Mt. Pleasant Farm – March 2017

Last week, the group of volunteer naturalists for the elementary school field trips met at Mt. Pleasant Farm for a walk around the hiking routes for all the programs. I have been doing the hikes for several years so was paying attention for changes but that left time for some photography. There were scilla bulbs blooming on the lawn in front of the farmhouse (non-native and maybe invasive too); they are small but the touch of blue draws the eye.

I was more pleased with catching a dogwood bud just opening. I sought out a dogwood tree when I walked around the National Arboretum this weekend…more about that in tomorrow’s blog post.

The expansion of the Gudelsky Center is on schedule although it won’t be available for the spring field trips.

Further long the hike, we were along the stone wall and I was looking at the rocks – typical of this part of Maryland – and the lichen. Sometimes the patches of symbiotic algae and fungus (maybe with some yeast too) look like squashed flowers to me.

The stream restoration is nearing completion. There are small plants coming up through the mesh along the banks. The upside down trees (roots up!) will be habitat for little creatures. The riffles had water trickling through them. The rain from the previous day had left puddles along the banks…just like it is supposed to (will they last long enough to produce tadpoles?).

Further along the lightning scared standing tree has obvious wood boring insect and woodpecker holes in the scar.

After walking the route for the hikes, I went off in the other direction to check a place where I’d seen skunk cabbage precious years…but not when we did the hike back in February. It’s up now although the hoods over the flowers are past prime…and the leaves are unfurling.

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2017

March was a more hectic month than usual….but full of lots of little celebrations!

Potluck lunch. There was the potluck lunch for volunteer naturalists at the Howard County Conservancy – celebrating our time together for training…getting ready for the field trips that will start in the next few weeks and continue until June. The food is always luscious.

Snow. We haven’t had much snow this year…the first one of more than an inch was this month – much later than usual. I celebrated the beauty of it all and that I didn’t have to get out in it until the streets were all cleared by plows and salt application.

Ancient Egypt course. I celebrated the last modules of the Coursera course --- and am savoring the book written by the teacher.

There were three celebrations involving travel in March:

Old friends. I celebrated visiting with people that have known me my whole life…savoring the time with them. I also celebrated renewing friendship with someone I had not seen in 40 years!

Phipps Conservatory. I like conservatories…and this one in Pittsburgh was one to celebrate.

National Aviary. The walk around the National Aviary in Pittsburgh was a hours long celebration of the diversity of bird life --- and becoming very aware of the fragility of that diversity around the world.

And then there were outdoor activities and photography to celebrate:

Brookside Garden skunk cabbage. It finally was up even though the plants looked like they were trying to hide again under the bald cypress needles from last fall.

Rockburn Branch macroinvertebrates. Yes – is was part of training…but I always celebrate that we find the creatures so easily.

Pileated Woodpecker. We had one the visited our yard – scouting apparently. The birds was on the sycamore at first, then on a neighbors deck, then the trunk of a pine tree, and the roof of our covered deck…finally into the maple tree. I had lots of opportunities for pictures.

Khepri (morning) light. I liked the Ancient Egypt class so much – I am calling the excellent light for photography that happens as the sun comes out after the Ancient Egyptian god for sunrise and rebirth…celebrating that time of day!

Skunk Cabbage @ Brookside Gardens

I’ve been looking for skunk cabbage sprouts every time I’ve gone to Brookside Gardens since I saw the plants emerging from the swampy area at Mt. Pleasant Farm back in January. Earlier this week, I finally saw some. They are in the wet area crossed by the boardwalk between the Brookside Gardens Conservatory and the Brookside Nature Center. I’d noticed the plants in previous years among the cypress knees.

The weather had been cold the previous days and I wondered if their contractile roots had pulled some of the plants back down into the soil. Since some of the plants seemed almost buried in the mulch under the cypress trees.

I zoomed in to two different hoods trying to see the ball shaped flower within – but they appeared to be empty. The structures are still interesting. Once I saw one of them there were quite a few just barely above the mulch.

Zooming – February 2017

As I was creating the zoomed images into collages, I was drawn to color in my February collection of photographs.

• Witch Hazel
• Peacock feathers
• Blue jays
• Flickers
• Skunk cabbage
• The light blue of dove eyelids
• Sunflowers

Enjoy the zoomed images from February!

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2017

January started out with a burst of travel – driving cross country between Maryland and Arizona with a stop for a week in the Dallas area. There were associated ‘little celebrations.’

Leaf earrings from a local artist in McKinney TX – I celebrated finding earrings I like a lot…and if they are created by a local artist that makes it even better. I find it very easy to remember where I purchase earrings so they are great mementos for my travels.

A day on my own – Usually when I travel, my time is full of interacting with other people and I end up exhausted after it continues for too many days. On this 9-day trip, I had one day that was almost all ‘me time’ and I celebrated the lull!

Getting to the hotel in the snow – One day I was out and about in Dallas when it started snowing. I thought it wouldn’t stick but it started before I could head back to the hotel. Dallas does not use salt and there had not been any time for sand to be out either. I was driving an unfamiliar car too. I white knuckled the drive (overpasses particularly) but made it back to the hotel without incident…and celebrated.

Then there were ‘home’ related celebrations:

Home again – I enjoy traveling but coming home again is always a little celebration.

A good night of sleep – I came home from my travels with a cold so the first night that I sleep well was cause for celebration.

A sunny day – January in Maryland has been full of gray skies and drizzle (no snow) so I celebrated one on of the few sunny days.

A new car – Maybe this is a big celebration rather than a little one. I only buy a new car about every 10 years or so…and I’m still savoring the lingering celebration of acquiring the Prius Prime.

There are instances of little celebrations in my favorite activities as well:

Anatomy of the Abdomen and Pelvis Course – This might be the most challenging courses I’ve taken on Coursera – but tremendously interesting. I am celebrating every module. Kudos to the Leiden University Medical School for producing it.

A hike and finding skunk cabbages – I enjoyed a winter hike and was celebrating being outdoors when I found skunk cabbages already up in the winter muck…and that made for a bigger celebration.

Red-tailed hawks – It seems like I am seeing red tailed hawks a lot more frequently this winter….or maybe I am just becoming a better observer. My daughter and I saw them on our cross-country road trip, there is at least one that is frequently the woods behind out house and I saw one at Centennial Park when I was there last week. I celebrate that the birds are thriving and that I am seeing them!

Skunk Cabbage in January!

I walked down to the swampy areas on the other side of Mt Pleasant Farm when I was there earlier this week (away from either Construction Zone) and looked at a couple of places I knew Skunk Cabbage grows. The first – closer – place was still like winter – no sunk cabbage coming up in the muck. But the second place had lots of new shoots of the plant coming up!

Once I saw the a few plants – I started seeing even more of them. We’ve been having a warmer than usual January so the plants may be coming up a bit earlier than usual. They are some of the earliest flowers of spring. The early insects (including bees) are attracted to their not-pleasant-to-us smell. They often show up when snow is still on the ground but this year it hasn’t been necessary so far.

One of the shoots has been cut (by a mower?) so the structure of the coiled up leave is obvious.  The structure coming up next to it might be a flower.

As I walked back along the small stream (East Branch), I spotted two green shoots in a relatively narrow and rocky part of the stream bed…probably a new stand of skunk cabbage from seeds produced in the large stand a little upstream.

It will be interesting to observe what happens to these plants if we do have some very cold weather. After all – it’s only January…still some winter left to go.