Gleanings of the Week Ending July 14, 2012

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

Way out in a barren Chilean desert, the biggest telescope ever made is taking shape - Photos from the construction of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array

High-Tech Tools Give Researchers New View Of Yellowstone Thermal Features - Thermal maps of popular areas within the park

Electricity Storage - Wow - there are a lot of new ways out there and the idea of ‘storage’ of electricity implies a more robust infrastructure for reliable power than we have now

12 stats that matter to digital publishing - the number of people reading electronically rather than from paper is growing….and what/how they read is changing too

Heron Cam 2012 Highlights - All 5 have fledged from the Sapsucker Woods nest!

Scientific History and the Lessons for Today's Emerging Ideas -  A look back at what was happening in the 1890-1910 time period…lots of theories…some are threads to current theories, others are on the trash heap

Bridges for Animals - All around the world…this is an idea being tried to reduce road kill on highways

The 10 most pristine places on earth - none are in the US

Yama no sachi - A Japanese book from 1765. Read it on the Internet Archive. Use page down (or up) to browse through the book. It has illustrations of flowers, insects, and animals. My favorites are the peony (at right) and the poppy.

Drought leads to declaration of natural disaster in 26 US states - That’s more than half the states!

Southern Magnolia

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As I made my way through Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee a few weeks ago - I decided to take lots of pictures of Southern Magnolias. They are appealing trees with shiny green leaves and creamy white flowers. Some become very large with enough warmth and moisture. I was frustrated the some did not look healthy…but there were enough that did to make a collage of pictures from bud to flowers to the beginning of the seed pod.

Texas Gardens in June 2012

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trumpet arbor.jpg

A few weeks ago - before and after my time in Tennessee - I was in the Dallas, Texas area visiting family. June is one of the best times for gardens in Texas - before the heat burns or dries out the more delicate vegetation. But don’t be fooled - even the arbor covered with trumpet vine was no substitute for escaping to an air conditioned house after being out for a morning walk! 

How many plants can you identify in the slide slow below? Here’s a quick list of what it includes: 

  • Trumpet vine
  • Lilies (several kinds)
  • Mesquite
  • Canna
  • Hibiscus
  • Sunflowers
  • Amaryllis
  • Onion
  • Pinks
  • Purple peas
  • Beets
  • Squash 

 

Rock Island and Burgess Falls and State Parks - Tennessee

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Continuing my series of posts about my trip to Tennessee several weeks ago - today the focus is on two more state parks: Rock Island and Burgess Falls. Both of these parks are all about water…Center Hill Lake and the falling water around it. Rock Island has falls that come out of a cavern mid-way up a cliff. The road over the dam is closed so it takes some driving around to see the whole park…but is well worth the effort. There is a charming spring house associated with the ruins of a textile mill. Burgess Falls is more water over rocks. Both parks have interesting hikes. The best time to go is probably late spring/early summer or in the fall…not in the heat of summer unless you are going to actually get in the water! Enjoy the slide show below - I’ve marked the pictures by park.

Falls Creek Falls and Cumberland Mountain State Parks - Tennessee

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A few weeks ago when I was in Tennessee - I enjoyed several state parks in the area between Nashville and Knoxville. The first one was Falls Creek Falls which is located near Pikeville, TN. It has shady trails and water falling over rocks and over cliffs. The rhododendrons were blooming when we were there. The trails are well maintained and labeled - but prepare for some up and down hills if you want to see the waterfalls really well. Many trails don’t require a long hike and hikers can take advantage of the water to cool off (wading…some swim) once they make the trek.

Right outside the park was a trading post where I found some great earrings and bracelets at very reasonable prices. It was a spur of the moment stop but it was probably the best shopping of the entire week.

The next day we went to Cumberland Mountain State Park near Crossville, TN. The 7 arch sandstone bridge that was built by the CCC is relatively dry with the lake lowered to rebuild another bridge. We hiked to get several vantage points of the bridge; the quality of the work overall and the drainage structures from the road bed were impressive. The slide show below is from our hike. After enjoying the park we toured one of the houses built as part of the Cumberland Homestead project in the 1930s.

There is a brochure that has a blurb on all the Tennessee state parks that is available at Tennessee rest stops and parks; another good source is the Tennessee State Parks web site.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in July 2012

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I got up early on the 1st to take a walk around our yard. We had been without electricity for about 18 hours and were going to go on our quest for ice shortly. A hot day was forecast but it was comfortable in the morning. The grass was heavy with dew. There were only small branches and leaves strewn across the yard from the storm that caused the electrical outage….no sign nearby of why the power was out since our neighborhood lines are underground. Our young sycamore tree with two trunks was bent over when we first got up yesterday but had righted itself in the past 24 hours.

 

The day lilies blooming last month have spent themselves; there are large buds on some others that should add color later in July.

 

The dahlia bulbs I planted in the spring have buds that are just beginning to open. I need to remember to water them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hydrangea that was just budding last month now has large beautiful pink blooms. I cut some to take into the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have gotten enough rain recently that some large mushrooms have come up next to an oak stump.

Previous Months:

June 2012, May 2012, April 2012, March 2012, January 2012 

10 Years Ago – In July 2002

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Many years ago I started collecting headlines/news blurbs as a way of honing my reading of news. Over the years, the headline collection has been warped by the sources of news I was reading…increasingly online. Reviewing the July 2002 headline gleanings - I forced myself to pick 10.   

 

  1. "Power Nap" Prevents Burnout; Morning Sleep Perfects A Skill
  2. AIDS will claim 70 million by 2022
  3. U.S. millionaire Steve Fossett became the first solo balloonist to circle the globe nonstop
  4. The monuments of ancient Egypt may have stood for thousands of years in the desert sands, but now they face a new threat -- from rising groundwater.
  5. There are approximately 100,000 more wild flowering plants in the world than previously thought
  6. Sesame Street to introduce HIV positive muppet
  7. Weeks into the state's effort to kill every deer in part of southwest Wisconsin to halt an outbreak of chronic wasting disease, wildlife officials still don't know how they're going to dispose of the tens of thousands of carcasses.
  8. Glowing lava set trees afire and oozed into the ocean before dawn Saturday as thousands of spectators braved Kilauea Volcano's scalding spray to witness the spectacle.
  9. Sea temperatures around Australia's Great Barrier Reef reached record highs this year, doing major damage to the world's largest living entity
  10. During excavations last week at a Roman era palace in Butrint, Albania, researchers working in an upper level reception hall found a tiny ivory object dating to 465 AD. They believe it is Europe's oldest known chess piece.

 

As usual - the list is heavily skewed toward science and technology although the two about HIV/AIDS reflect how prominent that topic was in the news 10 years ago this month.

June 2012 Doodles

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The slideshow below is a selection of doodles from June 2012. The theme for my June doodles is dots or points. I got the idea after browsing through the 1978 exhibit book for the Point at the Philadelphia College of Art on the Internet Archive. Enjoy!

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly - June 2012 - Part II

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Continuing the post from yesterday….some other pictures are in today’s post. The blue font below indicates the pieces that are in today’s post.

The Dale Chihuly glass was placed in interesting settings within the gardens. The Blue Icicles (they look like blue yucca or aloes to me) were the first pieces we saw before we even bought our tickets. There was a tower of yellow icicles. The Blue Polyvitro Crystals were installed in a rocky creek - like chunks of blue ice. The Red and Blue Reeds stood in water or at its edges. Some were installed where mist would rise around them or in front of falling water. The Blue Marlins were in the area of rising mists. They somehow reminded me more of great blue herons than marlins. The Dallas Star was in an allee of crepe myrtle. There was glass on boats with balls of glass floating around on the water. Some clear and white glass forms were in a pool mimicking the lotus leaves growing there. There was a fanciful piece with green mirrored glass called Mirrored Hornets. There were towers of reed pieces. Ones I liked the best were the Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers.

Enjoy the second group of pictures below. 

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly - June 2012 - Part I

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The Dallas Arboretum is hosting an exhibit of Dale Chihuly glass through November 5th. I was there earlier this month and thoroughly enjoyed both the arboretum and the glass.

The Dallas Arboretum opened in 1984 and is on the bank of White Rock Lake. We were there when it opened at 9 AM - trying to ‘beat the heat’ of the day. We walked around and saw almost everything by about noon (even making a short tour of the DeGolyer Mansion that is included in the Arboretum).

The Dale Chihuly glass was placed in interesting settings within the gardens. The Blue Icicles (they look like blue yucca or aloes to me) were the first pieces we saw before we even bought our tickets. There was a tower of yellow icicles. The Blue Polyvitro Crystals were installed in a rocky creek - like chunks of blue ice. The Red and Blue Reeds stood in water or at its edges. Some were installed where mist would rise around them or in front of falling water. The Blue Marlins were in the area of rising mists. They somehow reminded me more of herons than marlins. The Dallas Star was in an allee of crepe myrtle. There was glass on boats with balls of glass floating around on the water. Some clear and white glass forms were in a pool mimicking the lotus leaves growing there. There was a fanciful piece with green mirrored glass called Mirrored Hornets. There were towers of reed pieces. Ones I liked the best were the Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers.

Enjoy the first batch of pictures below….there will be more tomorrow. The blue font above indicates the pieces that are in today’s post.

Water Lilies

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I managed to capture a classic water lily picture at Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum - crisp flower and black background. It looked good on the small screen of my camera but even better once I saw it on the larger monitor of my computer. So - enjoy my June 2012 pictures of water lilies from Tennessee and Texas! If you want more - check out the post from last November - Water Lilies at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheekwood’s Howe Garden

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The Howe Garden at Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum in Nashville, TN has been recently renovated so the plantings are just becoming established. There were three things that caught my interest: the rain garden, the botanical images stamped on the gates, and the thatch roof on the cottage.

rain garden.jpg

A rain garden is made to retain water with terrain and plantings. I had read about them but never seen one. The renovation to the Howe Garden included one that can be viewed from both sides of the bridge (the metal silhouettes of the bridge add to the view as well).

The botanical images stamped on the panels of the garden gate were of familiar things - lilies, lady slipper orchids, morning glories, and trilliums…and some I couldn’t name. They were wonderful images for a garden gate.

And last but not least the thatched room of the cottage. It was a thick layer of rushes, tightly layered. The underside, visible from inside the cottage looked just as neat.

Cheekwood Tree Houses

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As promised in a previous post - this post is about the “tree houses” at Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum in Nashville, TN. They are all sized in a way that children can climb up into them and were very popular. There were families and groups of summer-program children all around them so it was good that they were scattered throughout the garden. My favorite is a giant fish that has recycled CDs for scales!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a conch shell, a slide that was built with a ramp and sides with every non-walking or sliding space covered with plants,

 

 

 

 

 

a ship,

 

 

 

 

 

a traditional looking house among the trees , and

 

 

 

 

ball of yarn suspended over a pond (there was a walkway into it just out of the picture).

The excitement these structures evoked from children changed the tenor of the gardens!  It was a high energy place.

Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum

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Cheekwood Garden and Art Museum was my favorite place on a recent trip to Nashville TN. The weather was near perfect and the place was full of other people (young and old) enjoying the place. There was a great-grandfather looking for the Howe Garden with his granddaughter and her two children. Groups of children in look-alike T-shirts were roaming the garden enjoying the tree houses or in art programs. I’ll post more in upcoming days about the Howe Garden and the tree houses…so the pictures below are just an introduction.

The glass bridge (1st two images in the collage below) was in the forest. The dappled sunlight enhanced its appeal. The stream with plantings along each side was lush. The sculpture of a mythical plant (a combination of several) seemed to be what Cheekwood is all about - the blending of art and garden. Finally the owl sculpture was in very bright sunlight and dessert plants. There is something to enjoy at every turn at Cheekwood.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 9, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Animals Benefiting From Climate Change - a slide show from Discovery News

Dark Chocolate Could Prevent Heart Problems in High-Risk People - Evidence keeps mounting re the benefits of 60-70% dark chocolate

Things That Go Bump—or Hoot—in the Night: 5 Animals You May Hear While Camping in Your Yard - pictures and recordings of sounds they make

Discover Life - free on-line tools to identify species, share ways to teach and study nature’s wonders, report findings, build maps, process images, and contribute to and learn from a growing, interactive encyclopedia of life

How much energy does the internet use? - about 2%...quite a bit is by huge data centers and the article discusses the methods used/proposed to reduce their consumption

Brainmail Bonanza - Richard Watson’s (accidental futurist) newsletter highlights

Horseshoe Crab are blue bloods - their blood is copper rather than iron based

'Safe' Levels of Arsenic in Drinking Water Found to Compromise Pregnant/Lactating Mothers, Offspring

Top Wind Power Countries per Capita

After three months of trying to contact the Mars rover, NASA is calling it quits - Goodbye to Spirit

Around our (Maryland) Yard in June

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We have had some hot days and then some rains. Everything is very green so the day lilies are conspicuous with their golden color. They are doing much better this year and last year when the deer nibbled them to the ground.

 

 

 

The dahlia bulbs I planted in the spring are up but not blooming yet. The blazing stars are still just green too. Both will provide some color after the day lilies are done for the year.

 

 

 

 

The mint is back and looking robust enough that I’ll start trimming it to add to iced tea.

 

 

 

 

The hydrangea next to the house has a lot of potential blooms. They’ll probably be a profusion of pink by the end of June.

 

 

 

 

As I walked around I noticed some delicate mushrooms in the newly mowed grass. They must have sprung up since the mowing.   

And finally - the maple is settled into its summer state - lots of green leaves. Some are old enough to already have evidence of munching by insects!

Previous Months: 

May 2012, April 2012, March 2012, January 2012 

Botanical Print Fabrics

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Botanical images come in many forms - books of prints that began their popularity as the printing press and journeys of exploration changed the world, photographs, and views from windows….and fabrics. I recently took a look through my closet and was surprised at how many I found. A slide show of my favorites is shown below. Some are stylized and some are pretty realistic (image 6 is a hibiscus, for example).

Gambrill State Park

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Gambrill State Park is in the Catocin Mountains near Frederick, Maryland and is a pleasant morning trip from where we live. Morning is the key this time of year - before the heat of the day gets too over powering. We were there by about 9 on Memorial Day and it was pleasant but humid...then warm and humid by the time we finished our short hike. We only hiked about a mile through the woods - enough to see some of the highlights of the park at this time of year.

The mountain laurel was in bloom...and the bees were enjoying the nectar.

And then their were ferns - at least three different kinds. They were well past the fiddlehead stage and transforming swaths of forest floor with their floating green. Stumps and fallen trees peek through the fronds in the slide show below.

The mosses grew in cracks of rocks and nearly covered others making them look like green islands in the leaf mulch of the forest. They seemed to not grow so well on the quartz as they did on the other rocks.

There was plenty of evidence of the storm that came through the night before: the muddy trail, small branches with green leaves detached from their tree laying on the trail with water droplets still intact.

The insects were warming up as we got ready to leave; next time we'll try to remember the insect repellent!