Gleanings of the Week Ending November 26, 2016

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.

Unlock a New Way of Seeing the World as a Master Naturalist – I became a Master Naturalist in Maryland a few years ago and enjoyed the process and the aftermath of activities. This article was written by someone in training to be a Master Naturalist in Oregon. She is having a similar experience. The honing of the training by each state translates the broader textbooks to a local level – things that are where we live.

Can you Trust Calorie Counts? – Evidently calorie counts on food labels or on display in restaurants are not monitored…it is an honor system…and they are chronically low! Yet another reason to prepare and it mostly whole foods.

Well-Being at Work – An infographic about the components of an ideal day….inserting physical activity throughout a work day.

Paleo chocolate pudding – This looks yummy – and easy to make – with an avocado, cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla. I’m going to try it as soon as we finish off the butternut squash mousse I made for Thanksgiving.

A Better Treatment for Insomnia – Cognitive Based Therapy for Insomnia can be delivered in several ways….and has been endorsed by the American College of Physicians for initial treatment of chronic insomnia. This article has good links to find out more about it.

Colds: 14 Expert Answers on Prevention, Relief, and More – It’s the time of year that colds become more prevalent. My husband and I are pleased that we got to and from New Mexico without getting a cold. We used hand sanitizers….and were not sitting near anyone that was obviously sick!

Dementia on the downside, especially among people with more education, study finds – A positive trend!

Owls: A Guide to Every Species in the World – We enjoyed the owl lecture and field trip at Bosque del Apache…so I was glad to see this post from National Geographic when I got home.

Searching for Whoopers: New Report Showcases Gulf of Mexico Migrants – Maybe we’ll go to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge next fall…I’d like to see whooping cranes!

Photography in the National Parks: Focus on the Eyes, Focus on the Light – Two areas to think about during photo shoots. I always count a bird photo as ‘good’ if the eye is in focus!

Projects

Old habits die hard. My whole career was built around projects – things that has a plan, with milestones, and culminated in something. Now I find myself organizing some aspects of retirement that same way – into clumps of activities that are very focused on an objective.

Virtually all of our vacations are projects – with a definite plan, some pre-vacation study or activities, and then the vacation itself. Afterward I almost always write some blog posts about it so that wraps up the project. You’ve probably noticed the series of posts about Hawaii and Tucson most recently.

Another type of project is the Winter Tree Hike at Belmont guide I developed as part of my project to become a Master Naturalist in Maryland. That’s one I have finished recently. Now I need to create the Spring/Summer version.

I’m starting a group of photography projects around themes like model trains, seed pods, stumps or reflections. They are not as cleanly projects since the ‘end’ will be determined by the accumulation of enough images to warrant a blog post on the topic!

It always feels good to put the last flourish on a project; it is the biggest appeal for thinking about collections of activities as a project rather than just activities that merge with all the continuing activities of day to day life.