Master Naturalist Training - Week 3

River Birch

White Birch

This week was the third of eight days of training to become a Master Naturalist in Maryland. The forecast was for rain all day but it held off long enough for us to take two short hikes - one for each of the topics for the day: Botany and Mammals. We tromped through snow to look at buds, bark and dry plants. I managed to get some good close ups of bark. How many of these would you recognize: river birch (peeling bark), white birch (white with dark striations), dogwood (blocky bark…but the buds are easier for me to use for identification), and tulip poplar (complete with lichen growing beneath the furrows? Can you guess what the hairy vine is growing up this tulip poplar trunk?

Dogwood

Tulip poplar (lichen)

Tulip poplar (poison ivy)

The second hike was for mammals which was harder for several reasons: mammals are very good at hiding, it was wet (snow melt and sprinkles), the freeze thaw cycle had distorted the tracks even though we were able to recognize some deer tracks, and the one non-deer scat we found was dissolving in a puddle of melt water (although it did include hair so was from a carnivore). I managed to get snow over the top of my boots a couple of times; I took the boots off to let them dry out along with my socks while we finished up the class.

Now that I’ve had those two short hikes I am looking forward to the great thaw and run off….and a good round of picture taking of winter trees for shape and bark….may some buds before they pop open (or right after). I’m keen to create a tree tour of the Belmont location (where our class is held) as my project associated with the master naturalist training.

Like the previous sessions - the Wednesday class day dodged the hazardous weather. Yesterday was very snowy in Maryland!

Previous posts: Week 1, Week 2

Snow Day - February 2015

It is not spring yet at all here in Maryland. The melt we had yesterday has been refrozen and more snow is falling today. We are enjoying a snow day along with all the children in the neighborhood! Here’s the plan:

• Make our favorite kind of snow ice cream: coconut!  I’ll be sure to collect new snow rather than the snow that is icy with the freeze thaw of the past week. I’ll make a batch to have after lunch (allowing time for new snow to accumulate. My usual recipe includes half-n-half but I only have almond milk in the house. I do have real coconut which should help with consistency. In summary - the ingredients will be: snow, almond milk, stevia, coconut, vanilla, coconut flavoring, and food coloring. The food coloring is the indicator that the mixer has blending everything thoroughly.
• Fire in the fireplace. My husband says it will be the last fire of the season. To optimistic? Maybe - but it will be a nice interlude during the day. Maybe will watch a movie too.
• Take magnified snowflake pictures. I did more pictures last winter than I have this year and have been frustrated with the attempts. The flakes have been too fluffy or too small…or it’s been too windy and cold. The forecast if for snow all day long today so there will be lots of opportunity.
• Catchup on class reading and projects. I have another week of Master Naturalist class work to internalize after yesterday. After being in class all day long - I never feel up to thinking about it during the evening afterwards.
• Stay warm. Since it is going to snow all day long - we have the perfect excuse to put off shoveling the driveway until tomorrow morning. I’ll make soup for lunch!
• Stay warm. Since it is going to snow all day long - we have the perfect excuse to put off shoveling the driveway until tomorrow morning. I’ll make soup for lunch!Snow on sycamore seed

Zentangle ® - February 2015

The Beginners Zentangle class (posted about here early in February) was prolonged by 2 snow days so took 6 weeks to complete rather than the planned 4. I started daily tangling after the first class back in January - both for the Zen and the tangle benefits. The daily process when I first started was to:

• Try 2-4 new tangles per day (generally from the Tangle Pattern site)
• Create the tile in the early morning quiet at the kitchen table
• Pick the patterns the night before

When I travelled to Dallas, I taught my mother about Zentangle (realizing how skilled the CZT class instructor was…Zentangle is not difficult but getting started is a change from the norm for most of us). Fortunately, my mother was receptive and is now enjoying Zentangles on her own.

By the end of the month, my personal process has been tweaked in several ways:

• Pick at least 1 new pattern per day
• Create the tile in the early morning quiet in my office where I can look at the pattern instructions on my computer screen and see the woods through the window (and sometimes birds too).
• If I feel stressed or off-center during the day - take time out to create another tile
• Try different tile material (so far I have tried paper coasters, card stock, heavy paper backing to paper pads….the coasters absorb the ink almost too easily). I also have experimented with different sizes - some that were leftover from cutting 3.5” squares…other I simply used material that were already close to the traditional size (the coasters were 4” squares)
• Try different pens. I bought some other sizes of the Micron 01 pen I used originally. The finer tip works better on the paper coasters.
• Work out simple ways to draw patterns. For example the pattern below was inspired by a drawing in a book about Assyrian carvings. It took me several tries to find the easiest pattern.

So - without further ado.....the my February Zentangles!

My plan now is to do a post each month that will include my Zentangle creations and at least one pattern created during the month. It’s a journey instead of a destination!

--

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Sustainability - Planting Trees

I am thinking about spring even though it is still a bit too cold to be out planting things just yet. Today I thought about trees rather than the chaos garden or the deck garden. Trees are a lot bigger and long lived too. Trees make a home more sustainable by

• Providing shade in the summer (cooling) and bright sunlight in the winter (warming)
• Soaking up rain - slowing down the runoff into nearby stream or gutters
• Providing nesting places for birds and squirrels…food for pollinators and their larvae…and sometimes food for humans too

The oak tree to the east of our house has grown tremendously in the 20 years we’ve lived here and now shades the front of the house almost completely in the summer. In the winter, the leaves are gone and we get the sun warming the front rooms during winter. We like it - and our cats seem to migrate to the patches of sunlight on winter mornings.

On the southwest side of the house a sycamore has gotten tall enough to shade the dining room and one side of master bedroom in the summer ---- and let the sunlight reach the house through its bare branches in the winter. Ideal placement!

So - in keeping with thinking about gardens and plantings - do I want another tree in the yard? I am concerned that the deer population in our area is so overwhelming that they are eating everything. How would a young tree survive? I’ve convinced myself that we’ll not add any trees in the near term. I’m grateful that the lowest branches of the trees we have are out of deer reach!  I would like to plant some fruit trees....and beging the process of dramatically reducing the grassy part of the lawn...but that is for some future year.

Winter Day

On Saturday it was cold - but it was sunny, the snow was melting and there were robins on the roof of our deck taking sips of the melt from the gutter and shingles. It seemed like spring was on the way.

On Sunday, we were definitely a winter day and worse than most of our winter so far because it was more ice than snow. I decided to make the best of the return to winter by attempting some snow flake photography. The flakes were small - probably formed at lower temperature.

I used my loupe and took some pictures. Many of the flakes broke as they landed on the red glass plate (I had left it outside to cool down so they did not melt at all).

As the day proceeded the snow stopped and it rained instead…which led to ice buildup on all horizontal surfaces except for the birdbath (which is heated). 

The rain stayed liquid enough to wash away the salt that had been applied to our street proactively - and it froze before evening. The ice was not as smooth as an ice rink…but still very slippery. It’s an icy start to the work week. I am glad I don’t have to leave home!

Coursera - March 2015

Finally - I have had enough willpower to cut back on Coursera courses. There is only one on my plate for March and it won’t start until tomorrow: Australian Literature. It will be departure from the science oriented content of previous months and a good contrast from the Master Naturalist class and reading that will be a huge focus for me during March and into April.

The Master Naturalist class is motivating my reduction in Coursera courses. The first two day long classes were intense and there is every indication that the remaining 6 will be similar. The Coursera courses have helped prepare me for the intensity in a number of ways:

• I updated my note taking skills with the online courses. Typically - I would enter my notes directly into the digital chart sets if they were provided or into a MS WORD file (on the same PC I watche the videos on). In the Master Naturalist class I am back to handwritten notes (but I transcribe them into a MS WORD file as soon as possible since my handwriting is not legible to me after a few days).
• The content of the Master Naturalist class is somewhat familiar to me since the Coursera courses have updated what I learned in college over 35 years ago. It is easier to learn the new pieces when I already know some things about the topic.
• I am a better student now because the classes are my choice rather than a required class to get a degree that is required for a career. I spend whatever time I need to learn what I want to learn from the material. Coursera has gotten me used to the idea of enjoying classes for the joy of learning something new…and it is carrying over to the Master Naturalist class.

On the other hand - there are some aspects of Coursera that do not carry over to the Master Naturalist class. I’m a little spoiled.

• I can’t listen to lectures whenever I want. The Master Naturalist class is on Wednesdays and I have to get to the location before the start time….stay all day…drive home. It is the longest structured time of my whole week!
• There is a test at the end that is required to move from a Master Naturalist trainee to a Master Naturalist intern. The Coursera courses have tests too - but I don’t generally take them. At least the Master Naturalist scheme takes into account the aversion to tests: the test is take home and open book!

All in all - I am anticipating that this little break from Coursera course load will be good…I’ll sign up for more courses that begin in May!

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 28, 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.

Pollinator Partnership Planting Guides - Planning a garden? How about giving the pollinators in your area a boost too? This site has a planting guide for ‘ecoregions’ in the US - accessed by entering your zipcode!

A Wet and Wild look Inside the 'Mushroom Houses' Of a Fungi Farm - Ever wonder how mushrooms you buy in the grocery store are grown? This post includes a short video. If we had household gardener robots - would you grow mushrooms as well as vegetables?

The Surprising, Depressing Reason Why City-Dwelling Robins Sing at Night - When I saw the picture at the front of this post, my first thought was “that’s not a robin.” But it is - a European robin. I was thinking of the North American variety. It is disturbing that our lights are messing up circadian rhythms - our own and other organisms.

What is the oldest city in the world? - It is surprisingly controversial. How many of the possibilities in the article have your heard about before?

Deconstructing mental illness through ultradian rhythms - A study that suggests that regular meals and early bedtimes may lead to a better life and prevent the onset of mental illness. The study discovered a new dopamine-based rhythm generator. The full paper is available here.

Retracing the roots of fungal symbioses - Mycorrhizal fungi live on the roots of host plants where they exchange sugars that plants produce for mineral nutrients that fungi absorb from the soil. It is hard to visualize - and often not well understood. Now genomics is being applied. Climate change will put whole new stresses on symbiotic relationships. I hope the knowledge gained from this type of research will help us maintain or increase food production as the environment changes.

Liquid Biopsy - Fast DNA-sequencing machines are leading to simple blood tests for cancer - There are some technologies that are so appealing…that you wish they were already available. But it is not easy. So far - the work is for specific types of cancers. The ability to do faster DNA sequencing is improving the prospects.

Ocean circulation change: Sea level spiked for two years along Northeastern North America - Climate change and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)…most of the models predict a weakening of the AMOC over the 21st century and it appears that there was changed in the 2009-2010 time frame.

Computational Anthropology Reveals How the Most Important People in History Vary by Culture - This study looked at articles about significant people in the English, German, Chinese and Japanese language versions of Wikipedia as a data source.

These Brilliantly Colored Bolivian Buildings Look Like Alien Spaceships - Wow! Almost too much color…but certainly different than the majority of buidlings.

Master Naturalist Training - Week 2

This week was the second of eight days of training to become a Master Naturalist in Maryland. Like last week, the day was sandwiched between snow days; the roads were clear but snow was still piled up and salt was being sprinkled on walkways. We keep saying that hikes are part of the training days but it hasn’t been possible so far. I took a few pictures in the morning as I walked into the classroom building at Belmont. The cypress stands at the edge of the ice covered pond (above); we noticed the knees on a hike down to the pond last spring. A pine provides some contrast to the bare trees and white ground looking over the hill toward the forest. Since the class, another 3 inches of snow has fallen. The forecast does appear to be warming - but will it all be melted by next Wednesday?

My preparation for the second class included reading the Science of Science section of the notebooks - which was provided to us during the first class….and I did the web based pre-reading as I had done before. The area I spent the most time looking at was web-based: Criticalthinking.org - I read the complementary articles.

When I got to class - the topic for the morning was focused on local activism toward sustainability using Bethesda Green as an example. The presentation then small group collaboration on specifics for our county was invigorating. Now I’m dangerous and thinking about what to do next to further sustainability. I am already consciously making changes in the way I live but it is clear that there are challenges that cannot be addressed by individuals acting alone. Even some well-intentioned actions at an institutional level can go awry; we heard examples of a university cafeteria providing compostable to go cartons….and then not providing a bin for compostables (so they were treated as trash); a corporation having recycle bins in offices but the maintenance people emptying everything into the trash as they cleaned the offices at night.

In the afternoon - we looked more closely at rocks in our area. At mid-afternoon we were looking at bins of rocks and trying to identify them. We have a field trip in late March which will take us through areas where we should see many of the rocks along the trail! I bought the Maryland’s Geology by Martin F. Schmidt, Jr. (our instructor) to refresh my memory before the hike.

The second class was an intense and the first. I am very glad that the class days are a week apart. This is the type material that could not be absorbed in back to back days!

Backyard View - February 2015

Our backyard has been snowy for most of the month. It wasn’t that we got a tremendous amount of snow - just that it lingered for a long time because temperatures never got warm enough to melt it completely. A few times the grass began to show a little.

There were tracks through the snow too - mostly deer. They have a route between the houses and through our backyard to the forest. Sometimes they linger in the yard - look around. There is not enough for them to eat anywhere right now. The squirrels are active on sunny days. They are enjoying their store of acorns. So far they have not dumped any of the bird seed we have on the deck. The birds make their rounds to our water (heated bird bath) and seed several times a day: cardinals, titmice, chickadees, blue jays and doves. The crows are around too but not on the deck.

I’ll start weekly pictures of the backyard in March since I anticipate quite a lot of changes during the month!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - February 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. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations’ - as had been the usual for the past few months. Here are my top 10 for February 2015.

Zentangle® Class - There were 4 classes in the course and I got to three of them; there were 2 snow days so the class extended across 6 weeks rather than the 4 planned. And now I am hooked on Zentangles and do at least one each day because they make the day better.

A day in the 70s - I celebrated the warm days in Texas - knowing there would be none that warm in Maryland in February.

Snow - I do enjoy snow scenes (in Maryland) as long as I don’t have to drive until the roads are treated and plowed. It has been so cold that the snow has lingered for most of the month and I’ve enjoyed feeding the birds and watching it slowly melt in the sunshine.

Snowed in at home - There have been a few days when it was snowing hard enough that we didn’t get out at all --- and I celebrated the days warm at home. We had plenty of good food, a fire in the fireplace, and a movie to watch.

Piles of books - I ordered over 100 books via paperbackswap to use up most of my credits before mid-February and now I am savoring the piles. It is a lot like Christmas when they arrive in the mail and then I have lots to choose from for winter reading. Every time I see the stack - I celebrate all over again. I’ve read 6 so far so the pile will be around for a while.

Carrot cake - I couldn’t resist buying two slices in my Mother’s grocery store….and celebrated that they didn’t skimp on the spices. It was good carrot cake.

Sizzling apple pie - One of the Mexican food places I went to in Dallas served apple pie on a hot skillet with sizzling syrup and topped with cinnamon ice cream. Yum! It becomes my favorite place for dessert in Dallas.

Birds at Josey Ranch Lake - It is hard not to be joyous at the sight of birds and people in the park.

Beginning of Master Naturalist training - I celebrate the content - the intensity - the instructors - the students. Everything was even better than I anticipated….and I did more follow up studying than I thought I would do too.

Sustainability - Electronics

Electronics are so integrated with modern life - but are they sustainable? Cell phones, cameras, computers, tablets, eReaders, Game consoles, printers, televisions, DVDs, GPS devices….the list is long.

The life cycle of these devices can be relatively short. For a cell phone it is a few years at best if the latest functionality is desired. Sometimes the products are not very durable either: my sister cracked the display screen on her camera, my laptop has a piece of trim that is loose (I taped it down). We might continue to use the devices for a little longer but not indefinitely. They are inexpensive enough to replace and upgrade to current hardware/software at the same time.

I am more conscious of delaying that new purchase for as long as I can…and know where I will take the old device for recycling. Electronics are made of valuable (and sometimes toxic) components so should always be recycled rather than trashed….after wiping the memory/storage for security reasons.

In Maryland - Best Buy is the most convenient place for recycling electronics for me.

So back to the beginning question: Are electronic sustainable? I’m deciding that I will answer ‘yes’ as long as I can recycle the old products. 

Josey Ranch Lake - February 2015

In my last family visit to Carrollton TX, I discovered that the round trip walk to Josey Ranch Lake was less than 2 miles so I did the walk several times and photographed birds each time. It turns out that during the winter quite a few people feed the birds so there are gatherings of birds near the boardwalk area and at the reed end of the lake where someone always seems to be offering food to the birds (sometimes the nutria too - although I am sure it is not a good idea to encourage an invasive species).

The well-mannered ducks and swans seem to feed with a fair amount of graceful sharing of the bounty. The coots (small black birds on the water with pointed beaks) can get contentious with each other.

If the ring billed gulls show up there are all kinds of acrobatics. They tend catch the food mid-air or just as it hits the water. The coots are the only ones that seem to challenge them! In the incident I saw - the gull always won.

I noted two ducks that I had not seen in the summer and, when I looked them up on allaboutbirds.org they are ducks that winter in Texas…traveling north when it gets warmer in the summer: the lesser scaup

And northern shoveler.

It is a lot easier to identify birds if I manage to take a good picture! My favorite picture from all three times is this last one - the swan with its wings frothed.

Master Naturalist Training - Week 1

I became a Master Naturalist trainee last week….1 of 8 day long classes finalized with an exam. It is a good thing that the classes are spread out over 9 weeks (longer if there are snow days) since there is a lot to absorb if the first today is the norm.

The topics for the first class were geology and insects…and it was intense. I appreciated the renewal of note taking skills that the Coursera work had prompted since these lectures were fast and furious even though I had done the pre-reading and had previous exposure to both topics. The day after the class I transcribed my handwritten scribbles into my computer - realizing that I would not be able to decipher them once it wasn’t ‘fresh’ in my mind. I also went off onto tangents following web resources the instructors referenced.

The most time consuming tangent was the Maryland Geology for Education site which provides layers of information overlaid on a zoomable map. The map had been used during the lecture so I knew a little about how to operate it. I looked at the ‘Piedmont Counties Geology’ overlay (with transparency at about 50% so I could see streets and structures through the colors) for around my neighborhood. The major rock under my house is schist; taking a short walk from my backyard down to the river passes over a granite intrusion; to the east across the street from house gneiss is the major type of rock. Within less than a mile - where the Community Supported Agriculture farm is located - there is quite a mix of gravel, sand, and clay (sedimentary rock). Wow! I’m amazed at the geologic variety close at hand.

Another tangent - on the insect side - I read an article referenced by the instructor Attracting Beneficial Insects with Native Flowering Plants and then proceeded to spend a lot more time browsing the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. I am still looking at new items from the site. One of the first things I looked at was one of the identification guides (under publications): Field Guide to Migratory Dragonflies. I can hardly wait to get identifying photographs at Kenilwork Park and Aquatic Gardens this summer.

Some other observations from the first class:

• I am not used to sitting for most of the day. Even though there were plenty of breaks and some activities that had us moving around the classroom - it was a more sedentary day that I prefer. Will I get up and pace around the back of the classroom next week?
• The final exam is take-home and open book. Hurray! If it was more like the SAT, I probably would not have signed up for the program! Tests might be necessary but it is certainly not something anyone enjoys.
• I enjoy the before and after days of the class as much as the class day!

Stay tuned to my continuing adventure as a Master Naturalist Trainee.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 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.

Add nature, art and religion to life's best anti-inflammatories - Yet another reason to savor the awe of nature, art and spiritually - if you need one. Including these in day-to-day living should not be a hard sell but many times they fall by the wayside if our lives get too full of other things. They don’t go on a ‘bucket list’ for some other time; they need to be included every day!

In a crisis, the bigger your social network, the better - This research indicates that more extensive social networks are a backup strategy for crises - or at least it was in the pre-Hispanic Southwest. Is it always the case? Sometimes it seems that all the increased communication going on in the modern world has increased the divides rather than built positive networks.

Never trust a corporation to do a library’s job - The history of Google and Internet Archive as ‘library.’

High Stakes in Declining Monarch Butterfly Populations and Six Ways to Save Monarchs - The rapid decline of Monarch butterflies is very sad….but there are things to do. I am going make the dominant plant in my chaos garden beginning this year!

How the Eastern tiger swallowtail got 'scary' - Another butterfly story. I bought some tiger swallowtail earrings (one is the caterpillar and the other is the butterfly) so this article captured my attention.

The Chemical Compounds behind the Smell of Flowers - The smell of roses, carnations, violets, lilies, hyacinth, chrysanthemums, and lilacs. The only flower whose smell is not produced with compounds containing ring structures is the lily.

Increasing individualism in US linked with rise of white-collar jobs - A lot has happened in the last 150 years…including a higher percentage of the population working in white-collar jobs. This study showed that the trend in type of job was more correlated with the trend toward individualism that some other changes such as urbanization or frequency of disease or disasters.

How Tourist Garbage Causes Yellowstone's Morning Glory to Change Color - The color of the Morning Glory pool is no longer the blue color of its namesake. Too many people have thrown coins, rocks, and trash into it. This article reports on why the trash caused the change.

Larger area analysis needed to understand patterns in ancient prehistory - In the past, the main tools used to study prehistory only addressed very small areas. Now there is an acknowledgement that some conclusions cannot be drawn with only those small samples and technologies that can look at larger areas are being applied more frequently to understand how cultures responded to population pressure and climate change in particular.

An ocean of plastic: Magnitude of plastic waste going into the ocean calculated - More than 4.8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans from land each year; it could be as high as 12.7 metric tons. That’s a lot of plastic. The ocean seems so vast…but we are pushing it in ways that it may not be able to absorb without huge impact to itself and the planet.

Electrochromic polymers create broad color palette for sunglasses, windows - What fun! I’d like these in the windows of my office rather than sunglasses! Maybe the window could be powered by a solar cell.

3 free eBooks - February 2015

It was hard to pick my three favorites this month. I settled on three topics: Mayans, Fungi, and Chinese Painting.

Maudslay, Alfred Percival. Biologia Centrali-Americana, or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. London: R. H. Porter and Dulau & Co. 1902. Four volumes available from the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4. These books focus on the archeology of a region - primarily Mayan - in the late 1800s that has gotten more attention over the past century. There are lot photographs (sometimes with people to help understand the scale of the ruins) and drawings. There are also a few color plates. The photograph at right is quite well know (it’s in the Wikipedia entry for him and is in many textbooks). Many of the ruin were roughly cleared of vegetation or still partially obscured at the time Maudslay documented them.

Banning, Mary Elizabeth. Fungi of Maryland. Available via the New York State Museum here. This is an online exhibit more than a book but I am including it here to show off the beautiful illustrations done by Mary Banning. She began her work in 1868 and continued for over 20 years producing 174 detailed 13” x 15” watercolor illustrations. The online exhibit includes 48 of them. Unfortunately - she was unable to get her work published; she sent it to the New York State Museum as a ‘safe place’ in 1890; it was found again 91 years later in 1981.

Barnhart, Richard M. Peach Blossom Spring Gardens and Flowers in Chinese Painting. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1983. Available from the Internet Archive here. Some of the images are very colorful and some are muted. I particularly liked the muted image of the lotuses.

Butterfly House at the Texas Discovery Gardens

The Butterfly House at the Texas Discovery Gardens is a colorful place to visit in the winter. I was there earlier this month when I travelled to Dallas. There are lush tropical plants and butterflies! It was not crowded even though it was a weekend.

The Butterfly House is a multistory conservatory with a ramp that wonders through the tops of taller foliage down to a courtyard with water features. The butterflies were on all levels but densest near the water.

The enclosed space was bigger than the Tucson Botanical Garden butterfly exhibit but there were not as many butterflies when we were there and not as many people either.

The standout memory of the day was color - since so much of Texas (and Maryland) is mostly drab in winter. The flowers and fronds were a welcome change from winter overall.

We stayed for the daily release of newly hatched butterflies at noon. They were brought out in a net barrel. The tiger swallowtail did not want to leave the safety of the container. Maybe its wings were not entirely dry.

Some of the new arrivals left the container quickly but chose to walk rather than fly!

Children gathered around to see the release and noticed a more battered butterfly nearby on the ground. They tried to entice it to safety (out of the walkway).

Butterflies and conservatories….always a pleasant interlude.

Coming Home

I enjoy traveling…but coming home always feels good too. This past weekend was no exception.

The flight from Texas was smooth until just before landing in Baltimore when gusts of wind started buffeting the plane. The pilots did an excellent job getting the plane to the runway; there was applause in the cabin. All around us on the runway snow was swirling and the runway was just as white as the air. There was a little delay getting to the gate so we all had time to notice how bad the weather was and realize that there was a 50 degree temperature difference between the Dallas afternoon we had left and the Baltimore evening. Walking through the jetway to the terminal gave us a hint of the cold. When I got to baggage claim, it was even colder because of doors opening and cold air coming up with the luggage which was delayed in arriving due to wind and snow challenging the baggage handlers. Before it came, an announcement was made that the airport was closing. After that - the situation improved for me: my baggage came, my husband arrived just outside the terminal, and we got home without incident (even though we saw cars in ditches along our route). It was scary enough that I didn’t think to take pictures.

When I got home there were piles of books I’d requested from Paperbackswap - using up my credits. What joy to have them just in time for the really cold days of this winter!

And the snowy scene from my office window is appealing too.

Another joy - plants at the kitchen window that survived the 10 days I was gone (my husband watered them).  The green leaves sprouting from the celery cores and the pleats of the red potato leaves are like a little spring garden with the snow and ice of hard winter in the background.

Last but not least - I actually enjoyed shoveling the driveway yesterday. It was the first time for this winter and was a very light snow that was easy to shovel. I am still celebrating the winter season!

It is so good to be home again!

Sustainability - Attention to Packaging

Last month I posted about reusable bags which is certainly a way of reducing ‘packaging’ of plastic bags provided by stores (grocery and otherwise). But what about all the other packaging that usually ends up in the trash or recycling such as envelopes (paper, paper bonded to bubblewrap, filament reinforced paper, heavy plastic), cereal boxes, non-recyclable plastic (in our area: plastic clamshell packaging and stiffer plastic bags), cardboard, plastic/glass bottles/jars or egg cartons.

My first line strategy is to purchase items in packaging that I can reuse. For example - buying spaghetti and salsa in glass jars that I can reuse for left overs (my goal is to gradually reduce my use of plastic to store leftovers). Of course - this only works up to the point that I have enough containers. I also reuse the large padded envelopes although I receive more than I can reuse. I am also saving the padded envelopes for packing away things like Christmas ornaments. I am saving clamshell type bins that I am buying salad in now at the grocery for storing greens I get from the CSA next summer; they’ll keep the refrigerator bins neat and hold the moisture around the greens better than putting them directly into the crisper.

Recycling is the second line strategy. Sometimes this feeds into my decision of which product to buy. For example - the organic eggs in my grocery come in pulp paper cartons that can be recycled while the others come in non-recyclable Styrofoam. I probably would buy the organic eggs anyway but the packaging issue clinches the purchase. I’ve also become very aware of the types of plastic bags and film that can be taken back to the grocery store for recycling; it takes longer to accumulate since I use my own bags when shopping but there other similar plastics like dry cleaner bags and newspaper sleeves to collect and recycle.

There is still packaging that goes directly into the trash: messy plastic (meats, frozen foods, veggies) that cannot be recycled (because they are messy or because of the type of plastic). I don’t know how to avoid that until the stores provide some other kind of packaging. It is clearly not sustainable for us to continue this type of packaging indefinitely.

In the end - the options we have to move toward more sustainability when it comes to packaging are primarily to increase reuse and recycling as much as possible by making choices when we shop…and being very aware of packaging that can be recycled in our community or back to the store (particularly grocery stores). 

What is the next step from the reuse and recycle strategy? I'm beginning to think about it. There is too much packaging that is unavoidable today - from bottles of salad dressing to cardboard centers to toilet paper rolls. We need innovation in packaging as much as we do in actual products!

My other sustainability posts:

Choosing organic food

Focus on Light

Join a CSA

Reusable bags vs single use plastic bags

The Progress Paradox and Sustainability

Water Use

Zooming - February 2015

It is often hard to find color in the middle of winter. The colors seem to be mostly white and brown…so the bits of color are appreciated more:

• The flower and fiddlehead in the green house
• The red of a pigeon’s eye
• The flash of blue when a jay pushes the leaves around in the forest
• The blue sky on a sunny day
• The blue powder design on a butterfly’s wing

It is very cold today and there is still snow on the ground from a few days ago. But I enjoy the scene of the forest in winter from my office window - staying warm indoors.

Enjoy the February zoomed images!

Tucson Sunset

Taking time to observe the sunset is something I do on vacation more than other times. I photographed three sunsets while we were in Tucson in January.

The first was when we were driving back into Tucson from our three day road trip that took us to Montezuma’s Castle, Sunset Crater, Wupatki, Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Painted Desert, and Petrified Forest…taking the scenic route through Show Low and the White Mountains on the last leg when the sun we down as we got close to Tucson. I was in the passenger seat and took pictures of the sunset as it progressed. There appeared to be rain that was not reaching the ground at one point but then there was enough clearing for the color to develop and reflect.

The second sunset was a disappointment although we did confirm that the Gates Pass Overlook in Tucson Mountain Park (taking Speedway west to W Gates Pass Rd) was an excellent place for sunset viewing. There are lots of saguaro and teddy bear cactus to catch the evening light. At first we thought the break between two cloud layers would make a great sunset but the lower layer was too thick and there was only a little color.

The third sunset was our second attempt from the Gates Pass Overlook. There were some modern technology intrusions - helicopters and a drone - but all was quiet as the sun actually set. It was worth the effort….the best sunset while we were in Arizona!  I started out with a picture of the teddy bear cactus glowing in evening light…then concentrated on the sky.