3 Free eBooks – December 2015

Like last month – one of the ‘books’ I picked for December was one referenced in the Ancient Egypt course from Coursera that I completed back in November; the follow up reading spilled into December. It was a challenge not to pick a book that included botanical prints…I switched to birds this month but couldn’t resist picking an artist (Charles Demuth) that did a lot of plant paint!

Haskell, Barbara. Charles Demuth. New York: Whitney Museum of Art. 1987. Available from the Internet Archive here. The title of the painting that I am including in this post (partial) is “From the Kitchen Garden.” The topics of his paintings included other topics too….a snapshot of different perspectives of the US and Europe in the first thirds of the 1900s.

The British Museum. Mummy: The Inside Story. Available from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine here. The mummy in this case is Nesperennub, a priest who lived at Karnak (Egypt) in 800 BC. The site is a series of slides (with pictures and explanatory text) about the modern way that mummies are studied….not by unwrapping. One of the amulets found near the neck of this money was a wedjat eye. One from another mummy was included in the images and clipped a portion for this post. Unfortunately – this site was removed from the The British Museum’s site when it was reorganized so now it is only available via the Wayback Machine. There are two other online tours (Cleopatra and Egypt in the Old Kingdom) that can be found by clicking on the ‘Egypt’ link just above the ‘slide’ portion of the screen.

Keulemans, John Gerrard. Onze volgels in huis en tuin – Volume 1. Leyden: P.W.M. Trap. 1869. Available from Internet Archive here. Keulemans  (1942-1912) is a well-known bird illustrator and this is one of his earlier works – in his native Dutch. I was looking at it for the illustrations rather than the text. There are two other volumes available on the Internet Archive (volume 2 and volume 3) that I have yet to read…and I’m going to look at other books that might be online that he illustrated. According to Wikipedia, his total output includes over 4,000 published images – virtually all before 1915 so not in copyright.

Enjoy good visuals and good reads!

Learning Log – December 2015

November was a busy month – with plenty of learning opportunities.

Coursera. I completed the Ancient Egypt: A history in six objects course from Coursera in November. It was more intense than I had anticipated and help me appreciate how much we are still learning about Ancient Egypt. There are new technologies like DNA sequencing and CT scans that are being applied now. I have finished the reading for the course itself but still have some of the references on my ‘to read’ list.

We got a catalog for non-credit courses from our local community college a week or so ago. I thought I might find a course for the winter months in it but discovered that I am spoiled by the variety and depth of Coursera offerings. I’ll start another Coursera course in December probably…but I haven’t picked it yet.

Travel. In this case – the learning was not in traveling itself…but preparation for it. I am reading every book I can about Hawaii right now in anticipation of upcoming travel.

Schools. I had the opportunity to interact with second graders from several elementary schools in the county over the past month. It is surprising the variability in the schools. The size of the classes, the overall behavior of the children, and the engagement (or lack of engagement) of the chaperones were just some of the dimensions. I was interested in comparing the school my daughter went to almost 20 years ago for second grade with the group that came for a field trip this year; it was different but still ‘good’ in the sense that the children participated and enjoyed their field trip. I decided that it was the myriad of changes outside the school that made up for more of the difference than the school itself. One child had a video game device that the chaperone confiscated before we got very far into the hike…and then he proceeded to participate like everyone else. Learning for all students has a lot of possible paths…and that can be counterproductive sometimes.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 21, 2015

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.

Poland's Mysterious "Crooked Forest" Populated with 400 Bent Pine Trees – Trees are remarkably resilient. Whatever caused these trees to be bent near the base…and then continue growing upright…they are survivors!

Why do we still not know what’s inside the pyramids? – I usually notice stories about Ancient Egypt that come in on my newsfeeds but my awareness is even higher right now because of the Ancient Egypt course I am taking on Coursera.

6 Homemade Vegan Sauces and Condiments that are better than Store-bought – I’m trying the recipe for peanut sauce after I finish the store bought bottle I have in my refrigerator!

The digital revolution in higher education has already happened. No one noticed. – Another dimension of higher education not mentioned in this thoughtful piece is the continuing education that many post-career individuals seek. I recently looked at face to face classes offered in my area of Maryland and decided that the selection available from Coursera and other online providers was much greater (and the price was right too). Another case where the digital revolution in higher education has already happened.

Photography in the National Parks: Your Armchair Guide to Big Bend National Park – Part 2  - A continuation of an article I included in my October 31 gleanings….good info for planning a trip there.

Tangy and Tasty Fresh Cranberry Recipes – My ‘new’ recipe to try for Thanksgiving is the Cranberry-Carrot cake. I am not going to put icing on it….eat it more like muffins for Thanksgiving Day brunch. Don't forget Cranberry Orange Relish either! Wegmans recipe is here.

Move Over, Turkey: Meet the World’s Other Bald, Be-wattled Birds – Thinking of turkey this week….here are some other birds that have similar heads. They all look odd to me!

Field Drain Tile and the “Re-Eutrophication” of Lake Erie – Why the algal blooms have worsened in recent years after improving for the prior 15 years.

Elegant Greenhouse Photos Mimic the Ethereality of Oil Paintings – Hmm…the textured glass reminded me of a shower door. This might turn into a winter photography experiment!

Incan Mummy Genome Sequenced – The mitochondrial DNA analysis was the first completed and placed the boy in a very small subgroup – only 4 other known individuals. Other genetic analyses of the 500 year old mummy of a 7-year-old boy are ongoing.

3 Free eBooks – November 2015

So many good books to choose from…it was hard to pick just 3 – like it is every month. I’m having a hard time making progress on my stacks of physical books when there are so many beautiful eBooks that are freely available.

Linden, Jean Jules. Lindenia : iconographie des Orchidées . Gand (Belgium): Impr. F. Meyer-van Loo. 1885. Ten volumes are available on the Internet Archive here. What not to like about orchids….and more orchids!

Burke, Doreen Bolger, et al. In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1986. Available from the Internet Archive here. The Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s and 1880s pervaded so much of the way ‘home’ looked…and it is surprising how much the individual pieces still appeal even though the aggregation in many of those rooms would look overwhelming today. The gilded peacock feather motif (that I clipped) was used on a book binding.

The Griffith Institute. Discovering Tutankhamun in Color. The Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. 2015. Available from the Griffith Institute site here. The black and white photographs taken when the tomb was first opened in the 1920s have been colorized and many are available with annotations online. Click on the image to get an enlarge view. I’ve seen two different King Tut exhibits and still learned some new things from these photos! This site was one of the references from the Ancient Egypt course I am taking via Coursera.

Bonus!!! A fourth eBook for this month…also a reference from the Ancient Egypt class I am taking: Teeter, Emily (editor). Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization. Oriental Institute Museum Publications: The University of Chicago. 2011. Available here. Easy to read…and well illustrated. A lot has been added to our knowledge in this area in the past 20 years.

Learning Log – November 2015

October provide a variety of learning opportunities.

Two Coursera courses that I had worked on in September continued and completed. The Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and the Modern World course is the first of a series from University of Virginia. The first course was intense but worthwhile so I am watching for the next one to become available

Forests and Humans from University of Wisconsin-Madison was larger in scope that I had initially assumed. It became clear that to understand forests at all – one has to know something about the Earth systems that enable forests to exist – to thrive or decline. The mix of lecture, interviews, and readings was well done.

I’ve completed the first week of a new course: Ancient Egypt: A history in six objects from University of Manchester. The organization of the core material is very good…and that makes the references (there are quite a few very good ones they provide) easier to use.

Change always brings opportunity for learning. There were two instances that seemed more significant this past month:

The annual enrollment for health insurance. There are always a few changes that require study and choices have to be made. The package is as big as a small book!

I decided to experiment making Zentangle patterns on soft drink bottles to decide if I could transfer what I did on flat tiles to a curved surface (and maybe follow through to make the patterns on spherical balls for our Christmas tree). It was a learning experience…enjoyable but not enough for me to forge ahead with the higher cost project.

Travel learning is somewhat like the opportunities change brings: we tend to do different things when we travel away from home. Our fall foliage trip was my first Star Party so everything was new…and something I want to do again. The places we went in West Virginia were repeats but different enough to be learning experiences too; for example – there could have been puff balls at Beartown when we were there in 2001 but I would not have recognized them!

Sometimes a ‘travel’ type experience happens close to home too. I finally got a tour of the farmhouse at Mt. Pleasant farm…and learned about how the house had been enlarged around the original long cabin. The continuity of a family living there and modifying the house to meet their needs over the years was more interesting than many of the houses of wealthier people I’ve toured over the years.

Learning Log – October 2015

The fall is the time of year still feels like the beginning of the schools year – a time to start learning something new – even though I have been out of school for more than 30 years! The fall is no exception.

Coursera is a mainstay for me although I’ve made a rule for myself to never have more than two courses going concurrently. Right now, I’m working on week 5 of 6 in a Meditation course (University of Virginia). The material is so rich that I find myself overwhelmed at times; it takes work to get through all the material for week in 7 days! One way to evaluate a course is to ask myself what I do differently after taking the course. For this one, the change is happening while I am taking the course: a daily meditation practice.

I finished the first week of the Forests course (University of Wisconsin-Madison) on the very last day of September. There are three more weeks to go. It has gotten off to a good start. The instructor has included a lot of context around the topic of forests – like why we have seasons, wind and current patterns, etc. I’m looking forward to the rest of the course.

About the time I finish up the Meditation and Forests courses, a new one on Ancient Egypt will start near the end of October.

Audio Book. I checked out Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness for Begginners from my local library (online) to listen to in conjuction with the Coursera course on Meditation. About half of it was guided meditation practice which meshed well with the practices from the Coursera course.

Creative Live was the source for several classes in September. My husband purchased The Art of Flower Photography and we watched the entire thing once; we’ll probably review some modules again after we have done some more experimenting. We ordered a white umbrella to diffuse to bright light on outdoor flowers and I made a baffle out of a white plastic shopping bag to make a white background for a flower.

I also watched some of the Creative Life Photo Week. I learned just enough to be dangerous from a 1.5 hour module on Photoshop Elements!

Learning by doing. September was a month to refresh myself on the general content of hikes with elementary school aged field trips since the fall hikes peak in October. The first one was on Oct. 1 – and it rained for most of the hike with first graders. It was an experience that the students, chaperones, and volunteer naturalists (like me) will remember – mostly positive. I think I learn something new on every hike I do with children.

Both my husband and I are renewing our knowledge of car camping. Years ago we camped to save money as we traveled. Now we are camping as part of his astronomy hobby – so we can stay out all night at astronomy gatherings but still be comfortable for when we are not observing. We had sold or given away all our gear so are busy figuring out what would work best for us now --- and our first nights out will be in October.