3 Free eBooks - November 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for November 2013.

Gusman, Pierre.Pompei, the city, its life & art. London: W. Heinemann. 1900. Available from the Internet Archive here. Pompeii still fascinates us today. This book has drawings and color illustrations - for tourists of more than a century ago.

Smith, Watson; Woodbury, Richard Benjamin; Woodbury, Nathalie F. S. The Excavation of Hawikuh by Frederick Webb Hodge: report of the Hendricks-Hodge Expedition, 1917-1923. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. 1966. Available from the Internet Archive here. Hawikuh is located near the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Since I had just visited the Southwest in October - the images in this book prolonged the experience once I got back home to Maryland. The book contained many drawings of the designs from pots that reminded me of the pots at Edge of Cedars State Park.

Japanese decorated silk. 1700. Available from the Internet Archive here. This is a digitized version of a swatch book - decorated pieces of silk mounted in an accordion-type folder. The images on silk are elegant glimpses into the skill of the Japanese in 1700; no wonder the silks were in high demand.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 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 November 2013 - grouped into themes.

Seasonal Food

Pumpkin bake. One way I celebrate fall is to bake a whole pumpkin. It happens almost every year. The one this year was a little larger than usual - purchased at Home Depot; it was a bright orange decoration for our front porch for a few weeks before I decided to cook it. The color deepened after it baked for an hour or so. I cut a wedge, scooped away the seeds and stringy part from the center, and enjoyed it drizzled with butter and cinnamon. Then I divided the rest of the usable pulp into smaller portions - half for the freezer and half for more immediate pumpkin related celebrations.

Pumpkin and Yogurt Custard. It’s worth celebrating when a culinary experiment works; this one did although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I roughly followed the pumpkin custard recipe but used plain non-fat yogurt rather than milk, a non-calorie granular sweetener, and more eggs than usual. It developed a sugary crust that was very appealing!

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones. I had never made scones before but decided to try the recipe I posted in my gleanings a few weeks ago. There are two causes to celebrate: these particular scones are really good and scones are incredibly easy to make in a food processor (why did it take me so long to discover this?).

Pumpkin seed oil. It’s green! It’s yummy! I’ve started drizzling it over a mini-pita - making a fancy design like they do in high end restaurants.

Pomegranate. In the past few years - pomegranates have become part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration for me. It is their season to be plentiful in the stores and I like to think of them as the ‘jewels’ of the season.

Outdoors in the Fall

Foliage. The play of colors in the forest is the grand celebration before winter starkness.

Hike to the Patapsco. Walking through fields and forest on a crisp fall day is a more active way to celebrate the season.

Elementary School Nature Field Trips. I celebrated during every hike I led for elementary school field trips over the past month. What a privilege it is to share their first experiences: milkweed, black walnuts, wooly caterpillars, maple leaves changing color, the rocks of a stone wall between fields.

Raking Leaves. I prefer raking to blowing the leaves that fall too thickly on the ground. Raking is quiet work so I hear the birds and squirrels while I enjoy the leaves that still retain their color. They smell like rich forest tea the leaf mulch will become over the winter. There is a nostalgic celebration in raking leaves since the activity is the beginning of the end for fall.

Amanda Cross mysteries. I always celebrate finding a new author. All three Cross books I’ve read so far area already favorites….and there 11 more to go!

Enjoying an Amanda Cross Mystery

The last Amanda Cross mystery was published over 10 years ago - but I’ve discovered them recently. I just finished my third - and favorite so far: Sweet Death, Kind Death. It was published in 1984. As I read it I realized that I am enjoying it more now because of the growing up I’ve done over those 30 years. It is easier to identify with the victim - a woman in her late 50s that believed in women’s lives ‘beginning again just when it was supposed to be over.’ It is counter to what our culture tells us but more and more women in 2013 - boomers - are discovering the 'beginning again' path for themselves.

Another appeal is that the author was an English professor (Amanda Cross was a pen name for Carolyn Gold Heilbrun) and the sleuth in her books, Kate Fransler, is an English professor. What fun to have an imagined set of stories as tangents of a real life! The settings are college campuses and include the challenges that female college professors encountered (or at least the three novels I’ve read so far do…but they are all from the mid-80s or earlier).

I even like the liberal use of quotations from literary sources. They always seem just right for their placement in the story. The dialog is witty - and intellectual…probably realistic for groups of academics.  Before I pass my copies of the books on, I’ll have to glean some favorite quotes (either Heilbrun or her quotes from others).

Not all the books are in print. I have gotten my set from paperbackswap. I have 11 more of the mysteries to savor this winter!

Milkweed in the Fall - November 2013

Milkweed is one of my favorite plants. The globes of the flowers smell very sweet in the spring - they are full of flying insects. In the summer, I check the leaves for Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars. And in the fall the seed pods burst open and the seeds float away with each breeze.

When the pods first begin to spilt, the tightly arranged seeds are visible inside.

And then the unfurling begins - slowly at first.

Sometimes the two halves of the pod stay tight and the brown seeds with their white fiber parachutes arch around the pod.

Once they are far enough out of the pod, each little breeze takes more of them away.

Eventually the pods are almost invisible in the mass of seeds and white fiber

And then the pods become empty - cleaned out,

And the seeds are wherever the wind took them.

Sometimes the white fiber stays with the seed and sometimes the seed detaches while the fluff continues on.

Clouds - November 2013

Clouds ---- I’ve been noticing them more this month and trying to get images of them. I have discovered that I like the pictures that include some anchor to the ground -

Part of a tree,

The silhouette of leaves,

Or the rolling hills of a farm.

The images that don’t include any linkage to the ground seem not quite right psychologically. When we look at the sky and clouds we take for granted the earth where we stand; we miss it when it is not in the image.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 16, 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.

Researchers Regrow Hair, Cartilage, Bone, Soft Tissues: Enhancing Cell Metabolism Was an Unexpected Key to Tissue Repair - The key finding: enhancing mitochondrial metabolism can boost tissue repair and regeneration. This may become a foundational strategy for helping our bodies stay healthy as we age. It is appealing to think of treatments that address the root cause of age related issues ---- reducing or eliminating the need for medications that address the symptoms.

Purring Monkey? Flamboyant Lizard? New Amazonian Species Are Totally Wild - The variety of life on this planet….always fills me with wonder. Hopefully - we are not on a path of our own construction to be the last large species standing.

Gorgeous Turquoise Pools of Pamukkale, Turkey - I found an old tourist book about Pamukkale at a used book sale several years ago. It was from a time when people were still allowed to move all over the pools (there was not a single picture without people in it). I’m glad the access is more controlled these days and that the beauty of the pools is preserved.

A Mesmerizing Interactive History of the High-Rise - Take a different perspective on history - via interactive media….through a narrow lens. Think about how much the elevator changed thinking about how many floors a building could have.

Flower Research Shows Gardens Can Be a Feast for the Eyes – And the Bees - Tuck this idea away for your our planning your garden for next year: planting pollinator-friendly flowers is a no-cost, win-win solution to help the bees. The plants attractive to bees are just as cheap, easy to grow, and as pretty as those that are less attractive to insects.

Discovery of a 2,700-Year-Old Portico in Greece - A long, open structure that often housed shops and delineated public squares from the city…deserted after the area was conquered by Philip II in 357 BC. Over 450 students from University of Montreal have learned excavation techniques and analysis of archaeological material from this site….and the excavation is ongoing.

Amazing Hand-Tinted Photos of Egypt from the late 19th century - The annotations provide an indication of which ones were moved before the Aswan High Dam was completed in the 1960s. There is an image of sand up to the shoulders of an Abu Simbel statue.

Spectacular Lightning Show Over the Grand Canyon - Sometimes catching an image is about being in the right place at the right time….and having the skill to capture what is happening.

High Dietary Intake of Polyphenols Are Associated With Longevity - The headline was typical of many nutrition research articles. What I found more interesting was that this study used a biomarker (total urinary polyphenol concentration) rather than relying on study participants logging their food intake….a positive trend toward making nutrition related research more objective.

Civilizations Rise and Fall On the Quality of Their Soil - About 1% of global land is degraded each year. That can’t be a good thing if we want to feed all the people in the world.

The three waves of disruptive trends - Emerging…differentiating…business value - the waves just keep coming!

November 2013 Leaves

The colors of autumn leaves are the best part of the fall season - it’s like a last hurrah before the drabness of winter sets in. I’ve taken several walks this fall close to my home in Maryland. It has not been the best year for fall color but there has been enough to collect up some favorite images for this post. It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite vista:

The red maple against the sky,

The leaf strewn path,

Looking up through the tall trees toward the sun-filled sky,

One tree containing all the colors of autumn,

 And a tall gingko just beginning to turn yellow with wisps of clouds overhead. 

Of course the leaves are also beautiful if you look more closely too. I’ve grouped some of my favorites into the slide show below.

Clearing away ‘Stuff’ - November 2013

The theme for this month is intentionally using up items from around that house - that have been around way too long and will be around forever without conscious effort to use them. Here’s my list.

Picnic supplies. I have paper plates that are over 10 years old! And there is a box of plastic spoons that is over 5 years old. There are multiple reasons they have been around so long; the primary ones are: 1) I forget that I have them and 2) recently I’ve started taking reusable plastic containers and packing food in a way that I don’t need utensils at all. On the next vacation, I plan to use the plates and the spoons.

Pads of paper. I have accumulated quite a few pads of paper in various sizes. They come from a variety of sources: charities as a ‘gift’ in the mail, goodies handed out at meetings or conferences, or hotels. I have several on my desk with different kinds of reminders…and it thrills me every time I use one enough to tear off a sheet to go into the recycle….and it’s even better when a whole pad has been consumed. At the rate I am going it will still take several years to reduce the pile (and it seems like more come in all too frequently.

The wrong kind of paper towels. A few months ago I bought a less expensive brand of paper towels. They are less absorbent - so much so that my husband refuses to use them! I’m taking them to use as napkins on our next road trip. It may still take a long time to finally use them up.

Do you have things in your house that will take conscious effort to use up?

Hike to the Patapsco River

I joined a group to hike from the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm to the Patapsco River (Patapsco Valley State Park). We hiked along the farm's cut grass trail, then through a field of cut hay…to the forest. 

A stone marker from 1800 shows the boundary of the Mt. Pleasant Farm.

The undulations of the path took us up and down but averaged ‘down’ on the way to the river and ‘up’ on the way back.

The leaves had fallen - obliterating the trail and smaller fallen limbs. We scrambled over larger deadfall and churned the deep leaf mulch on the inclines. The moss was so green against the dulling brown of the leaves that it sometimes seemed to glow. In fact - any bit of green is eye catching in the late fall forest.

The river view was on the other side of railroad tracks. We listened for a train whistle but only a maintenance vehicle came along the track while we were there. Horsetails grew through the rocks of the rail bed on the river side. Sycamores grow along the river - taking on their white ‘ghost tree’ look of winter now that their leaves were gone.

There were a few examples of shelf fungus that I noticed on the hike back.

The beech trees with their smooth bark were the most frequent tree along the streams down to the river. Some of the trees still held a few leaves. I like the look of the tree trunks of varying sizes in the forest nearly devoid of foliage.

Zooming - November 2013

The ‘zooming’ post for November includes things seen on a fall hike: leaves, milkweed seeds, and a mushroom cap. Enjoy!

October  2013 Zoom

September 2013 Zoom

August 2013 Zoom (garden)

Morning Sounds in the Neighborhood

I have been a morning person my whole life. It appeals to me that there are others in the world that are like me - not that I necessarily want to interact with them (the best morning times are solitary ones). Hearing the sounds they make is enough. These are the waking up in the morning sounds of my neighborhood:

The rumble and clanging of trucks and bins happen twice a week: recycle day is Wednesday and trash is Friday. They come right around 6:30 AM. In the summer they have full light but most of the year it is dark or the very beginning of the day. Our neighborhood must be one of the first on their route.

The school buses start about 7:30. The buses come through three times - matching the levels of schools: high school, middle and elementary with the high schools being the ones that have to get to the stop the earliest. The students are usually quiet. If there are sounds - they are happy ones: chatter of school friends, barks of dogs enjoying the walk to the bus stop, morning greetings between parents, goodbyes as the bus loads.

There is the quiet hum of cars leaving - people leaving for work. It happens slowly…the earliest is around 6. It seems like the time has broadened over the years with more people having flex time and working at home some days.

Bird noises crescendo in the early morning just around dawn. Our neighborhood is at the edge of a forested area and has mature trees in yards….and bird feeders. It is unusual to not hear birds in the morning.

What do you hear in your neighborhood on a November morning?

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.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 9, 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.

Cool Plants for Kids: 8 that Explode, Eat Bugs, or Stick to You -  Cool plants for more than just kids: puffballs, jewelweed, beaked hazelnut, pitcher plants (below), sundew, burdock, beggarticks, Norway maples.

London’s Wasted Heat - It’s intriguing to realize that there are places in London - and probably most cities - where heat could be used rather than vented. The trend should be toward ‘less waste’ and this is certainly one area that could be worth pursuing.

US Preterm Birth Rate Drops to 15-Year Low - But the US still gets a ‘C’ grade when it comes to preterm birth rates. It’s very sad for the individual children fighting to overcome the impact of preterm birth and preterm births cost about 12 times more than an uncomplicated healthy birth. For the report card for each state - see the March of Dimes site.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #51 - I always like the collections of bird photographs. My favorite in this batch is the common kingfisher with outspread wings….but I also enjoyed how many of the birds in this set were finding something to eat.

Norwegian Vikings Purchased Silk from Persia - Trade has been going on for a long time….sometimes longer than our ‘history’ has realized.

9 ways mushrooms could drastically improve the world - From a TED talk by Mohamed Hijri

Breathtaking Autumn Colors Viewed Atop Oberg Mountain - These image from Minnesota were posted in early October….I just got around to taking a look at them.

Saharan Star Dunes - These dunes are formed when the wind changes directions…swirling.

US Cities In Which The Fewest People Drive To Work - Biking…walking…mass transit - is it a surprise that New York, Washington DC, Boston and San Francisco are at the top of the list?

Gartner's dark vision for tech, jobs - The upcoming wave of machines replacing people now is entering into Gartner’s projections….it is within the near term rather than outside the span of our lifetimes. 

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.

Fall Reflections from Centennial Park - Maryland - November 2013

The walk around Centennial Lake in Howard County, Maryland is a treat in the fall. Last weekend, the breeze was light enough to make the reflections of the fall foliage quite spectacular. In fact, for most of our walk around the lake the sky looked bluer in the reflection!

I like the little distortions in the reflections. Sometimes the water is a perfect mirror and other times it distorts the image.

The real trees and reflected trees take on a surreal look when the water is perfectly smooth…and the symmetry is perfect.

And what about the closer looks - where the colors look more vivid in the reflection than in the actual branches?

Enjoy the 'best of the rest' in the slideshow below.

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.

 

Before Frost

We’ve already had a few mornings with temperatures in the 30s at our house in Maryland and have completed the outdoor chores that prepare us for winter this past week: 

• Bringing in the hoses
• Turning off the and draining the water lines on the outside
• Removing the solar sunflower and glass butterfly stakes from the outdoor pots - they will last longer without being in the outdoors during the freezes and thaws of winter
• Cleaning the glass birdbath bowl and brining it indoors for the winter (it is turning into the centerpiece on the dining room table) 

Of course, we still have the raking of leaves left to do. The maple tree that is usually the one that makes the thickest carpet on our lawn still has most of its leaves!

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.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 2, 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.

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones - New York Times Recipes for Health - Yum! The prospect of the melding flavor of pumpkin, ginger, and maple syrup seems to suit my mood for this season. Since I cooked a whole pumpkin this past week, I have plenty of pumpkin to make these scones.

London’s Health - There is a new website that organizes historical ‘Medical Officer of Health’ reports for London from 1848 and 1972. There are several ways to search. I looked for ‘smallpox’ references as my first search.  

Inside the American Kitchen - An infographic about kitchens. Did you know that the three most popular features for kitchen projects are: islands, roll-outs/pull-outs, and drawers?

Cornell Lab FeederWatch - If you get the urge to enjoy birds at a feeder but don’t have one of your own - enjoy the one at Sapsucker Woods near Ithaca NY. There are almost always birds around (and if they aren’t at the feeder there are bird noises that indicate they are nearby).

Massive 80-Room Tree House Stands Almost 100-Feet-Tall - I enjoyed visiting this Tennessee tree house in summer of 2012….and took some very similar pictures (the one below is mine). It is so large that it is hard to capture the entire structure!

Thawing Permafrost: The Speed of Coastal Erosion in Eastern Siberia Has Nearly Doubled - Coastal erosion in areas there permafrost and sea ice were the norm for large parts of the year until recently is increasing rapidly. The materials used for the article include more graphics about how it occurs.

Take a trip over the surface of Mars - A 4 minute video presentation of images from Europe’s Mars Express that has been orbiting Mars since 2004.

The World's Strangest and Most Magnificent Gardens - I love gardens so couldn’t resist including this on the ‘gleanings’ list for the week.

Message From a 50-Year-Old Flamingo - A conservation success story - for now….but there is a lot that could still go wrong for the flamingos left in this world.

Restoration: Another Layer of History - Some examples of industrial/military areas that are repurposed into more public spaces.