Gleanings of the Week Ending December 14, 2013

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.

Hummingbird Metabolism Unique in Burning Glucose, Fructose Equally - It takes a lot of energy for these small birds to live as they do!

The Use of Social Media in School - Infographic. Learn some ways Facebook, Pinterest, Blogger, and Twitter are being used in the classroom.

Estrogen: Not Just Produced by Ovaries - The brain can produce and release estrogen! So what does this mean for the hormone over the course of a lifetime?

Elephant Foster Mom: A Conversation with Daphne Sheldrick - It takes a tremendous amount of effort to raise orphaned elephant babies.

Man Walks All Day to Create Massive Snow Patterns - Art for the season!

Useful Infographic on Picking Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables - Sometimes we are so used to finding things in the grocery store all year round that we forget about the season. Cherries and pomegranates are the ones I notice that are only available during their season but almost everything has a season.

World Builder - This video was referenced in a Coursera course on Digital Culture. It is somewhat futuristic but not too far into the future….and thought provoking about technology, relationships, and cognition.

Supervolcanoes Discovered in Utah: Evidence of Some of the Largest Eruptions in Earth's History - Active 30 million years ago in southern Utah. The remains of supervolcanoes are not high cones; at their hear is a large collapse. The ‘Utah’ in this headline was what first caught my attention; I’m still gleaning items that are near our October vacation!

Incredibly Elaborate Illustrations by Victo Ngai - These illustrations are worth at least 1000 words!

Birth date popularity - An interactive data visualization of US births between 1973 and 1999. Move the cursor over the wheel to find how your birthday ranks. September 16 is ranked 1 (9 months from the end-of-year holiday season).

Butler Wash Ruin - October 2013

Butler Wash Ruin is a short walk through washes and across slickrock to an overlook of the ruin. It was a cool day in early October when we were there. The lower part of the ruin was obscured by trees but the ruins in the cliff face were unobscured. The people that lived here had used every space the cliff provided for storage or housing. The area of the ruins looked like an oasis compared to the mostly rocky area of the mesa top.  Where dirt accumulated on the slickrock, flowers were blooming; there must have been some recent rains and the fall temperatures meant that the moisture did not bake away immediately.

There was a good ‘feel’ to the place. The climate in southeastern Utah would have always been challenging - but this place must have provided a measure of stability for the people that inhabited it. They found what they needed.

La Sal Mountains - Utah - October 2013

It was cold the morning we drove up into the La Sal Mountains in southeastern Utah. The peaks had snow and the edge of the pond was icy.

The grass and seed pods around the pond were coated with thick frost.

But the lower slopes were covered with colors of aspens and pines.

We watched cattle being herded by men on horseback; it was the time of year to move to lower pastures. And over it all - we heard birds (and sometimes saw) birds enjoying the forest before the big freeze of winter.

Valley of the Gods - October 2013

Having enjoyed Monument Valley so much (getting there and rock formations), we decided to try for more views of unusual rock formations in Valley of the Gods. Even the drive to the place  in southeastern Utah was scenic - the highway winding through road cuts as it meandered southward.

Valley of the Gods is a seen from a loop drive (gravel road) through a BLM area. The road was in better shape than the one in Monument Valley! Some of the rock formations are named. Do you see the ‘Seven Sailors’ above? There are certainly seven of them - but I’m not sure about the sailor part. They look too chubby. Maybe 7 toddlers dressed up as sailors?

Some parts of the drive are very sandy rather than rocky. It is quite powdery and throws up plums behind vehicles; our black SUV is dusted with it almost immediately just as it was in Monument Valley.

Sometimes plants manage to hold on long enough to stabilize the sand. The floor of the valley is tenuously covered with vegetation.

There are some rock formations that take on the look of ruins - rocks with layers that take on the appearance of mortar. But these ruins have lasted much long than anything humans have made.

Even the debris from the erosion around the base of a ‘mitten-like’ rock formation has been their long enough to develop its own erosion pattern.

One formation was labeled with two names. We found out it all depends on your perspective. We saw the ‘Lady in a tub’ first (above) and then drove on a little further to see the ‘Balanced Rock’ (below).

Needles Overlook - October 2013

With Canyonlands National Park closed in early October, we enjoyed the view into its Needles District from the Needles Overlook. The wide expanse of rock formations - as far as the eye can see - made the sparse vegetation seem welcome in contrast and I’ve skewed the slide show with photographs I took that included plants.

It is difficult to sense the scale of the vista from pictures. The most deceiving of all is the one that looks like an arch but is really a hole in the rocks (image 12) - barely big enough for a squirrel to run through.

 

Wilson Arch (Utah) - October 2013

With Arches National Park closed with the rest of the government in early October, we stopped by Wilson Arch on US Route 191 south of Moab several times. The first time was in the early afternoon. My husband and father climbed up to rocky slope and discovered that the wind through the hole in the rock was quite brisk. My husband sat down to take his pictures and my dad took a few quick ones and started down. Later in the afternoon we pasted by the arch again so I got the early and late afternoon pictures below on the same day.

A few mornings later, we happened to come by the arch just as the sun was shining through the hole in the rock.

Zooming - October 2013

The ‘zooming’ post for the month has become one of my favorite posts to create. I enjoy selecting the images and getting them clipped perfectly…the arranging them in the post. My picks from my October photographs are below.

September 2013 Zoom

August 2013 Zoom (garden)

Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah - Oct. 2013

Dead Horse Point State Park is south west of Moab UT. The park is on a mesa that looks down into canyons and a gooseneck of the Colorado River. The potash evaporation ponds in the canyon are a vivid blue.

There are some easy hikes that cross cairn marked areas smoothed rock with potholes of water; it had rained recently enough for tadpoles to be swimming in the deepest ones.

The mountains in the distance held snow.

And everywhere the layers of exposed rock marked Earth’s time just as tree rings mark the much shorter duration of the lives of plants.

We were glad we got to the park early since, with the National Parks still closed that day, this state park was the destination of the day for many vacationers.

Enjoy the slide show of Dead Horse Point State Park sights!

Vacation Sunrises…and a Sunset

Catching images of sunrises and sunsets is a typical ‘vacation’ activity. Our recent trip to Utah (and transit of Colorado) was no exception. I was up well before dawn every morning - transitioning to Mountain Time but keeping to my regular morning routine which usually starts between 5:30 and 6 AM; this time of year that means that I am ready for photography before dawn.

The first morning there was a thin bank of clouds to catch the morning color of the dawn in Monticello UT.

The second morning there was snow on the ground and I used the early morning light to capture my favorite tree on the golf course below.

A few days later the clouds gathered at sunset to capture the last color of the day.

And then the sunrise on the last day of vacation from the hotel near the Denver International Airport - full of celebration for the new day and a wonderful vacation.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - October 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for October 2013.

Everything fit into the suitcases. Once the packing is done….the realization that everything needed for a vacation actually fit into the suitcases is worth a celebration.

Utah. Actually this celebration lasted for 8 days. Even though the national parks were closed there was still a lot to enjoy: the aspens in the Abejo Mountains, Edge of Cedars State Park, Monument Valley, Dead Horse Point State Park, Wilson’s Arch, La Sal Mountains, Needles Overlook and Valley of the Gods. Travel expands horizons - in more than just the physical sense - and provides a myriad of opportunities for celebration.

Home again. Much as I enjoy traveling, coming home is always savored.

Rainy day. I’m not sure why - but a rainy day that keeps be indoors after days away from home is just perfect. I celebrated with a good book and hot tea….while moving the loads of laundry from suitcases to baskets to washer to drier.

Caught up with Coursera courses. There were 4 courses that were ongoing while I was in Utah which meant there was a lot of lecture and resource review once I got back. I felt a real sense of accomplishment once I caught up - and celebrated with some dark chocolate.

Hot tea laced with apple cider. Some beverages seem to go with fall. Apple cider is one of them for me. It’s too sweet at full strength so I use it as sweetener for hot tea. It’s another way to celebrate the season.

Out and about. The fall is one of my favorite times to be out and about the local neighborhood. This year the trees seem to reach peak color and then drop their leaves very quickly. I celebrate when I see a tree full of yellows and reds - knowing the vision is a transitory one.

Vicarious celebration. My daughter achieved a milestone in graduate school. The celebration was hers….but I celebrated vicariously.

Cranberry orange relish. This is another fall favorite. I use the recipe from Wegmans with some modification: two oranges instead of one and stevia instead of sugar.

Finding a dental discount plan. My dental insurance expired…but my dentist suggested a discount plan available from the dentalplans.com site....and I had a good checkup too!

Monument Valley - Part I

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is barely on the Arizona side of the Arizona-Utah boarder and the day trip from Monticello UT to Monument Valley was so eventful that I am doing two posts about it. Today the focus is on the road trip down and back; it took just under 2 hours each way. Blanding is the only town of any size along the way; the visitor center there has a Navajo loom set up in the museum area. Mexican Hat is at the place where the road crosses the San Juan River. There are two distinctive rock formations along with way: Mexican Hat just north of Mexican Hat and Navajo Twins near Bluff. I’ve included the images I’ve captured of them in the slide show below.

Rock Art and Sculpture at Edge of Cedars State Park

The rock art and sculpture at Edge of Cedars State Park is everywhere one looks. The image with two types of sandal prints (shown at the left) is used on the cover of a book about rock art produced in a book from the 1980s - Spirit Windows: Native America Rock Art of Southeastern Utah. The prints from sandals with patterns on the bottom were the elite or priests; the plain prints were from ordinary people.

The walls and stairwells of the museum have rock art reproductions. Some were similar to the pictographs we had seen at Newspaper Rock (see images 13-15 in the previous post). I always look for spirals. Here are some images from the museum.

Outside the museum there are modern sculptures that take on forms from rock art. My favorite single form was the mountain goat but I spent a lot of time looking at the complex sculpture that made streaks of sunlight through pictograph-like perforations: spirals, tracks, hunters.

And what about a figure coming of a ladder (from a kiva?).

Some look vaguely like people --- but raise questions too. Why does this one only have four fingers on his hands?

And is the one below representing a person at all? If it is not a person - what does it represent? It’s a reminder that culture impacts how we see the world. We take what we recognize from the rock art and make assumptions about the rest.

Clay Pots at Edge of Cedars State Park

This is one of the additional postings I promised in my previous post about Edge of Cedars State Park in Blanding, Utah --- and the focus is the extensive collection clay pots from the Four Corners area that are displayed in this museum. It feels similar to the pot room in the Arizona State Museum in Tucson and I indulged my ‘pots as comfort’ linkage by taking lots of pictures at this state park.

My favorite pot was a bowl - white on the outside and painted inside with black geometric designs. The irregularity of its shape is what made it special. It looked almost unused so maybe the potter from long ago thought the accident of its shape had made it special too.

Many times I am attracted to the colors - the deep oranges or black on white. Others I look more at the geometric designs. This time I also noticed the texture of the pots. The little cup with the waves of texture and burn marks from its firing (image 7 in the slide show below was my next favorite).

Edge of Cedars State Park - Utah

The Edge of Cedars State Park is located in Blanding, Utah (south of Moab in the Four Corners region). It’s one of the few AAA ‘gems’ that is not a National Park --- so it was open in early October when I was in Utah. It is a place worth the stop even if the parks are open and I’ve lined up 4 posts about it. I’ve planned posts on pots, rock art, and sculpture from the museum for upcoming days; today are some of my favorite things about the park that don’t fit in those categories.

One of my favorite things from the museum - beautiful and unusual - is a necklace made from insect legs. The necklace was found in a stash of illegally collected artifacts but there was a bracelet found (and the location well documented) that looked very similar. Were they ever a set?

Behind the museum are a restored 1,000 year old kiva and hummocks of the unexcavated ruins of the rest of the village inhabited by ancestors of Puebloan peoples from AD 825-1125. We braved the cold breeze the day we were there to walk around the interpretive loop (and down into the kiva) - no regrets!

The materials used by ancient peoples (aside from clay which will be the topic of a later post) were highlighted in the exhibits and some of them surprised me. The yucca fibers look like blonde hair. The broken pot that still holds the mesh of beads and rope someone long ago stuffed into it reminds us how pottery was used for storage of just about everything. And turkey feathers were used to construct blankets! Juniper bark was twisted to make mats. Macaw feathers were used to make a sash; the top part of the sash is squirrel fur (from a species found in northern Arizona/southern Utah) so the sash may have been made in the same area rather than made somewhere else and traded into the area; there are macaw skeletons found in some ruins. There was a set of stone knives with handles; the dry climate of the area preserves many items that would have decayed in other climates.

Enjoy the slide show from the Edge of Cedars State Park.

Monticello, Utah

We opted to stay in a vacation rental in Monticello, UT rather than Moab on our recent vacation. Monticello is higher (and cooler) than Moab and is further south. My husband had prioritized ‘Monument Valley’ as a destination for one of our days and the location of Monticello made it an easier day trip.

The small town turned out to be scenic too. The second morning, a dusting of snow became visible as the sun came up. It flocked the grass and provided a white backdrop to the fall foliage in the ‘rough’ of the golf course.

After the snow melted (it only lasted a few hours) - the green grass was visible again and the bright sunlight caused all the colors to glow.

Deer came to visit - seemingly used to people being near.

My eyes were drawn again and again to a tree that had lost its leaves already. The green of the golf course surrounded it - and I wondered if it was dead or just some tree that always lost its leaves early.

There were many birds around too - but only this one sat still long enough to be photographed.

Abajo Mountains and Newspaper Rock, Utah

Our trip to southeastern Utah coincided with the government shutdown - before the state managed to re-open the National Parks in the area with state funds. Consequently - my blog posts about the vacation will include sights from outside those parks. The drive west from Monticello UT through the Abajo mountains was quite scenic in the early days of October. There were swaths of aspen among the pine and scrubby oaks on the eastern side of the mountains….and colorful layers of rock in canyons seen from the western side. We turned around at the blockade at the Canyonlands National Park. Newspaper Rock - with images pecked into rock - was along our route back.

Sit back and enjoy the slide show of the mountain views - the large and small, the timeless and transient, the crystal clarity and hazy distances.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 22, 2013

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.

If bees go extinct, this is what your supermarket will look like - Lots of fruits and veggies would go away too.

Take a Virtual Tour Of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - Time lapse sunrise…lava flows…ocean...steam.

Photos Of NYC's Subway Project - Lots of tunneling through rock.

Most Solar-Friendly States — 2013 State Solar Policy Rankings - Maryland is near the top! Arkansas and Oklahoma are at the bottom.

Breastfeeding Boosts Babies’ Brain Growth - Yet another reason babies should be breastfed.

Life in the Potholes of Canyonlands National Park - A short video about the small creatures that live their lives after rain fills the rock basins.

As Data Floods In, Massive Open Online Courses Evolve - I have enjoyed the Coursera offerings. My use of online classes is evolving too! I no longer feel compelled to do every aspect of the course; I am free to do just do the parts that meet the objectives I have for myself.

Beautifully Exotic Looking Species of Moths from Ottawa - There are some surprises in this photographic series. Which one do you like best? The white one (5th one from the top) is my favorite.

Roman Seawater Concrete Holds the Secret to Cutting Carbon Emissions - Making cement with less lime and requiring much less heat

Don’t Take Your Vitamins - An thought provoking opinion piece - particularly if you are assuming that more is better when it comes to vitamin supplements. 

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 13, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

Psychedelic Bacteria - Sometimes photomicrography looks like art

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

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

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

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