Gleanings of the Week Ending May 11, 2013

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

Printable Functional 'Bionic' Ear Melds Electronics and Biology  - What if this development really does live up to its potential?

Addiction Fact and Fiction - Infographic

Robot discovers secret chambers in Mexico - Underneath the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan

APPLE-ALMOND BUTTER PANCAKES - Sounds yummy!

How Petals Get Their Shape: Hidden Map Located Within Plant's Growing Buds - Research about how different parts of plants take on different shapes

Geography in the news: hot chocolate - A healthy indulgence

Saturn Hurricane (at its north pole) - Video and pictures on NASA site

The Fine Art of Photographing Living Portuguese Man O' War

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors - Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street….a concentrated hub of Internet connectivity

Nature’s Most Transparent Animals - from National Geographic

Diet Linked to Daytime Sleepiness and Alertness in Healthy Adults - High fat consumption associated with daytime sleepiness

Art Installations Inspired by Solar Panels - My favorite is the second one (Solar Intersections by Robert Behrens)

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

There is always a lot to do at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens (near Charleston, SC). When I was there in late April, it was still cool. That meant that there were still a few camellias but the azaleas and irises were blooming too. There was plenty of activity to see from the boat tour through the old rice fields: lolling alligators, hunting herons/water birds and plenty of duckweed to reduce mosquitos (even though it was too cool for insects to be very active anyway). The huge live oaks with graceful veils of Spanish moss (all the tour guides emphasized that it is not Spanish and not a moss…it is an epiphyte native to the Americas) were everywhere. The gardens were a contrast of natural, formal, and escaped vegetation. It was obvius they had been gardens for a long time and still constantly changing - both from the efforts of gardeners and the natural environment of the place. There were crepe myrtles that were growing quite happily among dense natural vegetation that had taken over at the edge of one garden area. I posted about the peacock at Magnolia Plantation last week. I took so many other pictures that it was difficult to pick the 25 in the slide show below. Enjoy!

Audubon Swamp Garden

The Audubon Swamp Garden is part of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens near Charleston, South Caroline. In late April, the egrets were nesting. The alligators and turtles were trying to warm up on a cool cloudy day. The boardwalk had quite a few photographers - some with fancy tripods and big lenses that were capturing the many birds and reptiles of the swamp.

The high point was an anhinga with hungry chicks.

This was my second trip to this location. Back in 2008, we were a few weeks earlier and the egrets were still doing mating displays rather than sitting on their nests with eggs or hatched chicks. It was a warmer day as well. Every platform held either an alligator or turtle. One held both - and the big excitement of the day for us was when the alligator ate one of the turtles!

A new electronic gate had been added to the garden….and the metal sculpture was new. I particularly liked the fiddling frog surrounded by spring green leaves.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in May 2013

Spring is a few weeks behind the norm but it is quite lush at this point. The iris bulbs that I moved to a sunnier bed last fall have very fat buds. They are quite happy with the change in location and will provide fill for the area until the new azalea bushes we planted this spring can reach their full size.

Our tulips were mostly browsed by deer very early. We only had two that managed to bloom.

I forgot all about the chives that have come up for years where we now have a young sycamore. There is some weeding that will need to be done there.

The usual bird’s nest under the covered deck had multiplied this year; there are two at opposite ends of the support beam. The cats will glare through the boards of the deck at the robin chicks - unable to do more than catch a glimpse of the drama under their feet.

There was a slow moving bee on the dandelion. The air temperature was just warming enough for insects to become active.

The tulip poplar blossoms are still tight buds. I was surprised at how intact the shell of a bloom from last year still seemed to be after the buffeting of winter and spring winds.

Most of the violets that grow in the deep shade under the deck were done but one lingered.

The sweetest scent of the walk around the house was from a bush in bloom. I was surprised that insects were not buzzing around it. Usually they are. Perhaps I timed the walk perfectly - when it was still cool enough for the insects to be sedentary.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 04, 2013

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

Lionfish Attack The Gulf Of Mexico Like A Living Oil Spill - Yikes! In 2 years, the reefs in the Bahamas lost on average 65% of their small prey fish…and 40% of the larger fish.

Comet Will Come Close but Most Likely Miss Mars Next Year - This could get pretty exciting.

Peel-and-Stick Solar Cells - Maybe solar cells will get tremendously easier to install

Science as Art: Nanoscale Materials Imitate Everything From Flowers to Frost - The beauty in the very small from the Materials Research Society

Digital Public Library of America - Opened on 4/18/2013.

Pearls and The Puzzle of How They Form Perfect Spheres

A visual look at 7 things that make us feel good about work - Infographic from TED

Video of the Week: Visualizing 150 Years of Health Data - and links to other visualizations and learning modules about visualizing data

Superstorm Sandy Shook the U. S., Literally - The storm had the impact of magnitude 2-3 earthquakes that went on for hours and hours

MandalaZone - Mandala’s by Peter Patrick Barreda

Amazingly Detailed Macro Portraits of Bugs - Flies and spiders and dragonflies and mantises.

Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens, located south of Myrtle Beach, SC, is more than plants. It has many sculptures spread throughout the garden areas and in museum type displays. There is a Butterfly House (photos in an upcoming post) and opportunities to learn about the history of the area which was colonized as indigo and rice plantations.

We were too late for most of the azaleas and camellias but the iris were beginning along the edges of the water. There was lush greenery and the black masked squirrels abounded.  There was sculpture everywhere - sometimes as the center piece of the garden and sometimes almost hidden in foliage. My favorite was of a dancer with swirling skirts.

I found myself interested in the faces of the pieces and picked some of the best for the slide show below.

The tickets for Brookgreen last for a week and I found it was well worth taking more than one day to see the place.

Maryland Sunrise - May 2013

It is good to be home again. I was up in time to catch the sunrise yesterday. The picture above was taken a few minutes before sunrise at 6:03 (sunrise was at 6:09). This time of year the view of the eastern horizon from our house is obstructed by trees. The oak tree in the foreground is full of blooms and rapidly growing leaves. But the clouds captured the color of the day’s beginning. What a difference from the sunrise over the Atlantic from a South Carolina beach I posted about a few days ago!

Observing sunrise is one of my favorite ways to start the day. The more beautiful it is - the more positive I feel about the rest of the day.

Peacock Images

On my first day in South Carolina, I saw a peacock sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens - marking a path into the gardens near the visitor’s center. The sculpture captures the haughtiness of the real bird that I saw the next day at Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. The bird displayed for visitors standing in line to get tickets. The patch of grass and nearby fence was its stage. Periodically he screeched and was answered by peacocks elsewhere on the property. He seemed to enjoy the attention of people but needed the connection to others of his kin.

Peacocks must be one of the most dramatically plumed birds on the planet. Their feathers are long and lush with color and pattern. Did the idea for long trains of formal gowns (and the bustle that was fashionable at one time) come from the peacock’s tail (see the picture of the peacock on the fence at the right)? The color is structural rather than from pigment so it does not fade. I have some peacock feathers that are almost 30 years old and, while physically fragile, they still have their brilliant colors.

South Carolina Sunrise

Last week I was in South Carolina and managed to get up early one morning to catch the rise as the nearby beach - Surfside Beach, between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. We checked weather.com for the sunrise time the night before and got to the beach about 6:20 AM which was just before the sunrise. The moon was still out.

The sky was full of oranges and reds when we arrive but the sun  had not broken the line of the sea at the horizon. It was clear so the light simply filled the sky above the waves. The sun peeked over the rim of the ocean and the reds faded away to oranges and pinks.

We walked along the beach, picking up shells. The morning chill and damp kept us away from the water but the damp sand made walking easier.

There were other things to notice: the people surf fishing (they did have their feet in the water), walkers that briskly made their way along the beach, birds feeding at the boundary between sea and beach, pelican skimming the waves flight in formation toward the north, seagulls chattering, and at least one other with a camera there to capture the sunrise like me.

It was an excellent way to start the day.

Ten Months of Shelf-Fungus

Last July (2012), a shelf-fungus started to grow on the stump of an oak tree that had died and been cut down in our neighbor's yard. I first noticed it while our power was out after the derecho. It developed rapidly during the first month and then changed slowly through the remaining nine months in the slide show. I am posting the series now as a memorial to the shelf-fungus. They were ripped off their stump by the yard crew spreading new mulch in April 2013.

July 2012

July 2012

July 2012

July 2012

July 2012

August 2012

August 2012

Sept 2012

Sept 2012

Oct 2012

Oct 2012

Nov 2012

Dec 2012

Dec 2012

Jan 2013

Jan 2013

March 2013

March 2013

April 2013

April 2013

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 27, 2013

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

The Cancer Tradeoff - Robert Austin argues that cancer is a natural consequence of our rapid evolution

Dinosaur Embryo Graveyard - From southern China

Like People, Bees Learn From Watching One Another

Breathtaking Photos of Colorful Rock Formations in China - Vibrantly colored exposed rock layers

Plant DNA Largely Unchanged - We have a tulip tree at the edge of the forest in our backyard….and it is pretty much the same as trees that grew in the time of dinosaurs!

Nanoparticle Disguised as a Blood Cell Fights Bacterial Infection - An idea about what comes after antibiotics for bacterial infections….something completely different

Breathtaking Photos of China's "River of Poems and Paintings" - Seems like China is a theme for this week….this is the second gleaning about that country

Research Aims to Settle Debate Over Origin of Yellowstone Volcano - Mantle plumes near subduction zones are more complex that the previous models depicted

Light Paintings Created with LED Wakeboards - Even the photographs show the motion of the athletes…but watch the video too to understand how much work went into the production.

Snowcano - Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula…and I see that ‘volcanoes’ is another theme for this week although Yellowstone and Kamchatka are quite different.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 20, 2013

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

Bald Eagle Nest in Washington DC webcam - The chicks hatched in March. The nest is on the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Academy. The nesting pair has used the site for several years and successfully fledged young birds.

Clever Designs Built With Repurposed Egg Shells - I love the idea of starting seedlings in egg shells!

Mining Books to Map Emotions through a Century - Emotional archaeology through the written word

Former NBA player recalls the time he saved a dolphin by reaching his arm down its throat - Sometimes the serendipity events of life have tremendous meaning

Computer Scientists Develop Video Game That Teaches How to Program in Java - A trend for teaching in the future?

Radical Roads Drive Robot Cars - Autonomous cars….changing highways

Geography in the News - Maple Syrup Time - A rite of spring!

NASA May Be Towing an Asteroid to a Planet near You - Wow! Really?

Gaining and Losing Shares - Population distribution by region, 1790 to 2010 from the US Census

Rare Disease (infographic) - from TED

Crystal Clear Snowflake Photos by Don Komarechka - In celebration of the end of winter weather!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - April 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

A friend from 40 years ago. What a joy it is to be in contact with a friend after so many years in different parts of the country!

Tile art. The nature center where I volunteer has started a fundraising effort that involves children making squares of art that will be transferred to tiles. The children and parents have such fun making the images. I can hardly wait to see the walls of these unique tiles.

First spring day. It was a little late this year. Everything was delayed and then suddenly - spring sprung!

New azaleas. We finally filled the bed in front of our house where some bushes had died. The azalea bushes evidently love their new home; they started blooming almost immediately.

Flicker. There was a flicker investigating the forest at the back of our yard. Maybe there will be a nest!

Steak. We don’t have steak all that often and this time we thought it had burned on the grill - but it was very tender - and tasty. Celebrate!

Butterfly. It was pretty cold but there was a brave butterfly on the plum tree. It was the first of the season.

Deciduous magnolias and cherry trees. These are the two early bloomers in our area. This year they peaked together.

Travel plans. I enjoy planning for travel. It’s the preparation of the mind to maximize the experience of where I go. The anticipation is worth savoring.

Dark chocolate. This should be on my list every month. 

3 Free eBooks - April 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

Gray, Asa. The Forest Trees of North America. Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution. 1891. This is really the plates prepared for a book. The work was done between 1849 and 1859. It is available in PDF form here. The first three images hooked me for the rest of the volume: magnolias and tulip polar. The tulip poplar in our back yard is just getting ready to bloom…and the image captures the look of the tree quite well.

Redoute, Pierre Joseph. Les Roses. Paris, De L’Imprimerie de Firmin Didot. 1824. There are actually three volumes available on the Internet Archive: 1817, 1821, and 1824. All three contain pages and pages of botanical prints of roses. I was prompted to look for these books when I saw a reference to them in May Theilgaard Watts’ Reading the Landscape of Europe.

Sale, Edith Dabney Tunis (editor for James River Garden Club, Richmand). Historic Gardens of Virginia. Richmond, William Byrd Press. 1923. Available from the Internet Archive here. The book includes the birds-eye view of many gardens as well as a few vistas from ground level. It is tempting to see how many of these gardens still exist!

Brookside Gardens - April 2013

In mid-April - the deciduous magnolias were the highlight of Brookside Gardens. They come in many varieties although they are generally pink or white. The petals are generally large although there is one that had petals that curled like ribbons. Many times the petals are pink on the outside and white on the inward facing surface. Healthy trees are dense with blooms on otherwise bare branches.

The grounds were covered with new growth. Fiddleheads and native plants are coming up through the mulch everywhere in the gardens.

The tulips were just beginning to open and many of them looked like they had been damaged by the extremely cold weather in late March. I am always drawn to the blending of the yellow and orange tulip petals in the sunlight.

Cherry Blossoms 2013

The weather caused the cherry blossoms to open late - and explode into bloom when some warm days finally came in April. The buds were already in evidence in early March; the picture on the left from our yard near Columbia, MD was taken on March 3. Then we had some very cold weather and the buds were only beginning to open on April 9th (picture on right).

By the 10th it was obvious that the blooms were imminent.

And then the 11th was the very best day for our cherry tree in 2013! The slide show below are my picks of the many pictures I took.

I was thrilled to have observed our tree during these days because I did not manage to get down to the see the trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC before the rains and wind took the blossoms to the ground.

Dandelions

The dandelions beat the application of pre-emergent on our lawn this year. We have quite a crop. The flowers are low to the ground so that the mower would completely miss them. One year I had my (young) daughter take a little basket and fill it with the flowers. She enjoyed plucking them as they nestled in the grass almost like an Easter egg hunt; but there were so many buds waiting to open and produce seeds that the exercise did not diminish the dandelion population in our yard.

I’ve read that the colonists actually brought dandelions as a garden plant - used for salads. The greens taste bitter to me although supposedly if they are harvested early enough they are less so. The flower petals add an interesting color to salad; they don’t have much flavor (which may be a good thing).

This year my husband has already started his battle with the dandelions by spraying them. We both know that it is likely a losing battle.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 13, 2013

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

Be Out There - The Forecast Calls for Play - A guide from the National Wildlife Federation about being outdoors on the not-sunny days. The guide was produced in response to the statistic that 61% of parents said the weather was the biggest barrier to playing outdoors.

Sundew - external digestions - Image of a sundew plant curled around an insect

Take a Virtual Hike Along String Lake In Grand Teton National Park - An eHike…17 pictures

Best science and technology pictures of the week - From BBC Future dated 3/29

Versailles Gets Spiffed-Up On Its Day Off - What happens on Monday when Versailles is closed? It is a lot of work.

Psychedelic Bacteria - Sometimes photomicrography looks like art

New Mathematical Model Shows How Society Becomes Polarized - Applying ‘biased assimilation’ model

Spectacular Aerial Shots of International Airports - Newark Liberty and JFK Airports from above

Women computer science grads: The bump before the decline - Observations but not explanations

Utah’s Breathtaking Blue Hills and Painterly Desert - Hmmm --- this could be a great ‘next vacation’

Plum Blossoms and a Butterfly

Our plum tree is in bloom this week, ahead of the cherry tree. Its frothy pink is the early tree color every spring. 

It is one of the best features of our yard in spring. It is a little late this year because of some recent cold days.   

The insects find it as attractive as we do. There were several kinds of bees and a single butterfly - one of the first this season - enjoying the blossoms. The butterfly’s wings were ragged….he had survived long enough to enjoy the nectar of the plum blossoms.

US Botanic Garden - March 2013

The US Botanic Garden is one of my favorite places in Washington DC. I make it part of just about every visit. It is located on the Smithsonian Mall side of the US Capitol building. There were a lot of people around for the Kite Festival the day I was there in March; it was beginning to feel crowded by the time we finished our walk around the conservatory an hour after it opened. The warmth and lush vegetation of the conservatory were a welcome contrast to a blustery spring day!

Outdoors the birds were fluffy in the cold.

The pitcher plants still had some color but were showing the ravages of winter as were some of the other plants in the garden.

The tables and chairs were out in the gardens but it was too cold to be comfortable sitting in them. The sounds of the water in the First Ladies Water Garden were soothing --- no warmth though! At least the miniature iris and daffodils were blooming.