Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu

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James Edward Quibbell’s book Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu was published in 1908 and is available on Internet Archive. Yuaa and Thuiu (Yuya and Thuya on Wikipedia) were ancient Egyptian courtiers…parents of Queen Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III. The tomb was discovered in 1905 and was the best-preserved tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings before that of Tutankhamun, their great-grandson. Both probably died in their early to mid-50s. Their mummies were largely intact, and the pictures of the faces show the sophistication of the mummification process in preserving the facial features.

Quibbell’s book includes many photographs of the contents of the tomb. He documented the find with many photographs very quickly after the initial discovery just as Carter would later do for the Tut tomb. Certainly, these finds and the documentation of them initially and over the years since, has increased the interest in ancient Egypt.

The initial publications may not be a starting point for learning about these finds now that there are books with color photographs of the artifacts, but they do provide insight from the historical perspective of the men that made the discoveries…and how much they learned from the excavation and first look at the artifacts. They are well worth browsing!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 18, 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.

Archaeologists Uncover Hundreds of Colorful Sarcophagi at Saqqara—and They’re Not Done Yet – The seeming endless interest in Egypt…sustained by continuing new finds.

8 cool wild cats you probably don’t know – So many wild cat variations!

Fjords emit as much methane as all the deep oceans globally – When storms churn up water in fjords….oxygenating the fjord floor…methane emissions spike. If the water mixed more frequently the methane emissions would drop because anoxic environments at the bottom of fjords would disappear.

Tree rings are evidence of megadrought – and our doom – Tree ring data indicates that the 22-year period from 2000 through 2021 was the driest and hottest in the last 1,2000 years for the North American Southwest. There was another 22-year drought from 1571-1592 that was nearly as dry but not as hot as the current drought. And the water distribution allocations were made based on a 22-year period between 1900 and 1921 that we now know was an anomalously wet period for area! Not good signs for the future.

A 3400-year-old city emerges from the Tigris River – Drought lowered the Mosul reservoir. There was a quick survey…discovery ceramic vessels with 100 cuneiform tablets…and the conservation measures to project the site as the water rose again. The site is now completely submerged.

Fifty years later, Kim Phuc Phan Thi is more than ‘Napalm Girl’ – One of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam war…still makes be as emotional now as the first time I saw it. She says – To confront violence head-on…’the first step is to look at it.’

Two articles about the flooding in Yellowstone: Repairing and reopening Yellowstone National Park won’t be easy and Extreme flooding devastates Yellowstone, forcing the closure of all park entrances – Very sad….also scary.

Wildlife bedtime: weird nesting habits of North American wildlife – Black bears, black-footed ferrets, jumping spiders, bald-faced hornets, and red-sided garter snakes.

How Vivian Maier, the Enigmatic Nanny Who Took 150,000 Photographs, Found Her Place in History – Street photographer…that only became known after a storage locker of her photographs/negatives was auctioned off when she couldn’t make the payments on it.

Zapping orange peel oil into new, pleasant aroma compounds – I’ve always liked the smell and taste of orange peel (I buy organic oranges and use the whole orange!) but evidently the compound that is in orange peel, limonene, can be the starting platform for other scents as well.

Howard Carter’s The tomb of Tut'Ankh'Amen

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The 1923 book published by the Howard Carter after his discovery of the intact tomb in November 1922 focused on the search, discovery, and clearing of the antechamber…and is available from Internet Archive: The tomb of Tut'Ankh'Amen. I’ve selected several photos from the book. It is interesting to see the jumble of items packed into the tomb shortly after it was opened.

There are two other volumes published in 1927 (burial chamber and mummy) and 1933 (treasury and annex) according to the Wikipedia entry for Carter. Hopefully they will become available as the copyright expires.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 28, 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.

Major infrared breakthrough could lead to solar power at night – A very small amount of energy was produced in the test…more research required for practical application.

Restoration Reveals Engravings in Egypt’s Temple of Esna – Follow the link at the top of the post to see a few more pictures of the restored engravings.

What we are still learning about how trees grow – A new study finds that tree growth is limited by cell growth rather than photosynthesis which has been assumed to be the limiting factor previously. The models that predict how much carbon forests can absorb need to be updated.

Spring Flowers are Blooming Earlier in Greater Yellowstone – The recovery of detailed records made in the 1970s by Frank Craighead of when flowers bloomed is helping document changes…help restoration planners determine the best seed mixes for native plants…try to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Cutting air pollution emissions would save 50,000 US lives, $600 billion each year – Yet another reason to take actions to dramatically reduce air pollution.

Traces of an ancient watery world in Capital Reef – Satellite views of Capitol Reef National Park…and the story in the rocks.

Prehistoric feces reveal parasites from feasting at Stonehenge – A piece of trivia: beef and pork were spit-roasted or boiled in clay pots but the evidence of particular parasites in coprolites reveals that liver and lungs from an infected animal were consumed raw or undercooked.

Vangelis, famed film composer and synth pioneer, dead at 79 – I remember going to see Chariots of Fire when it first came out in the early ‘80s….and the unforgettable music. This obituary post includes a link to a YouTube video with the music.

How cranberries could improve memory and ward off dementia – I like cranberries…but eating a cup (equivalent) per day is a lot. In the study they used cranberry powder.

More heat, more drought: New analyses offer grim outlook for the US west – The latest seasonal outlook projects the drought to continue across virtually the entire American west through the summer. New research suggests that Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming will increasingly look like the Southwest as temperatures continue to rise.

Egyptian Mummies

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Sir Grafton Elliott Smith’s Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire N° 61051-61100 The Royal Mummies was published in 1912 and reflects the knowledge/assumptions from that time. I had never seen so many photographs of mummies presented in one book! Some of the mummies were very damaged – by looters or deliberate desecration in antiquity, poor quality of embalming, ravages of time, or damage occurring when the wrappings were removed. It’s awe inspiring to see remains that are so old…yet realize that they still are recognizably human. I selected 4 sample images from the book that is available on Internet Archive…enjoy more by following the link to the book directly.

Ancient Egypt has been a topic that has held my interest since my elementary school years – part of my first exposure to world history. So much has been explored and published…and yet there are still new finds in the country; I always scan the article that show up in my news feeds about ancient Egypt. This older publication demonstrated to me that there are nuggets in the documents that are over 100 years old!

Bani Hasan Part IV from the Egypt Exploration Fund

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Bani Hasan Part IV was published in 1893 by the Egypt Exploration Fund. It is a small volume (82 pages) available on Internet Archive as are some of the other volumes in the series…but this one was my favorite. It includes ancient Egyptian depictions of birds and animals as well as activities of daily life. I’ve selected 4 sample images from the volume.

I learned from the Wikipedia entry that:

  • Beni Hasan is an ancient Egyptian cemetery that spans the 21st and 17th centuries BCE…primarily the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The tombs are famous for the quality of their paintings.

  • Howard Carter (famous for discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb) spent a season there in 1891 as a teenager – producing watercolors of the tomb paintings. (He is listed on the title page of this book along with others.)

  • The paintings are now in poor condition.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 11, 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: Shorebirds! – Always lots to see looking at birds!

Everglades' Wading Birds Had Mixed Success In 2020 – Overall wading bird nesting in South Florida has increased…but is still a fraction of the target. In 2020, an early arriving rainy season impacted the availably of food for chicks.

De-cluttering may not help people with dementia – People with moderate dementia perform better surrounded by their ‘usual’ clutter!

U.S. Is World’s Top Generator of Plastic Waste – Not surprising. And the US should take the lead in figuring out what to do about it: how to produce less and recycle more.

A Mosaic From Caligula’s ‘Pleasure Boat’ Spent 45 Years as a Coffee Table in NYC – Still a lot of mystery about how the mosaic got from its recovery when Lake Nemi was drained by Mussolini and then becoming the top of a coffee table for 45 years. It was seized in 2017 and returned to the Italian government.

Roadrunner: Meet the Real Bird Behind the Cartoon – I can remember seeing one a little north of where my parents live now (north of Dallas) in the 1980s…but they are probably long gone from that area now. I’ve seen them in west Texas more recently; one was at a rest stop between San Antonio and Laredo. They always seem to thrive in relatively harsh environments.

The bustling hidden world of hedgerows – The closest we come in North America to hedgerows are fencerows or windbreaks….and even those have been reduced over the years. Near where I live the advent of glyphosate/Roundup ready crops has eliminated the herbaceous growth along the edges of fields which in the past included milkweed and other plants that were attractive to butterflies and other small animals.

Master Artisans Fixed Mistakes Made by Apprentices at Ancient Egyptian Temple – I enjoyed the 6 minute video in this post…it’s quiet enough to hear the birds in the ruins.

Managing water resources in a low-to-no-snow future – We need to be thinking of adaptations to this manifestation of climate change now rather than waiting since the solutions will be challenging….take time to design and construct.

Old-fashioned rice custard – I have a container of rice from some Chinese takeout…..and plan to make this rice custard. I am anticipating that it will be yummy (and high protein too).

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 4, 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: Predatory Birds – Starting out the gleanings list this week with birds…and photography.

The ingenious living bridges of India – Maybe other kinds of structures could be grown instead of built. The bridges look like Ewok structures from Star Wars movies!

Watch Over 150 Bison Weave Through Traffic in Yellowstone as Winter Migration Begins – I remember bison on the roadway during the early summer we went to South Dakota more than 20 years ago. It is an awesome experience to see them – using the car as a blind.

Chocolate: From Witchcraft to Miracle Worker in Early Modern Europe – A little history of chocolate as it was introduced to Spain.

More than ceremonial, ancient Chaco Canyon was home, new study says – I’ve only visited Chaco Canyon once…want to go again.

Richly Adorned Egyptian Tomb Could Rewrite the History of Mummification – Maybe….there is still testing to be done before the mummy in the tomb is confirmed to be old enough to be the man the tomb was built to hold.

Surprising Tales of Toxic Animals – I enjoyed the historical perspective in the information about several of the animals.

A diet of essential amino acids could keep dementia at bay – I wonder how long it will be before the patent for the supplement is awarded…..and it is released as a supplement. Hopefully there will be testing him humans beforehand.

This New Installation Pulled 20,000 Pounds of Plastic From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – We need to stop producing messes….and clean up the ones we’ve already created. This is one attempt to start a massive cleanup of plastics that are in our oceans.

Bone-loss discovery points to new treatment for osteoporosis – I am glad there is ongoing research on this issue since the existing treatments don’t seem to work that well….often have side effects. Hopefully there will be more effective treatments by the time I might need them.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 29, 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.

How COVID is changing the study of human behavior – Hopefully we are learning something beneficial in the long run from the pandemic….there are also some very depressing aspects of our society that the pandemic has highlighted (that are negative for at least the near term).

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Migration – I am missing the birds I see most during migration times in Maryland this year since I am in Texas.

Kestrel Cam: A Story from Egg to Falcon – Moving from the 25 pictures…to a detailed picture of a small falcon’s life beginning.

Climate change threatens one-third of global food production – We have lots of reasons to make changes…to stop mistreating our planet and let it recover. This is another one.

Saint Petersburg Keeps the Sea at Bay – A big project started in 1979 and operational in 2011…built to withstand a storm surge from the Baltic Sea of 5 meters.

Thirteenth-Century Angkor was home to more people modern Boston – I was surprised….recent studies have shown other ancient population centers were more populous that previously estimated too.

How cities will fossilize – From BBC Future. Thought provoking…using Shanghai Tower as an example to illustrate what could happen.

Flashy plants draw outsize share of scientists’ attention – ‘Aesthetic bias’ when it comes to choices for research (and probably extends beyond plants).

New Monarch butterfly breeding pattern inspires hope – Signs that the monarch butterflies in the western US might be adapting to changing climate. It’s good to see a little positive news about monarchs.

Egyptian Archaeologists Accidently Discovers 250 Ancient, Rock-Cut Tombs – Still new sites to study even in a country that has been intensively studied for many years. This time the tombs are not ‘royal’ – may provide more insight into how ordinary people lived in ancient Egypt.

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!

Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge

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E. A. Wallis Budge worked for the British Museum from 1883 to 1924 and published many books about Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities…many of which are now available online via Internet Archive. I’ve enjoyed browsing through them over the past month or so and have selected some of my favorites to feature with sample images below. I’m always a little surprised at how much was already discovered by the late 1800s/early 1900s….and that there are still new finds in the region every year (when the frequent wars/political upheaval don’t get in the way). Of course – our understanding of these artifacts has increased over time; it’s wise to keep in mind when the books were written/published.  Each book title is a link to the book on Internet Archive. Enjoy

Books on Egypt and Chaldaea

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Gleanings of the Week Ending August 29, 2020

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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.

Ancient Artisans in Arabia, the Americas Invented Same Technology Independently | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Stone fluting… and the fluting is not the same so it may have had a different purpose.

Baby boomers show concerning decline in cognitive functioning: Trend reverses progress over several generations, study finds -- ScienceDaily – The impact of modern life in the long term?

Ramesses II Statue Unearthed in Egypt - Archaeology Magazine – Multiple statues have been found…made of black and pink granite.

Top 25 birds of the week: #Waterbirds – Beautiful birds…not as many from North America as I expected.

Stone Sculptures of ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Characters to Adorn Medieval Church – Replacing weathered carvings. There are 14 limestone carvings that will be displayed at ground level for visitors to see before being installed on the church’s exterior.

On the Delaware, A Promising New Era in Cleanup of an Urban River – Like many urban rivers in the US – a lot of progress has been made since the mid-20th century….but there is still a ways to go. Many of the urban rivers are clean enough in some stretches for recreational use….but often not after storms when sewage systems and extra industrial waste might be in the water along with the storm water.

Are you being served? A short history of waiters and servers in restaurants – Many of us are still in the mode of only getting carry out!

Examining the Chemistry of Yellowstone National Park's Thermal Waters – A little chemistry lesson in this post. Many of the hot springs and geysers are basic…mud pots and steam-driven fumaroles are acidic.

U.S. Commercial Rooftops Hold 145 Gigawatts of Untapped Solar Potential – The big challenge is logistical and financial. It seems that a partnership between commercial properties and community/utility solar would be worthwhile. It would be much better to use commercial rooftops than farmland for solar panels and many of the rooftops are in areas that consume a lot of electricity as well.

Record-Breaking 60,000 Flamingos Flock to Southern France -The picture of an adult flamingo surrounded by babies/juveniles caught my attention. I didn’t know that young flamingos are gray!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Flu shot. I got to my grocery store’s pharmacy just after they opened at 8:30 AM – got a flu shot. The store was busier than when I do my grocery shopping staring around 6:30….but it was still mostly possible to social distance…and everyone was wearing masks. I’ll stick with the earlier time for my grocery shopping.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 1, 2020

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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.

Identifying sources of deadly air pollution in the United States -- ScienceDaily – Focusing on fine particulates associated with heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, and other diseases…about half comes from burning fossil fuels; the other half is from animal agriculture, dust from construction and roads, and burning wood for heating/cooking. Ammonia is one pollutant that is not regulated as much as the others and yet it causes a 5th of all deaths caused by fine particulates. It could be reduced with targeted manure management and improving formulations of cleaning supplies, paints, and inks, etc.

Free Technology for Teachers: 500+ Icebreaker Questions – These could also be used as writing prompts…they are good for a bit of self-exploration…useful even if you are not in as many groups right now.

Aztec Palace and House Built by Hernán Cortés Unearthed in Mexico City | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – History through layers of stone floors.

Biosignatures may reveal a wealth of new data locked inside old fossils -- ScienceDaily – Not DNA…chemical analysis (using non-destructive Raman spectral analysis) of products of degraded proteins, lipids, and sugars in fossils. Results group into 3 types of biosignatures: biomineralization, tissue, and phylogenic.

Infographic: What Social Isolation Can Mean for the Brain | The Scientist Magazine® - I wondered if the brain structural observations were a cause or effect (or neither). Does the observation that people who are lonely have smaller amygdalae because that are isolated or because they were born that way and it wouldn’t matter if there were a lot of people interacting with them…they would always feel lonely/isolated.

Top 25 birds of the week: July 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution – Always beautiful birds.

Innovative Birds Face a Lower Risk of Extinction | The Scientist Magazine® - Birds that are dropping nuts on roads, stealing burning candles to eat the wick, using bread to lure fish, and pecking open sugar packets…..coming up with new behaviors to cope with new aspects of their environment.

A Silk Road Renaissance - Archaeology Magazine – Many more commodities than silk on the ‘silk’ road: jade, glass, spices, metalwork, ceramic….and missionaries. And the Sogdians were the people that made it work from the 5th to 8th centuries. Panjakent, in modern Tajikistan, has been excavated since the 1940s; many murals have been found depicting myths, fables and everyday life of the Sogdians. In 755 a failed Sogdian coup against the Chinese emperor and thereafter incursion of Arabs from their west caused the culture to fade.

New Research Reveals Surprising Origins of Egypt's Hyksos Dynasty | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Based on chemical analysis of skeletons from the Hyksos capital, the dynasty was likely the result of an immigrant uprising rather than a hostile outside invasion!

Weird and Unbelievable Facts About Earwigs – Entomological trivia…always fun.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Blue Jay Behavior.  There was a blue jay on the deck railing making noise….fluttering its wings…making eye contact with 3 or 4 other blue jays around at the time. Those other jays seemed to ignore the ruckus and flew away. Then the bird flew down to the floor of the deck to look for seeds. Maybe it was a fledgling wanting to be fed by the adults…but the adults were forcing the young bird to find its own food? I’m not sure…but I enjoyed witnessing the minute or so of action…whatever it was about. Maybe it was the same jay that tried to get seed from our bird feeder a few days ago (and failed).

Gleanings for Week Ending 6/13/2020

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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.

Why some older adults remember better than others -- ScienceDaily – The article seems to be more about the technology that enables these studies….hints at findings that may eventually be actionable.

The World’s Forests Are Getting Younger and Shorter, Research Finds - Yale E360 – This article is a little confusing. It says that ‘climate change is altering the age and structure of the world’s forests’….but it’s more than climate change. It’s also land use decisions (like logging , conversion to agriculture, introduction of invasive species) that have changed the forests. I was disappointed in the article although the last sentence seems obvious: “We as a human society are hitting these forests so rapidly with so many different changes that they can’t keep up.” Now the big question is – what are we going to do about it?

Remains of 60 Mammoths Discovered in Mexico | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – North of Mexico City.

Photographer Captures ISS Transiting the Sun in First Solar Photo Shoot – A challenge…requiring lots of planning, practice….and then success!

Top 25 birds of the week: LBBs - Wild Bird Revolution – Little brown birds…. they are everywhere.

Ancient Roman Mosaic Floor Unearthed Beneath Italian Vineyard | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Finally returning to a site first discovered in 1922 and making this find within a week of starting excavations. The mosaic floor is well preserved a few meters below the vineyards surface and is thought to date from the 3rd century AD.

The Infant Gut Microbiome and Probiotics that Work | The Scientist Magazine®  - Evidently the infant microbiome has changed in the past 100 years…even among breastfed babies. And maybe that explains some of the immunologic problems in young children. There are indications that the probiotic helps babies nutritionally and immunologically.

Two bacteria allow spittlebugs to thrive on low-nutrient meals -- ScienceDaily – One of the bacteria uses aerobic glycolysis to process glucose to synthesize 7 essential amino acids plus 2 biproducts that the other bacteria uses to create ATP to produce 3 additional essential amino acids. It’s a similar two cell type process used by cancer cells.

An Encounter with Mating Gopher Snakes – Springtime out in nature…. this article from Idaho.

The gilded mummy of Lady Isaious | Egypt at the Manchester Museum – A Graeco-Roman Period mummy from the 1st century CE.

Unique activities for yesterday:

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A large Zentangle tile. I printed a page (on card stock) from The genera of the plants of the United States illustrated by figures and analyses from nature by Asa Gray and Isaac Sprague published in 1848 available from Internet Archive.

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Then I used the lotus as the ‘string’ for an 8.5x11 Zentangle tile. Like most strings….it mostly vanished. It took me about three days working for short periods of time to finish. Next time I’ll use more colors so that the botanical print ‘string’ remains more visible.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Venturing Out and Weekly Gleanings

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

A Zentangle Prompt

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Inspiration for a pattern can come from our environment. Sometimes creating a pattern is relatively straightforward. The prompt for today is to create your own pattern based on the picture of tiles to the right. Hint: start with a grid of squares. Use your pattern in a tile. Other patterns in the tile are tangler’s choice (i.e. whatever you want).

Here are some tiles I made based on yesterdays prompt: Make a tile using the gingo pattern.

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It is one of my favorite patterns for mono-tangle tiles.

Venturing away from Home

I went to Howard Country Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant to record a Facebook Live Zentangle session. It was the first time I had driven my car in May! It was also my first volunteer gig since early March – and a good experience – but I realized how out of practice I have become with getting out and about. There was a ‘newness’ to my car even though I’ve had it for a few years. Mt Pleasant is a place I know very well but hadn’t been there since January; it felt unfamiliar.

I was glad the flip chart pad and gallery board were wrapped in plastic trash bags because it was raining heavily when I got there. It took two trips to get into the building and I was glad I had worn a windbreaker and waterproof boots.

The mask that I wore during set up did not stay in place as well as I wanted. I need more experience with securing it and being certain that I can breathe well enough through the layers of fabric. It’s a good ‘lesson learned’ before I venture out to try doing my own grocery shopping in June.

The materials I had prepared ahead of time worked well…minimizing the amount I had to create while I was talking.

The Facebook Live session lasted about 20 minutes and made a three-part tile using TIPPLE, CRESCENT MOON, and either MEER or POKEROOT. I missed not being able to create a mosaic of the student tiles at the end. Here are tiles I made with the patterns after the session.

I’m not sure how any of my volunteer gigs will be possible anytime soon but I’ll probably do some hiking at Mt. Pleasant…on a sunny day…another small ‘venturing away from home.’

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

Gleanings of the Week

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.

Soak in the Details of the Moon with this High-Definition Photo – A backyard astrophotographer with a lot patience.

Record conservation study of Tutankhamun's tomb solves mystery and raises new questions – Teasing out more history from a much-studied place.

Top 25 birds of the week: Bright Colours - Wild Bird Revolution – It’s a gray rainy day as I write this….I am appreciating the colors!

New Thoughts on Turkey’s Oldest Temple Complex - Archaeology Magazine – Gobekli Tepe…built by hunter gatherers over 11,000 years ago….requiring hundreds of people to construct. I first learned about it in a Coursera course a few years ago.

NASA's ICESat-2 measures Arctic Ocean's sea ice thickness, snow cover -- ScienceDaily – ICESAT-2 was launched in September 2018; I learned about it during visits to NASA Goddard during my HoLLIE class in spring 2018. It’s good to get an update on it now.

The ingredients for a longer life - BBC Future – Study of populations where many live to 100…focusing on eating habits, social connection, a few cups of tea or coffee, sweet potato and bittersweet melons, landscape…and moderation.

Saving energy and lives: How a solar chimney can boost fire safety -- ScienceDaily – If a building has a solar chimney, it will suck smoke out of a building during a fire…giving people more time to escape!

Risks of Clutter, Tips for Decluttering Your Home | Berkeley Wellness – I had intended to spend some of the ‘stay at home as much as possible’ time de-cluttering. But I moved on to other projects. Now I am returning to the idea just as I am beginning to tentatively venture out. The clutter in my house is not enough to make it unsafe…but I do have a lot of stuff that I no longer need.

Tracing the human genetic history: Every tooth tells a different story – Another data point for forensics when DNA is not available. Teeth often survive for longer than other parts of the body.

New evidence of watery plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa - GeoSpace - AGU Blogosphere – I’m missing Charles Cockell’s Life in the Universe Pandemic Series. This article is about new analysis of data collected by the Galileo mission flyby of Europa in 2000.  The ESA Juice mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2022, will study the potential habitability and underground oceans of three of Jupiter’s moons: Ganymede, Calisto, and Europa.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Zentangle Gallery Board, Friendly Downy Woodpecker, Abu Simbel, Iris, and Puzzles

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Visit from a Downy Woodpecker. Just before 8 AM I was sitting beside the window in my office and suddenly a downy woodpecker flew to the screen and made noises like it was trying to tell me something. It flew back to the maple. About an hour later it happened again! This is a bird that comes frequently to our feeder. I’m wondering if she is a little frazzled with nestlings right now.

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Making a Zentangle gallery board. I’m prepping for a program I will be delivering soon…wanted something that I could easily use to show many tiles and patterns quickly. The session is short, so I need to make every minute count!

Pictures of when Abu Simbel was moved -  Life Magazine December 1966. I remember being fascinated with Ancient Egyptian history beginning in 1965…so I imagine I was interested in this article from 1966 although I don’t remember it. The pictures are dramatic even by today’s standards.

Replenishing the puzzle supply for my parents. My almost-90 year old parents are about to run out of puzzles. They enjoyed them pre-pandemic but have gone through their supply faster for the past couple of months and can’t get out to shop for puzzles right now. Most of the puzzles they had were 2nd (or 3rd or…) hand so I got a little sticker shock looking at new ones and then discovered that lots of people are buying more puzzles than usual. I ordered 4 from Walmart am at looking at more now (trying to figure out an effective way of finding out which ones they’ve already done). In January I had planned to travel a week of every month to be with my parents, but the pandemic put a stop to that after one trip…so I’m ordering puzzles to fill parts of their days.

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More iris stalks in my office. I am composting the old iris stalks in the garden and cut two more to bring indoors. There is still one left outside. These two stalks seem to have larger flowers. They were growing in a different location and may be happier there than in the front flower bed irises. I have discovered that I enjoy having flowers from my flower beds/garden in my office.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – Part 2

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Continuing the highlights from our visit to the Virginial Museum of Fine Arts….

The Ancient gallery is dedicated to Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan art. I was glad the museum permits (non-flash) photography because there were lots of Zentangle prompts in the pots. Thinking about how old some of them are…how amazing it is that they survived…that they still appeal to us now. Some of them appeared to be more functional objects than art but may those pieces tell us more about the lives of long-ago peoples that things intended only for display or another special purpose.

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I’d never seen an Egyptian bust that was intentionally made from a rock with a vein of another color across the face. It is quite striking and was the ‘style’ for a short period of Egyptian history.

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In the East Asian gallery, there was black screen with botanical images. It did not look as impressive until I zoomed with the camera and made out the detail of the images.

Other items from the East Asian gallery provided a diversity of styles and materials. The small bowl is made from agate.

Back for a last look as some pieces from the Ancient gallery….gold piece from a crown, more pottery, jewelry and two small friezes.

For a short walk around, we saw a lot of interesting (and beautiful) things!