Ginkgo Buds at Brookside Gardens

The Ginkgo Tree near the Brookside Gardens conservatories is full of opening buds. I always try to photograph them because there is a stone bench just below the tree and give me enough height to do some close-up photography of the buds. The tree itself is very tall and slender, fitting into the space beside the intersection of multiple paths.

It is a male tree (no stinky fruit in the fall); the buds include the male flowers and tiny furled leaves. The male flowers always look like small bunches grapes…the leaves like miniature fans. Both look very bright green next to the knobby bark of the tree.

Last year about this time, I photographed the male ginkgo at Belmont…and posted about it here.

Centennial Park on a Cold March Day

The day looked warm enough to take a walk at Centennial Park but the sunshine was not very warming. I opted to cut the walk short after I got a few pictures. I always like the rock jetty near the boat ramp

And the red bridge at the other end of the lake. Those landmark pictures were the beginning and end of my short walk.

I noticed a glove that someone had lost on the path

And the geese feeding on the shore (there were none on the lake itself).

I attempted to get pictures of the Buffleheads feeding on the lake – but they must have been finding a lot to eat…so my first attempts resulted in ripples after they dove under water. Once I managed to anticipate where they would surface, I got some pictures…but they are almost at the limit of my zoom.

My favorite pictures of the short walk were of a wasp nest high in a maple tree that has been battered all winter so that the interior structure was exposed.

With the wasp nest images captured - I decided to make a hasty retreat to the warmth of my car...and then home.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 8, 2017

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

The Skeleton Revealed – Vertebrates! Did you know that the hood of the cobra is created by ribs?

How to Photograph an Orchid – Good ideas for photographing other flowers as well as orchids.

What happens when diagnosis is automated? – As there is more data to consider…as time is of the essence for treatment…automation becomes more important in medicine. An article about the state of the art and the technology.

Deer Culled from Civil War Battlefield Parks Provide 8 Tons of Venison for Food Banks – The parks are in western Maryland (Antietam, Monocacy and Catoctin). Like the area where I life in Central Maryland there is an overabundance of deer. Catoctin has conducted deer management efforts since 2010 and has seen a return of native tree and shrub seedlings.

Our aging scientific workforce raises concern – The aging of the science and engineering workforce is aging more rapidly than the general workforce as a whole --- what impact will that have?

Pinkies up! A local tea movement is brewing – Tea grown in the US!

Hair testing shows high prevalence of new psychoactive substance use -Testing hair samples to detect usage of psychoactive substances by nightclub/festival attendees…and finding a about 25% are using…many unknowingly. Scary finding.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #81 – Two favorites in this set: the American Kestrel and Sandhill Cranes (with babies)

Brave New World of Nanotechnology – It is surprising how little is understood (yet) about the impact of nanoparticles in our environment – at a time when they are becoming more and more prevalent.

Teacher resignation letters paint bleak picture of US education – Teachers writing about what they see as a broken education system. I hope this analysis from Michigan State University will be factored into actions that can make a difference for children in the US.

Around my Yard – April 2017

April has been a rainy month for us – so far. I managed to walk around the yard on one sunny afternoon. There is a lot of trimming and cleanout work to be done as soon as we have a few dry days in a row. I am not a gardener so it is a chore that requires some will power to accomplish. I cheered myself up by taking some pictures of little things I noticed as I was assessing the yard: a wasp exploring a past-prime daffodil,

A dandelion – one of the first to bloom this season (pre-emergent is never totally effective),

A self-fungus on one of the larger pieces in our brush pile,

Violets beginning to bloom,

And a scruffy looking robin!

Cherry Blossoms

It hasn’t been a great year for cherry blossoms in our area. We had a mostly warm February then some very cold days just as the cherry trees were beginning to bloom in Washington DC – where we usually go to view the large number of trees around the tidal basin.. The cherry tree in our yard is usually later that the trees The District…and it was not as damaged by the frosty days. Unfortunately – it is not situated well for whole tree pictures but I did get some pictures of the flowers themselves this week.

One of my sisters is in Salt Lake City, Utah this week and their trees are blooming right now too. She sent me some pictures that are more typical of the ones I take when we walk around downtown DC….just not this year.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 25, 2017

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.

Un-sweetened: How a Maryland County Cut Soda Sales Without a Soda Tax – A story from the county where I live…how soda sales were reduced by 20%...fruit drinks by 15% --- via TV, outdoor advertising, social media, health care professionals and a new local law that promotes access to healthier food and drink options on local government property (such as vending machines at parks and other government buildings).

The biggest energy challenged facing humanity – One point that this article makes: in the future, some appliances (like dish washers) will run when electricity is most available/least expensive. I already have that situation with my Prius Prime – I charges in the middle of the night when electricity from our utility is at the lowest rate. If I had solar panels on my house….I would charge it on sunny days!

Painting the National Parks with Wildflowers – Spring is a great time to get out and explore not just national parks…but local natural areas at well. Finding wildflowers is the joy of spring!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #78 and #79 – Lots of great bird pictures. My favorite in the first set is the kingfisher with the tadpole. In the second set, I like the spotted owlet peeking out from the trunk of a tree

Picturing Birds at Risk – More birds….these are ones that were once common in the US…but have declined dramatically recently.

Should we manage for rare species or species diversity – The challenges of managing ecosystems…species diversity and ecological resilience can be counter to management for rare or conservation species.

The controversial plan to tunnel beneath Stonehenge – Not directly under….but close…and new discoveries around Stonehenge extend the area of the ancient site. It becomes a complicated project!

Twelve Famous Female Chemists – An Infographic that came out for International Women’s Day. How many of these women have you heard of?

1.7 Million Children Died Every Year from Unhealthy Environments, WHO Reports – “A polluted environment is a deadly one – particularly to young children.” 1 in 4 deaths that occur before the age of 5 are not related to environmental problems.

Are you pre-sick? and Do you need an annual checkup? – Both of these articles came out from Berkley Wellness recently. It is worth considering over checking… and then unnecessary treatment…when it comes to our health.

Road Trip to Pittsburgh

Our Maryland neighborhood was snowy when we started out after the morning traffic. The roads were clear and my husband savored the adaptive cruise control in his new car once we got on the highway.

We’re becoming more familiar with the South Mountain rest stop in Interstate 70 these days. The walks and roadways were clear but there were piles of snow everywhere else. It was cold and breezy at the place….this picture makes it look a lot warmer than it was.

I liked the side at Pennsylvania Welcome Center further on. By this time in our drive, the clouds had come in. The closer we got to Pittsburgh the colder it seemed to get and at one point it started to snow sideways (because of the stiff breeze).

I attempted to get pictures of ice flows that were on many of the roadcuts through the Allegheny Mountains. My favorite is the one with the truck since it demonstrates how big some of the icicles were.

More posts from our time in Pittsburgh over the next few days….

Art Seen on the Move

I made a quick trip from Maryland to Texas then Oklahoma…back to Texas and then home to Maryland….and used my new cellphone to take pictures of the ‘art’ along the way.

At BWI airport early in the morning, I noticed the Maryland scenes depicted in mosaics on the floor and on tables that are probably very busy later in the day.

Driving from the Dallas area toward Tulsa on I75, we stopped in Durant for lunch. Salitas (Tex-Mex food) is not far off the highway and has desert murals painted on the side.

After visiting family near Tulsa, we headed to Stillwater, OK for a visit with friends and then headed for home along I35. The rest stop had Teepee shaped structures over the picnic tables! Note that I didn’t take any ‘on the road’ pictures this trip; that is because I was the driver for the entire part of the trek made via automobile.

As I arrived at Love Field for my flight home, I paused a few extra seconds while I retrieved by boarding pass and driver’s license from my bag to take a picture of the colorful mosaic beside the security checkpoint. It’s size and position make it difficult to capture…but I always notice it and celebrate because I am heading home.

Brookside Gardens in March – Part II

When I went to check the skunk cabbage last week at Brookside Gardens, a disgruntled titmouse gave me the eye. That was the only bird I managed to photograph as I walked around the gardens.

The growth that I had noticed between two rocks by the stream last month is now blooming – narcissus.

There were also small flags

And crocus in bloom.

March had been off to a warm start but we had some cold days just before I went to Brookside so I was pleased to find some trees that looked undamaged by the cold.

The camellia was a pleasant surprise…and fortified me for what came next.

A magnolia was evidently in full bloom when the weather turned cold. Now all flowers are brown. There could be a few buds that may still open. I’ll check next time I go. It's a very large tree that usually is full of large pick flowers....maybe not this year.

It was warm enough that there were a few insects out and about. Do you see the insect in this picture? (Hint: a little left and down from center.)

Brookside Gardens in March – Part I

Last week, I missed the shop in the Brookside Gardens conservatory; it was closed for inventory. But the conservatories were open and full of color. The variegated crotons were lush even though a lot of the other foliage had been severely pruned…giving room for a lot of new growth.

Some of the plantings they had been putting in the soil when I visited toward the end of January were blooming. I was fascinated by the structure of the flowers…and their color.

My favorite picture from this walk through the conservatories was of this desert plant – somehow the light and the shape of the leaves appeal to me.

There were snap dragons – mostly pink ones.

And orchids in lush groupings planted in urns.

Every time I see this bush with the red puffs – I always want a bottle brush that is this shape and color!

One of the examples of new growth because of the pruning was this new leaf that will expand to a huge leaf that is all green. I was surprised that the new leaves have so much red in them.

Tomorrow I’ll post about the sights outside in the gardens.

Skunk Cabbage @ Brookside Gardens

I’ve been looking for skunk cabbage sprouts every time I’ve gone to Brookside Gardens since I saw the plants emerging from the swampy area at Mt. Pleasant Farm back in January. Earlier this week, I finally saw some. They are in the wet area crossed by the boardwalk between the Brookside Gardens Conservatory and the Brookside Nature Center. I’d noticed the plants in previous years among the cypress knees.

The weather had been cold the previous days and I wondered if their contractile roots had pulled some of the plants back down into the soil. Since some of the plants seemed almost buried in the mulch under the cypress trees.

I zoomed in to two different hoods trying to see the ball shaped flower within – but they appeared to be empty. The structures are still interesting. Once I saw one of them there were quite a few just barely above the mulch.

Centennial Park on a Cold Day

A few days ago, it was sunny but in the 40s and I thought I’d take a short walk at the park – bundled up in my coat and hat. I underestimated the effect of the wind! It was unbearably cold so I took a quick look around for anything worthy of a photograph….and spotted a Great Blue Heron on the other side of the lake. At first I was seeing only the back of its head (I think it was investigating some trash as the edge of the lake); it was about ready to give up when the bird turned so I could get a profile shot.

The water was not a pretty color because the wind was stirring up the water. But I experimented with bordering the picture with the red railing from the fishing pier. I liked the texture of the water in motion. The ducks, geese and seagulls were off the water. I saw some gulls in a tree and two geese eating grass along the road side as I left. There were daffodils bloom in the woods (not sure why someone planted them there) and there were a couple of robins looking for worms in the grass.

It was a much shorter outing than I’d planned but I was glad to be out and about.

Signs of Spring? – Part 2

The first part of this post was posted last week after a walk around our yard…on a warm afternoon. I posted the series of American Robin images first…now for the rest of what I saw --- There were some milkweed pods in the litter of one of our flower beds (yes – I let some plants go to seed there); there is the first milkweed bug of the season too!

I saw a bee investigating something in the leaf litter too. The day was so warm that the insects probably thought it was spring already.

The crocuses are come up through the leaf mulch left in the flower bed. I’m going to plant some out in the yard next fall since I like the look of the flowers in the lawns of Belmont.

 The miniature daffodils are blooming too.

There some of the larger and taller ones that are still green leaves and buds. When the leaves first emerge, they sometimes have kinks that straighten out before they start blooming.

The red maple is blooming. This time of year is it easy to tell the difference between this tree and other maples. All the others look dull compared to this red.

There is a tree in the forest behind our house that has lost its top and there are woodpecker holes around the wound in the part that remains.

There is a holly that has sprouted under a downspout – not a good place for a holly so I will have to pull it next time I put on my gardening gloves.

Part 1 was posted last Friday.

A Little March Snow

I’d taken pictures for a second post about signs of spring in our yard….but then I woke up to snow! I got a picture at first light since I was sure it would melt away quickly. There were already deer tracks through our back yard.

As it got a little lighter, the snow on the pines and back into the forest gave the scene from my office window a new look.

There was a robin that kept moving around in the red maple that is blooming.

The tulip poplar seed pods from last summer are mostly empty of seeds at this point; they make a little basket for snow accumulation.

The miniature daffodils in the front yard are blooming and they caught the snow as well. They handle it better than the larger and taller flowers that sometimes bend to the ground with heavy snow. These daffodils are progeny of bulbs that my mother-in-law bought for us over 25 years ago and I’m always thrilled that they are so durable through the snow.

Signs of Spring? – Part 1

We have had an unusually warm and snow free winter in our area of Maryland. This morning there is a cold snap and I am wondering if some of the pictures of our yard I took for this blog over the past few days are of things that will be frost damaged next time I walk around. I have been seeing one or two American Robins are warm days for the past week or so. The robin in the slide show below was in a neighbor’s yard – looking for and finding worms. It looked like a fat and healthy bird enjoying the bounty of our neighborhood lawns without a lot of others of his kind around. It is easy to associate a personality with this bird on a mission!

I’m noticing the advantage of having the 40x optical zoom on my camera (rather than 30x of my previous camera or 0 optical zoom of my smart phone). The image stabilization is good too; all these were taken hand held – no monopod or tripod.

Disappointment at Conowingo

The weather was a little warmer than usual when we made our trek to Conowingo last week. The weather turned out to be the best part. The eagles must have finished their breakfast by the time we got there and were not very active; this was the best picture I got – from all the way across the river. You can tell that those rocks are favorite perches (all the ‘white’).

The black vultures were not very photogenic either. The big grouping that usually eyeballs cars going over the dam from a fence only numbered three birds. The others must have been out and about – maybe at some substantial carrion site.

At first I thought the cormorants would redeem the trip. There were at least two of them and they were within photographic range. But then I realized that the reason they were staying in one location was a tangled (and trashed) fishing lure rather than a fish (you can see it (light green) and the line that evidently snagged it to the rocky bottom in the middle picture below).

There were a few gulls about. I tried taking pictures of them as they landed or flew up from the water. The one with the orange spot on the bill is a Herring Gull. The other one could be a Ring-billed Gull since the beak looks like it has black instead of orange toward the end.

There were two Canadian Geese in the shallows on the other side of the dam abutment – almost out of camera range.

The same was true for a flock of pigeons. They usual are on the dam structure but they must have been startled by something because a large number left the dam at the same time and moved to the rocks.

On a botanical note – the Princess tree buds still look the same as they did last time we were at Conowingo. The buds on the tulip poplars (at the end of the twigs) seem to be getting larger.

On the way home, I took a picture of the mounds of salt along I-95 near the tunnel (through a dirty window). Generally the salt piles are significantly reduced by this time of year….but not this season. I wonder what will happen to it since the salt storage buildings are probably already full.

A Morning Tea at the Belmont Carriage House

The Howard County Conservancy held their annual Volunteer Tea yesterday at the Belmont Carriage House in Elkridge, MD.

I packed up two books to swap, some Zentangle tiles to give away as book marks, and Dark Chocolate Pudding (made with an avocado, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla) as a sweet indulgence among the scones and egg salad sandwiches. I have a picture of one table at the set up….and then about half way through. There was a lot of friendly conversation and enjoyment of food. I intended to come home with fewer books that I took…but there were so many books (many people brought more than 2!) that I came home with three…and have already read the one about Montezuma Castle (I got it because I enjoyed walking around the place during an Arizona visit – see the post here).

On the short walk back to my car, I took a picture of the barn built from stone found in the area; it could be used for a geology lecture!

I’d forgotten about the crocus bulbs that seem to have planted in the lawn around Belmont. They’ll done by the time the grounds need to be mowed.

The front of the Manor House still seems too open without the large English Elm that had to be removed because of Dutch Elm disease.

I’m still savoring the look of my new car (the red Prius Prime!).

Skunk Cabbage in February

I lead a hike yesterday at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm – a skunk cabbage swamp stomp. I finally managed to photograph the spadix (round, ovoid, bearing true flowers) inside the spathe (flesh hood, wine or brown with vertical speckled brown or green).

After the first two pictures, one of the younger hikers held a small flashlight for me….it’s much easier to see the flowers on the spadix with the extra light.

I’ve created a slide show with the rest of the photos. There were a lot of skunk cabbage to see – multiple spadix in clumps, tightly coiled leaves with split purple or brown coverings, a few plants so close to the stream that the water carried the soil away from their roots, some sprouting withing the stream, others camouflaged in the grassy remains of last summer’s vegetation, and mud everywhere! Skunk cabbage like it wet.

When I was putting together slides to introduce the plant to hikers, I realized that I had pictures of blooming skunk cabbage from January,

March,

And April.

Now I can add February to my collection!

A Warm February Afternoon

The historical average temperature for February where we live in Maryland is 46 degrees (Fahrenheit); yesterday it was in the 60s and sunny. And the day before it reached 70. Not a normal February at all so far! I’d enjoy at least one good snow this winter!

I used the warm afternoon to clean out the bird bath and fill it with fresh water - and to photograph the Christmas Ferns that grow under our deck. They look scraggly this time of year but the stocking shape of the pinnae (the leafy segments along the stalk) are still evident. I bought them a few years ago, since they are very tolerant of shade and deer don’t eat them. They have survived well enough but they haven’t propagated themselves yet either.

On the way back up the stairs to the deck, I noticed that some of the stair risers were very green. They are in the shade for at least half the day and the wood must be damp enough to support the growth of photosynthetic microorganisms.

Conowingo – February 2017

We picked a cold sunny day to trek to Conowingo Fisherman’s Park last week. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to bundle up: ski bibs and footwarmers inside hiking boots. When we got to the park we added a balaclava, hat, coat, and handwarmers inside gloves. The extra layers of warmth kept use reasonably comfortable. My nose got cold because I couldn’t pull the balaclava up over it without my glasses fogging up. The first think I noticed was that weren’t many birds about. There were icicles on the railing. The churning water creates just enough spray for them to form on the section closest to the dam.

I walked back toward the entrance to see the buds of the Paulownia that grows on the cliff side of the park. They are brown and velvety already. They are an invasive species in our area but this one does not seem to be propagating itself.

The gulls that were so plentiful last time were scarce…but the black vultures were around. They seem to like the view from the top of the dam.

There were very few eagles about (we’re spoiled because there are often so many of them). My husband got a few ‘in flight’ pictures. I decided to just watch the birds rather than trying to follow their flight with my camera.

As we were leaving there was an eagle in a tulip poplar tree on the cliff side. Its feathers were fluffed against the cold. He kept looking toward the river…and eventually flew off in that direction.