Zentangle® - August 2015

I am still enjoying the Zentangle-a-day discipline. In August I skipped some travel days and then did more than on the day I was in hospital waiting rooms. The daily discipline makes it easier to release stress via creating a Zentangle when stress is elevated. I’m continuing to experiment with pencils and pens to add color. I like the addition of one color - and turquoise is probably my favorite right now.

Sometimes I want to fill in all the space on the tile - and sometimes I like to leave some ‘unfinished’.

The turquoise pebbles tile is probably my favorite for the month (below - bottom right tile).

There was a large piece of art at the Clements hospital made of hinged stripes….another inspiration for a Zentangle (middle left). My mother had some glitter pens that I used for on Zentangle (lower right).

Sometimes physical items are inspiration…a pile of small colored rubber bands…or sometimes fabrics (like the pink and red ‘mum’ design). I like the sea grass or tentacle patterns.

Many times the tiles start out simply - with circles or rectangles of 8s….and then look complex and abstract when they are completed.

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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.

Through a Hospital Window

The view from my mother’s tenth floor window at the new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital was of downtown Dallas…

And bridges.

Reunion Tower was easy to spot

And Southwest planes taking off from Love Field.

She was only in the hospital for one night...and it was an easy night. She slept well and we were up to see the sunrise. Reunion Tower’s lights were still on and the office buildings still glowed from the night lighting.

Then the horizon turned red and orange

Before the sun popped over a nearby building.

The pedestrian and shuttle structure for Southwestern Medical School snakes away from the hospital and around other nearby buildings.

Taughannock Falls State Park - August 2015

After passing through Montour Falls, we stopped by the overlook of Taughannock Falls. They were renovating the facilities at the overlook so parking was somewhat limited…and thunder was rumbling. We only stayed for about 15 minutes. We had been to the area (both the overlook and the trail at the bottom of the falls) many times when my daughter was living in nearby Ithaca.

The water falls from a great height (on the same order as Niagara Falls…but much less water). The overlook is from several levels.

I walked took the stairs down to the railing in the picture to the above and looked to see the bridge over the river below - part of the hike to the bottom of the falls.

I also zoomed to see the top of the falls. There is a curve in the stream not far from the rim…and I always wander where it goes.

There was one branch of read leaves that stood out in the otherwise green background….fall is on the way.

Montour Falls - August 2015

Montour Falls is a village just south of the Finger Lakes Region of New York. We last viewed the falls there during the same trip we made to Letchworth in spring 2014. The battered sign for the village with arrows for the two falls still looks about the same. The both falls have a lot less water in August than they did in the spring.

Aunt Sarah’s Falls is at the edge of the village across the street from the welcome sign. We were the only people around.

Someone had left a cairn beside the falls.

I walked around the parking lot taking pictures of wildflowers

And seed pods.

The She-Qua-Ga Falls is in the town itself with a little park in front of it.

This time - with less water - I noticed the graceful curve of the rock in the lower part of the falls.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 29, 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.

Home births save money, are safe, study suggests - I wonder how long it will be before the ideal location for low risk births will be at home. My daughter’s colleagues seem to lean toward birthing centers already (rather than a hospital). Eventually the only people going to a hospital to have a baby will be the high risk pregnancies.

Slow-Mo Lets Us See How Hummingbirds Use Their Tongues like Pumps - Wow! Not something you can see with just your eye. It takes filming with a high speed camera then slowing down the action. This article includes a video.

Glass paint could keep metal roofs and other structures cool even on sunny days - Originally developed for ships….but there are a lot of applications for a paint that is inorganic (will not deteriorate rapidly) and reflects all sunlight (passively radiates heat).

How clean is your spinach? - I think I’ll start washing greens even if the package says they are already washed (not just spinach, it seems like kale would have the same issue).

If These Bones Could Talk: The Stories Human Skeletons Can Tell - A brief article about the collection of skeletons at University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Inside the mind of a maze maker - Adrian Fisher builds mazes…all kinds of them.

Study: Air Pollution Implicated In 1.6 Million Deaths A Year in China - That is - 17% of the annual deaths in China are related to air pollution.

Warm, pleasant, LED lighting developed: LEDs cut energy use and greenhouse gas emissions - I like lighting that comes closer to nature light rather than being ‘harsh’ like the fluorescents and the LEDs that came on the market earlier. This might actually be the improvement that has me moving my reading lamp to and LED bulb.

Top Protein Sources for the Plant-Based Diet - I am not totally vegetarian but I am getting there. I eat vegetation more frequently that just Meatless Mondays! This is a good reference for protein sources which is one of the more substantial changes when making the transition.

Here be dragons - A collection of images and historical perspective of dragons in art/culture from Europenea.

CSA Week 13

My husband picked up this week’s share…there will be processing and good eating when I return home (the day before the CSA week 14 share will be distributed. The 5 pounds of red tomatoes will go into the freezer and maybe some of the 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes will too. My husband kept the poblano peppers rather than trading so I am planning something he will help be eat!

The ‘new’ foods this week are marjoram and acorn squash. I’ll have to search my recipes for one that requires marjoram. I already know I want to back the acorn squash and eat it with butter and cinnamon; I remember eating it cooked that way at a Yosemite lodge more than 25 years ago and it has always been my favorite way to enjoy the squash.

My husband chose watermelon from the overage table and is saving it for when I return. Good choice.

Letchworth State Park August 2015

We first visited Letchworth State Park (New York) in the spring of 2014 (posted about it here). It was a cook, wet day then. It was time for a return trip. This time we got a hotel in Mt. Morris which is near the northern entrance to the park. We drove all the way through the park to the upper falls and worked our way back.

The upper falls has a high railroad trestle overhead. The force of the water causes mist to rise from the base of the falls and the cliff walls to support tiny green plants.

The middle falls also creates lots of mist - enough to dampen the walkways to the side of the falls. The Inn is located near the middle falls.

The lower falls is narrower and there is a path to a footbridge over the river below it. There are 127 steps (or more the way we made our way down) to get to the bridge.

I’ve picked more pictures of our morning at Letchworth State Park for the slideshow below. I’ve kept them in chronological order.

• The mists over the river valley when we first drove into the park (1)
• The flowers, one red leaf on the dogwood, and hickory nuts at the visitor center (2-4)
• More views around the upper falls (included a spider with its shadow that was scurrying across a step) (5-8)
• Some birds from the walk I made between the upper and middle falls: blue jay and flicker in a picnic area, crows on the rocks at the top of the middle falls (9-10)
• Vegetation along the paths around the middle falls; my favorite is the macro of the underside of the morning glory (11-14)
• Plants and views from the hike down to the lower falls (15-19)

Crossing the Susquehanna at Harrisburg PA

Usually traffic jams are unwelcome events that slow down a road trip…but we had and exception while we were passing through Harrisburg PA crossing the bridge over the Susquehanna River. I’ve always wanted to photography the river from that vantage point but we were moving too quickly. This time the traffic was stop and go (more stop than go) so I had time! There are a lot of bridges cross the river at this point.

Some pylons from older bridges remain. I was surprised by one that had a small tree growing on it…and birds enjoying it as perching place.

Just as we neared the far side of the river…..a train started to make it way across the river! Good timing.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - August 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 August 2015.

Eggplant balls - I finally found a recipe made with eggplant that I really like. The balls are good as appetizers or with spaghetti sauce (i.e. like meat balls) or cut in quarters and used in a stir fry. The recipe I started with is here; I substituted flaxseed meal and ground oatmeal for the bread crumbs.

Great cantaloupe and watermelon from the CSA this year - I always associate the best cantaloupe and watermelon with August….and this year was true to my memories. The watermelons were big, heavy things and very sweet; not the seedless and less flavorful varieties that seem the most popular in many grocery stores.

A visit from my daughter - My daughter had an opportunity to travel to our area for work….and she stayed on for a visit over the weekend. Wonderful serendipity.

New tablet (provided under warranty) - I got a notice about a month ago that my tablet was being recalled and that vendor would provide a replacement. The process worked! My new tablet arrived in the mail and was configured the way I wanted very quickly. I was braced for a glitch that never occurred.

Windows 10 - I was running Windows 7 and decided to upgrade to Windows 10 to be on a more current operating system. Again I anticipated a glitch of some kind. There was a minor one that cost me a few hours but otherwise it was easier. Most of the configuration I had previous was maintained during the install….that’s the part I celebrated.

Anticipating a road trip - I always enjoy the time just before a road trip....finding information for along our route, packing….celebrating that we are getting away for a little while.

Letchworth State Park - We had been to the park in New York once before during a spring time and wanted to go when it was warmer. Arriving first thing in the morning meant that we didn’t have lots of people in our photographs.

Taughannock State Park - Initially we had not planned to visit the park but I’m glad we had the time. We only went to the overlook of the falls but it brought back lots of memories of visits there with my daughter when she lived in the area several years ago.

Stony Brook State Park - This was a new park for use and was initially a disappointment because we were there on a hot afternoon and there were huge numbers of people. We came back on our way home and had the park to ourselves…and that the day I celebrated this particular park.

Nature Photography with summer campers - Celebrating a volunteer gig that was a joy - for me and the elementary are summer campers....sharing the wonder of nature.

Deck Garden - August 2015

The deck garden has not gotten much attention this year so some of the pots have a few weeds…but I am still enjoying it both from the kitchen window and outdoors.

The sunflower seeds my sister gave me for Christmas have taken longer to develop than sunflowers elsewhere - maybe because the deck only gets sun for half the day….or maybe sunflowers need deeper soil than the pots provide.

The zinnias were started from seeds I had from previous years and some my sister gave me. The hummingbird stops buy periodically to feed at the flowers. I only had pink ones in previous years

So the red ones must be from my sister's seeds.

The gold finches love the developing seeds of the zinnias this time of year…and on into the fall as long as they last.

The poinsettia from last Christmas is a small bush at this point. I’m not sure what I will do with it. I may attempt putting it in a dark room to see if I can get some red foliage for this Christmas. It is more tolerant of getting a little dry than I thought it would be.

Last but not least - the purple pea vine is climbing all over the peacock pot sculpture. It has worked out well to have basil growing in the same pot; I like harvesting basil for a salad or cooking just before I need it. I’m likely to plant this combination again next year.

August 2015 Road Trip

Our August road trip was from Maryland up to New York (south and south west) primarily for waterfalls in New York State Parks from a base in Mt. Morris NY. I have several subsequent posts planned about the state parks. I’m focuses on the drive itself today.

Our first rest stop had Monarch friendly milkweed among their plantings….but no butterflies.

The sunflowers were in all stages of development and harbored quite a few different insects:

Bees

Wasps

And wheel bug (with a much smaller fly).

Several other rest stops along the way had similar plantings.

My husband was driving leaving me free to take pictures while we were moving down the road. The drive through the middle of Pennsylvania is through the Allegheny Mountains so there are sections of raised highway and

Steep road cuts.

The day we drove up was sunny (and hot) with fluffy clouds building.

On the way back it was somewhat cooler because it was cloudy much of the time. The high humidity made it feel hotter than it was. I manage to get a picture of the replica of the Statue of Liberty on an old bridge support in the Susquehanna River as we zipped past.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 22, 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.

Why statins should be viewed as a double-edged sword - The results of a study from Tulane that indicates that statins may not be appropriate as a preventative measure for those who do not have cardiovascular disease…because statins increased aging and death of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs); MSCs can become all types of cell types including bone, cartilage, muscle cells and macrophages. Thus - the risk/benefit for people without cardiovascular diseases need careful consideration.

Four Ferns for Dry Places - I planted some Christmas fern under my deck and it is thriving!

Smart Windows Just Got Cooler - I’ve always thought it would be great to have windows that could selectively block light - and it seems like there is ongoing work. This start up is based on chemical engineering work from the University of Texas at Austin. It would be great to not need to close the draperies in my west-facing office on hot summer afternoons!

Survey reveals best practices that lead to high patient ratings of hospital care - It turns out that it is not about high-tech resources!

Butterflies in Peril - Droughts and habitat fragmentation….hard on butterflies. Many are becoming locally extinct. We are not in a drought here in Maryland but we are very away of the decline in Monarch butterflies in our area.

The Next Great GMO Debate - Evidently Monsanto is learning how to modify crops by spraying them with RNA rather than tinkering with their genes. What about unintended consequences? I’d rather we focus research on sustainable agricultural practices rather than new sprays that may have a short term benefit and potentially have a long term consequence.

An inside look at the world’s biggest space telescope - An update on the progress on the James Webb Telescope (video and pictures).

Cherokee Purple: The Story behind One of Our Favorite Tomatoes - These are the type of heirloom tomatoes we’ve been getting from our CSA; they are tasty. I enjoyed hearing about the history of how it became one the favorite heirloom tomatoes

The Periodic Table’s Endangered Elements - There are 9 elements that may ‘run out’ on Earth within the next 100 years and 7 additional ones that may join the list because of increased use.

Field recording Irish traditional music - Instrumental, song and dance videos…the roots of Riverdance.

CSA Week 12

Wow - do we have tomatoes! The four pounds of red tomatoes we got in this week’s share have already been processed (minimally - the top of the core and blemishes cut out, otherwise whole) and are in the freezer. I plan to slice and eat the heirloom tomato as soon as possible since it is very ripe. Then I have a little over 3 pounds accumulation of the small multi-colored cherry tomatoes (I traded my poblano peppers for another 1.5 pounds!); they’ll be my snacks for the whole week; they taste good and I like the variety of their colors.

There are a lot of peppers too (even without the poplanos) - 5 snack peppers and a red bell pepper. They’ll be additions to salads and stir fries

I haven’t decided what I will do with the eggplant…maybe include it in a stir fry or cut it in wedges and roast it.  It was a different shape that the traditional eggplant - still the same deep purple color.

The spaghetti squash can be quite a treat….as a veggie ‘spaghetti’…as another ingredient in a stir fry…as a component of quiche or custard. I won’t have any trouble eat it up.

Fortunately the onions, garlic, and potatoes will keep just fine not in the refrigerator...because I have a watermelon taking up a lot of space right now!

3 Free eBooks - August 2015

Last month I focused on plants, mammals and birds. This month the three books are about places.

Okey, Thomas; illustrated by Katherine Kimbell and Orlando Frank Montagu Ward. Paris and its story. London: J.M. Dent. 1904. Available from the Internet Archive here. Colorful illustrations of Paris in the time before World War I. I clipped 2 that included the Eiffel Tower from different perspectives. A lot has changed in the intervening years.

Okey, Thomas; illustrated by Nelly Erichsen, W. K. Hincliff and Orlando Frank Montagu Ward. Venice and its story. London: J.M. Dent. 1910. Available from Internet Archive here. Another city from the same time period and by the same author….but different artists. I like the composition of the image I clipped: bridge - reflections - people for scale. The same ideas work for composition of photographs. As I looked through this book, it occurred to me that while painting/drawing is slower than taking a photograph - they have the advantage of not including extra people or an awkwardly placed boat!

Hichens, Robert Smythe; illustrated by Jules Vallee Guerin. The Near East: Dalmatia, Greece, and Constantinople. New York: The Century Co. 1913. Many of the illustrations in this book were in morning light. The one I clipped is of the mosque of Suleiman at Constantinople.

Through the Kitchen Window - Mourning Dove

It seems like every time I stand at the kitchen sink in the morning - I see birds! I’ve learned to keep my camera handy and make sure the window says clean enough to photograph through.

The mourning doves are generally silent so I sometimes don’t notice them right away.

This one seemed to be surveying the yard below. Maybe it got a drink from the bird bath just before I saw it.

Then it calmly walked along the railing…and flew away.

Spicebush Swallowtail

I planted a spicebush seedling at the edge of our forest last spring and discovered there were more growing under the trees nearby - big enough that their top branches are out of the reach of deer. In our forest even the plants normally unpalatable to deer get browsed in the winter. My little one has a protective fence around it and the sassafras seedling I planted at the same time.

It is a joy to see the spicebush butterflies finding the zinnia flowers on our deck. The caterpillars need spice bush but the adults need nectar from flowers so sustain them while they complete the life cycle…laying eggs on the spice bush for the next generation.

At first the butterflies seem drab compared to the tiger swallowtails or Monarchs…but I like the crescents on the underside edge of the wings (yellow or orange); they almost seem to glow.

Seen from the top - there are more crescents and a blue power….and the ‘swallowtail’ shape.

Zooming - August 2015

I did lots of hiking with campers in August…and managed some local photography jaunts (like the Butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens). As I was creating the collages for this month, I started experimenting with a better way to upload them…so click on any collage below to see a larger version of it! Some highlights of the zoomed images this month are:

• Feather in the grass
• Butterflies and moths
• A toad
• Milkweed pods infested with ?
• Crabapples on the ground before they could mature
• Water droplets on a leaf after a rain storm
• Lichen and moss
• Empty wasp nest
• Golden rod
• Water lily
• Magnolia seed pod

 Enjoy!

 

Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 2)

I am continuing the series of nature photos from my trek around Mt. Pleasant Farm last week. Friday’s post contains the earlier ones.

The last hike of the day started in the Honor’s Garden….and a frog in the lily pads. It sat very still ---- plenty of time for the campers to get a photo.

There was one water lily flower nearby….quite a scene in the small pond.

The garden is planted with plants native to the area. It is full of summer color in August.

There are several water features.

And the Joe Pye Weed is very popular with all kinds of insects.

I was pleased to photograph both a male

And female tiger swallowtail within a few minutes!

Just outside the garden was a sweet bay magnolia with seed pods is very stages of development.

We hiked down toward the meadow and along the path that borders the stone wall and line of large trees.

We reached the stream and many of the campers focused on trying to capture ripples and reflections. I liked the small leaf that was the bright color in the rocks along the bank.

We started back up the hill from the stream and noticed that dark, angry clouds were taking over the sky. We took a few more pictures as we walked back…..and were very close to the nature center when the first rumble of thunder came. That was the end of the outdoor nature photography for the afternoon!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 15, 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.

Is Modern living leading to a ‘hidden epidemic’ of neurological disease? - A study that compared 21 countries between 1989 and 2010 found that dementias are starting a decade earlier than they used to in adults. In the US, neurological deaths in males 75 years old and over have nearly trebled…gone up five-fold for females in the same age range. The rapid increase points to environmental influences. Scary.

A single image captures how the American house has changed over 400 years - The link at the bottom of the article will take you to the full poster. I like history themes that go way beyond what I learned in school (which seemed to be mostly about conflicts and wars).

Deer Management Solutions: It Takes a Village - We have way too many deer in our area. Fortunately I have not been involved in a collision with one….but I see deer grazing near the roads and the occasional carcass from a collision at the roadsides. Our trees and bushes show evidence of deer browsing…we see deer in our backyard. Very few buds on the day lilies survived to become flowers!

Mapping how the United States generates its electricity - Lots of graphics. The first bar chart shows that there is still a lot of coal used for power generation. It accounts for more than 15% of the generating capacity in 15 states. In my home state (Maryland), coal is used for 44% of the capacity.

Global Risks - Richard Watson posts some thought provoking graphics. The subtitle on this one is ‘How would you like your apocalypse?’

Great plains agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated - adoption of best management practices (no-tillage agriculture and slow release fertilizer, for example) can substantially mitigate agricultural greenhouse gas fluxes. The challenge is to overcome the cultural and economic barriers (higher cost of slow release fertilizer, new equipment/training required to convert to no-tillage agriculture) to best practices..

A Self-Taught Artist Paints the Rain Forest by Memory and The plants cultivated by the people from the center in the Colombian Amazon - Beautiful and informative work. The second link is for the free eBook. The text is in Spanish…but the drawings are the reason to download it.

Web-based patient-centered toolkit helps improve patient-provider communication - It seems like this is something that should already be in place in most hospitals although I know firsthand that it wasn’t a few years ago when I had a critically ill parent. It is frustrating that it is taking so long for health care organizations to apply data and technology in a way that keeps the focus on care for the patient….and consistent with patient (or their proxy) interaction re that care.

Astronauts Will Eat Space Lettuce for the First Time Next Week - This article is a little dated….they’ve eaten the greens already.

Artist Quits Day Job to Pursue Passion for Beautifully Quilled Paper Art - I like the spiral shape and this art form is all about spiral shapes with colored paper. 

Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 1)

I was at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm earlier this week to lead a nature photography activity for their campers (ages 5-12). By the end of the day I had over 1600 photos from the children that I needed to review during the evening and a few of my own. Now that I’ve had a chance to review my own - there are a few worth sharing via this blog….in the same order that I took them so they do reflect the hiking we did.

Just behind the nature center a large limb had been cut recently.

We went past the bee hives…down the hill…past the butterfly garden

And stopped to look at the mossy logs that have fallen over the stream.

Then we walked along the path toward Hodge Podge Lodge. The goldenrod was starting to bloom along the grassy path.

The shingles of Hodge Podge Lodge caught my attention….lichen, moss, and leaves.

The path to the side of the Lodge down to the stream looked wet from the rain the night before.

And we started to close the loop by walking toward the community garden. I didn’t notice the bugs on this plant until I was looking at the photos…and have not identified the plant or the bugs!

We started the hike for the second group on the path downhill from the back of the nature center. This red bud was early on the trail….with lots of seed pods.

The jewelweed was near the stream.

The mile a minute seems to be taking over this bird house.

Back up the hill and down the road toward the meadow - we stopped in the old orchard. The apples were beginning their turn to red.

There was lots of milkweed pods (still green) in the meadow….and some had beetles.

And every flower seemed to have an insect of some kind.

To be continued in Sunday’s blog post…