Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge

The last refuge on our trek was Chincoteague. I’ve posted about our two prior trips (fall 2014kingfisher, egrets, cormorants, herons, gulls, lighthouse, and sunrise/sunset; spring 2013vultures, blue grosbeak, and egrets). We always see Great Blue Herons at Chincoteague. When I photograph them now I am looking for something a bit out of the ordinary. There was one that was all fluffed up in the cold – standing very still on one leg – framed by dry grasses and brush.

Another Great Blue Heron was perched on a branch over some water – preening.

I noticed a lot more dead and splintered trees this trip and found out that the pine bark beetle had been particularly hard on the pines the past few years and

Winter storm Jonas brought such high winds that is brought trees down on the refuge.

There were tundra swans that we saw in greater numbers at Eastern Neck

And snow geese (sleeping here) that we saw in greater numbers at Blackwater.

This ring-billed gull (adult non-breeding) was not pleased that we pulled up on the road shoulder near him.

We saw a few pintail ducks (and some buffleheads which, again, were difficult to photograph – and I am refraining from posting another blurry picture!).

The birds I had to look up on allaboutbirds were this marbled godwit (I think)

And a juvenile black-crowned night heron (my husband is the one that spotted this one in the brush over the water where we often see other herons).

Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge

The third refuge on our trek was Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. It was a gray day --- but at least the rain happened while we were driving to the refuge than while we were there. One of our nav systems took us to a road through ponds but not to the visitor’s center. It was part of the refuge and we saw some Great Blue Herons

And Yellow Legs – very active in catching fish in the shallows.

Fortunately, we had another nav system that did chart a path to the visitor center and we did some hiking. Again – there was construction on one of the trails near the visitor and it was noisy enough that most of the wildlife has found someplace else to be for the day. On our hike I found a number of shelf-fungus. None of them were very large.

But one was a brilliant green color.

I tried to photograph them several from the top

And bottom.

The biggest one was growing on a stump near a boardwalk

And the gills underneath were more colorful than the top.

We headed out of the refuge and on toward Chincoteague….the topic of tomorrow’s post.

Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge

The first refuge on our road trip was Eastern Neck, an island located in the mouth of the Chester River as it flows into the Chesapeake Bay. It is north east of Maryland’s Bay Bridge. We stopped at the visitor center first and walked down the Tidal March Overlook trail from there.

It was muddy and we didn’t quite get to the Tidal Marsh Overlook. I did find some seed pods that had lasted through the winter.

Next we drove down Bayview Road and walked the Bayview Butterfly Trail (no butterflies this time of year). There were buffleheads on the water (although too far away for a really good picture.

And seeds still hanging onto stalks at the water’s edge even this late in the winter season.

The Bay Bridge is in the distance. It was a cloudy day; next time we go to Eastern Neck I’ll want it to be sunny.

Then we headed to the Duck Inn trail that looked back toward the Chester River (toward the east). There was a lone feather near the beginning of the trail.

There were some very muddy places along the trail but this bank of green moss was almost a glowing green. When we came back down the trail toward the car, there was a small child that was enjoying the moss with his family.

We managed to avoid any deep mud encounters on the path and made it to the shore. Where the water meets the land is rounded stones and shells.

Further up the beach, the shells accumulate.

There were some in the grass – indicating that sometimes the water gets very high indeed.

The next stop was the high point of the trip – the Tubby Cove and Tundra swan board walks. There were a lot of tundra swans. The ones with gray heads are juveniles. All the swans seem to bob heads at each other when they are facing each other and it is hard not to interpret the behavior as a greeting or acknowledgement….it may not be the swan’s intent at all.

When they are intentionally moving rather than just floating on the water – their legs are often visible.

I took a series of pictures of one swan that was preening. A swan’s neck is certainly flexible!

Outdoors at Brookside – early March 2016

After walking through the conservatories at Brookside Gardens, I walked on the boardwalk toward the Brookside Nature Center to see if the skunk cabbage had appeared. It had not but I did see a very weathered stump and the bald cypress knees were more obvious than they are in the summer when foliage hides some of them.

There were crocuses beginning to bloom. Do you see the bee in the upper left? The day was not too cold for the bees to be enjoying the few flowers that were blooming.

Back into the main part of Brookside Gardens – I noticed bulbs beginning to come up. Are these daffodils?

Snow drops were already blooming.

The seed pods from last summer at the very tops of the crepe myrtles in the rose garden were almost glowing in the bright sun against a very blue sky.

There were other bulbs blooming as I started back along the path between the visitor center and the conservatory.

And then the witch hazels in bloom. They are the earliest tree in our area to actually bloom. Some of them don’t jettison their leaves from last season before the spring blooms emerge!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 5, 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.

How Forest Loss is Leading to a Rise in Human Disease – Zika has been in the news lately – but there are other diseases associated with forest loss as well: malaria, dengue fever, Chikungunya, yellow fever, and Ebola. There is building evidence of how and why it happens.

New interactive guide tells the story of forest products in the South – Many years ago, I worked for St. Regis Paper in Texas before they were bought by International Paper – so I read this article with interest to see what has happened to the industry in the past 30 or so year. The guide is located here.

Invasive Plant to Avoid: English Ivy, Barberry, Butterfly Bush, Winter Creeper, Daylilies  - I liked these articles because they provided alternative to these invasive species to use in landscaping. I still have daylilies that I’ve had for years but I’m not going to be containing them rather than propagating them!

Spruce Tree House to Remain Closed at Mesa Verde National Park – Sad that this is closed. We probably have some very old slides from our vacation to Mesa Verde in the late 1970s that I should retrieve from storage!

Consumers have huge environmental impact – Thought provoking. The site for the EUs Glamurs project is here.

7 Resources for Natural History Nerds – Don’t let the initial picture stop you from looking at the rest of the article – it is only a lizard. These are impressive resources. I knew about only 2 of them before seeing the article. I’m bookmarking this article.

Getting the Word Out – More scientists are realizing that it is part of their job to get the interesting aspects of their work out to the public as part of modern instantaneous news. The public is demanding timely information on cutting-edge science!

Five Close Encounters of the Crocodilian Kind – The pictures are good….and the crocodilians are from around the world.

Lead, Plumbosolvency, and Phosphates in the Environment – A well written explanation of how water-works can go very wrong.

The Scale of the Universe – I’ve started taking a Big History course on Coursera and this one of the resources in the first week’s module. Scale is always a challenge and this site does a reasonable job in visualize the very small and the very large.

Brookside Conservatories – March 2016

I enjoyed walking around Brookside Gardens earlier this week – the warmest day of the week (sweatshirt weather, breezy, sunny). I started out in the conservatories. There was eye popping color right as I walked in – purple, green and white.

And orchids with their complex blooms. It is always a celebration of the relationship between flowers and pollinators when I photograph orchids at close range. This one even has fuzz on the runway to encourage the insect to move in the right direction!

Some plants have flowers that grow as mini-bouquets or globes of color. This is an orange and yellow version.

I took two views of this flower group – from the side

And then straight down into the flower.

Then there were mounds of small yellow flowers too.

A subtler beauty – a leaf floating on top of the water in the pool – with roots underneath. It’s a good visual for the concept of water tension.

I missed reds until I got a little further into the conservatory. These flowers looked best before they were fully open.

I experimented with some images of ferns growing over water in the Conservatory’s stream. Do you like the seeing the larger view

Or the zoomed in version? I think the zoomed in version looks more painterly.

Tomorrow’s post will feature the outdoors part of my walk at Brookside Gardens.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations – February 2016

Here are my top 10 celebrations for February – there was a lot to celebrate in this winter month:

There were a lot of birds to celebrate through my office window –

The crow with a glint in its eye,

The pileated woodpeckers in the forest,

And the mourning doves that were around frequently including a pair that mated on our deck railing!

I also celebrated good results from medical tests on myself and a family member (that counts as 2 celebrations!). Even when the majority of tests result in good (or benign) findings, there is always worry that builds and the relief translates into a little celebration when the results come back

Every time I wear my new fern imprint jewelry (ring, bracelet an earrings) I celebrate – savoring the living ferns I remember and the event where I made the purchase.

I also celebrated Christmas again every week that I work the cuddle socks one of my sisters gave me as a gift! They are indeed warmer than regular socks and comfy without shoes.

There were outdoor activities to celebrate too –

A walk around the neighborhood in the snow,

A sunny day walk at Mt. Pleasant farm (even though it was cold, breezy, and muddy), and

The birds on the ice at Centennial Park.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 27, 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.

Keep off the grass – Some areas are better as being grasslands than forests…and our planet needs those grasslands!

Dodos might have been quite intelligent – It turns out that Dodos has brains that were the same size as pigeons relative to their body size…and they had relatively larger olfactory bulbs so they probably had a better since of smell.

This bus-size whale is even more unusual than we thought – Omura’s whale devours tiny shrimp-like creatures plus large mouthfuls of ‘dirty water’ (that includes fish eggs and plankton almost invisible to the human eye. They sing a low repetitive melody for an hour or more. What will happen to these whales when the oil and gas exploration gets underway in the area where they live. Is the technology good enough to keep the petrochemicals from leaking into the water?

Reflection – Another photographic project idea!

Collect psychology classes lack curriculum about disabilities – A study pointing out that classes intended to focus on interactions with people of all types have a hole when it comes to people with disabilities – particularly physical disabilities.

Total Solar Eclipse – August 2017 – Planning ahead. It doesn’t happen very often and the path for this one is a diagonal across the continental US.

FDA to test for glyphosate in food – Finally! When Roundup first came out we used it to kill weeds growing in the cracks of our sidewalk. It was never sprayed close to anything we were going to eat. But now, because food crops are engineered to not be killed by it, it is sprayed on food crops like soybeans and corn…so it goes into our food system. It’s a little scary that the study was not done before now.

Antarctica could be headed for a major meltdown – The last time Earth’s atmosphere had about the same amount of carbon dioxide as it does now was about 16 million years ago…the temperatures were 10 degrees warmer and the ocean levels were 50 feet higher. And we have some observations that indicate that the ice shelves of Antarctica are melting rapidly: 7 of 12 ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula had collapsed over past few decades.

Elementary School Lessons about Fossils and Rocks – I’m always on the lookout for one page references and this resource includes a good one for rocks (here).

Share your Field Notes: Nature’s Notebook – A citizen science project about phenology (the timing of natural events like blooming flowers and migrating animals…a great way to spend time outdoors and contribute valuable observations to science.

Zooming – February 2016

Birds dominate the zooming post for February. There are a lot of clips of the heads. If you want to see an enlarged version of a collage – click on it and a window with the enlarged version will appear.

In the first collage, there is a female cardinal, a male house finch, a pileated woodpecker (from the top of his head), a titmouse and a male cardinal.

Next up is a dove, a crow, velvety buds of a Princess Tree (one of the few botanical images), a robin’s foot – missing a toe, and a blue jay.

The swish of color at the top of the collage below is a blue jay flying away. The blur of color appealed to me. There is snow in a Crepe Myrtle seed pod, and a robin.

The last one is for fun – showing a dove showing off what is under its wing…and a dove blinking. In the lower right corner is the empty ‘nests’ of bird’s nest fungus.

Centennial Park in Winter

I posted yesterday about the Canadian Geese at Centennial Park. There were other things to see as well. There were gulls on the ice and swooping down for fish in the open water part of the lake. Feathers littered the edge of the ice. This Ring-billed Gull (juvenile) was close enough and stood still long enough for a portrait.

There are quite a few crows around too….cawing attention to the themselves!

There was a tree that had had a large branch cut – probably last fall. It was one of the more colorful natural elements on this winter day. The asymmetry of the cracks caught my attention as well.

This is an example of a not-so-good picture being good enough to identify the birds: a female and male Bufflehead. They are small ducks that winter in our area. There were at least 3 of them feeding in the lake while I was there but they were clearly at the limit of my handheld ‘zoom’ capability.

The mallard ducks were closer. The male was swimming along the edge of the ice (notice the feathers on the edge of the ice)

And the female was a little further into the lake. The pair meandered through the Canadian Geese without harassment.

I took a few ‘intimate landscape pictures: the rocks near the boat launch with a remnant of snow and last season’s plants gone to seed,

The empty nests of Birds Nest Fungus in the same location I photographed them last spring full of ‘eggs,’

And a collection of hardy plants encircled by roots of a tree holding the soil above the level of the path.

It was a warm afternoon for winter…but still cold. And we probably are not done with winter yet. None of the deciduous trees around the lake looked ready for spring and the ice on the lake shows bright white in the background.

Beautiful Food – February 2016

So many good things to eat – even in the winter time. We have it so much easier than people did 100 years ago!

I enjoyed stir fry slaw this month. It was a quick meal-in-a-bowl for a winter lunch. I simply stir fried apply, broccoli and frozen cranberries in a skillet…added a heap of savoy cabbage and some sliced smoked turkey…added a bit of General Tso’s Sauce at the end. The red of the cranberries and apple skins adds just the right spark of color.

Hearty soups are also a favorite for winter lunches – another meal-in-a-bowl. This month I made mushroom soup. It is easy to make and beautiful too!

• Cut up fresh mushrooms, sautéed in a little olive oil.
• Put in beef bouillon and water…dried onions…ground up dry roasted soy beans (I just processed them in my small food processor)…soba noodles.
• After it cooks about 4 minutes add almond milk.
• After the soba noodles are cooked (it usually takes a total of 5 minutes, but read the package) – pour into a bowl…drizzled pumpkin seed oil…and scatter some pumpkin seeds.

This is a high protein soup with mushrooms, dry roasted soy beans, and soba noodles.  The drizzle of pumpkin seed oil – dark and rich – and the seeds on top add to its appeal.

Now for a snack: blue corn ships with hummus. I like the color contrast. It is very easy to eat too many so I always prepare the number that I want to eat on a plate – and don’t go back for more!

Egg casseroles are becoming my favorite beautiful food to make, enjoy for one meal…and then several more. I usually make the 4 serving size and include whatever is handy in my refrigerator. The baking dish I use is the perfect size and has a lid so I can easily store the left overs in the refrigerator. Note: I am lactose intolerant so am using non-dairy products, egg casseroles can obviously be made with milk and cheese.

The general recipe for this one:

• Whisk together 4 eggs and a scant cup of almond milk.
• Add broccoli (processed in a food processor), dried parsley, dried onion (and any other seasonings desired). Whisk.
• Cover bottom of baking dish with non-dairy cheese substitute. Pour egg and vegetable mixture over the cheese.
• Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F and then for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

The green and yellow/gold colors are cheerful on a winter’s day – even if it is very gray outdoors!

I really am enjoying the cook that I’ve become... or maybe what I truly enjoy is evolving the way I prepare food to appeal to the taste buds and the eyes! The other requirement is that it be good nutritionally too.

Natural History of a Place

I went to Belmont Manor and Historic Park in Elkridge, MD frequently enough over the past year to observe it in every season. Last summer a large English Elm on the front lawn of the Manor had to be cut down (Dutch Elm Disease). I took this picture shortly before it was cut down - the picture taken from an angle that the dead part of the tree didn’t show too much. A month later the tree was gone, the stump and exposed roots dug out, and new sod put over the wound. A month later and it was hard to tell where the tree had ever been. The episode stirred some thoughts about the natural history of a place and the significance of our actions on that.

The English Elm was planted – a non-native to North America. Whoever made the decision to plant an English Elm may have been wise in the end because this one lasted longer than most of the American Elms against Dutch Elm Disease.

The pond further down the hill was probably dug in the 1980s. It was probably always a wet area. There was probably a vernal pool there in spring. Lots of wood frogs would have successfully laid their eggs there and new frogs would have emerged. Now the pond has fish – that eat frog eggs.

In the 1900s – the area in front of the house was open. For some of those years it was pasture for horses. The forest would have been different. At the beginning of the century there might have been American Chestnuts in the forest. They would have been noticeable for their size and their nuts would have been gathered every fall – by people and squirrels (and other animals too). There is no tree that has quite filled the niche of the American Chestnut that was wiped out by the mid-1900s by the Chestnut Blight.

Earlier in the 1800s, many of the trees would have been cut for fuel. There were a lot of ironworks. There were massive erosion events when the forests were cut and the Patapsco River – downhill to the north of Belmont – received a lot of sediment changing it from a navigable river to a shallow, easily flooding river by the early part of the 1800s.

Prior to anything being built on the hilltop where the Manor House is today – the area was forested. The chestnuts were the big tree and the Europeans were impressed by the richness of the life in the rivers.

There is so much that we did not preserve…and that we still don’t quite know how to sustain.

American Craft Show in Baltimore

Yesterday we made the trek into Baltimore for the American Craft Show that was held there this weekend. We had heard about it from the artists (2400 Fahrenheit) we’d purchased some pieces from in Hawaii. There were an overwhelming number of beautiful things at the show: glass, clothing and accessories, jewelry, wooden art and utensils, metal pieces…I am pretty sure that even though we tried to be methodical and go down every aisle the we missed some of it.

Jewelry seemed to have the most booths. I got a set of copper jewelry (cuff, earrings, and ring) from a Baltimore artist – Allison Fomich. She does botanical motifs so I’ll probably buy more pieces the next time I happen upon her at a local event.

The red and black earrings are from a west coast artist --- they are more 3D than most of my other earrings and they are colors I wear frequently.

The last item I got was an eyeglasses case. My husband was always irritated when my old case snapped shut so he is the one that strongly suggested this fabric case that will be silent!

Of course – we had some narrow misses on more expensive items (larger art glasses pieces). We didn’t find a piece that we both agreed was the perfect one for our mantle.

On the way home I took a picture of a clock tower than I hadn’t noticed before – probably because I have only been taking pictures from the car window recently. It is the Bromo-Seltzer tower and was built originally opened in 1911. It was the tallest building in Baltimore from then until 1923! Check out the Wikipedia article about it here.

A Walk in our Snowy Neighborhood

Earlier this week, we had a few inches of snow on the ground. We knew the temperature was warming enough that it would melt on its own the next day so didn’t bother to shoveling the driveway. We took a walk through the neighborhood instead.

I thought this tree with snow and cut branch took in the look of a pig face! When I looked at the picture on my monitor I noticed that the branch – that had only been cut last summer – had already dried out and darkened. The reddish layer already had cracks too.

The fire hydrant was clearly visible but I thought the uneven layering of the snow on the top made it look different than the actual shape of the metal underneath.

The water retention pond was not all snow covered. The ice from the earlier – very cold – days was beginning to melt.

My favorite picture of the day was the crape myrtle pod full of snowflakes…crystals still intact.

3 Free eBooks – February 2016

There are so many excellent resources out there. My biggest sources of eBooks are Internet Archive and Hathi Trust.

One theme for this month was vintage wallpaper. The Internet Archive has a lot of old catalogs. One of my favorites is:

Roche, David. House of Decoration. Halifax, Nova Scotia: David Roche. 192? Available here. I liked the texture (all the better to hide any imperfections in the wall underneath) and the colors of the designs. There were other wallpapers in the same book that looked like crewel embroidery.

Another theme was flowers and birds:

Smith, C. E. and Janet Harvey Kelman. Flowers: Shown to the children. London: T. C. & E. C. Jack. 1910. It is available from Hathi Trust here. I liked the books because of the labeling of the images. This book could still work well since the common names of flowers have stayed consistent while more detailed classifications may have changed over the years.

Another theme was pictures of places – snapshots in time.

D’Auvergne, Edmund Basil. Switzerland in sunshine and snow. London: T.W. Laurie. 1912. It is available from Internet Archive here. I read this book on a particularly cold day this month – that was sunny. It seemed to fit the day so well that I selected it for this post. I am attracted to the drawings and paintings rather than photographs of the period. Sometimes that approach works of art – and they often smooth over imperfections of lighting and landscape that mar photographs of the period.

Conowingo in February 2016

We thought the day was going to be sunny - lots of light for photographing birds - but it became cloudy not long after we got there. And it was cold and breezy. The birds seemed more interested in hunkering down and staying warm than fishing even though the dam’s generator were running and churning up lots of water.

There was still some snow on the ground from a snowstorm over a week before. When I took this picture I thought the rock on the right looked like a floppy eared animal coming out of a winter’s sleep!

And what about the maze of ice in this close up of a snow bank over gravel. The melt pattern was not uniform at all.

The river water was moving swiftly and all the snow along the lower bank had melted. The color variation of the rocks has a lot of visual appeal sandwiched between the monotones of water and snow.

There were several birds that flew into the trees. This one has a fish that it finished off from its perch in the tree.

Another just seemed to survey the photographers that were along the fence between the parking lot and the Susquehanna River.

The most interesting of the birds in the trees was the black vulture. Its feathers were fluffed against the cold and ruffled by the wind. I was interested to note the white in the feathers; it is noticeable when they are viewed from below when they are soaring but I had not seen the white when they were on the ground. And look at the claws – they look like evil-looking curved fingernails.

The only Bald Eagle I managed to photography was a little too far away. The eagles are the main reason we go… so I was glad to get at least one picture.

There was another larger bird that caught a fish near the dam….but it flew off to the other side of the river. It was quite a bit larger than the gull.

There was a tree that had some velvety buds. After I got home I did some research. Aargh! It is a Princess Tree - a non-native, invasive species.

As we headed home, I noticed that the ice patches on the road has mostly melted. I drank some more of my hot tea from the Thermos – using the cup to warm my hands.

Tohono Chul

Tohono Chul was another destination while we were in Tucson in January. We had been there before – in March 2013 and December 2011. The dust and gravel paths through the gardens are pleasant during this time of year when the weather is cooler that in the heat of summer. Some of the paths and courtyards are shady from overhead growth. I enjoy the occasional metal sculptures (the deer in the image below) in some of the more formal areas.

The eye is drawn to unusually looking saguaro. I’ve photographed two of them on previous visits and named them for what they remind me of: Gumby and elephant.

There were two others that I noticed this time. One had no arms but an unusual configuration at the top with a proliferation of pleats and then, seemingly, a bunch of small arms growing straight up.

There was also a saguaro that has fallen over on the ground; the outer part had dried and split apart to reveal the ribs underneath. It provides some protection to the small cactus growing close beside it.

I noticed a new looking wall with cactus growing on it; there are ‘holes’ built into the wall to provide some soil for the cactus.

There was also a wall with accompanying signage that showed the geology of Arizona…the state has a lot of geologic variety!

There were birds about too: the black bird with a crest and red eye is a phainopepla (this one is a male)

And goldfinches feeding at a mesh bag full of seeds.

The most surprising cactus I saw was one that looked like something had eaten the top! What kind of animal would have a tough enough mouth to do that? On the plus side - it does provide a view of what the inside of the cactus looks like.

There were architectural elements to enjoy too: a purple wall in a meditation garden with vines growing on it

And stairs to a roof with pots and lush vine spilling from above.

I spotted several butterflies in the garden. This one seemed very intent on foraging – even with a very battered wing.

I used the zoom on my camera to document some Century Plant seed pods – some already split open and some still ripening.

All in all – there is always something to notice anew at Tohono Chul.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a favorite outing during our Tucson vacations. The drive through the Tucson Mountain Park to get there just sets the stage for a day enjoying all the wonders of the museum. There are lots of different kinds of cactus – of course. I tend to look for cactus that have something a little different: bigger spines or spines in an interesting pattern, colored fruit or spines…or outer flesh that is not green at all. I like the landscapes of different kinds of cactus growing on hillsides.

 There is a hummingbird aviary and hummingbirds outside too.

There was an Anna’s hummingbird at a feeder that moved slightly and the color of the head changed completely. Hummingbirds have prism-like cells within the top layers of feathers on their heads…and the color we perceive varies based on the refraction from those prism-like cells.

Some other birds that we saw:a female Gila Woodpecker (since it did not have any red on its head)

And male Gambel’s Quail.

There were a few plants that were blooming. I didn’t notice the aphids on the close-up I took of one small flower until I looked at the image on my computer monitor!

And then there are rocks…some with brilliant colors

And some just a collection of small stones between plants

And an outcrop on a hillside – red with its iron.

Tomorrow I’ll write a second post about the Raptor Free Flight programs we saw on our visit to this museum last month.

Saguaro National Park – Rincon Mountain Distract

Our January visit to Tucson included a morning drive in Saguaro National Park – Rincon Mountain District. It was quite different than the last time we visited in June 2013. It was too early for the desert spoons or saguaro cactus to bloom although the cholla provided some rosy/orange color to the landscape.

Here is a close up of the cholla – the brightest colors of the winter landscape.

I like the whites and greens of some of the plants of the desert…but these leaves are not for touching any more than the cactus with their spines.

There was snow on the peaks of the Catalina Mountains to the north. The ocotillos looked like gray thorn sticks; some had a few remnants of last year’s seeds. In a few months the ocotillos would be green thorn sticks with orangey red blooms at their tips.

The visitor center is low and has enough vegetation around it to be almost hidden even in this desert landscape. The loop road beings at one end of the parking lot.

I noticed young saguaros with nurse plants still protecting them from the harshest heat and sun.

The accordion pleats of the cactus body are not always as orderly as I’d assumed. Sometimes they need to grow more pleats as they get larger!

The beginnings of the saguaro ‘arms’ almost look like another cactus growing on the main trunk.

The plants on the rocky slope of the Rincons from one of the loop road overlooks have water nearby this time of year – probably from snow that melting higher up in the mountains.

From our vantage point we could not see any snow in the Rincons. Either it had melted or was still on the peaks out of our sight. We think of deserts as having very few plants but this one has quite a few plants…all that survive with very little water as look as they are undisturbed.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 06, 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.

Tranquil Oil Paintings Reflect Peacefully Ripping Water Scenes – Gives me an idea for a photo project. And this one does too: Seeing the Trees through the Forest: Vestiges of Ancient Woods

7 Easy and Delectable Vegan Quick Breads – Goodies in winter!

Joyful Portraits of Centenarians that are Happy at One Hundred – Hurray! To be happy and 100!

This Is What 17 Different Foods Look like Growing in Their Natural Habitats – All these images are ‘beautiful food’!  The majority of these do no grow in Maryland (except in conservatories)…and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cashew tree even in a conservatory.

America’s Broadband Improves, Cementing a “Persistent Digital Divide” – Rural areas are still problematic….maybe stratospheric drones and balloons will be deployed.

Why the calorie is broken – It turns out that the concept of ‘a calorie’ is not a clear cut as we expect….that there are lots of ways the amount of energy we get from food can be changed. In general – the processes or cooked a food is, the more energy we get from it!

The Scientific Outreach Gap – This was a study done in the UK but the same is true in the US and it isn’t that the public is not interested. My daughter has volunteers for outreach events for astronomy and astrophysics for the past few years and the events have been well attended – almost overwhelmingly so.

Beyond Half Dome: Five Yosemite Sites – Adding to the places I’d like to go (eventually)

The Mycobiome – There has been a lot of research on the human microbiome but most of it, so far, has been about surveys and studies of bacterial species. There are fungi that are there too…and research about them has just started to appear in papers in the past 5 years.

Evidence-based health care: The care you want, but might not be getting – Yes! This is what I want but it seems very hard to get. The study was specifically about hospital settings but it matches my experience everywhere in the US health system. The survey revealed that things like ‘quality’ and ‘safety’ was at the top of the priority list…but how is that achieved without being ‘evidence based.’  I think what is being measured is not skewed toward the patient but to what is easiest to measure (and that could actually be detrimental to the patient).