August 09, 2025

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 9, 2025

August 09, 2025/ 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 unveil bioplastic that degrades at room temperature, and outperforms petroplastics – Sounds great…but will the existing plastic (made from petroleum) industry let this innovation move forward?

The world is getting hotter – this is what it is doing to our brains - As heatwaves become more intense with climate change, scientists are racing to understand how extreme heat changes the way our brains work. A range of neurological conditions are made worse by rising heat and humidity, including epilepsy, stroke, encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, migraine, along with several others. Heat can also alter other ways our brain functions – making us more violent, grumpy and depressed. Hospital admissions and mortality rates among people with dementia also increase during heatwaves. Rising temperatures have also been linked to an increase in stroke incidents and mortality. And there is a lot we do not know.

Bizarre New Creatures Discovered 30,000 Feet Under the Sea - Entire communities of animals, rooted in organisms that can derive energy not from sunlight but from chemical reactions. Through a process called chemosynthesis, deep-sea microbes can turn compounds like methane and hydrogen sulfide into organic compounds, including sugars, forming the base of the food chain.

Hawaiian Petroglyphs Reemerge for the First Time in Years - The full panel of petroglyphs has been exposed again after seasonal ocean swells swept away covering sand. In all, the petroglyphs are spread across 115 feet of beach and consist of 26 figures and abstract shapes that archaeologists believe were created 500 or more years ago.

The US Commercial Rooftop Solar Market Is About to Explode, Federal Tax Credits or Not - If all goes according to plan, all 500+ projects will be completed during this year into 2026, proving yet again that solar is the fastest way to add more capacity to the nation’s grid. Generating electricity on commercial rooftops and distributing it into the grid is America’s most shovel-ready energy option.

The Power of the Emerald Edge - Whether a tropical forest or coastal temperate rainforest, all forests must contend with a unique set of stressors including changes in land use, invasive insects and disease, and extreme weather events. Rapid changes in climate compound these stressors. How do we prepare our forests for the future? Preserving old-growth forests is one of the most powerful steps we can take.

Elusive and Majestic Red-Crowned Cranes in Hokkaido – Beautiful photographs…of beautiful birds.

Germany’s Stunning Fairytale Castles Added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List - The royal castles of Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee have been added to the prestigious list, which includes more than 1,200 sites. Neuschwanstein Castle, located near the village of Schwangau in Bavaria, is one of Germany’s most popular tourist sites. Every year, roughly 1.4 million travelers visit the site.

Learning how to live with shrubbier grasslands (part 1 and part 2) - Our grasslands are getting “shrubbier” and it’s increasingly difficult to prevent that. Because the drivers for that change are mostly beyond our control, it seems obvious that we need to start thinking differently about grassland management.

3 Ways Ancient Egypt Left Its Mark on Modern Art – Empire furniture, art deco, and artists like Bridget Riley.

August 24, 2023

Dickerson Park Zoo

August 24, 2023/ Gwen Morrison

We made our first visit to Dickerson Park Zoo last week. It’s on the north side of Springfield MO – the closest zoo to where we live. We got there about an hour after their opening; the close parking lot was almost full…others taking the advantage of the cooler than usual August morning.

Colorful birds seem to dominate my pictures. Many times, I was photographing through fencing; sometimes you can see the blur/shadow of that barrier.

The preening Scarlet Ibis was one of my favorites. The surprise was seeing the nictitating membrane (an eyelid that is hinged on the inner side of the eye and closes horizontally across the cornea).

Flamingos were in the same enclosure as the ibis – feeding and preening. They feed with their bill toward their bodies. One of the birds had a range of colored feathers.

In the trees above the flamingoes, there were several roseate spoonbills. Their bodies are colorful…their heads and large bills are bare – at odds with the body.

Peacocks (and pea hens) roam the zoo; they are relatively acclimated to people. There were no males with full tails. All the birds I saw appeared to be juvenile birds (younger than 3 years).

There were two Gray Crowned Cranes. I had seen similar birds at the St. Louis Zoo too. The birds at Dickerson Park Zoo were better positioned for a photograph!

The turkey enclosure had one male and a lot of hens…some immatures as well. I heard a mother telling her child that it was a mom and babies; I guess she thought the male was the ‘mom’!

Black swans are dramatic. The pair seems to have more ruffled feathers than I expected.

There were several parrots; we heard them before we saw them! The one I photographed was using its beak like an appendage for balance as it moved around its enclosure.

There were two types of tortoises in different parts of the zoo with signage that they bite! The first one was large but not giant…and I was intrigued by the pattern of the shell…plates like flatted pyramids.

The second was a giant tortoise --- looking well fed!

There were monkeys – somehow they tend to look sad to me. The one I photographed had companions that were moving about, but he was sitting still.

The zoo was working on the giraffe exhibit (they usually have giraffe feedings) so we did not see them like they would normally have been out and about in the morning.

The zoo has a rescued bald eagle – large but one of its wings was not right. It didn’t move from its perch but kept a watchful eye on movements outside its enclosure.

There were metal statues for climbing on (with signs warning that the statues might get hot in the summer) and backdrops for photographs.

There was one elephant with the explanation that when the matriarch died, the two remaining females did not get along…so they each are outside on their own. They get socialization time off exhibit with a male elephant.

There were other animals to see but not easily photographed. The big cats and bears were either in their dens or sleeping.

We didn’t ride the train (I photographed it with a giraffe sculpture in the foreground) – but I like that it is available – another dimension to a visit to the zoo that we might try on a future visit.

The Dickerson Park Zoo might be my favorite. It is not overwhelmingly big or crowned…and its design provides plenty of shade along the paths.

February 24, 2023

Ceramics of Masayuki Imai

February 24, 2023/ Gwen Morrison

Like many other museums, The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum has contributed many volumes to Internet Archive. This exhibit book from 1985 is just one example. Books made to sell in museum gift shops during an exhibit quickly go out of print so being able to browse them digitally is the best way to savor an exhibit whose contents has long scattered.

Masayuki Imai ceramic art 1985 : Peabody Museum of Salem, 21 March-21 May, 1985

I chose 3 images from the book as sample images for their shapes and subjects. I like all things botanical and there were a lot of plants featured in Imai’s work; there probably are not many pots that feature floating pitcher plants like his! Cranes might be a more popular decoration…but the shape of the pot was unusual. The color of the 3rd pot was different than the majority of the pots, making it stand out.

The book includes a short biography of the artist. I did a search but couldn’t find an updated one.

September 24, 2021

Designs of Kyoto: a collection of design for silk and cotton textiles

September 24, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

The two volumes of Designs of Kyoto: a collection of designs for silk and cotton textiles (volume 1 and volume 2) were published in 1906 and are available on Internet Archive. I’ve selected 2 sample images from both volumes.

I enjoyed the books – lots of nature themes and ideas for Zentangle patterns. Some of them looked very abstract – geometric – hits of realism. There is a modern quality to many even though they are more than 100 years old. Maybe nature images are timeless as long as the animal/plant depicted still exists in our world.

Silk and cotton are luxuries now – the inexpensive fabrics are synthetic creating a lot of ‘fast fashion’ with interesting fabric patterns….like these.

April 27, 2018

Free eBooks – April 2018

April 27, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

It is so easy to find historical books that are available online – scanned with care and ‘free.’ I can remember a time when I went to libraries (often not finding the book I was looking for) and how expensive it could be to buy books. Now I find myself rarely spending money on books. There are such riches of books these day. The world of books has changed in my lifetime almost as monumentally as the advent of the printing press! Here are three picks from the books I found this month.

Ogata, Kori; Aikawa,Minwa. Korin gashiki. Kikuya Kihē, Kyōto, Bunka 15. 1818. Available from Smithsonian Libraries here. In the image I chose to clip from the book – I like the simplicity of the drawing of the cranes (and chicks). I also like the way water is drawn; it is easily used as a Zentangle pattern.