Frozen Days

We have already had some very cold days in Maryland this year - where the temperature did not get above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. That has prompted some thinking about the cold weather to come. What will I do differently than last winter?

I’ll empty the bird bath in the late afternoon or early evening on very cold nights and then refill it in the morning before I have breakfast. That habit would provide liquid water at sunrise and a few hours afterward for the birds when they are usually active around our deck. The bird feeder is hanging nearby but the bird bath has been very popular the past few weeks (when it isn’t frozen like it was when I took the photograph).

There will be a snowflake photography kit kept in a plastic container on the deck so I won’t have to wait for everything to cool down before I can get snowflake pictures. It will include: colored glass plates and a jewelers loupe.

An old coat and scarf will be kept in the trunk of my car. It is very easy to misjudge the cold when I am leaving the house since the car is in a garage. I’ve become more aware that a scarf makes a huge difference on bitter cold - or windy - days. I should also try to replace clogs with closed shoes. I rediscovered hiking boots last winter and wear them particularly on cold days when I know I will be outdoors.

I'll wear leggings under my jeans when I am outdoors on very cold days. They work better for me than long underwear! 

Hot drinks are always welcome on cold days. Tea has been my hot drink of choice for years but I am changing to hot water flavored with ginger root and lemon this year.

That’s about it for now….I’ll probably come up with more as the cold of the season deepens.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - March 2014

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 March 2014.

STEM Fair - These spring events used to be called ‘Science Fair’ but the fair has enlarged to include Science - Technology - Engineering - and Math so they have changed the name. I have volunteered as a judge for our county fair for the past 10 years or so. It seems like every year is an improvement over previous years and this year there was a bigger improvement than usual! This year the middle school students were much more articulate about the statistics they were using (standard deviation in particular).

Great snowflake pictures - Some years we get snow in March and sometimes we don’t. This year not only did we get a good snow, the situation was ideal of snowflake photography. Of course, I celebrated with snow ice cream!

Raisins soaked in apricot brandy - I plumped some dried out raisins with apricot brandy for an apple - raisin - celery salad. Yummy! I may do this every time I make the salad from now on. Little culinary successes are always worth celebrating.

Volunteer naturalist classes - Last fall had did most of my prep for becoming a volunteer naturalist by shadowing people that had done it before; this spring I am taking the classes and enjoying them tremendously. I even won the drawing for the book give away - Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy. Wahoo!

Philadelphia buildings - I had a hard time choosing between the Philadelphia Flower Show itself and discovering the interesting buildings of downtown Philadelphia which will probably be the focus for my next foray into the city. Either way - the March day trip to Philadelphia was a daylong celebration.

The last two volcano lectures - I worked my way through a series of online lectures on material science related to volcanoes that stretched my memory of chemistry (from classes about 40 years ago) and was thrilled to get to the last two lectures that focused on how lab work is done with silicate glass and how all the research and field work gets translated onto geologic maps.

A clean car - With all the snow, my car became thoroughly encrusted with salt. Its shiny clean look coming out of the car wash was worth celebrating.

Lots of feathers - It was a little disconcerting to find a pile of feathers beside our house but then I realized that the presence of a predator was an indicator of a working ecosystem in our neighborhood….and  I enjoyed having the feathers for a photography project.

Pot luck lunch - I have always liked pot luck events. Sometimes there is a skew to desserts but this one had great variety. If anything, it was skewed toward fancy salads.

Work experiences to pass along - One day I was able to pass along two potential solutions to my daughter from my career: 1) Hotel too expensive for a conference? Room with someone. 2) Logo shirt required for an outreach event way too big to tuck into slacks? Wear it tucked into a skirt or belted like a short dress over leggings or skinny slacks. It’s worth celebrating any time lessons learned long ago are still relevant!

Another March 2014 Snow

We got 7inches of snow yesterday and I took another round of pictures….and made snow ice cream (green for St. Patrick’s Day). The Kokopelli garden stake was almost covered with the snow,

The tulip poplar seed pods turned into cups for snow,

And the bushes look like they had been generously topped with whipped cream!

The streets near our neighborhood were cleared by mid-day and we took a short drive to enjoy the snow covered scenes.

I also took snowflake pictures with my 22x loupe. The snowflakes this time were dense crystals; they reminded me of spun glass or baroque jewelry.

Snowflakes - March 2014

The conditions for taking snowflake pictures were relatively good earlier this week: it was well below freezing, most of the time it was calm, and there were bands of snow that resulted in a variety of snowflake types. I was better prepared than previous snows as well. I had left the loupes and plates to catch the snowflakes under a towel on our covered deck. So the equipment was already cold and I had a towel to brush off the plates so that I could catch flakes for multiple sessions. I had decided to use a green glass plate steady of the red one I’d used in February…..anticipating St. Patrick’s Day!

The first time I went out, the flakes were very small and included a lot of dual flakes - connected by a prism axel (as in the images below). I particularly like the one that the reflection from the center makes it glow from within.

The second and third time I ventured out, the flakes were bigger and more complex. I had plenty of time to look around the flakes on the plate because the temperature was in the low twenties….nothing was melting! Although my technique has improved over this winter, the weather was a positive factor in capturing the March snowflake images.

Previous snowflake posts: 

• January 2014
• February 2014

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - February 2014

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 February 2014. I’ve grouped my little celebration into 4 groups this month: weather, food, family, and loupe photography.

Weather

A warm day - In February - the occasional warm day is indeed something to celebrate!

Snow and more snow - I like snow days too, particularly when I don’t have to leave the house. I enjoyed hot tea with milk….and worked out a plan to photograph snowflakes. I didn’t even mind a certain amount of shoveling of snow!

Birds - The changes in weather result in more birds be out and about when the weather is a little improved. We’ve seen juncos, cardinals, robins, chickadees and heard the crows!

Food

Graham Cracker Crumb Cake - Someone made a graham cracker crumb cake as part of the refreshments for a lecture I attended….and I liked it so well I looked for a recipe via the Internet…and made one myself. Yummy! I have always liked graham crackers and this is just one other form to enjoy.

Edamame - What a great way to increase the protein in salads! My grocery store had them already shelled!

Family

Phone calls - I celebrate the ease we can keep in touch with family that lives far away. It is not as good as living in close proximity…..but it enables us to sustain relationships until we can be together again.

Anticipating visits - There are two opportunities to see far flung family members - in March and May - that I am already anticipating…and celebrating.

Loupe photography

Snowflakes - I was surprised at how effective the loupe magnification is for snowflake photography. It is quite an adventure to discover for myself how unique and beautiful they are.

Buds - Buds are going to be a longer term fascination as they unfurl into leaves and flowers. I celebrated that I thought of the project early enough to get the bud before the unfurling!

Broccoli - I knew it was good to eat but the loupe gave me more reason to celebrate broccoli’s form and color.

Snowflakes - February 2014

It snowed a bit longer than forecast yesterday morning. The snow did not stick to the streets or sidewalks; the heat from the previous days was held in the concrete and asphalt. But on the grass and roofs and wooden decks, the big flakes accumulated quickly. The temperature was just below freezing. It did not seem like the best day to try photographing snowflakes but I put the red glass plate, a towel and loupes outside to cool down. I’d learned previously that the camera battery was sensitive to cold so I put it in my coat pocket instead.

After waiting for 15 minutes in the warmth of the house and watching the snow, I made a first attempt. It was not successful sing the red glass plate. The snowflakes melted as soon as they landed on the plate. It needed more time to cool down. I tried using the underside of an old aluminum pan that had been left on the deck. Success! The ‘flakes’ turned out to be conglomerations of snowflakes so they had much more of a three dimensional quality. I took the series of pictures below before retreating inside to give the red plate more time to cool down.

The wait was worth it! Yes - the flakes were clumped. Yes - it was warm enough that there could be no dawdling to get the image before they melted. But - I enjoyed capturing the flakes. Some of them reminded me of jacks. I find myself hoping that we have a few more snows this season so that I can try again! This particular snow had mostly melted away before the end of the day.

Catching Snowflakes

Snow was swirling around my house a few days ago - and I decided to make an attempt to photograph snowflakes. The wind was blowing enough that even the covered part of the deck was getting a dusting of snow through the screens. I put a red glass plate, a magnifying glass and a camera into a covered plastic bin and put them out to cool down.

About an hour later, I bundled up in coat and gloves. I waved the plate around to catch some snowflakes from the air outside the covered part of the deck. The flakes were very small. The magnifying glass was enough to hint at the magical shapes snowflakes can have.  But ---- it was too cold and windy to perfect my technique. I took a few pictures and went inside.

Later with I looked at the images I'd captured, I  was encouraged by the blurs (caused by being on the edge of the field or bad orientation of the individual flake or clumps of broken crystals rather than intact snowflakes). I'll definitely try again next time it snows! Next time I'll rig a light box (so there will be light under the red plate), cool down a towel along with the other gear to wipe off the plate so I can make multiple attempts, and find a place out of the wind to work!

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 4, 2014

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.

Quinoa, Apricot, and Oat Muffin Clusters - Yum! I made these yesterday. There were some substitutions since I ‘made do’ with ingredients I had around the house: spiced fruit preserve instead of apricot paste, sesame seeds for the nuts/seeds, tahini instead of almond butter. I also used muffin cups that I had had for years (found recently when I was re-arranging the cabinets!).

Heat maps reveal where you feel emotions in your body - Hmmm….so people that are happy are physically warmer!

Beyond the Core: What about Other Important Outcomes? - What topics do you think are missing from the common core for K-12 education? Use this article to jumpstart your thinking.

Stranger than Fiction (Plant Biology) - An intro to the January issue of The Scientist online magazine. Read the full articles too: Plant communication, plant DNA challenging preconceptions about the evolution of life, and gold in plants.

Attacking Fungal Infection, One of World's Major Killers - When we think of microbes that kill we generally think of bacteria or viruses, but fungal infections kill 1.3 million people per year. I remember the mycology class I took (a long time ago) in college because of the beauty visible through the microscope: it was a blue world (dye) with complex structures. Reading this story makes me wonder if there were too few people from my generation that chose to pursue medical mycology and if our medical system has tended to focus only on the non-fungal microbes. Here’s another fungi story published this past week about How Mushrooms are Changing the World’s Winds.

Meditative Moments Found Within Dramatic Landscapes - If I went for a walk, there would be some places close to my house that look like these images! I took a few pictures from my door and decided that the wind and temperature in the teens made it too cold to venture further.

Marvelous Snowflakes - A video about how they form…in keeping with the view from my window in Maryland today!

The Best Wildlife and Nature Photos from NWF Staff in 2013 - My favorite is the pitcher plants (toward the end) but the sandhill crane (the picture after the pitcher plants) just visible in tall grass is a close second. And here is a group of nature photos from National Geographic: Rainforest Bugs and Best Wishes for 2014!

Elder Pharmacology - Many clinical trials exclude patients over the age of 65 as well as patients taking multiple drugs. And one of the key findings by gerontologists is that the biology of a young body is quite different from that of a young body. Put these together…and doctors medicating patients over 65 are virtually ‘flying blind.’ The status quo is not acceptable.

The book we all wish we could have read as children - I’ve added Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison to my wish list (The NPR article that is referenced is here.)