Gleanings of the Week Ending September 6, 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.

Training your brain to prefer healthy foods - Research on people that participated in a weight loss program. It appears that the program changes what foods are tempting to people (based on MRI analysis)…toward healthier diet. Of course, even if this is true there is an uphill battle with all the media pushing food that is not healthy (low nutritional value). Has our culture (the media, social interactions, vending machines, etc.) been training our brains to eat poorly?

Who Should Rule These Scottish Islands? - The intricacies of politics in Orkney….desiring greater autonomy.

Growing mushrooms in diapers - Mexican scientists are designing technology (and running small scale proof-of-concept trials) to degrade disposable diapers. Mexico is the third largest consumer of disposable diapers globally but worldwide there must be a huge number of diapers going to landfills. They will not be a simple to recycle as glass or plastic jugs or milk cartons….but anything that is still a major component going to landfills needs to be considered for re-processing rather than burying. Making it economically feasible is a challenge.

Why Doesn’t Honey Spoil? – The Chemistry of Honey - An infographic and article. It’s antibiotic properties are due to its low water content and pH….details in the article.

Brown marmorated stink bug biology, management options - It seems like there are a few of them around all the time now and sometimes there is a marked increase in their numbers…even inside the house.  The full article is available from here.

Humiliation tops list of mistreatment toward med students - It is not just med students….this happens to other grad students too. There is a significant amount of institutional hazing of students if they choose to continue beyond their undergraduate studies in academia.

Exposure of pregnant women to certain phenols may disrupt growth of boys during fetal development and first years of life - Scary result. Are OB/GYNs educating their patients about these results? There are still some products with parabens and triclosan which could be avoided. Even though more research needs to be done, most women would err on the side of caution during their pregnancy and after the child is born too…if they were provided the information.

Housing America’s Older Adults - From the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and AARP Foundation.  The housing needs of the US population are changing faster than the available housing can change.

Top 10 Solar Energy States per Capita (US) - The full report (downloadable via a link at the bottom of this article) has data for other states. The top 10 have a lot higher

Exceptionally well preserved insect fossils from the Rhône Valley found - An aquatic bug that would have thrived in brackish water.

Coursera Experience - September 2014

September is going to be a lull in terms of Coursera courses. For most of the weeks I will only have one or two courses. That is probably a good thing since I am attending classroom-based volunteer naturalist training during the month as well.  There is no shortage of learning opportunities!

The Globalization and Social Psychology courses are ended…although there is still some reading to do. Both of them were among the more thought provoking classes I’ve taken.

The Camera Never Lies is providing another insight into history and historians. I’ve appreciated the lectures which have included interviews with history grad students. I have considerable reading and video to view for this course as well.

The Symmetry course has been enlightening on several levels. I particularly enjoyed the references to tiling. The segment of the course that focuses on crystals is just starting and I expect it will be as challenging as the Systems Biology or Volcano courses earlier this year.

I am looking forward to the American Poetry course starting soon and am anticipating that I’ll be celebrating how different it is than courses I have been taking recently.

October is going to be overwhelming. There are 4 courses I added to my list….and now that I am looking at the list again, I still want to take all of them!

Tiger Swallowtail - 2014

There have not been as many butterflies in our area this summer so I was delighted to photography two enjoying my deck garden in August and this week. In August, the butterfly weed and marigolds were the big attraction. Note how battered the edges of the wings look in this view of the feeding insect (with the butterfly pot decoration overhead).

I’m always surprised at how hairy the area where the winds and body overlap looks…at the powdery blue…at the delicacy of the whole wing.

From the side, the body looks robust compared to the legs and the proboscis. This insect spent quite a lot of time with the marigolds - so maybe the flowers will produce a lot of seeds.

This week the draw for the tiger swallowtail was the zinnias. When the wings are held vertically they are folded a little as well. Their ribs show more.

It was a breezy day so the insect would flatten itself to maintain its stance on the flower. The wings look very symmetrical when they are fully extended.

Notice that the edges of the wing are battered in this one too. This butterfly spent quite a long time at with the zinnia - flying away for a few seconds and then returning - and I’ll keep the seeds that develop over the next few weeks.

National Arboretum in August 2014

I posted about the magnolias right after our visit to the US National Arboretum a few weeks ago…but there was a lot more to see. There are so many areas of arboretum. Even the parking lot near the visitor center hosted large crepe myrtles with their shaggy bark!

There was a lot of construction around the administration building. The koi pond was dry but the garden around the fenced area still included a pine with forming cones standing at attention among its needles.

We headed to the China/Asian Valleys - having learned from previous visits to not try to see the whole Arboretum in one visit. The garden was shady and inviting on an August day. Many of the flowers had faded so the overwhelming color of the garden was green. We picked up a map but decided to simply follow the paths rather than look at it. The walk was easy but generally downhill toward the river (and we knew we would have to come uphill eventually).

I like the moon shape in the lantern among the foliage.

The one pink bloom left on a hydrangea was a welcome relief from the green only scenes.

The steps up to the pagoda were part of the climb back to the upper part of the garden…and the exit.

Just as the crepe myrtle bark in the visitors center parking lot - this flower with the ants on the border of the parking area near the magnolias!

Favorite Memories of Summer 2014

Today - the traditional ‘last day of summer’ - I am savoring the memories of the past 3 months. It has been cooler than usual in my area (Maryland, near Baltimore) so the outdoor activities have been especially pleasant. Here are my top 5 memories from this summer:

The Deck Garden. The plants on the deck are a daily draw to go outdoors. There is always something changing - new flowers blooming, a tiny tomato forming, sweet potato vines spilling over the edge of the pot then the deck…and blooming, and all the associated insects and birds enjoying the plants (sometimes causing some damage) and the water in the birdbath and the pot saucers. I may change some of the plants next year - but using every available pot for something is definitely something to continue from now on.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The place made my list because it was a new experience. I still enjoyed places I have been many times this summer (Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum and the Howard County Conservancy Mt. Pleasant Farm) but the lotuses at the aquatic garden with the dragonflies that abounded were a high point of the garden visits this season.

Josey Ranch Lake. What a pleasant surprise it was to walk around the small lake near the library in Carrollton TX! It hosts such a variety of resident birds (although I did wish the nutria were not there).  It became the high point of ‘sights’ for the two weeks I spent in Texas this summer.

CSA Veggies. This was my first participation in a Community Supported Agriculture farm and I’ve enjoyed the enhanced flavor of fresh-from-the-field vegetables. I will do it again next summer!

Classes. I become more aware all the time of just how much I enjoy being a student. Whether the classes are online (Coursera and Creative Live) or ‘live’ at the Howard County Conservancy…classes have the effect of broadening my horizons and tweaking what I do. It may not be healthy to grow larger physically but growing mentally is always a good thing.

Happy end-of-summer 2014!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 30, 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.

Higher Ed’s New Normal - An infographic comparing higher education in the 1980s and today. More students have a part-time academic schedule…but getting the degree means even more when it comes to earnings (in the 1980s, students with a BA earned 40% more than HS grads…now it is 75% more).

Are you as old as what you eat? Researchers learn how to rejuvenate aging immune cells - It was a little frustrating to read a lot about drug development to enhance immunity during aging….but the article was redeemed by the last sentence: “Another possibility is that dietary instead of drug intervention could be used to enhance immunity since metabolism and senescence are two sides of the same coin.” Hopefully there will be research along the dietary line. It seems reasonable that our nutritional needs may shift as we get older….and that adjusting our eating habits would help prolong our health.

Photography in the National Parks: Same Park, Same Scene, Different Seasons, Different Times - I paused when I saw the first pictures in this article of the La Sal Mountains - remembering my vacation to the area last fall (and my favorite picture from the drive through the mountains). Then I started thinking about what area I wanted to photograph at different seasons and decided on a project to photograph the forest behind my house once a week throughout the rest of the year.  If it goes well, I’ll continue into the spring.

An inconvenient truth: Does responsible consumption benefit corporations more than society? - I’m paying more attention to this type of research after the Globalization course I’ve just finished on Coursera. It is very difficult to be a responsible consumer when products are not available to be a responsible consumer (for example - is anyone in the developed world able to recycle 100% of their food packaging? I would like to and I doubt I am the only consumer with that desire…but it isn’t possible in my area of the US.). There are probably a lot of examples where markets are not self-correcting based on consumer desires.

The Chemical Compositions of Insect Venoms - Bees, wasps, hornets and ants….an infographic and some text that explains.

Image of the Day: Colossal Cacti - Prickly pear cacti grow very differently in the Galapagos….to get their pads out of the reach of giant tortoises.

Anesthesia professionals not sufficiently aware of risks of postoperative cognitive side effects - The postoperative cognitive side effects more frequently happen in elderly and fragile patients. Since there are more and more elderly patients, hopefully the issue will become better understood and avoided.

Unequal demands on women for university service harm careers - There are still so few women in tenured positions that the ones that are asked to serve on 50% more committees than men faculty…and all those committees take time.

A Virtual Tour of Lassen Volcanic National Park - A 3.5 minute video to get a feel for the place.

Hidden Obstacles for Google’s Self-Driving Cars - I still hope the self-driving cars become available by 2020 or shortly thereafter so I can turn the driving over the car by the time I am 70!

Centennial Lake in August 2014 (part 1)

The path around Centennial Lake (in Centennial Park in Howard County, MD) is a little over 2 miles. It has a mixture of lake views - from shady areas, through trees, and wide open meadow down to the water.

Even at 9 AM there are lots of different activities on the trail:  walkers (solitary, couples, and gaggles of chattering groups), joggers and runners (mostly solitary but a few pairs), an occasional biker. Some people were fishing from the shore or the lake; the ones on the lake must have had their open boat because the concession wasn’t open yet.

The morning had progressed enough that the birds were into their morning feeding rather than morning songs.

It was warm enough for insects to be investigating August flowers.

Somehow the people and wildlife was not making any jarring noise; the place sustains a natural serenity even with quite a lot of activity.

I will plan some early morning walks when there are autumn leaves.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 23, 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.

In Old Blood - Looking at the changing that happen as we age…starting with the blood of a 115 year old woman from the Netherlands that donated her body to science.

Food Preservation - As this post comes out, I am hearing the author talk about the topic! I am always looking for new ideas on processing the surplus of food during the summer to enjoy in the winter.

Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Compare - This is an interface to visual epidemiological trends and levels worldwide from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (an independent global health research center at the University of Washington. There are lots of ways to look at the data. In the snapshot below I set the Bottom Chart to ‘Map’ and then clicked on ‘Migraine’ in the Top Chart.

Would you live in a shipping container? - A collection of websites curated by Marcelle Sussman Fischler on this top on Learnist. Some still look like shipping containers….others are transformed.

Most of What You Need To Know About Planet Earth, in Seven Minutes - A short animation from Kurzgesagt.

Profiles in Xeriscaping: The Chocolate Flower - Something to think about for next summer’s garden.

10 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget - Good ideas! I would add: 1) keep in mind that there are other sources of protein than meat (and almost all of them are less expensive for the nutritional content) and 2) be mindful of lower cost veggies that are high in nutritional value (sweet potatoes are an example).

Why Did Plants Evolve These Weird and Horrific Flowers? - I can’t resist the botanicals.

Providing futile treatment prevents other patients from receiving the critical care they need - Futile treatment (i.e. unbeneficial medical care) in ICUs is not good for the patient….and this study shows that it is hurting others. Perhaps a tangential take away from this article is that patients and their families need to be in a position to decline unbeneficial medical care.

Exploring the Waterworks Deep inside the Inner Gorge of Grand Canyon National Park - A video about the springs in the Grand Canyon. 10 of the 12 spring types are found within the Grand Canyon (see the 10 here).

Complaining Robin

There is a robin that flies to the sycamore beside my deck and complains with the same style vocalizations every time I walk out onto the deck. I think its nest is underneath the deck. Why is it so alarmed? On the positive side - it is easy to get pictures of the bird while it vocally defends its turf!

Now that I’ve viewed the pictures on my larger monitor - it is easy to see that it is a female. She is quite insistent about keeping me away from her nest. I supposed she feels like there is an earthquake when I walk on the deck since her nest is on one of the support beams. But why is it that the nest is so important in August? Surely it is past the time for a new clutch of eggs and young.

And the bird seems to recognize me. It makes eye contact. If I stay out long enough it flies to the maple and continues to stare even if the vocalization stops after a few minutes.  And then I go back inside and the robin - apparently - has what it wants.

3 Free eBooks - August 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for August 2014.

Shelley, George Ernest; Keulemans, John Gerrard (lithographer/llustrator). A monograph of the Nectariniidae, or, Family of sun-birds. London: Published by the author. 1876. Available from the Internet Archive here. The illustrations are the best of this book and there are other books that have the same lithographer also available on the Internet Archive that are worth a look too (although I think the sun-birds book is the best).

Dam, Jan Daniël van; Tichelaar, Pieter Jan; Schaap, Ella; Lins, P. Andrew. Dutch Tiles in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art.1984. Available from the Internet Archive here. I started looking for books that had tile patterns after the Coursera course I am taking on Symmetry used them as part of the introduction to the vocabulary used to discuss symmetry. What do you think of the grapes and pomegranates tiles? Notice that the tiles are rotated to create the pattern (the stems always point to the center).

an hui sheng chu si hai zong zhi hui bu. xiao mie wen ying de ye sheng zhi wu. 1958. Available from the Internet here. This is a Chinese botany book. I always enjoy botanical prints and these were no exception. It was also good to realize that books from around the world are making their way into the archive.

Enjoy these and many other books that are freely available on the internet.

Magnolias at the National Arboretum

We walked around the US National Arboretum’s Holly and Magnolia Collection. I never pass up an opportunity to photograph magnolia. The last time I got such an opportunity was a little over a year ago at Mount Vernon. The arboretum has quite a collection of large southern magnolias with blooms low enough for easy photography. This late in the season there are a lot of different stages of blooms and seed pods.

The southern magnolias I was photographing were full of color:

-- Glossy greens and felt browns of leaves

-- Green, red and black of seed pods

-- Fuzzy tan of the bud coverings, creamy white of the full flowers, and brown of the older flowers

I couldn’t resist some 10x magnified images of the pods

Or a flower near the ground that was attracting bees.

A Juvenile Swan

There was a bird at the Josey Ranch Lake (Carrollton TX) that was between an ‘ugly duckling’ and a beautiful swan. On shore the bird looked as large as the adult swans.

Both parents kept watch as the juvenile took to the water with the ducks.

On a longer swim on the lake, one of the parents kept close while the other stayed further away on watch. 

The big excitement of the outing we witnessed was the juvenile chasing a duck - almost running over the other bird. Afterwards, the duck bobbed about looking stunned while the young swan made a lazy loop around the fountain in the center of the lake as if nothing had happened.

Then the young swan followed the parent at a sedate pace and distance to the far end of the lake for a snack of lake greens. It was easier to see that the young bird was somewhat smaller than the adult…but not much.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 16, 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.

Two items about women mathematicians this week: A Woman Has Won the Fields Medal, Math's Highest Prize, for the First Time about Maryam Nurzakhani and When Snails Lose Their Way from Vi Hart (she’s a web math geek!).

Two items about Tucson (where my daughter is): Place-based development and streetcar transforming downtown Tucson (something to ride from the University to downtown next time I visit) and Fire and Water Exact Tolls on Saguaro National Park (hope the part is not too damaged this season)

Photo Tampering throughout History - This was a web site referenced in a Coursera course (The Camera Never Lies). This page shows examples of ‘doctored’ images starting with an 1860 picture of Lincoln to the present.

How Sleep Changes as You Age, and Why You'll Need Even More of It - When my daughter was a baby it seemed like she was in REM sleep almost all the time and then it wasn’t quite as often. The table in this article starts with age 20 but shows that the decline continuing throughout life. Check the references at the end of the article of tips to improve sleep at any age.

Excavation of ancient well yields insight into Etruscan, Roman and medieval times - Lots of finds from one small place - bronze vessels, carved wood, gape seeds. Evidently in Etruscan religion, throwing items into a well filled with water was an act of religious sacrifice.

13 Things You Probably Don’t Know About the U.S. Water System (But Should) - I assume there will be a lot more ‘water education’ for the general public going on in the next few years. At some point we’ll need to do more than education.  It is disappointing to find out that leaky water pipes are so common.

Just How Bad Is California's Drought? - Looking at the state from 2011 to now graphically. The whole state is now in severe to exceptional drought status.

Natural light in office boosts health - I know that I rejoiced when I had a window office during my career…too bad there are a lot of office buildings that have a lot of interior offices with artificial lighting. Employees in ‘big box’ stores or warehouses have the same problem. Now that my only office is at home, I choose a room with lots of natural light (and good scenery).

5 Easy Ways to Use Tomatoes - I have lots of tomatoes….and am always on the lookout for new ideas. So far - I’m keeping up with the CSA bounty of tomatoes via salads, soups, topper to a stir fry, salsa….and tomato sauce to freeze as a last resort.

The Earth Looks like A Living Creature in This Amazing NASA Video - The film is just a little over a minute and depicts 7 days in 2005 of the earth and its clouds.

Zooming - August 2014

I was in Texas for a couple of weeks so the zoom collages are for pictures I took while traveling rather than close to home.  The themes of the collages this month are: insects/reptiles,

plants, and

birds.

Green Heron

My topic for today is another bird I saw at Josey Ranch Lake in Carrollton TX: a Green Heron.

The first time I saw a Green Heron was at Brookside Gardens many years ago. I didn’t know what it was. It didn’t look like a heron as it moved along the shore and shallows of the pond.  The same was true in Florida last fall and in Carrollton last week.

Having learned to identify the bird from that long ago experience - I have not been as surprised recently when the bird extends its neck and begins to look much more like the heron that it is!

I’ve always wondered what the bones of the neck look like for this particular bird. Do muscles pull the neck vertebrae further apart when the neck is extended or are there a lot of folding of the vertebrae when the head is held close the body?

Egret in Flight

The great white egret that makes its home at Josey Ranch Lake in Carrollton Texas is very photogenic. I already included a picture of the bird in my post for August 3.  A few days later, the walk around the lake provided ample opportunity for egret photography experiments.

The classic picture of an egret in search of a meal was almost too easy.

The water was not quite still enough to get a perfect reflection….but I tried the shot anyway.

I got a little too close and the bird took off. I managed to take 4 pictures as it flew across the lake. This one is the best focused.  

The clip of another picture shows the flexing of the feathers at the end of the wing; the rest of the photo is unfocused or over exposed.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 9, 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.

5 Important Tips for Keeping Your Eyes Healthy - The tips come from the National Institute for Senior Health but are good for all ages. Start early to keep your eyes health for life!

Behold These Incredible Works Of Architecture Made Out Of Living Trees - I am not patient enough for a project like this but I’m glad that some people are!

How to Freeze Garden Vegetables and Fruits - Timely article. I am sure there will be CSA or deck garden bounty that I’ll not be able to eat immediately.

Want To Improve Your National Park Photography? Catch This Webcast from the Parks - I plan to watch these live classes in late August. I haven’t been to either Olympic or Mount Rainier National Parks so I’ll enjoy the scenery along with some new photography techniques.

Turnips, Kohlrabi, Radishes, and Other Odd Vegetables: Are They Our Key to Survival? - Getting produce from the CSA this summer has sharpened by awareness of these vegetables. Surprisingly the one I knew the least about before the CSA (kohlrabi) is now my favorite - and it even comes in several colors!

More crop per drop: Reducing water footprint of cultivated herbs - Hopefully this type of research is going on in the US too since water is becoming an increasing issue in many parts of the country.

Society bloomed with gentler personalities, more feminine faces: Technology boom 50,000 years ago correlated with less testosterone - Was the change relatively sudden or did it happen over many 1000s of years….and is the trend continuing?

Massive volcanic outbursts on Jupiter's moon Io: More common than thought? - Even as we learn more about exoplanets…there is still a lot to learn about our own solar system.

Get Ready For Monarch Migration - We don’t see many monarchs in the area near our house although they were quite plentiful 15 years ago. I miss them. The milkweed around the field near us is gone too - a victim of the ‘Round Up Ready’ farming done there. I hope there are places in Maryland where the butterflies find a safe haven.

Atlantic warming turbocharges Pacific trade winds - Another example of how the earth’s climate is a system that involves the whole world rather than something that occurs locally.

Walking at Josey Ranch Lake

Generally walking in Texas is a morning activity - before the hottest part of the day. The lake near the library in Carrollton TX is a popular and easy hike. The birds are accustomed to the walkers so it is a great place for photography. There were a few pigeons; it seems like almost all city parks has pigeons.

There was a Little Blue Heron that I saw both days I walked the loop. It appears to be a bird that likes to fish in isolation.

The great white egret likes to company of the ducks. Both days the bird was surveying the lake from about the same place and with the same company.

There was a pair of swans in the same group.

A juvenile swan was also nearby. Another walker commented that there had been 4 ‘ugly ducklings’ but this was the only one from this year’s nest to survive (the turtles in the lake are the probably predator for the very young swans). The one that is left is clearly large enough now to be in no danger from turtles. The juvenile will stay with the parents until the feathers are all white later in the summer.

In another pond we had seen two swans the first day. On the second day we saw only one and there were a lot of feathers on the duck-weed coated pond. We were relieved when we saw the second swan - obviously a little ruffled from a round with some predator (maybe a dog?).

There were several nutrias around the lake - an invasive rodent that most states are trying to eradicate. We saw three but another walker said there were probably 8 or 9 round the lake. They seemed to be as acclimated to people being around as the birds. I wondered why they had not been trapped and taken away.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 2, 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.

The Atmospheres of the Solar System - An infographic rom Andy Brunnig

Are Crows Smarter Than Children? - The study showcases crows - ‘the Einsteins of the bird world.’

Pesticide linked to three generations of disease: Methoxychlor causes epigenetic changes - This study shows that some of the effects of man-made environmental changes go far beyond the time horizon we normally study in ‘safety’ trials.

Nearly 750,000 U.S. Weapons Are Unaccounted For In Afghanistan - Bad news. Will we seek to ‘clean up’ better in future conflicts?

The Lunar Surface as you’ve Never Seen It Before - For some reason, my first impression was that it looked like layers of thick finger paint.

Opossums and Gardening: A Few Things to Know - It turns out that they are mostly helpful!

A Post-Antibiotic Future? - A scary prospect. There was also another study about long term heal trends that was also unsettling: Life expectancy gains threatened as more older Americans suffer from multiple medical conditions.

Simple Meal-Planning Strategies for the Plant-Based Kitchen - These strategies make sense in every kind of kitchen! The CSA had changed my shopping pattern somewhat this summer but I have always tried to only make one trip to the grocery store per week.

Landmark Buildings That Were Never Supposed to Last This Long - Tidbits of history through buildings.

Drought Is Parching the United States from Underground, Too - Looks like water is going to become more precious - both on the surface and in the aquifers.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. 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 July 2014. I’ve categorized them into 4 groups: CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Howard County Conservancy, travel and outdoors.

CSA

Kohlrabi is a new food for me this summer. It has been included in my CSA share twice and I’ve enjoyed it nutty flavor in stir fries. I may even buy it from the grocery store produce section after the CSA ends in the fall.

Fruit beety has become one of my favorite treats this summer - it is a healthy splurge to celebrate summer…..and a beautiful color to savor too.

Turnips are foods that I liked as snacks growing up but had eaten very infrequently for 30 years. I’m celebrating the re-discovery of how good a crunchy turnip can be.

Howard County Conservancy

Fairy Houses - The Howard Country Conservancy had an event for families to build fairy houses in the woods. I volunteered to help out with the crowd….and it was a lot of fun. The children were very creative with the natural materials of available!

Views in the Forest Shade - I celebrated the natural jewels in the shade on a summer day.

Bugs - Insects and spiders - oh my!

Travel

Travel purse - I found the perfect purse for travel at a thrift store: a pocket on the outside for my Kindle and boarding pass, good closure so nothing can fall out accidently. I am celebrating the bargain!

TSA Pre - I celebrate every time I get a boarding pass with TSA Pre; it is so much easier to go through security with shoes on and the laptop in the backpack.

Outdoors

Heron on the Lotus Pond - The second trip we may to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Garden in Washington DC - there was a Great Blue Heron that was so intent on fishing that there was plenty of time for pictures. The scene of bird and lotus were the celebration of the day.

Blooming sweet potato - Previous sweet potato plants have grown lots of foliage and potatoes….but this year the plant has blooms too!