Shaw Nature Reserve (1)

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My daughter and I made our first visit to the Shaw Nature Reserve last week. I had ordered some native plants to be picked up during the Fall Wildflower Market. We arrived shortly after noon, before the market started, which gave us ample time for a short hike in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden and along the Bush Creek Trail. After checking in at the visitor center (using my Friends of the Springfield (MO) Botanical Gardens for entrance) and getting a token to open the gate to the reserve’s Pinetum Loop Road, we drove all the way around the loop. We stopped to walk out to the Crecent Knoll Overlook. Thistles were one plant that was blooming.

The vegetation was thick with a variety of plants. We stayed on the trails to avoid picking up ticks and sticky seeds! I used my optical zoom to photograph some spheres on the back of a leaf. Galls?

After completing the loop, we parked near the northern trailhead for the Brush Creek Trail. A tree had been cut into sections near the trail (probably after it had fallen on the trail. The saw marks make it difficult to count the rings.

Some of the areas are limestone glades where the plants don’t grow as densely. I noted a very weathered piece of limestone.

The only insect I photographed intentionally was a grasshopper that was not much over an inch long. I was pleased that I managed to focus on it! Will it mature enough to lay eggs before winter?

There was a sculpture among some of the fall wildflowers!

There was an area that had a lot of new-growth ferns. I enjoy photographing fiddleheads. It always seems miraculous that they start out so tightly packed…and unfurl into large fronds!

The persimmons were not ripe yet…but I was thrilled to recognize the bark and fruit (with the sign to confirm the id).

There were several kinds of fungus we saw on the hike as well. Lichen (yes there is algae there too, but I am lumping it with the fungus,

Shelf fungus,

And 2 kinds of mushrooms. The first reminded me of vanilla wafers.

There were 2 groups of the second kind. They were very close to the trail and it looked like someone had kicked the parts of the clump closest to the trail (why do people do that?). These reminded me of small crepes!

Stay tuned for more from our hike at Shaw Nature Reserve in tomorrow’s post.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 9, 2023

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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.

Extreme Weather is the “New Norm” - There is high confidence that human induced climate change from greenhouse emissions, is the main driver.

A Visit to North America's Only Authenticated Viking Site - L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site (in Newfoundland), the only authenticated Viking site in North America. Credit for this discovery in the 1960s goes to Norwegian explorer/writer Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife Anne Stine.

Earth’s hottest month: these charts show what happened in July and what comes next – The intense heat this summer has killed Saguaro cactus!

Ötzi the Iceman’s Genome Sequenced – 90% of his ancestry came from Anatolian farmers. Genome analysis revealed he had high skin pigmentation, dark eyes, and male pattern baldness!

Common wristbands 'hotbed' for harmful bacteria including E. coli, staphylococcus – I am glad the band on my Garmin is metal since it likely harbors a lot less bacteria than a plastic, rubber, cloth, or leather band. However, I still need to get in the habit of cleaning it more often.

Fully Intact Giant Panda Skeleton Discovered in Chinese Emperor’s 2,000-Year-Old Tomb – There was also an Asian taper in the tomb.  The article suggests that perhaps the animals were included in the tomb as a part of a replica royal garden.

Medications for chronic diseases affect the body's ability to regulate body temperature, keep cool - Medications used to treat common chronic conditions, like blood thinners, blood pressure drugs, Parkinson's disease/Alzheimer's medications, and some chemotherapy drugs, can make it harder for the human body to handle hot weather by reducing its ability to sweat or increase blood flow to the skin. Hopefully doctors will become more aware of this issue – particularly for their elderly patients that are already at increased risk because of their age for heat related issues.

Trapped: Australia’s extraordinary alpine insects are being marooned on mountaintops as the world warms – The grasshopper with the turquoise exoskeleton snagged my attention. This movement up mountains and then becoming marooned must be happening around the world.

Chromium replaces rare and expensive noble metals – Osmium and ruthenium replaced with, much more abundant, chromium? More research is needed, but it might be possible.

Photos of the Week – August 13, 2023 from the Prairie Ecologist – Another example of enjoying some photography even when it is hot and humid!

Northern Pacific Railroad eBooks from 1880s

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The eBooks of the week are from a railroad company in the 1880s…illustrating some of its routes. They provide a view of some special places of the time – when the west was still somewhat ‘wild’ but developing rapidly with the extension of railroads and more people coming. Enjoying browsing these books on Internet Archive!

The Wonderland route to the Pacific coast (1885)

 I think about where my ancestors were at the time these books were published. One side of the family was still in Bohemia (Europe) – not emigrating to the US until a decade later. The other side was already in the US and mostly in Missouri.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 2, 2023

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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.

Dead trees around the world are shocking scientists – Hotter droughts are impacting forests more than anticipated. According to one 2019 study, global greening stopped more than 20 years ago, and vegetation has been declining since, all because of the drought-amplifying effects of warming. Forests are being forced into a transitional phase as they are impacted by the pressures of warmer temperatures, drought, fires, and insects. Perhaps the forests of the future will look very different from the forests that existed in the late 1900s.

Visiting the Grand Canyon will get more dangerous – A heat-related death was reported in July. As the summer days get hotter in the coming years, the risk will increase. I wonder if the peak visitation times at the National Park will shift to spring and fall rather than summer.

Study confirms link between concealed carry weapons and gun homicide rates – The study included 832 counties in the US from 2010 to 2018. "People aren't using concealed guns in public defensively to thwart potential homicides. Rather, having more guns in public through concealed carry appears to be more dangerous and leads to higher homicide numbers.”

This Arrowhead Was Made from a Meteorite 3,000 Years Ago – Found in Switzerland in the 1870s…. examined with X-ray tomography and gamma spectrometry recently. Based on the chemical composition, the researchers say it may have been made from a meteorite that fell in Estonia aroud 1500 BCE; a fragment must have reached Switzerland through trade.

Skin cancer screening guidelines can seem confusing – three skin cancer researchers explain when to consider getting checked - Since the early 1990s, the incidence of melanoma has risen dramatically in the U.S. This increase may be due in part to more emphasis on early detection. Despite this, the rate of death per capita from melanoma has remained unchanged over the last 40 years!

Over one million acres of tribal land submerged by dams in the US, research finds - Over the centuries, colonial settlers and the federal government have acquired over two billion acres from Native nations through various policies, including forced removal, allotment, and the reservation system.

Are You Ready to Have an Immersive Experience — With Your Home Yard? – I am gradually reducing the amount of my lawn…a little this first year in the house….more next year…and every year thereafter until there is very little – if any – grass to mow. Our homeowners’ association has ‘rules’ that I am currently following by simply extending flower beds around the house and making beds in the corners of the back yard. Hopefully by the time I want to turn more of the grassy areas to meadow, the project to create a meadow around the neighborhood ponds will be a success…and the ‘rules’ will change.

Rising methane could be a sign that Earth’s climate is part-way through a ‘termination-level transition’ - Since 2006, the amount of heat-trapping methane in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising fast and, unlike the rise in carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane’s recent increase seems to be driven by biological emissions, not the burning of fossil fuels. Natural variability…or the beginning of a great transition in Earth’s climate?

Wildfires and farming activities may be top sources of air pollution linked to increased risk, cases of dementia - Particulate matter air pollution from agriculture and wildfires might be more neurotoxic compared with other sources.

8 Great U.S. National Parks for Birding – Everglades, Hawai’i Volcanoes, Saguaro, Congaree, Channel Islands, Zion, Redwoods, and Yellowstone. I’ve been to 6 out of the 8!

eBotanical Prints – August 2023

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Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection this month – available for browsing on Internet Archive. The first 4 books in August were Japanese flower books by Bairei Kono from 1901 – the year one of my grandfathers was born.

The next three were published in the mid-1800s…not exactly botanical print books but about plants – their depiction, relationship to religion, and uses.

The next three are research publications from the Missouri Botanical Garden published in 1991.

The remaining 10 books are George Engelmann’s scanned botanical notebooks from the mid-1800s. He evidently made his notebooks from whatever paper was available…and used a variety of pencils!

Overall – quite a range of publications!

The whole list of 2,695 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the August 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the August 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Sōka hyakushu V1 pt 1 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901

Sōka hyakushu V1 pt 2 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901

Sōka hyakushu V2 pt 1 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901

Sōka hyakushu V2 pt 2 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901

Lessons in flower painting * Andrews, James * sample image * 1836

A scripture herbal * Callcott, Maria * sample image * 1842

Wanderings among the wild flowers :how to see and how to gather them : with remarks on the economical and medicinal uses of our native plants * Thomson, Spencer * sample image * 1857

The ethnobotany of Aublet's histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise (1775) * Plotkin, Mark J.; Boom, Brian M., Allison, Malorye * sample image * 1991

Flora of Nigeria, Caryophyllale * Ghazanfar, Shahina A.  * sample image * 1991

Pollen and spores of Barro Colorado Island * Roubik, David W.; Moreno, Jorge Enrique * sample image * 1991

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 38 : Yucca (Agavaceae) * Englmann, George * sample image * 1851

George Engelmann:  botanical notebook 4 : Callitrichaceae * Englmann, George * sample image * 1860

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 18 : Gentianaceae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1847

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 21 : Cuscuta  * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1839

George Engelmann : botanical notebook 27 : Nyctagineae, Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Loranthaceae, Urticaceae, Platanaceae, Juglandaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, Salicaceae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1842

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 10 : Phyllocactus, Disocactus, Epiphyllum, Lepismium, Rhipsalis * Englmann, George * sample image * 1856

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 45 : Polyanthus, Sagittaria, Echinodorus, Najadaceae, Najas, Potamogetonaceae, Cyperaceae, Gramineae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1840

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 9 : Echinocereus, Cereus, Eulychnia, Pilocereus * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1846

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 8 : Cereus  * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1846

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 57 : Juniperus * Englmann, George * sample image * 1850

Our Missouri Yard – August 2023

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The Crape Myrtles that died to the ground last winter are all out and blooming in our yard. We have 4 (plus 1 or 2 others that have come up from seeds away from the parent plant). They attract insects….and hummingbirds!

There is a stand of Virginia Creeper than I periodically pull off the brick walls…but let continue to drape across the rock of the front flowerbed between the Crape Myrtles.

The Japanese Maple in the corner near our front door is happier than it was last summer; we are a little above normal for rainfall this year whereas last summer we were painfully dry.

There are mushrooms that come up frequently in our front yard where a large tree was cut down several years before we bought the house. Based on the number of mushrooms…there must still be quite a lot of decomposition happening.

There are seed pods on our Kousa Dogwood; unlike last year when the tree struggled to maintain its leaves.

Some plants seem to be robust no matter what. I am encouraging Lamb’s Ear wherever it comes up. One place that has done well was a hole in the turf where a small lamb’s ear appeared last spring; I have been mowing around it and it appears very robust at this point. I dug up a plant that was not in acceptable place and replanted it to fill a corner between the fence and the house. It is growing…slowly.

In the back yard my small ‘meadow’ where I planted wildflower seeds last spring is doing well and the flowers are producing seeds for next year. The leafy green plant in the foreground is pokeweed; I like the way it provides a frame to the meadow.

We generally leave the wasp/hornets’ nests alone unless they are in a place where we might get stung. I found this one on our steppingstones between our patio and yard; it is probably an old nest that fell from wherever it was attached during recent storms.

There was a mushroom that was growing in some mulch that I thought was a flower at first because the cap had split to look like petals. I took a picture from above and below.

There is always something to see in our yard!

Collecting Puzzles

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One of my parents’ favorite challenges is a new puzzle. That dominoes into a challenge for my sisters and I to keep them supplied! August has been a good month for collecting puzzles after they completed the previous pile (i.e. ran out of puzzles they had not done before)!

One of my sisters ordered 3 from eBay. They like the 500 piece puzzles the best but appreciate an ‘easy’ one (300 piece) occasionally.

I bought 5 puzzles when I had a coupon that got the price down to about $8 each. There are two 1,000-piece puzzles in this group which could be hard for them but there are a lot of helpful clues in the map puzzles. They’ve enjoyed this brand of puzzles previously.

My daughter visited the Gateway National Park in St. Louis and bought a puzzle for her grandparents. It is an unusual one: the box is triangular, and the pieces have a back and front (i.e. it is two puzzles in one…Gateway Arch views from the Mississippi at night and from the city during the day). There are 500 pieces...hopefully not too challenging.

My local library branch had a Friends of the Library sale that included puzzles! I bought 12. They were $2 each….a good deal! There are two more sales this fall that are close enough to me; I’ll be collecting enough puzzles to keep them busy until April when the next sale is scheduled!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 26, 2023

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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.

Two Baby Condors at Pinnacles National Park Are Healthy, ‘Adorable Fluffballs’ – Avian flu killed at least 20 California Condors in Arizona and Utah last spring…so the health of these birds is great news. So far, their lead levels (often a problem if their parents bring them carrion with bullet fragments) are low. They will make their first flights in October or November.

Biden Designates Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument – Protecting the land around Grand Canyon National Park.

Nearly Two-Thirds of All Species Live in the Ground, Scientists Estimate - Soils are richer in life than coral reefs or rainforest canopies, providing a home to nearly two-thirds of all species. The study is the first to tally the total number of soil dwellers, large and small, finding that more than twice as many species live in the ground as was previously thought: 59 percent of all species depend on soil for their survival, including 90 percent of fungi, 86 percent of plants, and 40 percent of bacteria.

Incredible Winners of Light Microscopy Awards Show Artistry of Scientific Imaging – The beauty of microscopic life….

Research Sheds Light on Steamboat Geyser’s Eruptions, Past and Present – They discovered that the strength of shaking decreased as snow depth increased. The ability of snow to absorb sound makes a difference!

Stunning Fields of Sunflowers Are Blanketing North Dakota – The states farmers grew 625,000 acres of sunflowers this year…and they bloom throughout August. Maybe one year we’ll make the trek to see them; I haven’t been to North Dakota before.

Exceptional Winners of the 2023 Nature inFocus Photography Awards – Beautiful…and educational. My favorite image is the ant with aphids (“A Sappy Alliance”).

What Pots Say—and Don’t Say—About People – “What can such a well-traveled artifact tell us about the people who left it in the ground? Its culture of origin may be less important than how it fit into life where it was found.”

Microplastics found in human heart tissues, both before and after surgical procedures - Everywhere scientists look for microplastics, they've found them -- food, water, air and some parts of the human body….even in the heart. But it still is not known how/if the microplastics impact the cardiovascular system.

Microalgae vs. Mercury - In the search for ways to fight methylmercury in global waterways, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that some forms of phytoplankton are good at degrading the potent neurotoxin.

The Garden Magazine 1905-1924

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Internet Archive has 34 volumes of The Garden Magazine – a New York based magazine “devoted to planting and managing the grounds about the home, and to the cultivation of Fruits, Vegetables and Flowers". The magazines are a window into the way life was during the early 1900s. I enjoyed browsing them all! Click on the sample images below to see an enlarged version….better yet – browse a whole volume (or two or three….maybe all of them)  by following the link.

The Garden Magazine V1 (1905)

The Garden Magazine V2 (1906)

The Garden Magazine V3 (1906)

The Garden Magazine V4 (1907)

The Garden Magazine V5 (1907)

The early issues had little color except for some of the covers and a few ads. Note that the ad for Japanese Iris included some birds among the flowers.

The Garden Magazine V6 (1908)

The Garden Magazine V7 (1908)

The Garden Magazine V8 (1909)

The Garden Magazine V9 (1909)

The Garden Magazine V10 (1910)

Farming was important to a lot of people and so - was an important aspect of the magazine…in all seasons. Note that Kodak was already advertising in 1909….and that the photographer was not always male!

The Garden Magazine V11 (1910)

The Garden Magazine V12 (1911)

The Garden Magazine V13 (1911)

The Garden Magazine V15 (1912)

The Garden Magazine V14 (1912)

Unusual garden features like Japanese lanterns and plants like lotuses/wisteria featured in some issues – popularizing new things for the garden. C. Coles Phillips’ work was part of a Waterman’s Ideal Fountain Pen ad in 1912.

The Garden Magazine V16 (1913)

The Garden Magazine V17 (1913)

The Garden Magazine V18 (1914)

The Garden Magazine V19 (1914)

The Garden Magazine V20 (1915)

An overhead view of an idealized farm and a vine covered façade of a stately house featured on some covers. Cannas and poinsettias were plants of interest. Victor-Victrola ads depicted the sounds of the world come to your home.

The Garden Magazine V21 (1915)

The Garden Magazine V22 (1916)

The Garden Magazine V23 (1916)

The Garden Magazine V26 (1918)

The Garden Magazine V27 (1918)

As America entered World War I food was featured in covers – the slogan ‘America’s Part: to keep the Horn of Plenty Full.”

The Garden Magazine V28 & 29 (1919)

The Garden Magazine V30 (1920)

The Garden Magazine V31 & 32 (1921)

The Garden Magazine V33 (1921)

The Garden Magazine V34 (1921)

By 1919, the wounded were home. Davey Tree Surgeons was advertising…trees were a big topic. Gladiolas and other flowers in the garden were becoming a bigger business too.

The Garden Magazine V35 (1922)

The Garden Magazine V37 (1923)

The Garden Magazine V38 (1924)

The Garden Magazine V39 (1924)

The cover art for the last issues reflects the aesthetics of the 1920s….more children, relaxed fashion, abundant flowers.

A Funeral and a Garden (2)

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Funerals offer a sense of closure…the end of a relationship. They are thought provoking too. I found myself savoring memories – thinking:

  • Of his career as it happened and then as I learned more about it over the years,

  • Of his role as a father to his daughter that was my age as well as his other children, a husband (and later caregiver) to his wife,

  • Of his growing tomatoes and catching huge catfish,

  • Of trips to state parks, amusement parks, and church camp, and

  • Of assistance making bug catching nets.

At the funeral I learned more about his love of golf and table games (dominos and cards) than I had witnessed in my growing up years.

The OSU Botanical Garden was a good place to continue my reflections on the lives of my father and his friend over the past 70 years – how the relationship was sustained.

There were unique ornaments in the garden. I wondered if the university’s art department had created some of them – the large metal botanical sculptures, the plates/bowls ‘flowers,’ and the standing frames that held pots or boxes of flowers. There was a garden chess set and a child sized table with chairs. There was a Japanese garden area with stone lanterns/frog house, large rocks, and small red bridge.

There were frequent water sounds from burbling fountains (sometimes rocks). Even the hose containers were decorated.

There were insects in the garden too – sometimes two in the same flower!

There were quite a few white-lined sphinx moths in the salvia. They were moving too fast for good pictures – although good-enough for identification!

My early morning hour in the garden was a good ending to the funeral thoughts before I started the 4-hour drive home.

A Funeral and a Garden (1)

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My father’s best friend in college died a few weeks ago and I made the 4-hour drive to attend his funeral – representing our family since my father is too frail to travel now. The two men were born within a few weeks of each other and spent their early years on farms in western Oklahoma before becoming the first generation of their families to go off to college. They were too young to have participated in World War II but benefited from the influx of veterans using the GI Bill that had caused many universities to expand. They both married and graduated and had their first children at about the same time – didn’t get drafted for the Korean War. They never lived in the same town after college, but they and their families continued to exchange visits and telephone calls for almost 70 years!

The next morning, I got up early and went to the Oklahoma State University Botanical Garden before I headed for home. A garden visit is always a good start to the day. This one is not large and, unlike many botanical gardens, does not include identifying signage for most of the plants. It was a cloudy morning…before the heat of the day began ramping up. The garden smells were a rich mix!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 19, 2023

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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.

Risk of fatal heart attack may double in heat wave and high fine particulate pollution days – A study from China that included 202,000 heart attach deaths.

July Was Likely Earth’s Hottest Month on Record – The last sentence of the article: ‘Well, this is probably one of the coolest summers you’ll ever see in your life.’ ... It is quite scary to put it this way.

Climate Change Temperatures Killing Death Valley's Bristlecones – 70% mortality rate over the past decade.

The Australian town where people live underground – Coober Pedy…where most of the people live underground in abandoned opal mines or intentionally excavated spaces!

Looking Down on the Andes – Pacific Ocean, Atacama Desert, Andes…Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Image taken from the International Space Station.

Supermarkets to the Rescue — Coles Joins Virtual Power Plant – A grocery chain in Australia. Maybe some supermarkets (and other big box stores) in the US will do similar things.

In a Chilean Forest Reserve, the Remarkable Darwin’s Frog Endures – The endangered frog is a smallish leaf mimic with a pointy nose. Males whistle to attract mates. After females lay their eggs on the ground, males swallow them, holding them in their vocal sac as the young metamorphose. Six to eight weeks after hatching, small adults make their exit through the males’ mouths!

Moths With 11-Inch Tongues? - More than 150,000 recognized moth species, though likely another 150,000 or so, give or take, remain undescribed. Many of these species feed birds and bats like some form of “aerial plankton.” Out of the hundreds of caterpillars one moth might produce, few survive to metamorphose into moths. But those that do provide a critical service both as food for nighttime predators and as pollinators, often evolving to be the only ones that can get the job done. Every species of yucca in North America, including the famous Joshua Tree, requires pollination exclusively from yucca moths.

Spooky, stealthy night hunters: revealing the wonderful otherworld of owls - Owls occur across all continents other than Antarctica, spanning an environmental gradient from the freezing Arctic (home of the stunningly beautiful snowy owl, of Harry Potter fame) to the hottest deserts (home of elf owls).

What to know about beech leaf disease, the 'heartbreaking' threat to forests along the East Coast – I remember this entering into Master Naturalist conversations in Maryland before the COVID-19 pandemic…but the cause was a total mystery at that point. It was interesting to get an update. There is still no known way to control or manage disease, but progress has been made; large numbers of foliar nematodes cause the disease (the interfere with chlorophyll production and the trees starve). It hasn’t been that long ago that the Emerald Ash Borer killed almost all the ash trees…before that wooly adelgid killed the Eastern Hemlocks….and earlier, in the mid-1900s, the American Chestnut succumbed to blight. The eastern US forests are very different than they were 100 years ago and the pace of diseases seem to be increasing.

Some Randolph Caldecott eBooks

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14 books by artist/illustrator Randolph Caldecott are the ‘books of the week’ – all freely available from Internet Archive. He was a British and illustrator who died in 1886 so half of these were published after his death. Enjoy the sample images and follow the links to see more!

The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate (1883)

The three jovial horsemen (1890)

The house that Jack built (1878)

He began the trends we still see in picture books today! The positioning of pictures and words…the reduction in words when pictures tell the story…etc. The Caldecott Medal is name after him; it is an annual award for “"most distinguished American picture book for children" and was first awarded in 1938.

Sales Tax Holiday

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I took advantage of the sales tax holiday on school supplies in Missouri to buy supplies for Zentangle creation: neon card stock and pens. I cut one page of each of the cardstock colors into 3.5-inch squares to use immediately…and am enjoying one of the black Sharpie gel pens.

New supplies are still a treat – just as they were over 60 years ago when I was in elementary school. The list of supplies was not published in advance by the schools so there was a line to get into the store and pick up things once we had it. My mother always included us in the shopping…if there was a decision on color/style – we got to make it! What made the experience so memorable? Maybe it was the crowd. I can remember savoring the new supplies too – the pristine crayons, the packages of notebook paper, pencils to sharpen, a fabric covered looseleaf notebook.

I don’t think there were sales tax holidays 60 years ago. Perhaps they are what causes a crowd in the school supply area now since the supply lists are published online or available printed in the stores. When I was in the store there was a mother with two children shopping for supplies…it was before 8 AM on the first of day of the 3-day holiday. The store had organized the school supply area for a crowd…anticipating lots of shoppers to come. I was glad to make my purchases early.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 12, 2023

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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.

Neolithic Necklace from Jordan Reassembled – Jewelry that was beautiful long ago…and still is. Beads of stone and shell primarily.

UNESCO Recommends Adding Venice to List of World Heritage in Danger – UNESCO is indicating that Venice’s proposed solutions are “currently insufficient and not detailed enough and should be subject to further discussions and exchanges.” I’m a little surprised that Venice hasn’t been on the list for years.

'Time-traveling' pathogens in melting permafrost pose likely risk to environment – Quantifying the risks using simulations. The results so far estimate that 1% of the invaders (ancient pathogens) are unpredictable…some could cause 33% of the host species to die out while others could increase diversity by up to 12%. Outbreak events caused by ancient pathogens represent a substantial hazard to human health in the future.

In Peru, discovery of ancient ruins outpaces authorities' ability to care for them – Lima is home to more than 400 known pyramids, temples and burial sites, many of which predate the Incas and are known in Spanish as "huacas"…and archaeologists continue to find/dig new sites! 27 sites are open to visitors…the rest are deteriorating (or actively being destroyed by looters or squatters).

Inflammation discovery could slow aging, prevent age-related diseases – Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered that improper calcium signaling in the mitochondria of certain immune cells (macrophages) drives harmful inflammation. Creating drugs that increase calcium uptake by mitochondrial macrophages could prevent harmful inflammation and slow age associate neurogenerative diseases.

Piecing Together the Puzzle of Oman’s Ancient Towers – 4,000 years old! And there are over 100 known towers found today in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The purpose and function of the towers remain largely a mystery although water might be involved. They appear to be built close to places where there is/was access to surface water.

Lake Tahoe’s Clear Water Is Brimming with Tiny Plastics – Its water contains the third-highest amount of microplastics among 38 freshwater reservoirs and lakes around the globe! Lake Tahoe is also full of garbage ranging from sunglasses to car tires; 25,000 pounds of debris was removed from the lake between 2021 and 2022.

Dementia becomes an emergency 1.4 million times a year – And these patients are 2x more likely to be seeking emergency care after an accident or a behavioral/mental health crisis. Once a person with dementia is in the emergency department, it can be a very disorienting experience. "Even routine blood draws from unfamiliar staff can be a very scary experience for a patient with advanced dementia."

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste – To often we overlook waste reduction and reuse in favor of recycling.

Steel Industry Pivoting to Electric Furnaces - Iron and steel production accounts for 7% of carbon emissions worldwide – using coal in blast furnaces. But – progress is being made. 43% of planned steelmaking capacity globally will rely on electric-arc furnaces, up from 33% last year! Even so – the rate of transition needs to be increased to stay on track for only 1.5 degrees C warming.

2 Ernst Kreidolf eBooks

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Internet Archive has 2 books by Ernst Kreidolf -  published in the early 1900s. He was a Swiss painter know for illustrating children’s books that include flower people.

The first book was published in 1909 as a portfolio - Ernst Kreidolf – of his early (pre-flower people) works.

The second book was published in 1922 - Alpenblumenmärchen – and includes his best known images.

There are other books written during the early 1900s but not scanned and available yet. Later versions of the books were translations to English and are still under copyright protection.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – July 2023 (2)

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The butterfly garden at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge had butterflies in July. There were Queen butterflies feeding in a group – the longer one looked, the more butterflies there seemed to be! This butterfly is seen more frequently further south than north Texas (almost into Oklahoma); maybe the extremely hot summer is pushing them further north.

The other butterfly I photographed was a male black swallowtail – a large butterfly that flutters as it collects nectar (as seen in the video below).

There were grasshoppers too! I photographed two after I startled them on the path and saw where they landed on a plant (and managed to zoom in with my camera to photograph them without being close enough to force them to move again).

It didn’t take long in the butterfly garden before I needed water…and air conditioning! I continued my road trip to Carrollton.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 5, 2023

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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.

Four key questions on the new wave of anti-obesity drugs – Several of the drugs were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes but now are popular weight loss drugs.

Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost – A study done by the University of California, Irvine on older adults…participants reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. A product based on their study and designed for people to use at home is expected to come onto the market this fall.

How the US is fighting back against deadly floods – Identifying flood plains…not building back in them after a flood.

Old-Growth Trees, Some Dating To 17th Century, Protected at New River Gorge – The Burnwood Loop – where I want to hike first in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve!

Does Cooking with Gas Stoves Hurt Indoor Air Quality? – Yes…but how much is the better question. 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the United States is attributable to gas stove use.

A quick look inside a human being – Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI)…using a portable scanner to visualize dynamic processes in the human body such a blood flow.

Why it's so important to figure out when a vital Atlantic Ocean current might collapse - Humans are changing the fundamental processes of the Earth faster than we can understand them. The collapse of the current would have effects around the planet: temperatures in Europe would fall, heat in the tropics would rise, rainfall would decrease across the Sahel in Africa, the summer monsoon would weaken across Asia, and sea levels would rise even faster in the eastern US.

New Thermal Activity on Geyser Hill in Yellowstone National Park – Short video from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

‘Perfectly Preserved’ Glassware Recovered From 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck – The shipwreck was located 1,148 feet below the surface in waters between Italy and France. Two remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were used to scan the site and recover artifacts.

Short bursts of daily activity linked to reduced cancer risk - A total of just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes you huff and puff during daily tasks could reduce the risk of some cancers (i.e. cancers associated with physical activity such as liver, lung, kidney, gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), endometrial, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, colorectal, head and neck, bladder, breast and esophageal adenocarcinoma (cancer of the esophagus) by up to 32 percent.

eBotanical Prints – July 2023

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Twenty-one more books were added to the botanical print collection this month. Eight of the books are ‘nature prints’ (a process in which an object as a leaf or flower) is pressed into a plane surface to make either a direct printing surface or a matrix); the images made via nature print this month were from the late 1700s.

Garden Books from Montgomery Ward from a few years before and after I was born are available on Internet Archive…clues about what home gardeners were planting during those years.

The most recent book was about liverworts and hornwarts of New Zealand – published in 2008. I chose a drawing for the sample image but there were many color photographs as well.

There were 3 volumes of American Grasses from 1899-1900 and 3 volumes of flora from the Pacific states from the 1944-1960.

Overall – quite a range of publications!

The whole list of 2,675 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the July 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the July 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V1 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1787

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V2 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1788

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V3 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1788

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V4 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1789

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V5 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1789

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V6 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1790

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V7 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1791

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V8 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1791

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1949 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1949

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1950 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1950

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1951 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1951

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1952 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1952

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1953 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1953

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1954 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1954

A flora of the liverworts and hornworts of New Zealand * Engel, John J.; Glenny, David * sample image * 2008

American grasses. I, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1900

American grasses. II, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1899

American grasses. III, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1900

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V2 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1944

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V3 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1951

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V4 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1960

Zooming – July 2023

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The photographic opportunities bulged with the addition of a trip to St. Louis along with the monthly trip to Texas…. local walk abouts in our yard and neighborhood…the Lake Springfield boathouse too. They all added up to a lot of zoomed images taken with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS). I enjoyed choosing which ones to include in this month’s post!