June 21, 2020

Pinning the Day

June 21, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Does it matter what day it is? During this time while we are still not leaving home very often – there are fewer things that prompt us to keep track of which day it is. Some are self-imposed:

We do the laundry on Saturday. It is a habit not a requirement at all.
I do the grocery shopping on Thursday. Since I retired, that has been the day most of the time. It’s changed slightly now to every other week rather than weekly.
I call my parents on Tuesdays. My calls used to be ad hoc and sporadic…but I opted to set an item on my calendar to remind me as the pandemic stretched on.

Then there are the calendar items that are externally determined. These are the ones that are so reduced at this time.

The time slot for our CSA share is Wednesday afternoon…every week until the end of October.
The two-day Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference virtual sessions are 2 days later this month.
The Climate and Sustainability Webinars are every other week through the end of August.

And that is all that is on my calendar! There are the recycle (Wednesday) and trash (Friday) that prompt us to remember the day of the week; they are not on the calendar and, so far, we have remembered them. I guess that is an indicator that we are still syncing with the calendar – pinning the day – even as we have less interactions that demand that we do so.

In general, I think we are more focused on the present…enjoying whatever we are doing now and for the next few hours…savoring our time today rather than thinking about the weeks ahead. There is an appeal I haven’t experienced all that often in my life.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Watched Stonehenge’s Summer Solstice Livestream. English Heritage had a Facebook Live event from Stonehenge. The summer solstice is a big event at the stones each year, but the pandemic has forced its closure…so this was a great opportunity to see the event without traveling! There was thunder and birdsong…and the stones. I clipped a couple of images from the sunset as I watched. Hopefully they’ll make the video available for playback from their Facebook page.

May 29, 2020

Zooming Photographs and Tripoli Prompt

May 29, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Zooming

Last May I took over 2,500 pictures…this May there are just under 1,000. There are still a lot to choose from…and I do use the zoom on my camera a lot. All the pictures this month were taken from around my house. Enjoy the slide show!

A Zentangle Prompt

Make a tile with TRIPOLI as the central tangle. I found this pattern to be challenging the first time I did it a few years ago. So give it a try. Feel free to try some patterns inside the triangles and/or use another pattern (like TIPPLE or CRESCENT MOON) to file some of the tile.

Here are some tiles I made yesterday – savoring the patterns from the last six days. The first was a hodgepodge of almost all the patterns. Then I settled down to 2 patterns (and auras). It was the beginning of a trend because the next one was two patterns with more obvious shading around the edges…and the last was a montotangle tile (gingo)! I enjoyed Tangler’s Choice day and I hope you did too.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Last grocery delivery. I’ve decided to go back to venturing out to the grocery store in June after more than two months of almost weekly deliveries…so this was the last delivery. I’m glad the option was available to us but found it stressful to be online while my shopping was done (to OK or reject substitutions) and then sorting through the bags left on the porch to put away the refrigerator items and leaving the rest to sit a few days (usually in the back of one of our cars) before unpacking. And I didn’t like the quick accumulation of so many plastic bags. All the shoppers seemed keen to do a good job but some were very inexperienced with grocery shopping/the store.

Low weight of the year. I didn’t have any dark chocolate on hand, so I celebrated with sweet potato custard with pecans on top – the making and enjoying warm from oven.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.

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.

May 28, 2020

Little Celebrations, Tangler’s Choice, and a Fledgling Woodpecker

May 28, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

10 Little Celebrations in May 2020

Today I am highlight 10 small things I celebrated this month. Half of them involved birds!

2020 05 IMG_9511 (9).jpg — **Rose-breasted Grosbeaks** were a new bird at our deck this year; my husband both celebrated their appearance. They came for the first half of the month both males and females. Now they are probably raising young in a nest a little too far from our feeder…but maybe they’ll bring their fledglings!

Virtual Cape May Spring (Birding) Festival. It was two days of rewarding sessions….celebrating a place we enjoyed last spring (Cape May, New Jersey) in the best way possible in 2020!

Downy woodpecker fledgling. We had a fledgling downy…bumbling to the deck but not the feeder – yet. Celebrating new life in the forest.

2020 05 IMG_9442 (3).jpg — **American Goldfinches**. The males are in their summer plumage. It’s always a day brightener to see them.

2020 05 IMG_9613 (6).jpg — **Indigo Buntings** were another new visitor to our feeder this year. Like the grosbeaks – they were around for the first half of the month. Hopefully, they will return with fledglings…and built their nest far enough away to not have a cowbird nestling.

And there were other things I celebrated…many probably obvious from my previous posts.

**Irises**. I celebrated every single one that came up in our garden. The rhizomes appear to be recovering from a collapse a few years ago. I hope that cutting the stalks will make it easier for them to build up even more for next year – anticipating more flowers to celebrate.

Poem sent from my Mother…30 years ago. I found a poem my Mother sent to me as I started my daughter in day care 30 years ago. I must have celebrated it at the time….and did again when I found it again.

Providing a Zentangle session at Howard County Conservancy. Celebrating sharing something I enjoy.

2020 05IMG_9919 (2).jpg — **Chipmunk on the deck**. Celebrating the rodent that has Oreo cookie stripes on each side!

Flower Designs from the 1800s. Celebrating Marcia Bradford’s book of flower designs for watercolor…that worked very well with Ultra-Fine Point Sharpies with Zentangles filling in the background! I completed 2 in May.

A Zentangle Prompt

Instead of trying a new pattern today – pick ones from the last week to make again – in a new combination or as a monotangle. Take your pick from: GINGO, MEER feathers, ANTIDOTS, ELIROB, BATON, PHICOPS, RIBBON ROSE, and SHARD. Or maybe decide to take a break and just admire a mosaic of your tiles made over the past 6 days. Here are mine (including the RIBBON ROSE and SHARD tiles from yesterday.

Unique activities for yesterday:

Fledgling red-bellied woodpecker. The fledgling was on the roof of the covered deck while the mom was at the feeder! It first came about 8 AM and I watched for it all through the day. It wasn’t quite coordinated enough to utilize the bird feeder directly.

**Chicken baked in spicy spaghetti sauce.** I’m not sure why I hadn’t tried this before…it’s easy to make and delicious. I simply put boneless chicken breasts in a Pyrex baking dish, poured some spicy spaghetti sauce over them, sprinkled on some garlic and coarse ground pepper….cooked for an hour at 350 degrees (included some potatoes in the same oven). The baking dish has a lid, so the leftover chicken is in the refrigerator in that container (easy cleanup after our meal). My husband – a somewhat picky eater – liked the chicken so much he even volunteered to eat the leftovers!

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.

May 11, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distancing - 5/10/2020

May 11, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Nice surprise first thing in the morning: 4 irises. When I went to bed the night before, there was one open iris and another that was just beginning to unfurl. I expected there would be two irises open the next morning.

But there were two more than I expected! What a great start to Mother’s Day!

Photographing a spent iris flower. The first iris bloom (that had broken off the stem and was in a small glass of water) wilted and I decided to take it apart to learn more about iris flowers. I quickly discovered that they are three types of petals…and 3 of each kind. Going from the outside inward: falls with beards and stamens attached, standards, and style arms. The falls are the largest and the style arms are the smallest.

20200509_164317 falls with beards and sepals.jpg

I took some macros shots of various parts of the petals. They were thinning and watery…had started to degrade with age.

The last picture is of the cut stem. (Reference)

Seeing two Scarlet Tanagers in the red maple. We are seeing birds we haven’t seen before in the forest behind our house…because we are looking more frequently. Scarlet tanagers are insect eaters, so they don’t come to the feeder. We didn’t notice any females, but they are harder to spot. I wonder if there is a nest in the maple. (The picture looks ‘painterly’ because it is near then limit of the zoom on my camera).

Opening a new supply of bird seed. We used up all our bird seed we’d purchased from the local bird club. The new supply I ordered from Amazon came a few days ago. There was only a small amount of seed left in the feeder, so I emptied it for the doves to enjoy and opened the new bag to fill the feeder with fresh seed.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.

April 29, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/28/2020 – Little Celebrations

April 29, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

**Making echinoderm prompted Zentangle**® tiles. *Jurassic echinoderms France* is full of plates and worth browsing; it’s available on Internet Archive here. Four sample images are below. I’ve only made one Zentangle so far but I’m sure the patterns will pop up in the tiles I make over the next few days.

Starting the What is Contemporary Art? Coursera course. It is my 3rd class from MoMA. For some reason – I am interested in classes that are different from my typical science or history classes I’ve taken in non-pandemic years.

Watching a Glenn Randall Photography webinar on light for landscape photographers. It was something my husband found out about and set up for us. We watched on the television in the den. Now I have some vocabulary for some of the type of light I enjoy early or late in the day! I realized that some of the wonderful light on the sandhill cranes in the early mornings at Bosque del Apache is ‘glow light’ from the sun 20 minutes away from coming up behind us.

Making sweet potato custard. Probably my favorite food creation during our ‘stay at home as much as possible’ time has been sweet potato custard. This is the second time I’ve made it. I cook the sweet potato in the oven when we are baking something else…then peel it and save it in the refrigerator until I’m ready to make the custard. The sweet potato goes into the Ninja food processor with 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cloves and 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (this time I was trying to use up some powdered sugar so I used the higher amount). After processing and scrapping down the sides, I add in enough almond milk to make the consistency about right….processing again to get it thoroughly blended. After pouring it into the backing dish, I cover the top with chopped pecans. It cooks for 15 minutes at 425 degrees and 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

It never lasts long since both my husband and I like it a lot.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.

And now for the monthly post about 10 little celebrations. Again – the overwhelming celebration (the same as in March) is that in April 2020

Everyone in my family (in Maryland, Missouri, and Texas) is well…and taking all the recommended precautions to stay that way.

Now for 9 other celebrations….all from home (or easy walking distance):

Talking to family far away. It’s such a boost to talk with family – know that they are doing fine – that we all have pleasant homes and a few people with us. It’s good to let whatever anxiety has accumulated to melt away and celebrate family.

Grocery delivery. At first the idea of grocery delivery made me anxious. Now I find that the arrival of another delivery to our front porch is a cause for celebration. We have good food at low health risk.

Fashion as Design Coursera course. The whole course was interesting. I learned a lot more – and maybe differently – that I anticipated. I celebrated the whole course.

My history in wardrobe terms. The Fashion as Design prompted a whole project - thinking about my wardrobe from the 1960s to today. It was a fun project and I celebrated the memory of my favorite clothes.

Life in the Universe Pandemic Series. I’m a fan of Charles Cockell’s mini-lectures on astrobiology and I enjoyed his book (Bruntsfield Brook) as well. I watch/listen to the videos in clumps…glad I became aware of them shortly after he started.

Hiking into the forest. The whole hike was one big celebration. I am already looking at the forecast and planning another hike.

And then there are three birds I am highlighting as April celebrations: rose-breasted grosbeak, piliated woodpecker, and goldfinch. I celebrate the view from my office window each and every day. It is becoming a wall of green now that the trees are leafing out.

March 30, 2020

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2020

March 30, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Every month I write about 10 little celebrations. There is a big celebration as I write this –

Everyone in my family (in Maryland, Missouri and Texas) is well…and taking all the recommended precautions to stay that way.

Now for 9 other celebrations….

2020 03IMG_8320.jpg — *Brookside Conservatories*. Early in March, before the state and counties started closing facilities, I went over to Brookside Gardens…already taking the social distancing and handwashing/no face touching precautions. The conservatories were warm and lush as usual – always a cause for celebration. I’m glad I got to see them before they were closed.

*Sunrise on grocery day.* For the first 3 weeks of March I was still going to the grocery store but even earlier than usual so there would not be many people in the store. The sunrise on a couple of those trips was glorious and started the day off wonderfully!

Virtual birthdays. There are family birthday’s in March…celebrated with alternatives to gathering in one place!

Dutch chocolate protein powder. It’s always worth celebrating finding something that tastes good (in smoothies) and adds a nutritional punch!

Grocery delivery. As the month progressed there were more people in the store even at the early time…even during senior shopping hours. I was skeptical that I would like grocery delivery, but my first experience late in the month was positive. It’s something to celebrate since we’ll be doing it for at least the next month or more. I am feeling more confident that we are doing everything we can to stay well.

Spice cake muffins with applesauce. The muffins made a chicken dinner into a celebration.

Crocus in the yard near the oak tree and daffodils 4 feet out of the flower bed. Replanted by squirrels? It’s always a celebration to find flowers growing in an unexpected place.

Thundercloud plum in bloom. The week that the plum blooms is always a celebration. It’s usually the first tree blooming in our neighborhood.

Achieving a 1st weight loss goal. Finally – getting the weight I gained over Thanksgiving and Christmas off! I celebrated with dark chocolate and will push forward to get lower…down into the ‘normal’ range for my height.

February 26, 2020

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2020

February 26, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

So many things to celebrate in February…I’ve picked my top 10 that are in roughly chronological order during the month.

I started out the month in Carrollton, Texas.

2020 02 IMG_7856 (10).jpg — **Red Yucca.** The seed pods always look interesting to me. I like their curves and points. The warm brown and burnt black colors.

Fried catfish and okra. Sometimes a high-fat splurge is OK….delicious.

A sunny and warm day. In February, the days are often gray and cold….so when the weather bucks the trend…it’s time to get outdoors to celebrate.

The Laredo Birding Festival was not that long…but there was something to celebrate every day.

2020 02 IMG_7905 (3).jpg — **Roadrunner.** What a way to start a birding trip…seeing an iconic bird of the area at a rest stop before we even got to Laredo!

2020 02 IMG_4880 (2).jpg — **Great Horned Owls**. We saw these owls on two days! What a thrill.

Sunrise on the Rio Grande. Celebrating the start of another day….the beauty of a river that draws life to a dry area.

2020 02 IMG_3928 (5).jpg — **American White Pelicans ballet.** I had never witnessed pelicans feeding together in a coordinated way. They were synchronized and graceful…the joy of watching the natural world in action.

Audubon’s Oriole. Celebrating a colorful bird that just appeared while we were relaxing on a veranda after lunch.

And then we were home again.

A Day at home. I always celebrate being at home after I’ve been away. The view from my office window…fixing my own favorite foods…relaxing.

NISE Training. Robinson Nature Center provided a class on some kits they’ve purchased from the National Informal STEM Education Network. I enjoyed the gravity well (Exploring Universe Orbiting Objects) activity and hope there are opportunities to share it with visitors to the nature center. I also passed the information (here) along to my daughter since it had potential for physics related outreach activities her university does. So multiple reasons to celebrate this training!

January 29, 2020

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2020

January 29, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

2020 has started out with more activity than I anticipated….more volunteering, more classes, more events…and some travel at the end of the month.

2020 01 IMG_7039.jpg — **Bluebird passing through:** We don’t see bluebirds around that much….so it’s a special day when we do see one.

47th wedding anniversary: It doesn’t seem like such a long time…compared to my parents celebrating 67 years. I’m going to think of something special for our 50th coming up in 3 years!

**Children enjoying the Touch Tank**: There are moments in every hour that I spend volunteering at Robinson Nature Center’s saltwater touch tank that are little celebrations for me and for the children. Whether it is awe from something an animal does…or how they feel…or just understanding something new.

Conowingo Eagles: Even on a morning I don’t get any particularly good pictures – I enjoy every trip we make to the Conowingo…and that the eagle population is back from the brink!

Hot tea with cream: Or maybe with just milk. It’s my favorite winter beverage.

**Middle Patuxent Water Monitoring**: I always enjoy getting in the river and then doing the gleaning of the macroinvertebrates to identify. Since it was winter, I was braced to get very cold…but we had a wonderful sunny (not too cold) day!

Honing skills for volunteer gig: None of the classes were very long but were informative and applicable to me becoming a better volunteer. The topics ranged from autism, Howard Country Green Infrastructure Network, sensitivity training (impact of microaggression), outdoor wear fashion and function, and the spotted lantern fly. Wow – quiet a range of topics and all the presentations were excellent.

2020 01 IMG_7080.jpg — **Snow in the afternoon**: So beautiful. I celebrate every snow these days because I don’t have to drive in it!

Zentangle® with Howard County Conservancy volunteers: I love guiding group Zentangle sessions. This particular group seemed to enjoy the session…and had some ideas about ‘next steps’ in a practice. And like the campers last summer…got a little Zen as well.

Cooper’s Hawk on a Snowy morning: Often a ‘little celebration’ is a surprise that just happens. Seeing the Cooper’s Hawk fly into our sycamore was that kind of celebration – although I am glad the hawk is not around my backyard more frequently (since I enjoy the other birds).

January 03, 2020

Putting Christmas Away

January 03, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

We put the Christmas decorations away on New Years Eve. This year it was easy because they were less complex than usual. I took my Zentangle ornaments off the tree after I enjoyed the tree one last time while I ate my breakfast. I left the hooks attached to their string hangers – ready for next year. They fit nicely in a snowman tin I had previously used for the hooks.

We took the wreath off the door and put it into the box it came in several years ago after taking the batteries out (it will get fresh ones when we unpack it next year). Our cat approved its packaging. The whole thing went into a big trash bag to keep the dust off until next December.

My husband took the lights off the tree and coiled them into a plastic bin. We stuffed the tree into the box the it came in 24 years ago. We used tape to close it up for many years then switched to bungee cords in more recently. It’s a two-person job to close it up and carry it downstairs to the closet in the basement.

Now we are gathering up the smaller decorations and taking them downstairs an armload at a time to go into storage bins until next year: cards and door scrunchies and curly ribbons.

December 29, 2019

Spiced Molasses Cake (Muffins)

December 29, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I always like to try at least one new recipe during the holidays. This time I started with a very old recipe that I’d found in a cook book on Internet Archive here. It is a collection of recipes from Williams, Arizona published by their library association in 1911! The recipe is a scant paragraph for Spiced Molasses Cake

One-half cup sugar, one cup shortening (butter or cottolene) ; one cup molasses, one cup boiling water, one teaspoon soda, one teaspoon ginger, cloves and cinnamon, two eggs, two and one-half cups flour. Beat the eggs well and put in last. Mrs. Amos Adams, Williams. Arizona

I modernized the recipe by using olive oil rather than shortening (butter or cottolene). I also made it my own by pureeing a whole orange (cutting off the ends but otherwise including the peeling and pith) to replace part of the hot water, using whole wheat flour, and adding a dash of cayenne pepper.

The batter cooked well in muffin tins…crispy on top, soft and airy underneath. I enjoyed them hot from the oven with butter on my Christmas dinner plate then for breakfast for days after…a lingering flavor of the holidays.

Christmas dinner: broccoli with garlic butter, spiced molasses muffins, roast, cranberry orange salad, baked potato

Some more thoughts about this old recipe:

The amounts are easy to remember since they are either 1 cup or one teaspoon. Experienced cooks would guess 2 eggs and would have added enough flour to get the batter to the right consistency. This was a recipe the writer probably learned from her mother or developed on her own…not something learned from a cookbook. It reminded me of the way my Grandmother cooked.

The airiness of the finished product is not from baking powder like many modern recipes! The last sentence about adding the beaten eggs last is probably important. Something to remember for future sweet muffin experiments.

December 27, 2019

Brookside Gardens – December 2019

December 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I walked around Brookside Gardens on Christmas Eve. It was sunny, but still only in the 40s with a little breeze; I was wearing my coat and gloves…put my hood up for part of the time. I noticed a tree has been cut down recently near the junction of the boardwalk to the Nature Center with the path from the Conservatory parking lot toward the Japanese Tea House (Brookside map here). The shelf fungus growing on the stump still held the saw dust!

I noticed some birds too. The only two I managed to photograph were a White-throated Sparrow that was searching a mat covering electrical cords for the seasonal lights (the bird found at least one snack) and

A Northern Cardinal near the fragrance garden. I saw a lot of Cardinals…or maybe it was the same one following me around! Their color certainly makes them stand out.

The gardens are full of dried flowers and seeds. The sumac is the most colorful. I find the shapes of the dried ferns very appealing. They have a feathery look to them. Some of the grasses do too.

2019 12 t IMG_6836 (13).jpg — The Conservatories were my last stop – for poinsettias and the model train.

There were quite a few families enjoying the garden while I was there. The excitement and joy of the children in the model train exhibit is like experiencing a seasonal group hug!

December 19, 2019

Christmas Trees at the Maryland State House

December 19, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Another holiday themed outing – driving over to Annapolis to see the trees decorated by garden clubs for each of the counties in Maryland. It’s evidently the traditional display in the central hall of the Maryland State House this time of year. We did it yesterday – a cold but sunny day…and before the wind picked up in the afternoon. I took pictures of just about every tree.

My favorite was the one done for Worcester County – lots of natural material. I particularly liked the pinecones that were cut and painted to look like flowers (they reminded me of zinnias).

I also liked the Charles’ county birds made out of felt (with the bald eagle at the very top of the tree),

Dorchester’s painted shells and pearls (the overall color of the ornaments all over the tree was a light blue),

And the dried roses on Anne Arundel County’s tree…very golden color.

The decorations for the other trees and wreathes were very creative too.

The garden clubs all did an excellent job! I took a lot of pictures and might use some of the ideas for my decorating next year.

December 18, 2019

Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival

December 18, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

2019 12 b IMG_6582.jpg — It was a cold evening last week that we drove through the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. I appreciated the warmth of the car. It’s a 3.5-mile drive through Seneca Creek State Park near Gaithersburg, Maryland and the display continues from 6-9 PM each evening (except Christmas) through December 31st.

The length of the winding road provides plenty of room for light scenes on grassy areas and in the lake. We were behind a slow car which suited us just fine. I had my window rolled down at least half the time getting pictures and other people must have too; children’s excited chatter about the lights coming from the cars around us was part of the holiday cheer of the place. My husband had Christmas Carols playing out the car sound system, so we added some sound to experience as well.

2019 12 f IMG_6621.jpg — My favorite picture of the evening was a simple one….of three bright trees in the darkness.

2019 12 t IMG_6622.jpg — There was a teddy bear land area that was a lot of fun.

2019 12 e IMG_6634.jpg — And then we came to the end with a bear-in-the-box (rather than a Jack-in-the box! Time to head home in a holiday mood.

December 11, 2019

Decorating for Christmas

December 11, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Our decorating has lagged this year because of my travel at Thanksgiving and then the flurry of volunteer gigs right after I returned. My husband put the wreath on the door before I got home from Springfield, Missouri but it wasn’t until this last weekend that we put the tree up.

We are keeping it simple this year – just lights and Zentangle coasters on our white tree. I’m still creating more coasters so there will be others added to the tree as the month progresses. I started with about 40 this past weekend.

I put the cards from past years on the door scrunchies as I usually do….and more cards will be under the plastic on our breakfast table.

Festive…without a lot of effort.

December 10, 2019

Natural Holiday Sale

December 10, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

There were garden clubs and other vendors filling the room…and live music – piano in the morning, harp in the afternoon.

The usual collection of natural materials took some space – lots to choose from to make ‘critters.’ I took my pictures just before the event opened to the public with the glue guns and materials were still relatively pristine!

There are so many ways to combine the materials….lots of creative minds at work on that side of the room!

20191207_115223(0).jpg — There is quite a food tradition in the kitchen for volunteers and vendors: scones and coffee for the morning

Then BLT salad and soups/chilis for lunch. My favorite is the chicken chili with tomatillo salsa.

Overall – a great way to finish off the volunteering with HCC this year!

November 28, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2019

November 28, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Today is **Thanksgiving** here in the U.S….so I’ll start out my list of celebrations for this month with that holiday. It’s a day to reflect on what we appreciate in our life. There is so much to be thankful for. I even remembered to put the Indian corn on our front door the day after Halloween so I could enjoy it all month.

Robinson Nature Center - I am celebrating the new volunteer opportunities…more indoors that my other gigs. This winter won’t be a lull in volunteer activities!

Fennel – I celebrated that there was organic fennel in my grocery’s produce section!

HoLLIE lecture – An interesting lecture….and a reminder to celebrate the richness of learning opportunities close to where I live.

A sunny fall day – The month had some cold temperatures. I realized that seeing the sun on those cold days (even if through a window) is a little celebration.

Zentangle Christmas ornaments – I managed to start early making designs on both sides of paper coasters with a red Ultra-fine Sharpie. They are a celebration to make…to display…to give away.

Witch hazel blooming – Something blooming in November…with streamers…just when the trees are losing their leaves. Worth noticing and a celebration.

Mowing leaves – It works! The yard looks good and my back doesn’t hurt. A strategy to celebrate.

Howard Country Conservancy preK – 3rd grade field trips – October was the peak of the field trip season but the ones in November had their own challenges – some cold, some wet…some windy. Overall – they were a good time in the outdoors for all – celebrating fall.

Road trip to Springfield MO– Road trips on my own are always a good time to think and enjoy the open road…celebrating with family when I get there.

October 31, 2019

Zooming – October 2019

October 31, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

October was a great month for getting out and about. The weather cooperated. There were birds and butterflies and colorful leaves…some flowers and frogs…even a sunrise. I had a lot of pictures to choose from for this zooming post! I use the feature on my camera for most of my pictures…to get the image framed the way I want…avoiding the need to crop. Enjoy the October slide show!

And Happy Halloween! A restaurant we went to recently had a clever Halloween decoration in one of their small bushes! I didn’t have to zoom for this picture…just stood on the sidewalk and took the picture with my cell phone!

October 30, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2019

October 30, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

October is a transition month – warm to cool (sometimes cold at night), leaves turning colors and falling. There is a lot to celebrate. Below are my top ten little celebrations in October:

*The river at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area* - It is a little hike through the woods to get to the Middle Patuxent River and then a scramble over rocks to set up our field tables and gear on gravel bars near the water. It’s a serene place before the students arrive…and then full of activity. Every field trip is a celebration of the natural world and the sparks of awareness/realization that happens for most of the *students.*

Arby’s chicken salad – I always celebrate when my husband’s choice of fast food place has their signature chicken salad…wish they had it all the time.

Heron standing on a turtle – Seeing something unexpected often sparks a little celebration that I was in the right place at the right time. A heron stepping on a turtle (and then being surprised when it moved) was one of those times.

Conowingo cormorants – We go to Conowingo Dam to see Bald Eagles, but sometimes other birds are more active. On an October morning it was the cormorants….successfully fishing. Often the fish looked too big for them to eat!

CSA popcorn – This was the first year that we got ears of popcorn from the CSA….the last two weeks of the season. The kernels came off the cob with relative ease and I popped them in my usual microwave popcorn bowl (not all at once…a little popcorn goes a long way). The pop…the curling up with a good book while eating popcorn…a celebration on a rainy fall day.

CSA fennel – The CSA is my source for fennel…I like the bulb and the feathery top. It’s a different flavor from other veggies and one I celebrate as a rare veggie since I know it never looks as fresh in my grocery store and I haven’t found it in the organic section at all.

Mowing the whole yard – Usually my husband handles the mowing, but this fall I’ve done more since I decided to mulch leaves in place rather than rake. I started out doing half the yard…but I celebrated a day when I did the whole thing and the yard looked great….until the next round of leaf drop. There will still be at least one more mowing since there are still leaves on our maple.

Pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay – I celebrated to see so many pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay when we went to Smith Island. The birds nest and raise young in the area! Based on the number of juveniles we saw – 2019 was a good year for pelicans.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – What a great place in Richmond. I celebrated that we chose to make the stop in Richmond for a couple of hours….and was pleasantly surprised that my husband enjoyed it too.

2019 10 IMG_1217.jpg — *A rainy day* *– finally* – We had no rain for about 6 weeks in last summer and early fall…so when it rained, it was cause for celebration.

September 27, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – September 2019

September 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

September was a transition month…the end of the Wings of Fancy exhibit and the gearing up for the Howard County Conservancy’s fall field trips for county schools. That overall theme carried over to almost all the little celebrations I’m featuring in this month’s post.

Beginning yoga. I was surprised that I could do some of the poses with relative ease….and others with a little practice. It’s surprising how quickly the benefits begin to be noticeable.

2019 09 IMG_5403.jpg — **Question Mark Butterfly**. I was thrilled to notice the butterfly in the mulch at Brookside Gardens when its wings were open. I would have never seen it had its wings been closed. I celebrated a second time after I got home and figured out what kind of butterfly it was.

2019 09 IMG_5605.jpg — **Mount Vernon.** What a place for a volunteer appreciation day…and the weather was perfect! I celebrated the place and the people I was meeting all day long.

Longwood Gardens. The place is always special – because of what we see there during our visit and the memories of other visits.

Toad near the stream. There are always those serendipity events that make an ordinary hike extraordinary. During one of our training sessions at Belmont we hiked to the small stream….and were finding mushrooms and moss and macroinvertebrates….and then a small toad jumped into our midst! Being naturalists…we all celebrated.

Large monarch caterpillar. My milkweed didn’t have many caterpillars this year…but one morning when I looked there was a large one (obviously had been there eating). I celebrated that he was probably big enough to make a chrysalis.

Casemaker caddisfly. We’ve had almost no rain for the past month or so and the stream was low…but we found several casemaker caddisfly larvae! They looked like a small clump of debris at first….and then they moved. It’s good to see living things in the water even when there is not much water around.

Carrot cake. I was celebrating something but the carrot cake itself overwhelmed whatever I was celebrating. Yummy!

m 2019 09 IMG_5479.jpg — **Wings of Fancy.** The next to the last volunteer shift in the Wings of Fancy exhibit was a light day for visitors and I celebrated some quiet time with the butterflies.

Day at Little Patuxent River. High schoolers in the river….interested and focused. The water was low but they found some macroinvertebrates and they were so organized in the chemical tests of water quality (my station for this field trip) that we finished everything with a little time to spare. Celebrating high schoolers!

August 27, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – August 2019

August 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

August 2019 was busy – but not as overwhelming as July. I savored the recovery time before the busy fall field trip season volunteering and my own travels. It was still easy to find little celebrations this month.

For three weeks of the month, I celebrated two mornings with Howard County Conservancy summer campers. What great experiences for me and (I hope) for the campers. Fossils, water and flight….interesting themes of high interest to the 5-12 years old groups. I could have counted 6 little celebrations but opted to count each week as 1 larger celebration since I had so many other things to celebrate.

Celebrating Coursera course Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions from University of Alberta (which I hope to finish by the end of the month). It was wonderful to have time to dig into an online course again.

Montessori teachers in the Wings of Fancy exhibit. A group of Montessori teachers in training came through the exhibit one morning (when it wasn’t too hot) and I celebrated conversations and that the method is still popular. My daughter certainly thrived in that type of pre-school.

Finding lots of botanical print books. Just when I think I am about to run out of online botanical books, I find a lot more…..and celebrate.

Getting a new laptop ordered. My old laptop is almost out of warranty and, even though it has a new battery and seems to be working well, I ordered a new one. I’m very excited about getting it all set up by the end of the month.

Flavorful cantaloupe. The CSA had very sweet cantaloupes this year. I celebrated melons that were as good as my memories of childhood cantaloupe from my grandparents’ farm.

Office rearrangement. I celebrated a new arrangement of my office furniture and general tidiness of my home office…in preparation for a new laptop.

Photographing a living cicada. Usually the cicada’s I photograph are not living – or are too cold to move. I celebrated seeing one fly into a tree and photographing it…while it was singing.