardens somewhat; not all the ponds are full of aquatic plants, and some seemed to be damaged (i.e. plants are round the edge but open water in the center); the facilities are closed but there are porta potties. We took a small ice chest with extra water in the car. We went on a weekday to avoid crowds and arrived shortly before 9. There was a summer camp group organizing near the entrance…a few photographers and mothers with young children in strollers in the garden.

There were still a lot of flowers to enjoy. It seemed like the best ones were further back in the gardens and I enjoyed photographing them.

There are other things to see at Kenilworth while the lotuses are blooming. I’ll post about the dragonflies tomorrow….and the other flowering plants the day after.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 3, 2021

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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 birds of the week – June 2021! – The first picture startled me – a bird with a turquoise beak!

Beach Safety Tips: How To Avoid Being Bitten or Stung This Summer – I’m don’t go to the beach frequently…and then am usually more interested in shells and ghost crabs than being in the water! Still – the safety tips were interesting.

Concrete: The material that defines our age – With the collapse of the reinforced concrete building in Florida….this story seemed particularly timely.

Edible Cholera vaccine made of powdered rice proves safe in phase 1 human trials, study suggests – Reminded me of distribution ease of the polio vaccine sugar cubes back in the 1960s. In this case the special rice is powdered and sealed in aluminum packets that are then mixed with 1/3 cup liquid and drunk. Hopefully, the subsequent phases of the trials will be successful…it could save a lot of lives.

Yellowstone and Warming: An Iconic Park Faces Startling Changes – A few degrees makes a big difference….in National Parks too.

Scientists Find Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in More Than 100 Popular Makeup Products – I hope manufacturers of makeup will check their ingredients more carefully….make their products PFAS-free.

Canada is right to classify single-use plastics as toxic – I hope the US takes similar action. Industry should get on board with this idea and be innovative rather than taking legal action.  There is no ‘responsible plastic use’ for single use plastic. We consumers are too accepting that single use plastics are inevitable. It’s pretty easy for us to avoid singe use plastic bags, straws, stirring sticks, six-pack rings, plasticware….the one that is challenging for me is the hard-to-recycle food containers because of the lack of options in grocery stores and restaurant takeout.

Move Over Bald Eagle: Meet 12 of the World’s Coolest National Birds – Some are flashy…some are majestic….a little history of how they were selected aa representatives for their country.

Losing Ladybugs – Native and non-native ladybugs….you are more likely to see the non-natives now.

Florida’s Manatees Are Dying at an Alarming Rate – Starving because water pollution (nutrient runoff causing algal blooms) smothers seagrass. More than 10% of the manatee population of Florida has died so far in 2021. Very sad for other aquatic species that need the same habitat … and people too.

F.M. Melchers and L’an

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My ‘book of the week’ is L’an (The Year) published in 1897. The French text was written by a Brussels lawyer, Thomas Braun but the Franz M. Melchers illustrations are the reason to browse this book. I’ve selected two illustrations for each season from the book.

It is a treat to discover a book like this – enjoying it and then searching for information about the artist’s life. In Melchers’ case, there is not a lot of information available via search. He was Dutch, born 1868 and died 1944 in Antwerp (during the German occupation). He evidently made his living as an artist – moved around and included in many exhibitions (Munster, Veere, Brussels, The Hague, Antwerp). The only book he illustrated was L’an….and it is a gem.

Zentangle® – June 2021

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30 Zentangle tiles selected from the tiles made in June after I returned home from the road trip to Texas and Missouri. They are all rectangular rather than square and colored with old Sharpie Ultra Fine pens that are low on ink or have failing tips. Maybe I’ll buy a new set of colorful pens in August. Enjoy the June mosaic.

I’ll be going to Texas and Missouri in mid-July and am anticipating another round of tiles colored with gel pens that at my parents’ house in Texas. Until I leave on the road trip – I’ll be picking the Sharpies that are still functioning. I might start drawing tiles and saving the coloring for when I am in Texas!

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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.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2021

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After being away from home in May…being in Maryland again rippled with little celebrations associated with home. Here are my top 10 little celebrations from June 2021:

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Scenic drive from Lexington KY to home. Light traffic, good highway, beautiful scenery….I took a picture to celebrate being back in Maryland.

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Farmers Market. I’ve been going every week and it’s a celebration every time. The piles of produce fresh from the local farms (and artisan bread) make it a happy errand…and then I enjoy the bounty in meals all during the week. It’s a great substitute for belonging to a CSA (which is not practical for me this year because of my traveling).

A good watermelon. There was a sign in the produce section of Wegmans for seeded watermelons. I always remember them from my childhood….sweeter than the ones without seeds that we find more frequently in stores today. I bought one – hoping it would live up my expectations. And it did. Celebrating a watermelon as good as I remembered!

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Yard work. An hour of work (several of them on mornings when it is still cool enough to be pleasant)…2 wheelbarrow loads to the brush pile or compost bin….celebrating a neater yard and satisfaction of encouraging native species.

Apple crisp. While I was away, my husband did curbside pickup for his groceries. He somehow got a huge bag of apples. Some of the excess apples made a great apple crisp…celebrating bounty (and not wasting food).

Howard County Conservancy Mt Pleasant. Every time I hike there, there is something new to celebrate – most recently dragonflies and a black-crowned night heron.

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Maryland sunrise and partial solar eclipse. Celebrating being in the right place at the right time to see it.

New crowns. I had anticipated that getting 3 new crowns was going to be uncomfortable but was pleasantly surprised that my expectation was way over the top; there was almost no discomfort during the drilling or sensitive areas afterward…. celebrated that it happened that way.

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New computer glasses. Hurray for seeing better…and the red frames.

The Institutions of Extraterrestrial Liberty talks. There were 4 days of webinars….and I found many of them very thought provoking. I celebrated the content…and that they were made available by the sponsors of the virtual conference. (Day 1: https://tinyurl.com/4t7zjv72 Day 2: https://tinyurl.com/2f9n4b72 Day 3: https://tinyurl.com/48rbba2k Day 4: https://tinyurl.com/5bbey7pr)