Coming Home from Texas

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The morning I left Texas, I was up early to treat my bug bites and the sensitive skin left from my round of hives. The bites were my main concern…lots of calamine lotion on them to stave off itching. I did the last bit of loading into the car; my parents woke up a little early to see me off. It was dark when I set out. There was about an hour when the sun was in my eyes after the sun came up, but the weather was crisp and clear - great for driving.

I stopped at a Pilot for a rest stop in Texas (and to get my morning caffeine). The upper part of the wall was decorated with ‘Texas tourist art’.

The part of my route in Arkansas was easy…just a little construction around the cities but didn’t slow me down.

The last rest stop in Arkansas had a tree with a fresh wound…a big branch must have come off recently. .

I crossed the Mississippi into Tennessee at Memphis heading toward Nashville. The drive was easy enough that I talked with my daughter on the phone (through my car) - noticing areas of recently downed trees along the highway and a kettle of birds (I think they were pelicans…certainly were not vultures…at 70 mph I didn’t take my eyes off the road for better identification).

I turned north at Nashville toward Bowling Green, KY which would be my stop for the first night. Overall – I made it to Bowling Green 20 minutes earlier than my car’s projected ETA first thing in the morning! It was a long day of trouble-free driving.

The next morning, I got up even earlier since I was trying to get myself back to east coast time. It was dark when I set out again even though I was on the eastern side of the central time zone. The driving was easy at first. It was a weekday but I managed to miss rush hours in the few cities along the way.

By late morning I was in West Virginia and enjoying the scenery….shortly after a long highway construction/special closure caused a 30 minute delay but the weather was good and the rest stops along the highway were frequent.

After a rest stop that included buying gas as I got close western Maryland – I got a rude surprise: snow and wind. I didn’t stop at the first rest stop in Maryland. It was white knuckle driving by then and continued for about an hour through Garrett and most of Allegany Counties. I was lucky that I68 did not have much traffic and few trucks. Everyone slowed. And we all made it through to Sidling Hill where it was cold but not snowing at all! My car was covered with salt, grit…and melting ice.

The sensor in my windshield gave an error that cleared after I use the wiper fluid/wipers so the adaptive cruise control functioned through it all. By the time I got home I had calmed down a little from the stress from that hour of hard driving. The exhaustion from the two days of driving (or maybe more the last afternoon) set in the next day. I took a long nap!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 19, 2022

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

Can cloud seeding help quench thirst of the US West? – New research on an old idea…many states increase their use of the technology.

Fresh water from thin air – Another technology that might help dry regions….using hydrogels (like the ones currently used in diapers!).

What’s The Construction Industry Blueprint to Cut Carbon? – I wanted more specific examples…was a little disappointed that this article did not provide them, but maybe that would have made it a long article! I hope to see more on this topic.

Higher education must reinvent itself to meet the needs of the world today. Enter the distributed university – The pandemic has highlighted the challenges the current higher education model is facing. The ideas in this post are a start but don’t seem to be fully developed to push into full implementation. More work needs to be done to enable transition from the existing model to a new one that is more responsive to the needs not only of undergraduate students but for graduate students and continuing education. The sources of money in the current model don’t match up well. For example – in the US the sports programs (football) is a big money maker for many universities; how does that map into the new model (or do we want it to).

Upcycling plastic waste into more valuable materials could make recycling pay for itself – Hope this research can be transitioned into commercial use….we have to improve the recycling processes that are being used today. Too much is still ending up in landfills.

Fossil pollen reveals the African origins of Asia’s tropical forest – Research on Borneo’s Dipterocarps (very large trees with buttress roots, smooth/straight trunks, high crown) using fossil pollen reveals their origins in Africa…spread through India before it crashed into Asia…and then to Southeast Asia. The forests in India shrank as the climate became drier. These trees need a wet, seasonal climate to survive.

Mummification in Europe may be older than previously known – Analysis of bodies found in Mesolithic shell middens in Portugal reveal that they were probably mummified before being placed there 8,000 years ago. The description of the way the researchers came to that conclusion was interesting…a lot has been learned about forensics since the 1960s when the bodies were originally found. The oldest intentional mummification known before this finding was from the Chinchorro hunter-gatherers living in the coastal region of the Atacama Desert in shell middens (around 7,000 years old).

Lake Powell Reaches Lowest Level Since 1980s – The drought continuing in the west….

The myths and realities of modern friendship – Thought provoking. The ways we communicate with each have changed a lot over my lifetime!

The climate math of home heating electrification – The rationale for moving to heat pump heating/cooling as quickly as possible.

Brookside Gardens Macro – March 2022 (1)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 26, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thinking about our previous houses…and the next one

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Big trees (like my second and fourth house)

  • Window over the sink (like all four houses)

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • High speed internet (like current house)

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

  • Being able to do astronomy from the backyard

  • Roof aligned and unshaded enough for solar panels

  • Within a 30 minute or less drive from our daughter

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

A Winter Hike at Mt. Pleasant (1)

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Last week I hiked at Howard Country Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant on a sunny, cold morning with snow still on the ground in many places. The group I was with started out beside the Community Garden then then took the path toward Hodge Podge Lodge. Since I was with a group….I only had time for short stops for photography.

I stopped on the bridge just after Hodge Podge Lodge to take some pictures of ice crystals at the edge of the frozen stream.

A little further along – it seemed like there was more snow on the ground and I turned back to photograph Hodge Podge Lodge on the other side of the stream and through the trees.

One of the plants I always look for this time of year is skunk cabbage. They were not as visible as in most recent mid-Februarys because we’ve been having some colder days recently. There were a visible and I’m sure there were more if I’d had time to look more thoroughly. I’ll go again to spend more time…try to photograph one that is blooming.  

It’s easy to see irregularities in bark and hollows in the winter. I wondered if this tree was still alive…will remember look in the spring to see if it turns green with the rest of the forest.

There were several logs with turkey tail (shelf fungus) on them…and there was snow caught in the turkey tails.

Someone had left a handprint (no thumb) in the snow on one of the trailside benches.

We hiked to the champion Tulip Poplar at the edge of the Mt. Pleasant property. There is a housing development happening on the other side of the property line that may be problematic for the tree.

I took pictures of the bark – lots of holes and old wounds – and a large hollow (evidently black vultures have been seen entering/leaving the hole!).

I’ll post more tomorrow with  macro photography I did after the hike – back at the nature center.

eBotanical Prints – January 2022

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20 botanical print books browsed in January and added to the list. The month started with two flower books and one about forests in Japan. Then I found Peter Henderson’s handbook and years of catalogs from his seed business. The catalogs intrigued me. How many of the varieties of celery and melons and peppers and tomatoes…berries and flowers are still available? Some of these varieties would be considered heirloom now and prized because the seeds are suitable to save and grow in next year’s garden. I still have more of the old catalogs to browse in February; it’s a good time to be thinking about a garden.

The whole list of 2,309 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the January 2022 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

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

The Flower-Finder * Walton, George Lincoln * sample image * 1914

Flowers Shown to Children * Kelman, Janet Harvey; Smith, C.E. * sample image * 1910

Forest Flora of Japan * Sargent, Charles Sprague * sample image * 1894

Henderson's Handbook of plants and general horticulture * Henderson, Peter * sample image * 1890

Everything for the garden, 1925 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1925

Everything for the garden, 1899 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1899

Everything for the garden, 1937 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1937

Everything for the garden, 1933 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1933

Everything for the garden, 1946 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1946

Everything for the garden, 1901 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1901

Everything for the garden, 1902 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1902

Everything for the garden, 1904 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1904

Everything for the garden, 1905 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1905

Everything for the garden, 1906 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1906

Everything for the garden, 1908 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1908

Everything for the garden, 1910 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1910

Everything for the garden, 1913 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1913

Everything for the garden, 1916 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1916

Everything for the garden, 1919 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1919

Everything for the garden, 1922 * Peter Henderson & Co * sample image * 1922

Country Life (magazine) Christmas

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Back in August and September, I was browsing through volumes of Country Life magazines on Internet Archive and collected Christmas/winter images from the first half of the 1900s. It occurred to me that none of the images fit into what my grandparents or parents would have experienced in those decades; they lived in rural or small town areas in Oklahoma and Texas….not where there were deep drifts of snow every winter…and their houses would have been much smaller and single story dwellings. It’s interesting how the images still evoke the idealized version of Christmas and winter. Enjoy!

Country Life V51 (1926 - 1927)

Fall in Springfield, MO

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I arrived in Springfield when the squirrels were eating the jack-o-lanterns

And many trees had just dropped their leaves. At my daughter’s house, the maple and oak leaves collected in drifts on the driveway/patio, a mixture of leaves were staying where they fell on the grass (needing to be raked or mowed soon), and redbud leaves lined the stone walk at the side of the house.

We spent an hour vacuuming up leaves on the hard surfaces while I was there and put the shredded leaves in beds around the yard. I’m not sure all the leaves will be so easily dealt with although many can be mowed into the yard.

My favorite plants retaining their leaves were the magnolia (with some pods still holding their red seeds) and the oak leaf hydrangea with its drying flowers and red leaves. I think the oak leaf hydrangea moves to the top of my list for bushes I’d like to plant at my house!

The hosta’s are responding to cool temperatures with a yellowing of their leaves – a last bit of beauty from the plants before winter.

After we were done with our yard work, we cut some of the last Asian hydrangea flowers to take inside…maybe they will retain some of their color as they dry out.

Overall – it was a beautiful day in Springfield before I continued toward home.

20 Months in COVID-19 pandemic

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20 months is a long time for a world crisis to be sustained…but the pandemic is still not over. It does appear that the US has crested the Delta Variant wave and the overall risk level in most areas of the country has declined over the past month. Vaccines and boosters are approved for more people recently too so I got a booster before I left on my road trip.

I am realizing that my cancer diagnosis would have come about 6 months earlier had I not made the decision to delay my annual physical until the vaccines became available and the infections began to decline last summer. I am relieved that the type of cancer I have is not a fast-growing kind; the prognosis is still about the same as it would have been: high probability of successful treatment.  There are probably a lot of people that made similar decisions about their health care during the pandemic and the already strained medical system is now dealing with the backlog of treatment while also addressing the ongoing pandemic.

It was good to be in the rivers again with high school students (volunteer gig for me). I enjoyed it more than ever before both because of the locations and because of the attitudes of the students. They seemed keen to participate…more focused on the field trip…grateful to be back in school. It was easy to be their guide!

There was home maintenance that was not a disconcerting as earlier in the pandemic. The normal checking of our heating system was less stressful…everyone wearing masks. Almost everyone has gotten used to wearing them indoors. We also had a crew trim our trees….for the first time. Our house is ready for winter.

The trip to Longwood was our first since before the pandemic. It was a good day trip for us although I enjoyed the pre-pandemic version more.

And then I felt confident enough to make another road trip to Texas….still in the mode of carrying all my food for the drive with me and only spending one night in a motel (with an air purifier running in the room). I masked up every time I went indoors for rest stops too.

Overall – we’re coping…I hope the trend continues and the pandemic ends at some point although it seems likely that even if it does there will be enough climate changed induced disasters with enough frequency to keep the anxiety levels spiking. And I normally consider myself an optimist (pre-pandemic, at least); maybe I’m not recovering that outlook yet.

Tree Trimming

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One of our ‘get ready for winter’ projects this fall was to get 2 trees trimmed. One of our neighbors made a well-timed comment about their arborist; we got an estimate…and the work was done a few weeks later. They did projects for several of our neighbors on the same day! The tree concerning me the most was a sycamore that shades the west corner of our house – making it much cooler in the summer. The problem was the branches that were brushing the side of the house and the roof (and skylight). I wanted to keep the tree…but not let it damage my house! I took some before and after pictures. The crew did a great job taking off the problematic branches and balancing the tree.

The other tree was our thundercloud plum – purchased about 18 years ago – just before the previous 17-year cicada emergence. It was small enough to cover with netting which protected during that first challenge. It had been damaged in the center by a branch that broke in an ice storm about 10 years ago; the trimming made that hole show more but now all the dead branches are out and the hole will begin to fill in. It will also be much easier to mow around it!

The work only took about an hour since the crew had great equipment (and knew what they were doing). The branches that were cut were shredded into a truck. As I walked around afterward – I photographed fall aspects of our trees. The red maple in our backyard is always the last to turn and drop its leaves; I like that I have longer to enjoy it.

The sycamore has lost a lot of leaves already. Many of them are very large. The Virginia Creeper growing on the trunk is turning red.

The tulip poplars leaves turn yellow but this year they are going from yellow to brown very quickly…often while the leaves are still on the tree. We get the leaves in our yard but the very large trees  are in the forest.

Overall – our fall tree trimming project was an easy success…and now we can focus on not letting the falling leaves build up too much on the grass. My strategy is to mow the leaves into the yard as much as possible rather than expending energy raking!

In the Middle Patuxent River – 1

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Another morning in a local river last week – the Middle Patuxent near King’s Contrivance. There are pathways from the neighborhood streets nearby to connect to the Kings Contrivance Loop that are lined with the big trees of the easement along the river.

A part of the Loop trail parallels the river for a short distance and there is a root supported path down to the river in one spot. The river was more silt than cobbles…more big trees had fallen in from the bank since the last time I was there (pre-pandemic). Still – being in the river is a wonderful outdoor experience every time. There are gentle sounds of the water moving…trees ruffled by little breezes. It was a cloudy day but enough light filtered through the canopy to make patterns on the surface of the water.

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I took some pictures of leaves that had fallen recently and were plastered to the sandy beach near the water. Soon there will be a lot more.

And then the students arrived and it was a flurry of activity while we collected and identified macroinvertebrates…decided that, based on our sample, the water quality was poor but not dead. There were macroinvertebrates in good numbers…but skewed toward species that are tolerant to pollution. Some of the students were surprised at how easy it was to step in water just over the height of their boots! They good naturedly made their way to shore, took boots off one at a time to pour out the water.

And then the time was up - the students headed back to their buses and the river was quiet again. I climbed back up the bank on root ‘steps’….glad that the abundant green on both sides of steep bank was NOT poison ivy!

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 18, 2021

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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.

Young female black bears in Asheville, North Carolina, are big, have cubs early – More research needed…it’s still not known what is causing them to be so much bigger and mature early…or if the population is increasing or not. It is clear that there are quite a few bears and lots of opportunity for interactions between people and bears – many not healthy for the bears.

The alarming risks of mixing common drugs – It is a problem that is acute in most elderly patients with good medical care. Their various doctors have gradually built up the medications…and the regime to take them all appropriately becomes daunting. Hopefully it will become best practice to constantly review and minimize drugs that are prescribed.

Work Of First African American Painter With International Reputation Explored – Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

Hummingbirds can smell their way out of danger – I was thinking a lot about hummingbirds this past week after my success photographing one at Brookside Gardens.

Praying Mantis – I see these more frequently in the fall…but not every fall. There are so many mantis egg cases, there should be plenty to see; I need to improve my observation skills.

How much energy do we need to achieve a decent life for all? – The most important take away from this study: “energy for eradicating poverty does not pose a threat for mitigating climate change.” That is good news

The lost generation of ancient trees – The ancients are dying….and there are not enough trees old enough to replace them. There are various ways being tried to veteranize younger trees so they can play the role of ancient trees in ecosystems.

Fall Armyworms are Attacking Lawns and Crops on an ‘Unprecedented’ Scale – Hmmm…maybe this is a prompt to reduce or eliminate the grassy portion of the yard.

Mammoth Cave National Park: The World's Longest Cave Is Longer Than Before - 8 more miles mapped bringing the total to 420 miles!

Hand pollination of crops is of major importance – I was surprised that hand pollination is already used for important crops like apple, palm oil and cocoa.

Summer Plans

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My theme for this summer is catching up….and consciously maintaining practices that sustained my wellbeing during the pandemic. Being at home right now is such a pleasure: there are mornings cool enough to comfortably work in the yard or go for a hike, there are fabulous seasonal veggies and fruits available from the farmers market…and I am catching up on all the health-related checkups I put off for over a year. My husband organized our house’s heating/cooling system check up, asphalt driveway sealing, and deck re-staining. And I am continuing my high-volume book browsing (Internet Archive is like a candy store for books!), Zentangle making, getting 12,000 steps per day, a bit of yoga, writing down what I am celebrating/thankful for, writing blog posts….days are full…never boring!

Being able to go to Texas to see my aging parents in May was an important milestone…a relief from the time we had to stay at home where I could only see/hear them virtually. I’ve already planned another trip for July and will see more of the family then at a wedding. The big event for my parents after I left was a large mulberry tree being cut down in their yard. It had been ailing for some time and finally the rot around an old spilt was significant enough that the big trunks could crack apart at any time with the potential to damage three houses! My sister sent me a picture midway through the cleanup. I found myself wishing I would have been there for the drama! There is grief for the old tree….but also relief that it didn’t fall and cause a lot of damage.

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Being vaccinated gives me confidence to make the plan to drive to Texas in July and then again in September. I had anticipated that I would be more confident in July that I was back in April just after I was fully vaccinated…but the delta variant has reduced my confidence and I’ll keep wearing a mask when I am not sure everyone I am encountering has been vaccinated. I’ll be making the drive over 3 days with a stop in Springfield MO to visit my daughter where they are having a surge of cases due to the variant. I am glad she got moved to her new house during the lull in cases in late May. She is back to curbside pickup rather than going into any store.

I have opted to not volunteer this summer…waiting until the fall to get back into those activities…but the decision isn’t because of the pandemic.  The type of volunteering I enjoy the most is outdoors; in the summer it tends to be in the hotter part of the day which is sometimes problematic for me; I don’t want to cancel at the last minute because the temperature is too high or the air quality is not good. Toward the end of the summer there will be training for the new fall programs – I’m sure the pandemic has changed them a bit – and then I’ll get back into the fray.

Overall summer 2021 has been enjoyable so far and I am looking forward to the rest of it!

30 years ago – June 1991

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Looking back at June 1991 – it seems that life had a faster pace…almost an unsustainable pace but common in families where the adults work and the child is less than two years old. We had company for 2 weeks out of the month. The first was a visit from a sister that had recently moved into a new house and needed a break for the flurry of that activity; we enjoyed several outings to the park and Ladew Topiary Gardens…discovered that McDonalds was an excellent place for lunch with a 21-month-old.

The second visit was a sister’s family – that included their daughter (a week older than my daughter). We prepared the girls prior to the visit by showing them pictures and videos of each other; it worked…they were immediate buddies. We went to parks and several museums (one was The Cloisters which was a children’s museum then and is now a wedding venue, another was Rose Hill Manor Park & Museums)…read books, splashed in the small pool on hot days, and enjoyed every inch of our house and yard. One was talking more…the other seemed to enjoy more complex books. We all had ‘Maryland is for Crabs’ t-shirts! In the picture below my daughter is hugging a tree along the Cunningham Falls State Park boardwalk – one of the outdoor places that was enjoyable for everyone in our group.

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Being outdoors…doing something with water…was one of my daughter’s favorite activities. We had tomato plants and gladiolus getting ready to bloom in the garden around the oak tree.

A summer cold made the rounds. My daughter had it for a few days…mine lingered and I eventually went to the doctor – got medicine for ear and eye infections.

In world news – children in Iraq were dying of cholera and other water borne disease…the Kuwait fires were slowly being extinguished.

Overall – it was a month full of juggling work with home life. I can’t say that it was a balancing act…it was more of a blending and using every minute optimally…exhausting but rewarding.

By the end of the month, I already had plane tickets to visit Texas in July. My husband would be with us on the flight down then continue to San Diego for a conference…the blending rather than balancing strategy again.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 5, 2021

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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.

Infographic: Animals of Different Species Hybridize | The Scientist Magazine® - Hybrids that fill a new environmental niche.

Britain’s Medieval Population Suffered From Cancer - Archaeology Magazine and Cancer rates in medieval Britain were around ten times higher than previously thought, study suggests | University of Cambridge – The same story from two sources. Cancer rates prior to the modern tumor-inducing chemicals from industry and tobacco were higher than previously thought.

Cities Have Distinct Microbial Signatures: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Samples collected between 2015 and 2017 in transit stations in major cities. More than 4,000 known species…and 14,000 species that had DNA sequences not found in any database!

Top 25 birds of the week: Resident Birds! - Wild Bird Revolution and Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Biodiversity! - Wild Bird Revolution – So many bird pictures! I’m doing a little catching up this week.

The Blooming Mid-Atlantic – Near where I live…places I have been for vacation/birding.

Photography In The National Parks: Seeing The Forest For The Trees – A little lesson in photographing forests and trees and leaves from Rebecca Lawson

Greenland glacial meltwaters rich in mercury -- ScienceDaily – The study looked at nutrients in glacier melt…not expecting to find the high level of mercury. Now there are lots of questions about the potential impact on fishing – Greenland’s primary industry.

The nature reserve with a 500-year plan - BBC Future – Zealandia, an ecosanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand enclosed by a 5.3-mile predatory exclusion fence.

Arizona’s Meteor Crater – Another place I’ve visited… as seen by an instrument on Landsat 8.

Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I think I saw one with a white butt on my first walk around my yard!

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2021

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After being at home in Maryland for over a year, May was spent is 2 different environments – Texas and Missouri. The celebrations this month are like other months…with the change in setting making them unique.

Little blue heron. Seeing a juvenile little blue heron (at Josey Ranch Lake) was unexpected…such a beautiful bird to celebrate.

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Cherry crisp for breakfast. I had intended to make the dessert for a after-the-fact celebration of my Dad’s 90th birthday. Instead we ate it for breakfast (warm and fresh from the oven) with ice cream….with a side of little sausages to the side for protein. Yummy!

Tree trimming. My parents got their trees trimmed prompted by a broken branch that needed to be cut before it fell. The crew did an excellent job and left them the larger branches cut into fireplace lengths to dry for next winter. Plus - there are some even larger pieces that will make excellent stands for pots in my sister’s yard. The city yard refuse truck came and took the first big pile of small branches about mid-way through the trimming and took the rest the next week. We all celebrated that the job was done quickly and was interesting to watch.

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Mother’s Day. I celebrated my mother (that I was visiting) and my own motherhood (with my daughter later in the month). The mother-daughter thread is a precious one.

Shampooing hair. I celebrated when my mother still shampooed her own hair – realizing that as we get older, celebrating what we can still do is healthier than grieving for things we cannot.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Doesn’t everyone celebrate when the cake is flipped…the pan lifted off…and it looks so great on the plate? I made it for a belated birthday for one of my sisters.

Rebuilt swan’s nest. The swans’ nest at Josey Ranch Lake was flooded by a deluge of rain…. they were frantic immediately afterward but quickly rebuilt. I celebrated the resilience of nature.

Getting to Springfield. After driving in mist/rain and road constructions between Carrollton TX and Springfield MO, I celebrated getting to my destination: my daughter and son-in-law’s house they had purchased the day before.

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Pineapple whip. My daughter and I enjoyed the Springfield unique treat on a hot afternoon. I got mine in a cup swirled with blueberry whip. Tasty! A great way to celebrate a break in the moving activity.

Competent movers. The move was only a few blocks….and most of it was done via loads in our cars. The larger furniture was moved by a crew of three. I celebrated that we were able to make the arrangements quickly, that they were on time, worked quickly and competently….and that I didn’t have to help move any of those heavy pieces!

Carrollton TX Yard – Tree Trimming

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Surprise – I opened the blinds one morning and saw a tree branch hanging vertically on the other side of the glass! I went out the front door to get a different perspective of the broken branch….from the front sidewalk and then from the street.

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Fortunately, my parents have a company that has taken care of their trees for years…and the owner could come to assess the situation on the same day. My parents opted to have all their trees trimmed at the same time as the broken branch was removed since the crew could do it the next day and they would leave the larger pieces (cut into shorter lengths) for fireplace wood next winter.

It was a good thing it was lawn waste day for their area since there was a big pile of branches at the curb by mid- morning. A big truck with a claw came and picked up everything (the person at the controls looked like he really enjoyed his job!).

By the end of the day – there was another pile as big as the first (view from the house and then from the street). The whole front yard would have been covered by tree branches if the truck had not picked up the early branch pile.

The 2-person crew worked from 7:30 AM to about 2 PM…a job well done.

After they left, we assessed the piles of wood. Some of them went to the wood rack immediately. Some might be big enough to use as plant stands…adding a layers to a garden area.

Want to count some tree (branch) rings? Use the arrows to move among the three samples. It’s hard to count the ones in the center….but even without those, think about which one might be the oldest branch…which is the youngest?

Texas Sunrise

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I am still up early enough to see the sunrise….in Texas rather than Maryland. My parent’s house has a different sort of view; even though the power lines in their immediate neighborhood are underground, there are some larger power lines not that far away. Another difference this year is the silhouettes that reflect the impact of the very cold week that happened in this area of Texas last winter. The palm in the lower left is brown….maybe it will come out from the base again…or not. The tree on the right has no leaves at all; it is the only tree visible that is still bare. The other trees seem to have survived the cold and are full of leaves - usual spring selves.  

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Gleanings of the Week Ending Saturday May 8, 2021

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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.

Top 25 Birds of the Week: Seedeaters! – Starting out the gleanings list with bird photographs.

Mapping tree inequality: Why many people don’t benefit from tree cover – Trees are an effective way to reduce the heat island effect within cities (i.e. where there are fewer trees it is hotter). Lower income communities tend to have fewer trees…and thus are hotter. As there are more hot days, the impact is becoming greater. There is also a beauty to trees…each one is an island of nature in a sea of concrete and asphalt. Increasing trees in cities and towns is an investment in physical and mental health!

Roman temple at Egyptian Emerald Mine – In the eastern Egyptian desert. The researchers found 19 coins, incense burners, bronze and steatite figurines, bones, terracotta body parts, and amulets.

Return of Brood X Cicadas – This brood emerges in the area where I live in Maryland. I am not there to see it, but I hope my husband can photograph some emerging cicadas. There should be lots of opportunities!

Invasive Jumping Worms Have Spread to 15 States – This species is in the middle of the country. I haven’t seen any yet in Texas, but they are in the state and my daughter might have them in Missouri. Hopefully, there will be a method to control them soon or the landscape of that area of the country could change…they are a small organism with a big impact.

A Retreat to Catoctin – This park is close  (about an hour) from where I live in Maryland. I’ve been there many times….maybe not often enough.

Hopes and Weeping Trees: What’s up with the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker? – Neat rows of holes in tree trunks? There is a sapsucker around. Sometimes hummingbirds will come to get the sap dribbling out of the holes. I am always pleased to discover a tree that has been visited by a sapsucker; I noticed when I was at Mt. Pleasant this spring that the tree that was convenient to a hiking route for school field trips (pre-pandemic) has been cut down so I will hunt for another one to share with hikers.

Trove of 2,000-Year-Old Bronze Mirrors Found in Ancient Chinese Cemetery – 80 mirrors….ranging from 3-9 inches in diameter. There are other artifacts recovered from the same cemetery….maybe more stories to come as the excavations and analysis of finds continues.

Charting ice from above – The Icebird flights….flying low over ice and open water. What if feels like to be part of the crew.

National Parks Traveler Checklist: Padre Island National Sea Shore – My husband and I have been to parts of the Padre Island National Sea Shore for snippets of time. Our plan to visit in 2017 to see more of the park was cancelled after Hurricane Harvey…maybe we should add it to our post-pandemic travel plans!