A Big Tech Transition

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My PC has been Intel-based since the 80s…but I transitioned to an Apple MacBook Air 15” last week (after transitioning from an Android-based phone to an iPhone 15 Pro Max earlier in the month). So – April 2024 has been a big tech transition for me. Now that I am through most of the it– I am thinking about my impressions of how it all went.

It was not as traumatic as I thought it would be although I was anticipating that it was going to be harder than a transition to a new Intel-based laptop and it was. But not as hard as I thought it was going to be. That could have been because:

  • My most active files were already in the cloud (OneDrive) and the huge bulk of my photographs were on an external drive.

  • I knew all my passwords. I am sometimes anxious about passwords (remembering them and changing them often enough) but I’ve managed to get better at it over the years.

  • My browser was the latest version.

  • The docking station I had used with my laptop worked with the new machine too (so the two external monitors were available immediately).

It only took me a day to begin doing some of my normal things on the Mac: writing and posting a blog, browsing some books, checking my news feeds, copying photos from my camera’s SD card to the Mac and tagging the best ones, sending/receiving text messages. Other than installing Microsoft Office and my favorite browser, I found myself minimizing the other apps I installed; I wanted to thoroughly explore the capabilities of the apps that came on the Mac; of course, Finder was a big focus for me since I was looking for ways to tag and resize pictures almost immediately along with moving around files.

On the subsequent days, I made tweaks – changing some settings to be more familiar to me (scrolling…the CTRL key to mimic the CMD key for cut and paste). I also installed the driver for my scanner, and it worked without any issues at all (the scanner was connected via the docking station, so it had been attached physically from almost the beginning). Tweaking will continue until I am thoroughly comfortable with the way the software is configured. Since I feel comfortable now, I suspect further tweaking will be minimal.

What I haven’t done yet is clean up the dock – taking off apps that I am not using and making sure the ones that I use frequently are always there. I will gradually try all the apps that are on the doc now and make the decision.

My overall impression of the transition at this point is positive. I am doing my normal activities – often in a slightly different way but acceptable (often improved). And I have cleaned up my environment considerably.

And – everything works faster! I’m very happy I made this tech transition!

Irises and other Yard News – April 2024

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The irises, that were already growing in flower beds when we bought our house, are blooming profusely; the ones I transplanted last fall/winter will take another year to build up the energy to bloom. I was surprised that the most prolific bed this year grew very elongated stems that fell over as soon as they started to bloom; I didn’t remember them being so tall last year. The irised in another bed looks the same, but the stems are very short!

I ended up cutting the long stems to bring indoors and enjoyed photographing them: macro shots with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and

And Canon Powershot SX70 HX high key shots (almost white background) and

Some warm glow shots of a group.

Of course, there other plants active in the yard. Hostas are growing well – both the original clumps and the ones I started this year by dividing some older clumps.

There are lots of dandelions in various stages of development. I tend to let them alone since the bees like the flowers and the roots are deeper than the grass root which helps hold the soil – particularly on slopes.

There are more violets that ever spilling out of flower beds and into the yard. There are some places that I have stopped mowing because the violets are so thick!

The irises I transplanted into the area where the pine tree was cut down last summer are growing vigorously. Maybe one or two will bloom this year although it won’t be great until next year. The lambs ear is growing well and should fill in more around the irises over time. The beautyberry does not have leaves yet but we’re still having some cool days/nights; hopefully it will leaf out in May.

I took some ‘art’ pictures of an iris bud and new rose leaves early in the month.

A lot is growing in the wildflower garden from last year. Some might be weeds…hard to tell until the plants start blooming.

Pokeweed is coming up everywhere. I am going to cut down plants that get above a certain size. I also plan to rake pine cones that are around one of pines toward the fence so that I won’t mow over them (they are a little tough for the lawn mower to cut!).

Overall – a great month in our yard. The rhododendron is full of buds…but not blooming yet…a lot more beauty coming in May.

30+ turtles and a belted kingfisher

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Almost every time I walk around our neighborhood pond there is something I don’t expect. One morning last week, I set out to see the ducklings. I didn’t see them at all. I took pictures of moss growing on the edges of the inflow channel to the large pond (noted some seeds that were accumulating there too). There were some water plants that were beginning to grow. I wondered how much of the pond they would cover this summer.

The first ‘unexpected’ sight was a row of 30+ turtles on a sunny bank. Seeing turtles was not unexpected…it was the large number that surprised me…and, based on the size variation, they are clearly breeding in our neighborhood ponds. .  (Click on the image to see a larger version if you want to count them!)

Some of them might be large enough to pull down a duckling! I think they are almost all red-eared sliders although there was at least one that did not have the red-ear…maybe some other species.

I continued my walk and saw a dove on top of a bird house in a yard. The holes looked big enough that maybe they were nesting there. Another bird that I couldn’t identify was looking for tidbits on the ground…looking frequently skyward. Was there a predator around?

The barn swallows were swooping over the pond. There are a lot of them.But then something flew across the pond that was not a barn swallow. I managed to follow it well enough with my eye to see it alight in a willow…and then used the zoom on my camera: a belted kingfisher (male)….the second ‘unexpected’ of the day.

There is no vertical bank area around our pond where a kingfisher might build a nest…but I found myself wondering if the sinkhole near our neighborhood might be a place that would be acceptable. These birds burrow 3+ feet into vertical banks to build their nests. It would be great to have some resident kingfishers thriving on the small fish in our pond.

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2024

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Picking 10 little celebrations is only challenging because there are so many of them to choose from! I help myself by only noting one each day, but I realize when I look at the list at the end of the month that there are even more, in retrospect, worthy of celebration. Here are the top 10 for March 2024.

My mother’s life. The phrase ‘celebration of life’ is more like a savoring because there is an overlay of grief that is part of every gathering after a death. I stayed focused on making sure that someone was with my dad for the duration and providing narration of the images in the slideshow for him…varying what I said a bit each time it repeated and realizing that she had a very full 92 years!

Getting the check deposited after the sale of my parents’ house. What a relief to not be carrying around a big check!

Home again. I made multiple short trips to Dallas for various reasons and was always very glad to be home again. Even though the time away is only a couple of days, the stress of driving, my task while in Dallas, and staying in a hotel takes a toll. I don’t really relax until I am at home. Hopefully, when I am only going down to see my dad, it will not be as stressful.

Sequiota Cave Boat tour. What a great tour. I liked the non-commercial nature the tour…seeing the tiny bats roosting.

Springfield Botanical Gardens. Full of spring blooming trees.

Dickerson Park Zoo. My daughter gave us a membership for Christmas, so we’ll be enjoying the zoo often over the next year. I liked the roaming peacocks (and other things too). The post about this visit is coming day after tomorrow.

Feeling better. I got sick with something that caused sinus and throat problems. I tested for COVID for 3 days…and was negative for that. And then I recovered rapidly and I celebrated. Also celebrated that my husband did get whatever it was.

Creating more hosta locations. I divided some of my hosta plants as they first began to come up and was pleased that the new plants adjusted very quickly to their new space. I am looking forward to their lush growth this summer…and will divide more plants next spring!

Burning sticks. I enjoyed the fire in my chiminea after cleaning up the small branches and pine cones around my yard….celebrating with some pictures of the fire!

Butterfly and pollinator seeds planted. I celebrated getting the beds prepared and the seeds planted…right at the mid-March suggested planting deadline.

Annual stick/pinecone yard clean up

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The chiminea left by the previous owner of our house comes in handy for burning sticks and pinecones that would otherwise be difficult to get rid of. The sticks come mostly from our neighbor’s river birch (the tree sheds into our side yard every time we have a strong wind!) but there is a mixture of crape myrtle and oak….and some branches trimmed from the forsythia last season that were thoroughly dried in their pile under a pine tree. The first two fires were all sticks! Most of them broke into short enough pieces easily enough but a few poked out the opening of the chiminea until they burnt enough that I could slide them the rest of the way in. The mornings were cool enough that I enjoyed watching the fire burn. My husband asked why I smelled like smoke when I came inside!

As I trimmed some lower branches off our largest pine, I realized that there were way too many pine cones and that I was going to need to burn some of them – particularly the ones that had fallen onto grass rather than the carpet of needles directly under the tree; otherwise the lawn mower was going to be challenged by them every time I mowed in the upcoming months.

I piled the cones into a wagon along with the forsythia sticks (which had broken easily into short lengths) and loaded the chiminea with the sticks and half the cones for the third fire of the season. I lit a paper towel wadded under the sticks to start the fire.

It was an interesting fire to watch. The forsythia sticks and most of the cones caught fire easily although some of the cones might have been damp enough to slow their burning. As the fire progressed, I enjoyed the movement of the flames…the shape of the cones and the way they changed from their brown color to black with glowing red crescents to black and white…and then ash. I added the rest of the pinecones once most of the initial load had burned….and they caught quickly. After they had burned down, I stirred the ashes and was surprised at the chunks that still hadn’t burned. I closed the screen on the chiminea and watched the fire die before I went inside – realizing how much I had enjoyed photographing the pinecone fire.

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2024

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I am always a little surprised at how easy it is to record something I celebrated every day…and how it is sometimes hard to pick the top 10 near the end of the month. The habit probably has helped me be more resilient to whatever is not going well….and appreciative of how fortunate I am.

A warm day to get the naked lady bulbs and iris rhizomes planted – Actually there were two Feburary days that were warm enough; I used one for planting in my yard and another for planting in my daughters.

Getting a full price offer on my Parents house – This was another double celebration since the offer and the closing happened in February.

Earl Grey tea – I seem to forget how much I like it…then celebrate rediscovering it.

Home again – After the many weeks away late in 2023, I find myself celebrating each and every time I arrive back home.

Out to lunch with my parents – I celebrated that they both were enthusiastic about going and that they ate well at the restaurant for lunch….and wanted their leftovers for dinner!

Snow suitable for patterns – Making patterns in the snow has been a treat this winter….celebrating my second attempt that benefited from my prior experience and the snow being wet (made the pattern I walked stand out more).

Pintails. I celebrated the picture of a pintail at Hagerman….one of my best so far this year.

Married life – Being married for over 51 years is something I often take for granted but, for some reason, I found myself celebrating more this month – that wasn’t even my annual anniversary. Having the long term relationship…a person that I know well, and that knows me well…is fundamental to the way I feel about just about everything else.

Port Aransas Whooping Crane Festival – Celebrating our first multi-day festival since COVID…more on our experiences in upcoming blog posts.

Parents’ house ready for new owner – Lots of coordination with my sisters…and physical work…celebrating that we got everything cleaned out before closing.

Zooming – February 2024

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It’s been a busy month with 2 trips to Texas and then a flurry of activity when I was home in Missouri. I tried to take breaks for photography…even if they were very short! There are pictures from my parents’ house in Carrollton that has been sold, Josey Ranch in Carrollton, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, and snow at home. Enjoy the February 2024 slideshow!

Miniature Pumpkins (after 5 Months)

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I harvested the miniature pumpkins from last summers’ vines back in October. There were 8 of them in all. I gave three of them to my daughter and she still has them on her kitchen counter – looking much the same as they did in October.

I put the 5 I kept in a cut glass bowl, and they have been on my kitchen table since. Two of mine have dried – shriveled. It seems that their color has changed slightly. They are not soft and don’t smell. They are even more interesting now than they were back in October!

February Snow Day

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The snow was falling before sunrise. By the time I could see our backyard, it was covered in snow. A bush that needed a trim had collected flourishes of snow on the longer branches.

The cast iron table showed that there was at least 2 inches of snow everywhere. I bundled up to take a short walk outdoors.

Every plant – even the ones with no leaves – was holding the wet snow. Pine needles were capturing snow, and the branches were drooping with the extra weight. Even the tops of the fence posts were capped with snow.

There were already indications that the snow was melting….some drips on from the deck onto the patio below and my footprint compacting the snow all the way down to the concrete (snow to slush happened very easily).

I made my way to the tennis court….pristine snow…and started walking a pattern. I retraced each line 3-4 times. The repetition and the wetness of the snow made the ‘lines’ more distinct than my previous attempt back in January. I was pleased with the result. Maybe we can get a small drone to get pictures of my creations?

As I walked back through my back yard to get to the house – I stopped at one of our pines to photograph the way the needles held the snow…and pinecones almost buried in the snow.

Later in the day, the wind had blown some snow off the trees and the snow had melted on darker surfaces like the stepping stones away from our patio…..and the tennis (my pattern was gone).  

It was a great day to be at home…and take a short break for outdoor photography and patterns in the snow!

Ramping up Elder Care – February 2024

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My parents have rediscovered the joy of going out to a restaurant for a meal. The weekday late lunchtime seems to work best (i.e. not crowded). It is quite a production: two elderly people with walkers…and two (or three) others with them. One of my sisters bought a small refrigerator for their room and they relish being able to put their leftovers there (and seem to prefer eating them for their next meal!). This is probably something I will try to do with them every time I visit. There are a lot of restaurants near the assisted living group home to experience.

Sometimes major bends in our life path are only recognized in retrospect; the events of January and February 2024 are a bend everyone in my family anticipated and acknowledges in real time. My sisters and I are acclimating to others providing the day to day care of our parents with their move to an assisted living home and the family has lost a long term hub for family events with the selling of their house.

  • My parents moved to an assisted living group home at the end of 2023. They’ve settled into their new environment. My mother is improving; maybe it is simply a trend that started back in December, but it could also be the increased social interactions and her confidence that someone is always available to help. It is still challenging for my sisters and I to back away and not jump to assist them when we visit. The staff is helpful and patient with everyone! My dad is about the same although he was very disoriented at first; he is eating well.

  • My sisters and I began to clean out my parents’ house soon after we moved them. They had lived in the house for over 30 years. There was a lot to go through. I made two short (less than a week) trips to Carrollton to help. During January we cleared most of the house by

    • Distributing furniture to family members or selling it or marking it for donation. I took two small tables, and my daughter took a larger octagon table for her office.

    • Donating clothes. There was very little that someone else in the family could wear. The closets in their assisted living rooms are filled to the brim with clothes that they wear.

    • Following the ‘bequeath’ list for decorative and kitchen items. I got 2 items from their 50th anniversary (one passed down from my maternal grandparents’ 50th), 1 from my parents’ 25th  anniversary, items that I remember from my childhood (a knife, fork and spoon of the silver plate my mother bought before she married; a orange cut glass bowl that I bought as a present to my Mother because it was her favorite color), 2 paintings my mother made (one of a dogwood blossom…and the pressed flower that I sent to her in 1984 from my Virginia house that she used as her model), the remnants of my maternal grandmother’s China….too many things to name although I am realizing that I should make a list for myself.

  • The house went on the market on February 1st and we accepted a full-price offer on the 2nd. Closing was requested for 2/28. February became a sprint to clear out the two sheds on the property and donate the furniture that no one in the family wanted. I made a very focused trip to help.

    • Salvation Army came with a truck to get furniture and boxes of books. It was tricky since the city had the street in front of the house torn up (infrastructure update project). The truck managed the pickup from the alley.

    • Tools were mostly distributed to the sister that wanted them. Some were tools from my paternal grandfather.  My daughter got a telescoping tree trimmer (she has the bigger trees…but I can borrow it when I need it).

    • The trash and recycle bins were full for every pickup and some items were put at the curb in front of a neighbor’s house for bulk pickup.

    • Some odds and ends were taken to be repurposed. I got some white vertical blinds (not attached to anything…just loose pieces of blind) which I plan to cover with Zentangle patterns and hang (not sure where yet). There were three small pieces of Masonite that I got for another Zentangle project. Some pieces of wood were taken by my sisters for art projects and specific repairs at their house.

    • One sister is having the king headboard (purchased in 1963…beautiful wood) made into a display case. She also took the antique meat grinder that we found in one of the sheds.

    • Another sister is taking most of the yard equipment to distribute to her family’s houses so that it will be easier for her to do yard maintenance.

Are we through the bend….or is more to come before we settle into a new normal? As I write this my dad has tested positive for COVID-19. The symptoms were mild and initially attributed to some new eye drops. He was tested after one of my sisters that visits frequently tested positive. He is getting Paxlovid. This is the first experience with COVID for him and my mother; they are both vaccinated. Hopefully this will be a minor blip and we’ll achieve a new normal in March.

Previous posts: November 2023, November 2023 update, December 2023, January 2024

Bulbs and Rhizomes

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A day in the 50s was a good one to plant bulbs (naked lady) and rhizomes (iris) that I had brought from Carrollton. I dug a trench in the mound left where the pine tree fell over last year in our yard and was removed. I alternated naked lady bulbs and iris rhizomes.

The naked lady bulbs were already sprouting, and I hope they survive the cold weather that is probably still coming in our winter. I am hopefull that the bed will be very lush with plants this year: iris, naked lady (maybe not blooming yet but lots of leaves), beautyberry plus some other native plants I added there.

I planted more iris rhizomes along the fence. If all of them survive I should have a nice row of irises and eventually they will crowd out the grass along the fence (reduce the need for trying to control its height).

The day after I planted bulbs and rhizomes in my yard was another day in the 50s, so I took spider lily bulbs and iris rhizomes to my daughters’. We pulled up some landscaping fabric in her front flower bed, cut it so we could remove that section, planted into the soil, then covered the area with the leaves and bark mulch that had been on top of the fabric. It was easier than removing fabric at my house where there are rocks on top of it!

So glad to get all the buckets of bulbs and rhizomes emptied!

Cooper’s Hawk in the River Birch

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I was in my office…at the computer…when a hawk flew by. It perched in the neighbor’s river birch. I could see it from where I sat! I took pictures through the window (with a screen). They are not great pictures but good enough for the id: an immature Cooper’s Hawk….rounded tail, brown upper parts, white underparts with brown streaking, yellow eye, banded tail.

I was in my office…at the computer…when a hawk flew by. It perched in the neighbor’s river birch. I could see it from where I sat! I took pictures through the window (with a screen). They are not great pictures but good enough for the id: an immature Cooper’s Hawk….rounded tail, brown upper parts, white underparts with brown streaking, yellow eye, banded tail.

The feathers on the breast are fluffed making the bird look larger. It was a cold windy day.

This bird could have been stalking smaller birds coming to our feeders although it was not eating anything while I watched. The bird seemed to be using the high branches of the river birch as a lookout…and a place to enjoy the sunshine. It did NOT fly off in the direction of our feeders when it left!

Our Yard – February 2024

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On a warmer day in early February, I walked around the yard – still in winter lock down. The pavers provide a little color with splotches of moss…framed by grass I should pull before new shoots emerge in the spring.

Under the pine tree there is standing debris of last season’s pokeweeds. I am thinking about trimming off the lowest branches of the tree and planting wildflowers under the pine needles. They should get enough sun to create a little garden under the tree.

The forsythia buds already seem to be getting larger. The mulch/compost I put under the bush last season seems to be holding up well. Trimming the branches away from the fence after they bloom might provide room to add some space for additional plantings. I hope the pawpaw seeds I planted slightly under the bush come up and are protected by it until they get a good start.

I love the rich color of fresh pine cones in the needles….but I need to pick them up before I start mowing again….they can be hard for the mower to handle.

The rhododendron buds look healthier…and there are more of them…this year. Last year, they got damaged by severe cold at some point during the winter. I will be thrilled to have more of the flowers to enjoy this coming spring!

Overall – our winter yard is still full of photographic subjects…and holds wonderful potential for the coming season.

An Empty House

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A familiar house looks so different when the people and furniture are missing. That has happened to my parents’ house. The view of the garden through the sliding glass door is the same but there is no travel chair that my mother found convenient to move her position with the sun.

The sunlight coming through the windows of a bedroom and shines on a bare wall that would have recently held large pictures and the headboard of a king-size bed.

Some of decorative touches added over 33 years ago by the previous owner are still intact….a part of the house that stays. They seem more obvious with so much else gone.

The house will likely change a lot with the new owner; it will be renovated and resold…sparkling in new way…for a new family. We take the memories with us, leaving the house behind.

Transition Trips to Carrollton TX

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I’ve now made two trips to Texas since the beginning of the year and am planning a third. They are very different than before my parents moved to an assisted living group home.

  • I am not staying at their home. On the first trip, I stayed at a hotel relatively close to their group home. The second trip I stayed with my niece. The hotel turned out to be high stress because the deadbolt on my room was jammed (i.e. the chain was the only extra locking on the door). Staying with my niece was low stress for me but probably high stress for her.

  • Visits with my parents were short…not 24/7 like previously. I anticipated that change…but it still feels odd…like I am missing a lot. At the same time, I am much less anxious about how they are doing when me or my sisters are not there.

  • My sisters and I worked to get the house cleaned out and listed for sale. This is the first time I’ve been guiding the sale of a house that is not my own…and I am glad that the technology is there to allow for me to do part of it remotely. We got 2 full price offers on the 1st day it was on the market and have accepted one of them. We still have the garage and storage sheds to clear. We have the milestone of the closing by the end of the month. There is still the physical and emotional work of cleaning out items collected over my parents’ lives that they no longer need. The unseasonably warm weather has helped.

  • I stopped at Hagerman once…went to Josey Ranch twice…but didn’t spend as much time there. I stopped at a greenway park I hadn’t noticed before on the second trip. The places I get out into nature in Texas are going to be changing to parks closer to where my parents are living now…in Dallas rather than Carrollton.

  • We had joked about observing the 4/8 eclipse from my parents’ driveway…but the house will that theirs by that time. I am realizing how many family events centered on the location over the past 30+ years. It will feel strange to not go there anymore.

The transition is happening so quickly with their move to assisted living in early January and the sale of their home finalized at the end of February. It is hard emotionally and physically, but it is also not a prolonged agony. My sisters and I are looking forward to a new normal in March!

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2024

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There are so many little celebrations every day. Here are my top 10 for January 2024.

51 years of being married. OK – perhaps this one is not ‘little.’ We marked the day by getting a special meal (picked up, eaten at home)…but the more significant part of the celebration was the savoring of being long marrieds…of always being supportive of each other, particularly when things are stressful.

Spider lily bulbs. I celebrated getting spider lily bulbs (and some iris rhizomes) planted before the very cold weather in mid-January.

A fragrant candle. I finally used up a very fragrant candle I had moved from Maryland (in the car since they are not permitted on moving trucks). When I entered my office each morning, I celebrated how it smelled from the candle I’d burned a few hours the previous evening!

Being home. Being away from home for 7 weeks and then leaving again for Texas 2.5 weeks later for a few days gave me several opportunities to celebrate coming and being home!

Braum’s Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad. Yum. I had about given up on finding something at a fast food place that I liked…so I celebrated this discovery. The greens are fresh, the grilled chicken tender, the strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple make it special.

First Snow. I celebrated being home for snow…not on the road between Texas and home!

Patterns in the snow. I celebrated my first pattern walks in the snow…hope to try it again soon.

Old friends. I celebrated that two old friends (that I hadn’t talked to in years) contacted me just when I needed to talk to them…before I even realized how wonderful that would be.

2 years cancer free. Celebrating a 2-year mark of a 5-year monitoring regime for cancer after surgery…and all the checks are indicating no cancer.

Being indoors. When the temperature is single digits or below zero…it’s worth celebrating an indoor day in a warm house.

Zooming – January 2024

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January was a very light month for photography; I was recovering from the stress of being away from home and made 2 short trips to Carrollton very focused on helping my parents adjust to their new home and preparing to sell the house they had lived in for over 30 years. Even with fewer images to select from – I savor the 9 selected as the best for the month: birds and snow and sunrises….and a surprised flower (taken near the end of December just as the first hard freeze was sending the Carrollton TX area into winter). Enjoy the January 2024 slideshow!

Patterns in the Snow

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A few days after photographing the snow activity around the patio, it was a little warmer (in the teens) and the sun was out. I ventured out at mid-morning to look around the yard and neighborhood. I noticed tracks in the snow. Squirrel?

My real objective was to walk patterns on the untracked snow of the tennis courts. It was my first attempt…and a learning experience.

  • I had chosen 2 simple patterns from my Zentangle experiences. The free form curves worked better than the “straight” lines.

  • The contrast between shadows and bright sunlight played havoc with my line of sight. The poles at the ends of the net worked well but the other corners were more nebulous.

  • Even though I tried to retrace each line at least twice, additional retracing would have made the lines more solid. Maybe wearing snowshoes would make that easier although I am not quite ready to make the purchase (yet).

The tennis courts are an optimal surface to walk patterns in the snow – flat and with ‘posts’ for orientation.

  • The snow was a good depth…2-3 inches.

  • It was cold enough (teens) that there had been no melting.

After I finished on the tennis courts I walked along the path a bit – made arches away from tracks made by others. Some had melted through to the asphalt. On the bridge over the channel into the ponds, there had been more traffic and the snow had fallen between the planks.

My winter gear kept me warm enough (down filled coat with hood, tube scarf over my head under the hood, mask, snow pants, hiking boots with wool socks, battery powered heat in my gloves). But I was ready to head indoors!

Snowy Day on our Patio

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The birds were very active at our feeders recently with the temperature in the single digits (Fahrenheit) and the wind blowing up to 16 miles per hour! Multiple perches were in use much of the time. The house finches were the most numerous but there were sparrows (white-crowned) and a woodpecker (hairy?) and a female Northern Cardinal too. It was quite a feeding frenzy!

I was taking pictures through an office window with a screen so the pictures have a softened focus. Sometimes birds were still enough for portraits (female finch, male woodpecker, white crowned sparrow, cardinal).

I attempted a picture of sparrow through vegetation….and liked the artsy veil that the automatic focus produced with the challenge.

Of course, there were other items catching snow around our patio – the chiminea, the holly trees, the gnarled vine to the side of the stairs to the deck, a paver near the almost covered lambs ear, fall leaves in the bottom of the wagon. I stepped outside to take these pictures….and all the birds flew away!

The birds returned within minutes of my exit from the patio back to the warmth of my office.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 27, 2024

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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.

Can autoimmune diseases be cured? - After decades of frustration and failed attempts, scientists might finally be on the cusp of developing therapies to restore immune ‘tolerance’ in conditions such as diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

Good and bad news for people with low back pain - The good news is that most episodes of back pain recover, and this is the case even if you have already had back pain for a couple of months. The bad news is that once you have had back pain for more than a few months, the chance of recovery is much lower. This reminds us that although nearly everyone experiences back pain, some people do better than others, but we don't completely understand why.

Why diphtheria is making a comeback - While this present surge of diphtheria cases is indeed unprecedented for West Africa, it is really a symptom of larger issues in global health, including insufficient infectious disease surveillance, poor vaccination rates and scarcity of public health resources.

The Prairie Ecologists Photos of the Week – January 22 2024 – Photographs from out in the cold.

The chemistry of meat alternatives – It’s complicated…..in the end are meat alternative ultra-processed food?

The strange reasons medieval people slept in cupboards – I can see how they might have been warmer….but also rather claustrophobic. And wouldn’t they be hard to keep clean?

In the time of the copper kings - Some 3,500 years ago, prosperous merchants on Cyprus controlled the world’s most valuable commodity. Beginning in the third millennium B.C., and especially during the second millennium B.C., copper was king and could make those who possessed it extremely wealthy and powerful. There was enough copper and tin on board the Uluburun ship (wrecked off the coast of Turkey) to produce 11 tons of bronze, which experts estimate could have been turned into 33,000 swords. Researchers have analyzed the Uluburun wreck’s copper and found that it all came from Cyprus. There is evidence of the surprisingly diverse nature of the community thriving there and that those Cypriots who controlled the production and distribution of copper, such as the shipment found off Uluburun, could become exceptionally rich.

Cicadas Are Coming: Rare ‘Dual Emergence’ Could Bring One Trillion of the Bugs This Year – We don’t live in the overlap area…but where we live in Missouri will see Brood XIX this summer….a great opportunity for cicada photography!

Incredible Winners of the Close-Up Photographer of the Year Contest – So many beautiful images. My favorite is ‘Spirit of Yucatan’ (drifting stems of lily pads in a Mexican freshwater cenote…the sky above).

Deepwater Horizon oil spill study could lead to overhaul of cleanup processes worldwide – Chemical oil dispersants combined with sunlight…made oil more toxic. Observations from after Deepwater Horizon, and being confirmed experimentally, to improve responses to oil spills.