Centennial Park Close Ups

Cloudy days are opportunities for some close-up photography. That was my first thought when I walked around Centennial Lake (Howard County Maryland) last week. The poke weed seeds stalks are quite distinctive….a nice color contrast with the green of their leaves.

Queen Anne’s Lace grows between the rocks on the dam that creates the water

As do other plants that are racing to bloom and create their seeds before frost.

A beech tree is shedding its seeds into the mulch bed (and lichen) along the walk near the boat rental

And an oak leaf – still retaining some green – has landed there as well.

I was looking carefully in that mulch bed for the birds nest fungus I had found there earlier in the season. Many of the cups were washed clean of their ‘eggs’ (spore cases) by last week's rain (or maybe an earlier rain) and the runoff had broken up some of the mats. There were some small mushrooms growing nearby – looking very delicate compared to the other plants and big leaves.

In the walk back to the car – I noticed several other plants in bloom

And some were dispersing their seed, already prepared for winter.

Milkweed in October

Milkweed is one of my favorite photography targets in the fall and the meadow as Mt. Pleasant Farm is my favorite place to find them. The heavy rains last week washed many of the pods clean. Those seeds left in the pod got very wet and now are cemented into the pod

Or the pod was not quite open enough to let them out before the deluge (I wondered if the pod would split open and the seeds would eventually disperse normally with their bits of fluff carrying the away with a breeze).

There were milkweed bugs but they didn’t seem as numerous as in previous years.

The best pictures this year were the few seeds that had dispersed - a little – but were covered with small water droplets. The structure of the fluff is jeweled! The very last picture of this group is my favorite. It was draped over a dried seed head of another plant – caught there long enough to catch the dew and drape around the structure enough to hold the seed aloft.

There were a couple of milkweed pictures in last month’s post about the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm. The milk weed bugs have grown!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 10, 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.

The People and Pueblos of Wupatki National Monument in the 1930s and 40s – The article includes pictures from just after the area became a National Monument. I enjoyed my visit to the monument last winter (see post with photographs here...and the picture below).

A Chart That Shows Where Every Country in the World Gets Its Food – North America is not very self-sufficient! About 90% of our calories come from somewhere else than North America. (Check here for the ‘Degree of Dependence per Country’ table.)

A neuroscience researcher reveals 4 rituals that will make you a happier person – A summary of research findings that can be applied…from Business Insider.

15 Intimate Portraits of Lions – Lions in the wild….pictures from National Geographic.

Aging Workers, New Technology – I was disappointed in the article. The examples seemed lame. For example – better floor mats for jobs that require a lot of standing are good for younger people too! Making technology more intuitive for everyone is important ---- smaller is not always better, and that is true for more than just gaining workers.

How many trees are there in the world? – From Scientific American – the answer is over 3 trillion but we are losing 10 million trees per year.

Martian Life Could Be a Biotech Bonanza – After the announcement of briny water on the Martian surface….what might that mean for the type of life we might find on Mars.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins – I love pumpkin muffins. The recipe I usually use is one that originally was for sweet potato muffins – so if pumpkin is in short supply this year (which I just heard that it might be by Thanksgiving) – substitute cooked sweet potatoes (not the canned ones….the ones from the produce department…bake them) for the pumpkin. Butternut squash will work too.

How to clean and airliner – Maybe I didn’t really want to know this. I’m carrying hand sanitizer from now on when I fly.

Solar-Plus-Battery Systems Can Insulate Customers from Increasing Prices – Solar panels – battery storage – the grid….some ideas about what the future relationship could be.

Jelly Fungus

Our deck is about 25 years old but seems to be in good shape. Last year I did notice some bright orange jelly fungus growing one of the knots visible in the deck railing. It went away after a few days.

It was back again last week. The fungus is growing in the railing all the time but puts out its colorful fruiting bodies when the conditions are right. Evidently those conditions include cool, wet weather.

And there was one small orange blob at a second know further along the railing. The organism is spreading, but not very fast. The blogs were gone in a few days; when the rain stopped and things dried out completely, the orange blobs were gone too.

From now on I will look for the tiny blobs every time it rains. They are a reminder that nature eventually regains control…slowly but surely. It’s the way of the world that we should appreciate when we can.

CSA Week 19

The week 19 share from the Gorman Produce Farm CSA was a full bag again this week. It was as large as last week (and I still have a few items in the refrigerator from last week…and I’m drying shredded radish leaves for use in soups through the winter).

In this week there is red leaf lettuce, arugula, chard (I chose the chard with the magenta stems), turnips (all white), red cabbage, bell peppers, banana peppers, 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, tatsoi, pac choi (traded my hot peppers for this), 1 pound of tomatoes, mustard greens, kohlrabi. I’m already thinking about making slaw of raw sweet potato, turnips, kohlrabi, and a watermelon radish from last week’s share. I’m enjoying the shredder attachment on my food processor!

I couldn’t resist including a close up of a chard leaf with this post. The color combination adds to the appeal of this vegetable in both salads and stir fries!

Longwood Gardens – September 2015

There were a few more photographs that I wanted to share from our road trip to Longwood Gardens last month. They don’t fit in any particular category.

I liked the colors in these buds. It would be a good photo to experiment with a blurring tool if I ever get around to spending the time to learn a photo editing tool. I’d blur everything except the bud!

I loved the curls and waxy colors of these leaves.

Light pink and green…with the bit of yellow…one of my favorite color combinations in flowers. The shape and orientation is unusual enough that I looked twice. I tried taking a picture from under the flowers – up into the flower that hangs downward – but I didn’t like the vantage point as much as this one from the side.

Pink and white….and a myriad of petals. This vantage point makes it easier to see that the petals curve inward the closer they are to the center.

The orange and green seemed like the typical October color scheme to me…but the plant was not typical at all. The color appears….and then elongates into a very unusual tub type flower.

I always make a point to visit this garden in the Conservatory. If I ever have a garden room – I would like this type of water feature in the floor – gently flowing with the plants surrounding it.

Sometimes a spot of sunlight just makes a plant glow.

The water in the Italian Water Garden fountains goes off and on in a sequence. I managed to catch the side fountains just as they reached the point of stopping for a few seconds…so the last drops of water were suspended in the air rather than a steady stream.

On the way out – I noticed a maple leaf….fall is coming!

Our Oak

The oak in front of our house was planted about the time the house was built – so it is about 25 years old.  It is near the mailbox and drops leaves, acorns, and self-pruned twigs on our driveway as well as the yard. I notice it more in the fall because of the increase in debris. The wind has been blowing a lot the last few days so leaves are flying – some clearly ready to be jettisoned

And some still brilliantly green.

The tree still looks mostly green – but the foliage is less dense.

A few years ago I planted day lilies around the base of the trunk. Their green fringe looks nice through the summer and into the fall. They never get a chance to bloom because the deer eat the buds just before they open!

Over the years, the bark has become more deeply furrowed and acquired lichen. The tree is aging well. The lower branches that the county cut last spring so that fire trucks would not be damaged coming into our neighborhood in an emergency have not been missed; if anything – the tree green a bit more than usual this past summer.

It is big enough to shade the front of the house in the summer time. I’m glad it is a deciduous tree so that the front of the house gets warmed by the sun in the winter.

I picked up some acorns from the driveway. It is not a heavy year for acorns. I recall one year when it seemed like we had a carpet of acorns and my daughter collected bags of them to donate for a riparian restoration project in our area.

In an earlier year – before we moved to this house - my daughter and I collected acorns from another oak when she was in pre-school. We made a garland my gluing acorns and their hats together around a piece of gold thread. We left them in a bin for the glue to dry before we put them on the tree. When we came back the next day – little worms had come out of the acorns!

Longwood Gardens Orchids – September 2015

I always take orchid pictures when I go to Longwood Gardens and our visit last month was no exception.

Orchid flowers are such a mix of unusual characteristics….signaling the path for their pollinators to follow through: shapes, colors and structures. This first one had yellow tendrils at the beginning of the runway then wings to mark the side boundaries of the path, and red to mark the spot.

The slipper shaped orchids always remind me of carnivorous plants. It isn’t as clear (to me) where flower wants the pollinator to go. Is there a surprise in this slipper?

I’m not sure what this structure would eventually become – probably an orchid flower but I liked how pure the curve looked…how solid it was with the green stain in the center.

And then there are the flamboyant ruffles of other orchids. The colors of this one must be irresistible to the pollinator.

Do orchids in the Longwood conservatory ever have pollinators that their flowers evolved to attract?

As an after note – the conservatory room with the banana palms is near the orchids. I’d never noticed how bananas are attached to the stem of their parent. They are packed very tightly. The remnants of the flower are visible on the outer end of each banana too.

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.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 03, 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.

What you may not know about the world beneath your feet – 10 items from BBC future. A short paragraph is included for each one and then a link to a more detailed larger article is provided.

Salamanders Lost, Found and Saved – From National Geographic about salamanders in Guatemala.

U.N. Dreams Big: 17 Huge New Goals to Build a Better World – As I looked at the list – I asked myself if they are all equally important and how the goals will get translated into action by individuals and organizations and governments. Two keywords that appear again and again (standing out to me): sustainability and inclusive.

Angry Birds: Why Molting Makes Our Feathered Friends Grumpy – Many birds molt between the time nesting ends and migration begins. Since our cardinals are here year-round, I have been watching them closely this year. They did look scruffy for a time…then I didn’t see them as often…and now they are looking much better. The male goldfinches have already made the change to their winter plumage; I wonder where they dropped their yellow feathers?

Photography in The National Parks: Your Armchair Guide to Arches National Park – Part 2  - We didn’t get to see Arches a few years ago when we went to Utah in early October 2013; the government (and national parks) were closed. I enjoyed these pictures…and attached a picture of Wilson Arch that is right on Route 191 south of Moab that was the only arch picture I got during the trip!

For U.S. Tribes, a Movement to Revive Native Foods and Lands – Wild rice in wetlands being restored in Minnesota.

Decision aids help patients with depression feel better about medication choices – From the Mayo clinic. It bothered me that before using the tool…’clinicians are often uneasy or unwilling to offer options other than their preferred prescriptions.’ That is probably true of more than depression medications!

Increased internet access led to a rise in racial hate crimes in the early 2000s - So many things are positive about broadband internet access….this is a downside. We often think that more information helps people understand others better --- but this is another study that shows that it can also lead to extreme polarization.

Work in Transition – On sentence from the article: Choreographers, elementary school teachers, and psychiatric social works are probably safe…telemarketers and tax preparers are more likely to be replaced. Work done by humans will increasingly involve innovative thinking, flexibility, creativity, and social skills.

The curious chemistry of custard – I make pumpkin (or other winter squash) custard frequently this time of year. I’ve always wanted how the consistency develops. It turns out it is all about eggs and their protein!

Zentangle® - September 2015

Zentangle-a-Day is becoming a well-established habit for me. The day is not complete without at least one. In September I continued my experiments with color. I also decided to cut the whole 8.5x11 inch pages into tiles (no left over skinny strips) and continued to use old business cards. The net result was a lot of variability in size.

My husband a virtually new set of Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils that I started using. They have a different ‘feel’ than the older pencils….the colored part of the pencil seems softer.

I experimented with overlaying colors (in the bottom right below, there is a yellow overlay on all the colors. One of my favorite tiles of the month is the middle left one – with gingko type leaves – and left black and white.

I tend to like tiles with one or just a few colors the best. The simple business-card tile with green triangles is one of my favorites.

As the month progressed – I started thinking about using colors at the edges and in spaces of tiles….as in the upper left (below).

The tile in the lower middle below was the same ‘ribbon’ pattern repeated 3 times….the color made a difference!

My most favorite tile of the month was done on a paper coaster (upper left). I think of it as The Flaming Spiral.

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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.

CSA Week 18

The share seemed huge this week. Maybe it is just typical of fall or the farmer bulking up this share just in case Hurricane Joaquin cases some flooding of the farm before next Wednesday.

The watermelon radishes are 3 to 4 times bigger than last year. I traded the eggplant for another 3 so I have a total of 6. One has already been shredded and it added both flavor and color in a slaw with ingredients from last week: broccoli and kohlrabi.

There was another bunch of beets. I’ll be making more fruit beety with the beets even with half the previous batch still in the freezer. That still leaves the leaves. I’ll be focusing on eating them while they are fresh either in salad or stir fry.

There are a lot of ‘greens’ right now: arugula, watermelon radish leaves, lettuce, and mizzuna (two bunches since I traded hot peppers). The freshness of the leaves means that they will last a bit longer in the bins I have for the refrigerator….as long as we don’t lose power when the storm comes through early in the week.

There were bell peppers and snack peppers still this week.

I was thrilled to get another sweet dumpling squash – yum!

The heaviest single item of the day was 3 pounds of sweet potatoes. I’m glad the squash and the sweet potatoes don’t need to be refrigerated.

I picked rosemary as my herb choice…it’s already drying.

We got 2 items from the overage table; I got 1 pound of roma tomatoes and some scallions.

My refrigerator feels very full!

Mt Pleasant Farm – September 2015

A few weeks ago I walked around the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm on a wet Saturday morning. I was with a birding group but didn’t manage to get any good bird pictures. Instead there were shelf fungus that looked a lot like pancakes layered with whipped cream and

Milkweed bugs maturing as the milkweed seed pods reach maturity.

At this point it started to mist heavily and even rain for short periods. The milkweed seeds spilling from pods quickly filled with droplets

As did other plants. The thinnest parts of the plants seemed to hold the most moisture.

Eventually I gave up trying to capture the scene, tucked my camera under my windbreaker to keep it dry, and just walked on enjoying being outdoors.

Longwood Gardens Fiddleheads – September 2015

When we were at Longwood Gardens last week – several of the ferns in the conservatory were in the fiddlehead stage. I always find the tightly packed spirals of the fronds fascinating. Some of them already have the beginnings of spore structures on the underside of the tiny parts of the frond that beginning to unpack itself as it uncurls. Often times the stem looks hairy too.

Sometimes the structure is one simple spiral and sometimes there are multiple spirals packed together. In the case of the one below – the main stem elongates to separate the spirals before they are completely open. The color of the ‘hair’ stands out with the bright green of the spirals.

On tree ferns (below), the fiddleheads start out without any green at all and then expand as they unfurl – revealing the green frond.

Next spring I’ll photography fiddleheads in our nearby woodlands….if I can get my timing right. They might not be as large as these from the conservatory at Longwood…but they are a joy to find and a sign of spring.

Longwood Gardens Meadow – September 2015

This was our first time to walk around the meadow at Longwood Gardens since it was renovated several years ago. It was a sunny, breezy fall day – great for walking around but a challenge for photography. The meadow has grassy paths. There were some that were already closed for regeneration…and new ones mowed.

I liked the planters on top of the bird houses throughout the meadow. Some of them were not growing as well as the one below that happened to be near the beginning of our hike through the meadow. The birds that utilized the house – probably tree swallows or blue birds - are done with the box for the season but the ‘green roof’ makes it worth noting.

The meadow is full of yellow – sunflowers and goldenrod.

There is an occasional splash of purple from asters

And thistles.

There are buds and seed pods on the same plants sometimes.

I was disappointed that there was not much milkweed. Perhaps more will grow next year since there were a few seed pods spilling their seeds into the breeze.

Longwood Gardens Water Lilies – September 2015

I like the water lily court at Longwood Gardens and have posted photographs from it several times before (see the links at the end of this post). I tried some different techniques when we visited the gardens last week can got some better results than I had previously.

I tried to position myself so that my shadow fell on the flower – so the light was less harsh. The colors seemed ever more vivid and the surface tension where the petals touched the water was visible. I always think the center of waterlilies are surreal looking both because of their structure and their colors.

Sometimes water lilies look a little like tulips. This one was just opening.

Once open…the bees find the flowers irresistible. Many times there are several bees in the same flower.

Longwood puts black dye in the water of the pools to reduce algae growth but it helps with photography as well. Either surface tension or reflection is common.

Most of the time we think of lily pads as being green but they often have a lot of red – particularly when they are new.

This flower was partially submerged. I also like the water accumulated on the battered lily pad above the flower.

The flower was in the full sun but I managed to get golden reflection rather than overly bright areas. This is the flower of the largest water lily pads.

There are subtle color changes of the petals that are hard to notice with the flowers are in full sun.

Notice the framing of the flower (below) with the scalloped edges of the lily pads.

I was surprised but the increased detail visible in the petals when the flower is not in full sun.

The flower seemed to glow – surround by green…and the water tension visible where the lily pads touch the water.

Shading the flowers took some effort…but I like the quality of the images more than ever!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 26, 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.

An Up-Close View of Bristol Bay’s Astonishing Sockeye Salmon Runs – Learn about sockeye salmon in southwest Alaska from the Yale e360 video contest first runner up video.

Oregon's "Lost Lake" Drains Down a Perplexing Hole – Surreal photographs….the lake accumulates in the winter and drains away each spring!

Great Grasses for Native Gardens – These grasses are for the Baltimore, Maryland area…but there are probably similar lists for other places. Native Gardens are not just for flowers! I think I’ll look further at the Red October big bluestem!

Training more effective teachers through alternative pathways – Wow! What does this mean for education departments in colleges?

Spinning Synthetic Spider Silk – Evidently the first application will be in apparel….in 2016. Potentially this ‘spider silk’ fiber may with proteins produced by yeast and then spun maybe the synthetic fiber of the future – as we shift away from petroleum based synthetics.

The Chemistry of Deodorants vs. Antiperspirants – The ingredients of deodorants and antiperspirants are sometimes in the news linked to health issues. This post is a nice summary of the current research.

Meet the Foxes of Silicon Valley – We have foxes in our suburban area on the east coast (Maryland). Good to know that the area around San Francisco has them too.

Reducing Food Waste and Setting the Table for All – Chart 2 was the part of this post that interested me the most. What do you think about this list of what stores could do to reduce food waste? I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I can do to reduce food waste at home. My store already does most of the things on this list.

Camera Drone Captures Gorgeous Aerial Shots of Iceland's Diverse Terrain – Beautiful place.

Hackberry: The Best Tree You’ve Never Heard About – Maybe this will be the next tree I plant at the edge of our forest….although now that I know there is a black walnut tree nearby I need to reconsider how well other trees will grow.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – September 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 September 2015.

Haircut – I’d gotten rather shaggy over the course of the summer….the shorter hair was worth celebrating!

Laptop – Hurray! My new laptop (after a rough start) is living up to my expectations. I am celebrating that it is definitely better than my old one in every way.

Acorn squash with homemade orange marmalade and butter – A vegetable that tastes like the dessert is always a celebration.

Homemade veggie soup – I used up some of the overwhelming numbers of tomatoes and other vegetables on one of our first cool days….celebrating the beginnings of fall with food.

Art of Flower Photography – A class that it beautiful to watch and spurs my own photographic experiments; this was another multi-dimensional celebration.

Mediation Course – I’ve only learned the bare minimum…enough to realize the potential…and am celebrating it as a beginning.

Glass birdbath – The glass bird bath in the front our house is something I check every morning when I come downstairs. Sometimes there is a bird…sometimes not. The sight of glass bowl in the morning light always starts the day on a positive note.

Longwood Gardens – Earlier this week my husband and I made a road trip to Longwood Gardens (posts still being developed). It was a 13,000 step walk around the gardens and meadow on a near perfect fall day.

Bird Walk – I’d never taken a walk with a birding group until recently. It was a good experience even though it rained off and on….birds seemed hunkered down rather than active. I celebrated that the area I live in has a number of active birders.

An indoor day – Sometimes it is a relief to just be indoors at home. I love the view from my office window!

CSA Week 17

I still have a few potatoes, sweet dumpling squash, chives, and bell peppers left from week 16. The potatoes will keep. I’ll bake the squash in a few days I should freeze the peppers and endeavor to use up the chives as quickly as possible.

The share this week was a typical fall bounty:

Beets ---- I am making fruit beety with the beets and using the stems/leaves in stir fries

Broccoli ---- We were warned by the farmer to soak the broccoli to get the insects out of it. I’ll probably make slaw out of it after that….which can be used in salads and stir fries

Bell peppers and snack peppers ---- It’s a bit overwhelming but I like peppers both raw and cooked

Parsley – I’ll use as much as I can fresh but will probably end up drying some of it.

Thyme – I traded my hot peppers to get a second bunch! I’ve become a fan of thyme in stir fry and soup…and it dries very easily

Kohlrabi – I’ll use the leaves and stems in stir fries. The bulbs may become part of the slaw I make with the broccoli

Tomatoes – We are down to a pound of the red tomatoes this week. I got a pint container of the sun gold tomatoes as my pick from the overage table.

Butternut squash – This is probably my favorite winter squash because it is big enough to have enough left over to make custard (made with the cooked squash instead of pumpkin but otherwise the same ingredients)

Eggplant - There are two again this week. I plan to make another batch of eggplant balls and may freeze some of them.

Yummy meals in week ahead!

Deck Garden – September 2015

The deck garden going to seed! I’ll have to collect the seeds for next year’s deck garden as the pods dry completely.  The Black Eyed Susans are all seed pods at this point. The zinnias still have some blossoms but about half have formed seed pods. I experimented with a drape from my camera lens (made of a white plastic shopping bag) to photograph this zinnia flower on a bright sunny day.

The basil is going to seed too but it is more difficult to pinpoint went the flower ends and the pod begins. I liked the color of the pod and leaves in this one.

The sunflowers have not done very well in my deck garden and it may be that they like deeper soil. They took a long time to create buds and the blooms were not large. They often look better from the back than the front.

The leaves of the purple peas have a lot of the color of the peas in their leaves along with the green.

The leaves of the sunflowers are just green but pattern of veins. Both of the leaf images were the underside of the leaves.