Brookside Gardens Macro – March 2022 (2)

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Continuing the Brookside Gardens macro images…..

The dried flower clusters of the wood hydrangea from last season look fragile but they have endured all winter and many are still on the stalks. A few leaves have survided as well. The leaf I photographed with the macro lens still had some green…was probably still producing food for the plant! Most of the leaves from last season are long gone though.

The witch hazels are one of my favorite winter and spring trees. They bloom very early….and have unusual flowers – streamer petals.

The suction cups of a vine growing on the wall of the visitor center have held it firm all winter! They look so fragile…but are evidently quite durable.

I hadn’t noticed the Deodar cedar in the Brookside 1969-2009 Commemorative Garden before – I only know its name from the sign at its base. The needles and cones were a bit different than the evergreens I see more frequently. Taking a walk with my camera frequently causes me to notice something a little different!

As I walked back to my car – I saw some more familiar pines…took some macro images of the pinecones and a small branch with needles on the ground. I’m always seeking new insight into common items through the macro lens! The fibers in the breaks of the pinecones surprised me.

The pines have a lot of lichen on their trunks and branches…and some of it sluffs off. I thought the pieces in the grass with the dried pine needles made good color and texture compositions.

Brookside Gardens Macro – March 2022 (1)

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Brookside Gardens  was beginning to emerge from winter when I went last week. I already posted the non-macro pictures from my visit. Today and tomorrow, I’ll share the macro images I collected with my phone, clip-on lens, and Bluetooth clicker.

The crocuses were up and worth bending over for a macro view.

The yew hedge was mostly green but there were a few dead branches that made for some contrast.

The bark on the large crepe myrtles in the Rose Garden was full of splits…and held moss too.

There was a cherry tree beginning to bloom in the Fragrance Garden. The flowers were pink and white…the buds very pink.

The snow drops and miniature iris were on a bank which made them easier to photograph – I didn’t have to bend down as much because the soil was sloped!

Compare the inside of the flowers: Lenten rose and (red) camellias.

The ferns damaged by frosts were interesting at both magnifications I tried.

Last but not least for today – a ginkgo leaf that had folded up as it dried over the winter….a little abstract art of nature.

Tomorrow…the rest of the macro pictures from my walk at Brookside.

24 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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24 months in COVID-19 pandemic and cases/hospitalizations are continuing to decline rapidly in most parts of the US. Most states, local governments, school districts, and businesses no longer have mask mandates. My personal choice is to still wear a mask when I am indoors in public places. A lot of other people are making the same choice where I do my grocery shopping. In the medical building where I went for an appointment recently, the ‘mask required’ signs were still up….and everyone was complying (it’s become the norm for medical settings).

I am traveling today – another road trip to Missouri and then Texas. Hand sanitizer and masks are in the car for rest stops. I am taking the food I will need for the 2-day drive to Missouri with me. An air purifier is going into the hotel room in Lexington, KY (turned on ‘high’ to filter the air for the duration of my night there)…and I have a supply of rapid test kits. I am using the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Level map to assess the higher risk areas along my route. There is a lot of yellow and orange in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Springfield, MO is green. The route between Springfield and Carrollton, TX is green with some yellow (and Carrollton is green). I’ll be gone for a little over two weeks and the trip back to Maryland will be less risky if the trend continues.

My rationale for continuing to wear a mask indoors is all about protecting the high-risk family members (older and immunosuppressed) I will be with in Missouri/Texas and when I return home. At the same time – my husband and I are in the process of house hunting…getting ready to move from Maryland to Missouri…not something we could have done last year at this time. Progress has been made and I hope the COVID-19 cases will continue to decline…in the US and around the world…that the pandemic will end.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 12, 2022

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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.

Why soil is a surprisingly noisy place – Wow! A whole new way of studying soil…listening to it.

Gas flares tied to premature deaths – A study done by Rice University environmental engineers with data from North Dakota and Texas. There are currently no limits to flaring, unfortunately. Why can’t we use the gas productively? It bothers me when we hear that we need more fossil fuels to observe the way the industry still is so wasteful and polluting.

Dying for makeup: Lead cosmetics poisoned 18th century European socialites in search of whiter skin – I had heard of lead makeup before…but never is this detail.

Top 25 birds of the week: forest birds – The only one of these that appears in the forest behind our house in Maryland is the Tufted Titmouse.

Study questions the role of vitamin D2 in human health but its sibling, vitamin D3, could be important for fighting infections – The labelling on foods fortified with Vitamin D does not say which type is used – hopefully it is D3. The supplemental Vitamin D I take is definitely D3.

The Prairie Ecologist – Photos of the Week – February 26, 2022 – Winter photography….it’s about over for us. Daffodils are up!

What is the best age to learn to read? – There is more variability that I realized…generally between 4 and 7. There is growing consensus that there is no reason to rush it. Learning language is key and often older children learn to read faster because their spoken language skills are greater.

Effects of noise on marine life – The study was focused on turtles and observed noise-induced hearing loss (sometimes temporarily) which hampers their ability to detect predators, communication, navigation, etc.

Rash-causing moths are spreading in Maine because of climate change – Browntail moths (native to Europe). I thought when I saw the headline that it might be about the saddleback caterpillar which is native to North America and has stinging spines that cause a painful rash. We had a specimen in the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy exhibit back in July/August 2018.

Study of algae in Acadia National Park lakes shows recovery from acidification – A success story…the Clean Air Act Amendments enacted in the 1900s are making a difference!

Gladys Davidson Weinberg and Archaeology (magazine)

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Internet Archive has more than half the Archaeology magazines edited by Gladys Davidson Weinberg: her tenure as editor was from 1952-1967 and Internet Archive has the editions up to 1961. The images in the magazine are mostly black and white photographs. There is a sample image from each year below and links to the 4 volumes from each year after the images.

According to Wikipedia - Dr. Weinberg received her PhD from Johns Hopkins in 1935…her dissertation about excavations at Corinth. She married in 1942 to another academic….managing to continue her career. She and her husband were associated with the University of Missouri from 1948 onward. It would be interesting to track the timeline of her career and her husband’s. There were not a lot of women in the 1940s and 1950s (and even beyond that) that were able to continue an academic career – particularly in the same department as their husband. She evidently was active in her field for the rest of her life (she lived 92 years)!

Brookside Gardens – March 2022

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I walked around Brookside Gardens on a stereotypical March day – breezy and in the mid60s. Last time I had been there (back in January), we had parked near the visitor center; I opted to park by the conservatories this time. The first thing I looked for was skunk cabbage under the bald cypress in the area between the gardens and nature center. I saw green leaves…only one group of spathes and they were in the water!

There were groups of spring flowers beginning to bloom: miniature iris, snow drops, crocus, and marsh marigolds. The daffodils were still in bud stage.

The new sculpture I noticed in January was even more appealing this time: the day was sunny and the reflective inner coating made in glow for within. In January it was a very cloudy day, so the effect was not visible.

I was surprised that there were two large trees that looked like hollies but their berries had not been eaten by birds. Are they a hybrid that is just for show….not providing food for birds after a few freeze/thaw cycles?

The non-native witch hazels (and hybrids) are at the height of their blooming now. There are yellow and orange and red…clouds of color in the ‘forest.’ Witch hazel has become one of my favorite trees. I’ll probably plant one or two at my next house!

There were dried wood hydrangea flowers that got into the stream! Some were being carried along by the water. I was surprised that they were still so intact.

Camellias bloom this time of year. There was a sign reminding people to stay on the paths rather than stepping into the mulch around the plants!

As I made my way back to toward my car, I walked to the Brookside 1969-2009 commemorative garden near the entrance gate to the conservatory parking lot. I noticed a new (to me) spiral path to a bench and

Plants growing under the bald cypress.

Stay tuned for 2 posts featuring macro pictures I took with the clip-on lens + my cell phone coming next week. Here are a few broader views taken with the bridge camera that I enjoyed looking at and photographing with the macro lens later: cherry blossoms, vine on wall, golden deodar cedar pollen cones, and Lenten roses.

Another Load to the Landfill

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My husband and I are taking carloads to the landfill (included electronics recycling and hazardous waste facilities in our county) – things we don’t want to move and cannot be donated (i.e. not in working condition). This past weekend the largest pieces were two broken office chairs. I’d already donated the ones that were still usable. There was also an old frame for collecting newspapers to be recycled in the days before single-stream curbside recycling….and when we subscribed to physical forms of newspapers. There were several broken light fixtures too. Some of these should have been jettisoned years ago!

There were two sets of old computer speakers with connections that don’t work for any of our current computers. Those went into electronic waste.

We went to the landfill on the one day of the month that hazardous waste was accepted. That part of our load included fluorescent bulbs, a ‘black light’ fluorescent from the 1970s (hadn’t been unwrapped since we moved to the east coast almost 40 years ago), a lead acid battery and a tablet with a swollen lithium battery.

Overall -we felt good about getting rid of another carload of ‘stuff’ and it was a pleasant drive on a sunny Saturday morning…not too cold. The next load – probably in April - will include a different kind of hazardous waste: old paint and yard/cleaning chemicals. There are also two very old desktop computers that will go into the electronics recycling.

Signs of Spring in our Yard

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The daffodils are coming up in our front flower beds. There are more of them every year…poking through the dried oak and day lily leaves from last season.

The miniature daffodils are always the first to bloom. Maybe their shortness is a benefit – keeping them closer to the warmth of the decaying mulch. I’ll dig a few of the bulbs up to take with us when we move just as I did from our previous house; my mother-in-law bought the original bulbs more than 30 years ago, not long before she died, and they have been very prolific…a nice reminder of her every spring.

The irises seem to be more numerous in the chaos garden than last year. Hopefully they’ll do well this year too. I might move them to where they are more easily seen from the house.

Several years ago, I planted some daffodil bulbs in front of our brush pile at the edge of the forest. Now they are behind the brush pile because I keep moving the pile further into the yard (reducing the turf area a little each year)! The bulbs were planted about a foot apart from each other; every year the clumps of daffodils get bigger.

So - there are the usual signs of spring appearing…always welcome. As I walked around I noticed lots of deer tracks; there is a muddy deer highway through our yard!

A house where we can ‘age in place’

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One of the big considerations for the house we are looking for in Springfield, Missouri is how well would it meet our needs into our 70s and beyond. We’d like to ‘age in place’ in a neighborhood with mixed ages of people rather than a ‘senior’ living development. Here are some things about the neighborhood and the house itself that we’re thinking more about than we have in previous house searches:

Walkability. We’d like to be able to easily walk for a mile or more within the neighborhood. Sidewalks and interesting trees/planting are a plus.

Stairs. Right now, both of us go up and down stairs very easily. I don’t like to carry anything heavy up and down stairs though (my knees start to hurt). It would be OK to have a house with stairs…but it should accommodate 1 floor living too (i.e. kitchen, laundry, bedroom, living area, garage, and going outdoors should require few or no steps).

Flooring. I like tile or wood for all rooms except bedrooms where I prefer wall-to-wall carpeting; carpeting is hard to keep clean over the long term. But – I am anticipating that area or entry rugs will be something that might need to be removed as we get older. My parents made the change in their house when they were in their late 80s.

Layout. All the doors need to be wide enough to accommodate a walker/small wheelchair. In newer houses this is not a problem, but older ones sometimes have narrower doorways. If we become enthusiastic about an older house, we’ll measure the doors!

Location. The house needs to be convenient enough to where my daughter lives….but not too close; within a 30 minute drive sounds about right. Medical facilities should be within 20 minutes or less…ideally in the same direction as our daughter. The area needs to be one that has good mail and delivery service too.

Energy efficiency. We want to protect ourselves from rising energy costs so the house needs to have energy efficient features when we buy it and we might update some appliances (make the house all electric) and then add solar panels….maybe battery storage.

Landscaping. In our early years in the house, creating minimal maintenance landscaping would be our goal. Sometimes home owner associations have some limitations; if they were too restrictive, hopefully they could be changed.

Astronomy. My husband’s objective is to do most of his amateur astronomy from our backyard. If enough sky is visible with our Springfield home purchase, he will be able to enjoy his hobby for many years to come…from the comfort of home.

As I look at houses on the market and in our price range in Springfield, there are houses that will meet our ‘aging in place’ house hunting criteria! I am excited to tour some houses in mid-March when I am in Springfield!

30 years ago – March 1992

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What was happening in my life 30 years ago (March 1992)?

As I look back through my notes from the time – I saw several items that are still part of our lives:

  • A Nordic Track. It was new then and I was using it daily. It is still down in our basement, but it’s been a long time since we used it last; it will be jettisoned before we move.

  • Curbside recycling was new, and I was already thinking about how to reduce trash…doing a small amount of composting. Now all the recycling goes into one bin and more things are accepted; it is not as clear that all the items avoid the landfill though.

  • My husband and I had created separate offices because both of us had started doing some work at home (we had progressed from a 1 PC family to 2 PCs!). In 1992, floppy disks were the primary mode of data transfer for us – no internet connection or World Wide Web yet.  We were both using email from our employers (dial up connection). The work that we did at home was totally on the PCs (presentation development, document development). Toward the end of the month, we were talking about getting a laser printer. We still have two offices - each have multiple (and more functional) devices and a lot of what we do is network enabled.

  • In a manager training, I became aware that there was a growing problem with employees using swear words/foul language…and that the younger employees were more OK with it than the older ones. The company was concerned that it was a growing issue…and thus the training. My personal thought was to stick to civil language…and was uncomfortable when foul language was used.  I’m still that way; the coarse language (that seems to have entered the mainstream in the past 5 years) is stressful and I find myself looking at ways to stay informed…but not hear the language being used.

  • And the miniature daffodils planted in our yard by my mother-in-law before she died were coming up. I dug up some of the bulbs before we moved to our present house to take with us…planted them in a front flower bed…and they are coming up again this spring.

There was a lot going on with our family. Our 2-year-old daughter’s favorite phrase was “I don’t want to.” She had finally made the transition from her crib to a twin sized bed, and she enjoyed a kite festival at the Washington Monument. My husband finally got a diagnosis of why his back had been so painful for over a decade (and some exercises that began to help). My 80-year-old grandmother was cooking huge meals for the birthdays in March (that I missed since I was in Maryland rather than Texas…which probably was a good thing with my need to lose weight)! Both of my parents were still working. One of my sisters was pregnant with her second child, another was enjoying her ceramic hobby, and the youngest was surviving a breakup with her boyfriend.  

Overall – March 1992 was a month at home…busy but not as overwhelming as the months before or after!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 5, 2022

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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.

Scientists develop long lasting anti-fogging coating for plastic surfaces that 'self-cleans' – It seem like the current antireflective coating on my glasses is a little ‘sticky’ – making my glasses collect particles easily…need cleaning frequently. It would be great to have something that is self-cleaning! Somehow I doubt this would eliminate the need to clean my glasses but it would be good to get back to the way glasses were before the fancy coatings!

Rare Baby Ghost Shark Caught in New Zealand’s Chatham Rise – What an odd-looking animal. There is a 3-minute video that shows adult sharks.

Deer Mice: Get to Know North America’s Most Abundant Mammal – So small we might not notice them most of the time. A good overview of deer mice. They are vectors for Lyme disease and hantavirus….but provide food for hawks, eagles, and owls…coyotes and foxes.

Lichens Are in an Evolutionary Race Against Climate Change – They can be found almost everywhere…but are very slow growing. That slow growth makes it more challenging for them to adjust to changing temperatures.

Nearly 300 Million Visited National Park System in 2021, But Most To Just 25 Parks – I’ve been to 17 of the 25!

An insulin patch that sticks inside a person’s cheek – I’m sure most diabetics that must take injections would welcome an alternative.

Covid-19 Community Levels – In case you haven’t seen it already – this site has a map of the US with the counties color coded. The county where I live and the counties around it are green.

Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England – In Oxford…under traces of St. Mary’s College built in the 15th century.

Surprise small-cell lung cancer discovery suggests new treatment – New work from University of Virginia Health System (which was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center on Feb. 1).

An Ornate, 5,000-Year-Old Stone Drum Is the U.K.’s Most Significant Prehistoric Art Find in a Century – Found buried alongside skeletons of 3 children cuddled together.  

eBotanical Prints – February 2022

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21 botanical print books browsed in February and added to the list. The month continued the browsing of Peter Henderson’s “Everything for the Garden” catalogs that I started in January. It’s easy to image people looking at these catalogs in the winters of the first half of the 1900s and planning their gardens. There are books dedicated to conifers and lilacs, two from Yokohama Nursery, and two about wild gardens. The last two books in February were the start another series…the rest will be in the March group.

The whole list of 2,331 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the February 2022 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

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

Everything for the garden, 1926 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1926

Everything for the garden, 1928 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1928

Everything for the garden, 1932 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1932

Everything for the garden, 1934 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1934

Everything for the garden, 1936 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1936

Everything for the garden, 1938 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1938

Everything for the garden, 1940 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1940

Everything for the garden, 1945 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1945

Everything for the garden, 1948 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1948

Everything for the garden, 1950 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1950

Everything for the garden, 1951 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1952

Everything for the garden, 1952 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 952

Hortus Veitchii : a history of the rise and progress of the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and sons * Veitch, James Herbert * sample image * 1906

Veitch's manual of the coniferae * Kent, Adolphus Henry; Veitch, James Herbert * sample image * 1900

The Lilac * McKelvey, Susan Delano * sample image * 1928

Descriptive catalogue of flowering, ornamental trees, shrubs, bulbs, herbs, climbers, fruit trees (1909-1914) * Yokohama Ueki Kabushiki Kaisha * sample image * 1914

The Yokohama Nursery Co., Ltd  - 1898 * Yokohama Ueki Kabushiki Kaisha * sample image * 1898

Taming the wildings * Durand, Herbert * sample image * 1923

The Wild Garden * Robinson, William * sample image * 1883

Refugium botanicum V1 * Saunders, William Wilson; Reichbach, Heinrich Gustav; Baker, John Gilbert; Fitch, W. H. * sample image * 1869

Refugium botanicum V2 * Saunders, William Wilson; Reichbach, Heinrich Gustav; Fitch, W. H. * sample image * 1872

Icy Morning

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I was surprised when I looked at the forest behind our house one morning: the forecast was for the temperature to be above freezing overnight and into the morning but there was ice accumulating on the trees! I took some pictures: The sycamore

The red maple

The pines

The tulip poplar

I went downstairs to check the thermometer we have measuring the temperature on our deck – taking some pictures of the azalea near our front porch (always some good color in ice and snow) as I got the bottom of the stairs.

The thermometer was reporting 35.5 degrees Fahrenheit…so the forecast was correct, but the rain was cold enough to freeze to the branches! It was a good morning to be indoors and enjoy the icy scene. By the afternoon the ice was completely gone, and the sun came out.

Zentangle® – February 2022

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Even without the Valentine tiles I posted about on 2/14, I still had plenty of tiles to choose from to make the 28 for the February Zentangle post! The square tiles include 2 made from a purple folder I found while cleaning out my office; the color is very dark…requires gel pens for the patterns. There is a square coaster (rounded corners) in the group as well; I found a stack of them that I had forgotten about so there will be more in March.

The rectangular tiles are probably my favorite shape/size. The color of the lightweight cardboard varies slightly. I like the more golden color (the one with cut corners) the best.

The last 4 tiles are on black paper (it is a pad that my daughter bought back in in high school…well over 10 years old)! I’m savoring the black background and the different weight of these tiles…still have more than half the pad left!

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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 – February 2022

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The little things that brightened the February days…..

Rose bud in the kitchen window. I was happy that the small plant I bought for Valentines has a new bud opening before the end of the month…celebrating some color in winter.

New battery installed in my laptop. The flurry of activity to fix a problem…what a relief (and celebration) when it was done!

Winter Hike. A celebration of the outdoors in winter…and a return to a pre-pandemic activity.

Deciding to move and getting started. We are off to a relatively slow start…but it’s an exciting prospect…celebrating the decision!

Finding my husband’s favorite sausage again. Our grocery store did not have many empty places…but the sausage was one of them. Now it seems that the problem has been at least partially resolved and we are celebrating finding it again.

A sunny day from my office window (very cold outside). Celebrating winter from inside a warm house!

Frost patterns – feathers, flowers, flakes. The frost patterns have been my ‘project’ this February and I’ve celebrated the variety of the crystals that form.

Leftovers. I celebrate great meals that are easy – leftovers! All the more complex dishes I cook these days are good for more than one meal!

A warmer day. When we have a lot days in the teens and 20s….I celebrate a day in the 50s and 60s!

Finding Wick Fowler chili mix at a local grocery. For a while over the past few years, we couldn’t find our favorite chili seasonings in our grocery store - so we started ordering it and having it shipped to us. After a mix up in a recent order, we looked again at the grocery store, and they had it! Celebrating finding it locally!

Zooming – February 2022

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I did more macro that zoom photography in February! This post features the zoomed images – morning light on our forest, a morning moon, birds, a high key image of flowers, water drops and ice, and skunk cabbage. Enjoy the slide show!

Unique Aspects of Days – February 2022

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Snow on turkey tails. I always look for turkey tails/shelf fungus when I am hiking…and enjoy photographing them. This month was my first time to photograph them with snow!

Finding some new office tools – Microsoft PowerToys. My office environment is well established so it is very unusual for me to look for new tools and unique for me to find more than one new tool that makes what I do easier. Microsoft PowerTools was a great find. The tools I am using frequently now are Image resize and Power rename.

Miniature potted rose for Valentines. I was thinking of potted tulips or hyacinths when I went shopping (not realizing that it was too early for both of them)…but found a miniature rose instead. It’s a unique purchase and my husband and I are enjoying it in our kitchen window. It already has a new bud opening. I’ll plant it outside after the last frost.

Frost crystals. I have been thrilled to discover how many kinds of frost crystals there are. At some point they will become familiar to me, but February 2022 is my first concentrated effort to look at them frequently enough to see the variations!

People smoking in the grocery store parking garage. Not all unique experiences are positive. As I came out of the grocery store one morning, there were two separate people standing near their cars smoking and working on the phones. They were on the side of the garage closest to the store – maybe using the store’s Wi-Fi or maybe they were waiting for someone that was shopping. I could smell the smoke from one of them as I walked to my car and loaded my groceries even though I was still wearing my mask! It reminded me of years ago when people smoked around the entrances to office buildings, but isn’t something I’ve experienced in recent years…and it hasn’t happen on subsequent shopping trips. I glad it was a unique experience for 2022 (so far).

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 26, 2022

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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.

After a shaky start, airborne wind energy is slowing taking off – Another way electricity might be generated in the future…but still a lot of work to be done.

Crews working to cull 600-900 bison from Yellowstone’s herds – I guess this happens every year at this time…even though in the rationale to cap the Yellowstone herd at 5,000 animals involved the mistaken idea that the bison were spreading brucellosis to cattle herds (research has shown that it is elk that spread the disease).

What damaged that tree? Probably not what you think – I guessed correctly….but only because I had seen something similar on a tree during a naturalist led hike…and they had identified the animal that make the marks!

The mystery of Mexico’s vanishing stream oaks – A great piece of trivia: Mexico has more species of oak tree than any other country! The article is about trying to save one of those species.

Three in four people worldwide support a ban on single-use plastic – Wide support…but no clear path on how we can do it. As a consumer – I try to avoid single use plastics, but some products don’t come in any other kind of packaging!

Seeing ‘green’ can ease confusion, anger in navigating hospitals – It’s not just hospitals that could use more natural views and ‘green.’

Top 25 birds of the week: waterbirds and seabirds – Terns, scoters, herons, gulls, cormorants, ducks, spoonbills, kingfishers, sandpipers, plovers, grebes…enjoy the photographs!

Warming temperatures are turning Antarctica green – Another indicator of how fast the Earth is changing….and that even Antarctica is not immune.

Drought depletes a reservoir in Spain, revealing a ghost village – The dam was installed in 1992 so this is not an old reservoir. The US is having similar drought related problems with Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam installed in 1935.

After 25 years at sea, shipwrecked Lego pieces are still washing ashore on beaches in England – Plastic is very durable…the pictures of the small Lego pieces still look pristine. Some of the pieces sank…some floated…they are all moving around and, very slowly, breaking down either in the ocean or on the beaches of Cornwall.

Daniel Giraud Elliot’s Bird eBooks

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Daniel Giraud Elliot was a founder of the American Ornithologist Union and its 2nd President in 1890. I browsed through 7 of his well-illustrated books about birds from the later 1800s. Taxonomy has changed over the years, so they are not the ‘references’ they were when first published. But - they are historically interesting…part of the the uptick in documentation of the world’s flora and fauna in the 1800s. I looked at the illustrations as ‘art’ and wondered how many of the bird species depicted no longer exist. Enjoy the sample images…and take a look at some of the volumes via the provided links.

A Monograph of the paradiseidae or birds of paradise (1873)

A monograph of the Pittida, or family of ant-thrushes (1895)

Thinking about our previous houses…and the next one

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I am thinking about the houses my husband and I have lived in during our almost 50 years of marriage. The first one was in Plano, Texas – purchased about 5 years after we got married. It had almost no insulation and single pane windows…4 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen/dining, living room and 2 car garage. It was all electric. It was brick and siding; I painted the siding and under the eaves (and learned that I never wanted to do that again!). The hot water heater was in the garage and was the only item we had to replace in our 5 years in the house.

The second house was in Springfield, Virginia – the result of our both getting career advancing jobs in the area and the organizations paid for the long-distance move. We moved in July and the air conditioner broke down about 2 weeks afterwards. The house had been built in the 1950 but insulation and storm/double paned windows had been added. It was our first house with a basement – and that was where the washer/dryer hook ups were. It had 4 bedrooms (one in the basement), 2 bathrooms, kitchen/dining, dining/living, den in basement, and a carport. It had a gas furnance, water heater and stove. I was thrilled to have big trees in the yard – oak and beech so large a person could not reach around them! I trimmed the boxwood in November … made boxwood wreaths with the trimmings. There was a dogwood that grew beside the patio. We had the roof done and the siding painted during our three years in the house.

The next move was across the Potomac into Maryland because my husband’s commute had become painfully long from Virginia his new job in Baltimore. The house was newer…built with good insulation and double paned windows. It was a Colonial with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths upstairs; living/dining, half bath, kitchen/breakfast area, and den on the first floor; finished room downstairs for an office; and a 2-car garage. It was our first house with a deck rather a patio. It took longer to get into the house after we bought it since the people selling it were buying a house and there were delays. We rented an apartment for about 6 months; that difficulty clouded the 7 years we spent in the house. We moved to out of it before it was sold.

Our fourth house is the one we are in now – for over 27 years. The house was only about 3 years old when we bought it…a Colonial again. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a loft upstairs; living/dining, office, half bath, kitchen/breakfast area, laundry room, and den on the first floor; a single large finished room and bathroom in the walkout basement; 2 car garage; large deck with part being roofed/screened. I love the view of the forest behind the house from my office window.

And now – we are in the beginning stage of planning for a second long distance move and a fifth house. This time the rationale is to live closer to our daughter/son-in-law (so moving from Maryland to Missouri). We are getting started this week: getting an estimate for some house painting, having a charity pick up a porch full of small furniture/household items we no longer need, and taking a carload of stuff to the county electronics and metal recycle. The things I want in my next house are a mix of what I’ve had in my previous houses:

  • All electric (like my first house) or a path to get there

  • Big trees (like my second and fourth house)

  • Window over the sink (like all four houses)

  • A 2-car garage (like three of the four houses)

  • Being able to live on one floor (like my first house)

  • Double paned windows and good insulation (like the last two houses)

  • A laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms (like the first house)

  • A screened deck (like current house) or a garden room

  • A good view from my office window (like current house)

  • High speed internet (like current house)

There are some new things we are looking for this time too:

  • Being able to do astronomy from the backyard

  • Roof aligned and unshaded enough for solar panels

  • Within a 30 minute or less drive from our daughter

There will be a lot more about this project over the next few months!