Gleanings of the Week Ending March 25, 2017

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.

Un-sweetened: How a Maryland County Cut Soda Sales Without a Soda Tax – A story from the county where I live…how soda sales were reduced by 20%...fruit drinks by 15% --- via TV, outdoor advertising, social media, health care professionals and a new local law that promotes access to healthier food and drink options on local government property (such as vending machines at parks and other government buildings).

The biggest energy challenged facing humanity – One point that this article makes: in the future, some appliances (like dish washers) will run when electricity is most available/least expensive. I already have that situation with my Prius Prime – I charges in the middle of the night when electricity from our utility is at the lowest rate. If I had solar panels on my house….I would charge it on sunny days!

Painting the National Parks with Wildflowers – Spring is a great time to get out and explore not just national parks…but local natural areas at well. Finding wildflowers is the joy of spring!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #78 and #79 – Lots of great bird pictures. My favorite in the first set is the kingfisher with the tadpole. In the second set, I like the spotted owlet peeking out from the trunk of a tree

Picturing Birds at Risk – More birds….these are ones that were once common in the US…but have declined dramatically recently.

Should we manage for rare species or species diversity – The challenges of managing ecosystems…species diversity and ecological resilience can be counter to management for rare or conservation species.

The controversial plan to tunnel beneath Stonehenge – Not directly under….but close…and new discoveries around Stonehenge extend the area of the ancient site. It becomes a complicated project!

Twelve Famous Female Chemists – An Infographic that came out for International Women’s Day. How many of these women have you heard of?

1.7 Million Children Died Every Year from Unhealthy Environments, WHO Reports – “A polluted environment is a deadly one – particularly to young children.” 1 in 4 deaths that occur before the age of 5 are not related to environmental problems.

Are you pre-sick? and Do you need an annual checkup? – Both of these articles came out from Berkley Wellness recently. It is worth considering over checking… and then unnecessary treatment…when it comes to our health.

On the Road in Pittsburgh

We visited my daughter and son-in-law in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh and the pizza place where we ate dinner has a painting of itself as part of its decorations! We sat by a window…but not the one that was by the fire hydrant.

I took some pictures of the city as well as we were driving (my husband at the wheel…so I was not being a hazard on the road): University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning (I have heard that they decorate for the rooms for Christmas….something to see next December),

Bridges (the challenge of having so many rivers through the city), and

Cliff faces with development just above the river and then on the cliff top…with incline (rail…funicular) transport between the two.

I already have some sightseeing objectives for out next trip to the city! My husband and I will be visiting the city several more times while my son-in-law continues his postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh…plenty of time to explore the city.

National Aviary – Pittsburgh

We got to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh just after it opened at 10 AM....early enough to find parking very easily in the aviary’s parking lot. It was a good outing on a cold day just as the Phipps Conservatory had been the day before. A few of the exhibits are birds in large cages or enclosures but most the birds are in open areas and sometimes they will walk right up to where you are standing on the walk. It makes taking pictures a lot easier.  I developed a strategy for causing my camera to autofocus on the bird rather than the wire mesh or smudged glass (pick birds further from the wire mesh, point the camera at something else that was about the distance to the bird…then go back to the bird). The snowy owl in the slide show below was photographed using that technique. All the birds were inside except for the snowy owl, bald eagle, and Andean Condor (near the end of the slide show).

Something l learned that surprised me was about penguin’s beaks. They get furrows in them starting at the part closest to the head and extending further toward the tip as they older. This is an old penguin!

Phipps Conservatory – Pittsburgh

It was very cold the day we visited the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens last week. I only went outside once…drawn by the red branches of a Japanese maple…and then quickly went back inside to enjoy the lush plantings that bask in the glass house warmth even in winter.

As usual – I was drawn to closer looks at cactus spines.

There were a lot of people working on garden decorations for the spring exhibit that will debut this week. Some were made of plants or plant materials…all were set among beds that develop over the months of the exhibit. I think my favorite was the rabbit with a dried hydrangea flower for a tail. The three bears with a hobbit like house were in the same area.

Fiddle head ferns are another classic draw for me to photograph.

The orchids were in a room with glass figures (long, slender…as alien looking as the orchids themselves). Slipper orchids are always my favorites.

I finally understand how ‘screw pines’ got their name. The way the leaves come off the trunk really is just like a screw. When I saw one in Hawaii, I was more interested in the fruit….didn’t even look closely at the trunk.

I’ve grouped the ‘best of the rest’ in these last collages. There were so many great plants to photograph…and the conservatory was not very crowded the afternoon we were there. I want to go again already!

Phipps Conservatory Chihuly Glass – Pittsburgh

The times I had been to Pittsburgh in the past offered no time for touring so I looked at places that could be enjoyed on the cold days we were in the city. On our first day in the city, my husband and I walked around the inside of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (i.e. the Conservatory). We easily found parking in the Conservatory parking and I discovered it was difficult to get the whole conservatory in one image!

There was a lot to see inside too….so much that I am dividing it into 2 posts (today and tomorrow). The focus today is on the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture that is nestled in the plantings. The glass often has plant-like forms…but draws the eye with brilliant color.

The large ruffled edge bowls look like flowers.

At other times, the glass blends in with its surrounds. Is it glass or a very unusual plant?

Then there are the chandelier pieces that are suspended over the plants like an alternative sun.

Some are so complex that I find myself enjoying them for a second or third look via my camera zoom.

Tomorrow I’ll focus on the plants in the Phipps Conservatory.

Road Trip to Pittsburgh

Our Maryland neighborhood was snowy when we started out after the morning traffic. The roads were clear and my husband savored the adaptive cruise control in his new car once we got on the highway.

We’re becoming more familiar with the South Mountain rest stop in Interstate 70 these days. The walks and roadways were clear but there were piles of snow everywhere else. It was cold and breezy at the place….this picture makes it look a lot warmer than it was.

I liked the side at Pennsylvania Welcome Center further on. By this time in our drive, the clouds had come in. The closer we got to Pittsburgh the colder it seemed to get and at one point it started to snow sideways (because of the stiff breeze).

I attempted to get pictures of ice flows that were on many of the roadcuts through the Allegheny Mountains. My favorite is the one with the truck since it demonstrates how big some of the icicles were.

More posts from our time in Pittsburgh over the next few days….

Josey Ranch Lake – March 2017

I saw a lot of the same birds on the lake at Josey Ranch in Carrollton TX as I did back in January. The coots were still around. A pigeons mingled with them in the first picture below. I observed more instances of them running on the water to take off into the air this time (second picture).

The ring-billed gulls were looking scruffy with their feathers ruffled by the wind.

There were several types of black birds making a lot of noise. This one was probably a great-tailed grackle.

A male and female mallard walked right up to me (see the toe of my shoe in the second picture below!). Maybe they thought I had bread for them. The female seemed to be trying to avoid several males that were trying to herd her in different directions.

The male pigeons were intent as well…and the females not enthusiastic about their pursuit.

The lesser scaup were still plentiful. They’ll be heading north to their breeding grounds in the as the season warms. There appeared to be a lot more males than females on the lake. (A coot mingled with the scaup in the third picture.)

There were a few northern shoveler ducks on the lake. The only one I got zoomed close and focused flew off just as I took the picture. The bright orange of the legs and feet are clearly visible.

The swans (mute swans…not native to North America)  are nesting. One was swimming on the lake (a juvenile?) while there appeared to be two more barely visible above the cattails and grasses…sitting on their nest. Hopefully I’ll be back at a time that the cygnet(s) would be out on the lake.

It was cold, cloudy, and blustery morning when it visited the area….I made it quick and headed back indoors…and then flew home to Maryland later in the day.

Memory Prompting Scenes

A row of daffodils blooming between the house and the road – connecting to outbuildings. In the other direction, the daffodils continued and a pear tree was in full bloom. The picture will remind me of the day I flew to Texas and drove to Oklahoma…to visit people that have known me my whole life and are now fragile. Every time I see them now is precious since there might not be another time.

The next night – the moon came up and a big crowd celebrated a birthday. I stepped outside into the cold and quiet for a few seconds for a few seconds…to create the memory scene of the event.

Back in Texas a few days later – a 20+ year old rose bush that was a birthday gift for my grandmother (maybe for her 80^th  birthday) was blooming.

 It has a dense stand of other flowers planted around its base.  The scene always reminds me of her and the gardening she enjoyed. That rose bush is a memorial to her more than the monument is the cemetery further away.

Last but not least - a garden scene...with pieces of travels and earlier times of our lives surrounded by greenery that gets more lush each year. Even most of the plants were obtained from other family gardens...evoking lots of good memories.

Art Seen on the Move

I made a quick trip from Maryland to Texas then Oklahoma…back to Texas and then home to Maryland….and used my new cellphone to take pictures of the ‘art’ along the way.

At BWI airport early in the morning, I noticed the Maryland scenes depicted in mosaics on the floor and on tables that are probably very busy later in the day.

Driving from the Dallas area toward Tulsa on I75, we stopped in Durant for lunch. Salitas (Tex-Mex food) is not far off the highway and has desert murals painted on the side.

After visiting family near Tulsa, we headed to Stillwater, OK for a visit with friends and then headed for home along I35. The rest stop had Teepee shaped structures over the picnic tables! Note that I didn’t take any ‘on the road’ pictures this trip; that is because I was the driver for the entire part of the trek made via automobile.

As I arrived at Love Field for my flight home, I paused a few extra seconds while I retrieved by boarding pass and driver’s license from my bag to take a picture of the colorful mosaic beside the security checkpoint. It’s size and position make it difficult to capture…but I always notice it and celebrate because I am heading home.

Brookside Gardens in March – Part II

When I went to check the skunk cabbage last week at Brookside Gardens, a disgruntled titmouse gave me the eye. That was the only bird I managed to photograph as I walked around the gardens.

The growth that I had noticed between two rocks by the stream last month is now blooming – narcissus.

There were also small flags

And crocus in bloom.

March had been off to a warm start but we had some cold days just before I went to Brookside so I was pleased to find some trees that looked undamaged by the cold.

The camellia was a pleasant surprise…and fortified me for what came next.

A magnolia was evidently in full bloom when the weather turned cold. Now all flowers are brown. There could be a few buds that may still open. I’ll check next time I go. It's a very large tree that usually is full of large pick flowers....maybe not this year.

It was warm enough that there were a few insects out and about. Do you see the insect in this picture? (Hint: a little left and down from center.)

Brookside Gardens in March – Part I

Last week, I missed the shop in the Brookside Gardens conservatory; it was closed for inventory. But the conservatories were open and full of color. The variegated crotons were lush even though a lot of the other foliage had been severely pruned…giving room for a lot of new growth.

Some of the plantings they had been putting in the soil when I visited toward the end of January were blooming. I was fascinated by the structure of the flowers…and their color.

My favorite picture from this walk through the conservatories was of this desert plant – somehow the light and the shape of the leaves appeal to me.

There were snap dragons – mostly pink ones.

And orchids in lush groupings planted in urns.

Every time I see this bush with the red puffs – I always want a bottle brush that is this shape and color!

One of the examples of new growth because of the pruning was this new leaf that will expand to a huge leaf that is all green. I was surprised that the new leaves have so much red in them.

Tomorrow I’ll post about the sights outside in the gardens.

Two Big Trees

Last week on a misty morning, I heard the noise of chain saws and heavy equipment coming from the back of a neighbor’s house. By the time I got out on my deck to look, one of the uppermost branches had be cut off and was being lowered to the ground. It was a very tall tulip poplar that was at the edge of the forest and evidently had moved around a lot during the last wind storm – enough to cause the homeowner to decide it need to come down before it fell on the house.

I went upstairs to my office to get a better vantage point. Yes – there is a reflection that gets in the right side of the images…but I decided to document the process from my office. The crew had a truck with a tall boom. A person was on the controls for the truck and a person was up in the tree….and another man went up to attach ropes to the next branch to be cut so that it could be lowered slowly to the ground.

Another big branch – being lowered to the ground.

And the person going up to attach the rope to the next branch (he looked like he enjoyed the job!).

The branch comes down. Notice the rope that is holding it up…and will allow for it to be gently lowered to the pile.

And now the big trunk begins to come down. Note that the tree is not hollow or rotten. Tulip poplars are notorious for toppling in strong winds…and evidently they don’t have to be sickly for it to happen.

And then I realized that they were cutting down two trees instead of one. Here is the last cut to take the second tree down and

The big trunk being gently lifted to added to the pile.

Then it was all about clean up. It took about 7 hours of work for the crew to get the 2 trees down (and one branch that was rotting from another tree) and everything cleaned up.

I felt depressed that two trees at the edge of our forest were gone…but no one wants a tree to fall on their house.

A March Sunrise

It won’t be so easy to catch a sunrise from our front porch as the days get longer and the leaves fill the trees. The tree in the foreground is an oak and many of the others are that are silhouettes of bare branches now are maples. All of them will become effective drapes on the sunrise color.

I’ve just finished taking a Coursera course on Ancient Egypt and learned about Khepri – a god in the ancient Egyptian religion connected to the rising sun. It’s a word to add to my vocabulary describing that special light that is so great for photography in the early morning:

Khepri light.

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.

Centennial Park on a Cold Day

A few days ago, it was sunny but in the 40s and I thought I’d take a short walk at the park – bundled up in my coat and hat. I underestimated the effect of the wind! It was unbearably cold so I took a quick look around for anything worthy of a photograph….and spotted a Great Blue Heron on the other side of the lake. At first I was seeing only the back of its head (I think it was investigating some trash as the edge of the lake); it was about ready to give up when the bird turned so I could get a profile shot.

The water was not a pretty color because the wind was stirring up the water. But I experimented with bordering the picture with the red railing from the fishing pier. I liked the texture of the water in motion. The ducks, geese and seagulls were off the water. I saw some gulls in a tree and two geese eating grass along the road side as I left. There were daffodils bloom in the woods (not sure why someone planted them there) and there were a couple of robins looking for worms in the grass.

It was a much shorter outing than I’d planned but I was glad to be out and about.

Signs of Spring? – Part 2

The first part of this post was posted last week after a walk around our yard…on a warm afternoon. I posted the series of American Robin images first…now for the rest of what I saw --- There were some milkweed pods in the litter of one of our flower beds (yes – I let some plants go to seed there); there is the first milkweed bug of the season too!

I saw a bee investigating something in the leaf litter too. The day was so warm that the insects probably thought it was spring already.

The crocuses are come up through the leaf mulch left in the flower bed. I’m going to plant some out in the yard next fall since I like the look of the flowers in the lawns of Belmont.

 The miniature daffodils are blooming too.

There some of the larger and taller ones that are still green leaves and buds. When the leaves first emerge, they sometimes have kinks that straighten out before they start blooming.

The red maple is blooming. This time of year is it easy to tell the difference between this tree and other maples. All the others look dull compared to this red.

There is a tree in the forest behind our house that has lost its top and there are woodpecker holes around the wound in the part that remains.

There is a holly that has sprouted under a downspout – not a good place for a holly so I will have to pull it next time I put on my gardening gloves.

Part 1 was posted last Friday.

A Little March Snow

I’d taken pictures for a second post about signs of spring in our yard….but then I woke up to snow! I got a picture at first light since I was sure it would melt away quickly. There were already deer tracks through our back yard.

As it got a little lighter, the snow on the pines and back into the forest gave the scene from my office window a new look.

There was a robin that kept moving around in the red maple that is blooming.

The tulip poplar seed pods from last summer are mostly empty of seeds at this point; they make a little basket for snow accumulation.

The miniature daffodils in the front yard are blooming and they caught the snow as well. They handle it better than the larger and taller flowers that sometimes bend to the ground with heavy snow. These daffodils are progeny of bulbs that my mother-in-law bought for us over 25 years ago and I’m always thrilled that they are so durable through the snow.

Signs of Spring? – Part 1

We have had an unusually warm and snow free winter in our area of Maryland. This morning there is a cold snap and I am wondering if some of the pictures of our yard I took for this blog over the past few days are of things that will be frost damaged next time I walk around. I have been seeing one or two American Robins are warm days for the past week or so. The robin in the slide show below was in a neighbor’s yard – looking for and finding worms. It looked like a fat and healthy bird enjoying the bounty of our neighborhood lawns without a lot of others of his kind around. It is easy to associate a personality with this bird on a mission!

I’m noticing the advantage of having the 40x optical zoom on my camera (rather than 30x of my previous camera or 0 optical zoom of my smart phone). The image stabilization is good too; all these were taken hand held – no monopod or tripod.

Disappointment at Conowingo

The weather was a little warmer than usual when we made our trek to Conowingo last week. The weather turned out to be the best part. The eagles must have finished their breakfast by the time we got there and were not very active; this was the best picture I got – from all the way across the river. You can tell that those rocks are favorite perches (all the ‘white’).

The black vultures were not very photogenic either. The big grouping that usually eyeballs cars going over the dam from a fence only numbered three birds. The others must have been out and about – maybe at some substantial carrion site.

At first I thought the cormorants would redeem the trip. There were at least two of them and they were within photographic range. But then I realized that the reason they were staying in one location was a tangled (and trashed) fishing lure rather than a fish (you can see it (light green) and the line that evidently snagged it to the rocky bottom in the middle picture below).

There were a few gulls about. I tried taking pictures of them as they landed or flew up from the water. The one with the orange spot on the bill is a Herring Gull. The other one could be a Ring-billed Gull since the beak looks like it has black instead of orange toward the end.

There were two Canadian Geese in the shallows on the other side of the dam abutment – almost out of camera range.

The same was true for a flock of pigeons. They usual are on the dam structure but they must have been startled by something because a large number left the dam at the same time and moved to the rocks.

On a botanical note – the Princess tree buds still look the same as they did last time we were at Conowingo. The buds on the tulip poplars (at the end of the twigs) seem to be getting larger.

On the way home, I took a picture of the mounds of salt along I-95 near the tunnel (through a dirty window). Generally the salt piles are significantly reduced by this time of year….but not this season. I wonder what will happen to it since the salt storage buildings are probably already full.

February Rainbow

A few days ago, thunderstorms were forecast and once the rumbles started I turned off my computer/other electronics. It seemed like the sun came out again very quickly after a short heavy rain….and I glanced out the window. There was a rainbow! It’s a little unusual for us this time of year when we normally have snow rather than rain. The rainbow’s location was more toward the northeast since the sun is further to the southwest in the afternoon this time of year.

I took the picture from my front doorway. The trees with reddish looking branches are maples. They are already blooming. The branches on the far right of the image are the oak that is near our mailbox.