Ten Days of Little Celebrations – November 2015

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. Here are my top 10 for November 2015.

Like October several celebrations involved the volunteering I do with the Howard County Conservancy. There were several types of volunteering this month and it was a grand finale to the season for me:

Fall hikes for 2^nd graders. This is the last season for the soil hike for 2^nd graders because of curriculum changes. I celebrated every hike that I did because the hike is such a favorite with the children and they participate so enthusiastically – getting their hands dirty learning about soil.

Belmont Colonial Holiday Celebration. The event is the beginning of the season for me and it gets me in the mood to decorate…to cook…to enjoy the people I am with.

Mailing Party. The ‘party’ to stuff envelopes with the annual accomplishments and request donations for the Howard County Conservancy is a ‘once a year’ volunteer event. We all are work madly for 3+ hours…but there is a lot of laughter and sharing of stories while we work. This time we took a break for a delicious Italian food lunch and then got back to work to finish everything. I celebrated the comradery and good food and getting it done!

I celebrated two ‘close to home places’ in November too:

Conowingo. Seeing a Bald Eagle is always a celebration. They have made quite a comeback in the 30 years we’ve been on the east coast. I remember vividly the first time I saw one in the wild – at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore of Maryland…in 1990. Now we go to Conowingo and consistently see many of them fishing in the river there.

Brookside Gardens Conservatory. There is something special about every visit to Brookside. This time the highlight was seeing how they clean the glass top of the conservatory! I celebrate that we have a place like Brookside Gardens in our area.

And there were things at home that were good too:

A cold autumn day at home. Sometimes after being out and about almost every day – I celebrate a day at home. This month it came on a very cold day and I celebrated that I could stay indoors! There will be many more cold days soon but in November they are still ‘new.’

Wind blowing the leaves off the lawn. I had to rake quite a few of the leaves on our lawn but some of them were carried by the wind into the forest where they will decompose and nourish the forest. Hurray for the raking effect of the wind!

And 3 more celebrations to round out the 10 for November:

The Martian. I celebrated a going to a theater…and seeing a good movie!

No cavities. I had a dental checkup this month and I thought for sure I had a cavity on one of my front teeth…but it was only a stain! They polished the stain off….and I celebrated all the way home.

Getting things done on my list. Sometimes I move items from one day to next….then I have a day that everything gets done…and I celebrate that discipline comes to the fore!

November at the Brookside Gardens Conservatory – Part 2

The Brookside Gardens Conservatory offered a number of opportunities for thematic photography when we walked around its paths earlier this week. Yesterday I posted about the mums and the reds/oranges that I missed in those flowers but found in others. Today the themes are focused on light and curves. There was a leaf that seemed to glow in a spotlight. I’m not sure which magnification I like the best. The higher magnification almost looks like it is on fire!

The corner of the conservatory seemed crowded but there was one plant that found a way to shine in the jumble.

And what about this ‘light at the end of tunnel!

Shifting to curves….the variegated crotons were crowded together – I like the curves of their leaves and the veins too.

The cycads are all curves….from the fibrous centers to the stubby arms of the trunk.

The fiddleheads are nestled in center of this large fern…their wavy curves still tightly coiled.

The bromeliad is orderly curves…except for the green one in the foreground that seems to be going in a different direction!

Succulents are stuffed curves. This one has a little point at the end of each leaf (or is it a stem). Look at the orientation of those points toward the center of the plant. They could be a model for aliens conversing.

Papyrus – river rocks – ripples of water…lots of curves.

November at the Brookside Gardens Conservatory - Part 1

Last week when we went to see the mum display in the Brookside Gardens Conservatory, the conservatory was closed because they were cleaning off the white coating on the glass roof. Yesterday – we discovered that they had already closed the south conservatory to set up for the miniature train exhibit that will be there after Thanksgiving until just after the beginning of 2017. The north conservatory was open and there were lots of mums.

The main colors were pink and yellow. I noticed the different petal shapes: think with splits at the end that curled in different directions,

Shallow scoops forming a tight ball,

Deeper scoops forming a flower with more space and deeper color in the center,

And huge round balls of petals that never seems to unfurl completely (these I associate with football mums that were popular when I was in high school).

As we walked outside – there was a pot of mums in the bright sunlight that might have come from the south conservatory. Hopefully the weather will be mild enough for them to complete their bloom cycle outdoors.

I was surprised there were not more colors of mums this year. I missed the oranges and reds so couldn’t resist taking pictures of other flowers in the conservatory to fill the color void.

 

 

Even the trimming one of the conservatory gardeners was making included red!

Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy - August 2015

We made a second trek to the see the butterfly exhibit at the Brookside Gardens conservatory - a great outing for a guest in town for the weekend.

Often the contrasting colors of the flowers and the butterflies prompts me to take a picture.

Sometimes a tree trunk seems to be a favorite resting place for butterflies. One had at least 6 on it as I walked by.

I wondered how this morpho was still flying. Parts of both wings are missing.

There were several that hung gracefully upside down on their flowers.

Others fluttered to keep their place or move slightly to the next flower. Sometimes the slightly different motion of the two parts of the wing can be detected.

Some butterflies are more colorful on the underside.

When butterflies perch close to each other - resting - I often wonder if they are aware of each other.

Last but not least….I am always on the lookout for Monarchs. I wish we had them in our neighborhood like we did 20 years ago…but now I seem them most often in exhibits like this one.

Brookside Gardens Walk

When we went to Brookside Gardens last weekend, the parking lot at the conservatory was already full just after 9 AM…so we parked in the Nature Center lot. I will be glad when the main lot is finished but the estimate now is late fall or even into winter. We walked over the boardwalk that traverses the woodland and stream between the Nature Center and Conservatory.

Hibiscuses are blooming where the boardwalk joins the Brookside path.

Instead  of turning toward the Conservatory - we walked toward the Tea House with woodlands on the left

And the renovated ponds on the right. A dove was getting a drink from the rocks where the overflow water from the ponds runs off.

We walked to the far end of the gardens and out the gate toward the larger pond in Wheaton Park in search of dragonflies. We saw the insects but they were not sitting on anything long enough for photography. I liked the islands of vegetation in the pond…and their reflections.

Occasionally there were leaves already changing color. It’s a little early for that but it is not uncommon to see colors like this pop out of the greenery.

Back in Brookside Gardens we saw a toad crossing the path

And pink lilies like my parents have in their garden in Texas. These are near the visitor center and there were more in the woods seen from the path between the visitor center and conservatory.

The Wings of Fancy exhibit is inside the conservatory but there were a lot of active butterflies in the gardens. This tiger swallowtail is reaching way down into a petunia.

Some flowers were very popular. Even the mothers that often look rather drab - are photogenic with a pink, yellow, and green background.

The most butterflies I got in a single picture was three!

Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy - July 2015

Brookside Gardens has a live butterfly and caterpillar exhibit in their conservatory running from July 1 to October 25. We tried to go last Saturday but it was too crowded; parking is very limited because of ongoing construction of the lot associated with the visitor’s center. Sunday was better; we arrived at 9:30 AM when there was still plenty of parking and took a look at the outdoor gardens before the exhibit opened at 10.

The exhibit was warm and humid - wonderful for butterflies and only a little uncomfortable for humans. I was glad the space was not overly crowded. My husband and I managed 45 minutes in the sauna like conditions!

There were lots of butterflies to photograph and we made several rounds spotting butterflies that were feeding or resting at every turn. I challenged myself to try capturing butterflies in different poses than the usual wings-spread/from-the-top view.

The patterning on the underside and the intricacy of the head parts show up better in many of these views.

Sometimes a bit of structural color shows up that wasn’t noticeable before…like the bit of blue along the lower edge of the wings (below).

Sometimes it is not clear how they are balanced on the plant…and I’m always surprised when they look ‘hairy.’

I was trying to capture butterflies but noticed that this plant looks a lot like a fiber optic light! The butterfly seems so precariously perched but it was stable enough feed on the flower.

Many of the butterflies looked battered but could still fly effectively and continue to feed.

The one with the pale green area and darker green iridescence might be my favorite for this year.

The large morph butterflies are difficult to catch with their wings open. This one feeding on watermelon had lost part of one wing so the blue color of the other wing was revealed. I saw several with wings like this - and they were still flying!

A clear winged butterfly sat on an elephant ear leaf…and sipped at a water droplet.

Brookside Gardens in June 2015 - Part 2

The small animals on or near plants are sometimes the challenge I choose for photography. The walk around Brookside Gardens resulted in a few worth sharing:

The spider on the yucca flower

A damselfly that must have been tired since it stayed put for such a long time. It is an ebony jewelwing!

A mourning dove enjoying the summer sunshine in the garden

Bees at the hollyhocks. I always associate hollyhocks with a great aunt’s house. She always had them planted around the side steps to her house.

A bee on a hydrangea. Brookside has quite a variety of hydrangeas these days and this type seemed the most popular with the bees the day I was there.

Brookside Gardens in June 2015 - Part 1

Brookside Gardens is blooming all over! The renovation to the ponds that had so much of the garden fenced off is open and green. The drainage areas are much improved and many of the bridges were replaced too.

I found myself doing some photographic experiments as I wondered through the garden - a red fire hydrant with white hydrangeas (1) and one yellow leave among so many green ones (13). There were lots of opportunities for looking closely at flowers (2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 14), capturing the range of colors for cone flowers (3,6, 9), and remembering caster beans in gardens during my childhood prompted by seeing the plants at Brookside this year ( 8). I couldn’t resist a photograph of the cycad (12) in the conservatory either; I notice the plant every time I walk into the conservatory!

Parks and Gardens Day Trips

I am enjoying day trips to parks and gardens this spring - both old favorites and new ones. The places on my old favorites list are below - with the ones I’ve done in past few months in italics (does not mean that I might not see them again soon!):

Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum

Brookside Nature Center

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

Longwood Gardens

National Arboretum

US Botanic Garden

Patapsco Valley State Park

There are new ones on my list too. I’ve started putting pink post-it notes around the calendar on the refrigerator when I read about new places I want to see. The ones in italics on the list below are the two we’ve done already recently (and I want to do both of them again):

Adkins Arboretum

Conowingo Dam and Susquehanna State Park

Middle Patuxent Environmental Area

Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area

I’m sure I’ll be adding to the 'new' list soon after buying Barbara Glickman’s new book: Maryland’s Public Gardens & Parks yesterday at the annual Master Naturalist conference!

Brookside Tulips - 2015

Photographing tulips is something I want to do at least once every spring. For this spring it happened last week at Brookside Gardens on a bright sunny day.

I photography them from just about every angle….from the side

And overhead.

There were pots of them on pillars in a pool

And beds that were almost all the same color. The single one that is different always catches the eye.

One bed had flowers that were different heights….red and white on tall stalks and pink closer to the ground.

Some tulips have several layers of petals rather than the classic single ground of petals.

The green - white - pink colors combination is always one of my favorites.

The all seem to shout: Spring is Here!

Zooming - April 2015

There were so many zoomed images to choose from this month…and it is only the 16th! I couldn’t resist a clip from one of the Zentangles to include with the brilliant spring color of maple flowers (my back yard) and skunk cabbage (Brookside Gardens) early in the month.

Brookside Gardens is full of photography opportunities in April. Some is old growth like evergreen ferns and dried flowers from last summer. Other things are the harbingers of spring - bulbs and witch hazel blooming. There are more birds around too.

The rest of the images are from our loop trip from Maryland down to North Carolina to visit wild life refuges. I’ll be posting more images in the next few weeks. The images below are from the barrier islands - lots of beaches…pines...shore birds…turtles.

And then we crossed the sound to the wetlands. The colorful tile (rightmost clip below) is from the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center. We saw otters, spiders, mushrooms, fiddleheads, maple samaras, vultures (turkey and black), and an alligator! There was a formal gardens too (camellias, daffodils, statuary)!

Brookside Gardens Walk About

I’ve already posted about the birds and the bulbs I photographed in my walk around Brookside Gardens the first weekend of April. Today I’m showcasing my favorite images that didn’t fit in those previous categories.

On the boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center I noticed a recently cut stump. The rings were interesting because the tree cross section was not round. Tree cookies from this tree would be very different from the ones we typically use for field trips with elementary schools. The rings in this stump would show up wonderfully with a little sanding.

A little further along the boardwalk - and the reason I had gone to the boardwalk to begin with - were the skunk cabbages. They are past the purple and green bloom stage and are all around the bald cypress with its knees. Both tree and cabbage like wet soil.

As I walked back toward the gardens I noticed a dried blossom from last summer catching the light and marveled that it had survived the ravages of winter so well.

There were several early magnolias beginning to bloom. At this stage - the fuzzy coverings are almost as interesting as the flowers!

The pink saucer magnolia buds frequently seem to be damaged by cold weather…but these battered buds have an abstract appeal.

I tried a background experience with the Lenten roses against a rock wall.

The witch hazel is still colorful but past prime.

There were three nests in the stand of river birch - two for birds and one a squirrel. I wondered if they birds’ nests were being built or from last year. Both of them seemed to have colorful (man-made) fibers woven into their structure.

These pine cones were probably blown from the nearby pines with the recent breezes since they don’t appear trampled.

Brookside Gardens in April - a great place for a photographic walk about. 

Brookside Gardens - Early Spring Bulbs

My walk around Brookside Gardens last weekend was a great time for early spring bulb photography.  The daffodils dominated with different configurations of yellow and white…big and small. Miniature irises were in bloom too. It seems like there are fewer hyacinths every year; I’m not sure why. The tulips were up but there were no buds showing; they will be worth another trip to Brookside a few weeks from now. Enjoy the early spring bulbs slide show!

Brookside Gardens Birds

My walk around Brookside Gardens last weekend offered more than the usual opportunities to photograph birds. The day was chilly and a little breezy….but full of sun and an improvement over prior days. The birds were active.

The robins were the easiest to photograph because of their numbers and their interest in searching through leaves and grass for edibles. It was possible to get close enough for the camera zoom to do the rest. This bird had just stopped his searching temporarily to survey the surroundings…eyeing me with suspicion.

The cardinal was singing a spring song in the tulip poplar. I appreciated my monopod for this shot - and that the breeze paused momentarily.

This mourning dove was walking around the bed of sprouting bulbs looking for nesting material. In the instant after this picture was taken, the bird flew away with the piece of straw in its beak.

There were lots of these black birds (in the trees, in the bushes, on the grass) but I haven’t quite identified them. The tail seems short for a common grackle. They eye is yellow so that rules out a cowbird or starling…and there is not red shoulder patch for it to be a red winged blackbird. Hmmm.

Brookside Gardens Early Spring - March 2015

Last weekend was a pretty cold to be walking around Brookside Gardens but I did notice some harbingers of spring.

The witch hazel is the first tree to show colors in the spring. Brookside has yellow and red specimens. The color comes in the form of festive streamers around the red center of the flower.

There were a few skunk cabbage blooms. The area was thick with the plants last spring so I knew where to look off the boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center. Next time I go - early next week probably - I’ll probably see a lot more of these plants. This is the first year I’ve thought to look for them early enough to see them emerge from the ground.

Of course there are buds and new cones everywhere…the two below were so large I didn’t need the loupe!

Brookside Gardens Conservatory - March 2015

It was cold yesterday but the sun was out and we decided to walk around Brookside Gardens anyway. I’ll post about the few outdoors items of interest we found later this week. Today - I’m focused on the lush vegetation of the Conservatories. We were surrounded by color in the green house and it was pleasantly warm.

Now that I have noticed the cycads at the entrance - I check on them at the beginning of my walking around. The cocoa tree has been moved where it is easier to see from the walkway too.

I was using my monopod for my camera and it helped me get the best picture I’ve ever taken of one of the red pompom flowers.

The star fruit on the tree near one corner was the largest I’ve even seen - and the yellow rimmed with green was appealing. It is an improbable looking fruit.

Enjoy the color from the Brookside conservatory to start the work week!