30 Years Ago – January 1990

30 years ago this month – my daughter was 4 months old and I was still taking unpaid leave from my career at IBM. We visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History on the first day of the year. My husband took pictures of me and the baby near the elephant in the rotunda! She probably couldn’t really see the whole elephant clearly, but she was wide awake for most of the museum (napping in the car on and from).

That January had enough snow and ice that we didn’t get out very much. I had a scary fall on an icy driveway early in the month. It was icy. I thought it was just wet when I headed out to get the mail. My feet slid forward; I fell backward and hit my head. I lay on the driveway for a few seconds assessing….then crawled back up/to the side to the grass…kept to the grass to get the mail before I went back inside.

The view from the front of our house shows a newly planted Bradford Pear near the street (still has stakes on both sides). The neighborhood had organized to plant the trees along the street, and we went along with the idea. Now Bradford Pears have become invasive in our area – coming up everywhere as Callery Pear. Aargh!

In the back of the house we had some larger evergreens. One leaned way over the woodpile. We were using our fireplace more that January than before or since.

Our one PC and keyboards were in the basement. We had a full house upstairs with a bedroom and sitting room for my mother-in-law, a room for the baby, and the master bedroom.

There were two baby milestones during the month: she started eating baby cereals and rolling over. At the beginning of the month the rolling over was occasional and took a lot of extreme effort on her part. By the end of the month it was so easy for her that she rolled until something stopped her…and then figured out that she could roll away in the other direction.  

My 2019 in Review - Photos

I managed to pick 26 pictures that were my favorites of the year either because I liked the way they turned out or because of a memory they evoked. I noticed some themes after I had collected them.

All except one are outdoors (although two were taken through my office window so I was standing indoors when I took them).

Many were pictures of plants: bare trees, witch hazel, red yucca seed pod, button bush, joe pye weed, cardoon, sunflowers, beautyberry, and red buckeye (nuts).

7 were pictures of animals or evidence of animals (other than birds): whelk shells, horseshoe crab beginning to roll over, northern red-bellied cooter (turtle), tiger swallowtail butterflies, cicada, spider, gray tree frog.

6 were pictures of birds or feathers: pelican, ibis, gallinule, bald eagle (wet), red-bellied woodpecker.

There are two sunrise pictures: one from my front porch on the first day of 2019 and one from October when we were camping in southern Virginia.

More than half the pictures are from places I go that are close to where I live (i.e. not requiring an overnight trip).

Putting Christmas Away

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.

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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.

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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.

Zooming – December 2019

December was not a big month for photography. I did enjoy birds and wildlife…the decorations too…but I found myself in observational mode rather than trying to take photographs. I did quite a lot of volunteer work early in the month, and there never is time for very much time for photography when I’m paying rapt attention to people during a volunteer gig.

Enjoy the slide show for December 2019!

Happy New Year 2020!

Reducing Single Use Plastic

As we near the end of 2019, I am taking stock of the changes I made over the past year to reduce my household consumption of single use plastic.

We’ve done the easy things at this point:

Switching to reusable shopping, grocery, and produce bags

Choosing products in paper/cardboard, glass, or metal containers rather than plastic containers

Turning some single use plastics into multiple use plastic

Carrying a spork to avoid plastic eating utensils

Bringing our own reusable water bottle and/or travel mug

Replacing broken plastic containers with glass or metal ones (an example happened recently – I bought some glass left-over containers with silicone covers that can be used in the microwave, oven, refrigerator and freezer…and go in the dishwasher for cleaning….some older plastic containers had cracked…so it was an opportunity to change)

When I look at our trash and recycle there are still some opportunities:

• We could stop drinking soft drinks (a health choice for ourselves and the planet).

• We could eat fewer foods packaged in plastic (bunched greens rather than ones in bins or bags, loose apples and potatoes rather than in a plastic bag, unpackaged fresh foods rather than frozen foods, etc.). Sometimes those are a healthier choice as well.

• We could use fewer kinds of toiletries and shift to larger containers (maybe refilling small ones if needed for travel)

But some things are very hard without companies making packaging changes:

• Liquid laundry and dishwasher detergent

• Cleaning fluids like large jugs of white vinegar, surface cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners

• Meat packaging

• Plastic envelopes

• Plastic bubble or balloon wrap

• The list goes on and on

Reducing single use plastic around our house is an continuing goal…and it’s not an easy one.

Spiced Molasses Cake (Muffins)

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.

Through my Office Window – December 2019

We are seeing more birds come to our deck for the bird bath now that the weather is cold enough that other water sources are frozen most mornings. Having a heated bird bath is a big draw.. The jays are too big for the feeder….but they come for the water and feel secure enough to sit a bit. Otherwise they are further away in the trees.

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The titmouse is at the feeder and the water…but nervous enough in both locations to require a quick response to capture an image.

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The Carolina Wren likes the deck railing as a stage for song…but it also likes the seeds in the feeder.

The Cardinals frequent the new feeder. Our previous one was a little smaller and they tended to only get seed that fell to the ground from it.

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The finches and juncos can sometimes share the feeder….sometimes it is a contentious situation.

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The doves are too big for any feeder that is squirrel-proof, but they like the survey the yard from our deck railing, get a drink of water, and clean up any scattered feed.

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The starlings could probably get seed from our feeder but, so far, they haven’t found it. They tend to stay in the treetops in the forest.

The nuthatch seems to not be around as much right now. Maybe it’s found another nearby feeder.

My favorite birds right down are the woodpeckers. The downy is around and occasionally comes to the feeder.

The red-bellied is s frequently visitor…both male and female enjoy the bounty of the feeder. They are big enough that when they come, they are the only bird at the feeder.

Ten Little Celebrations – December 2019

Happy Holidays!

My December had a lot of little celebrations already. I picked my top 10.

Coming home – I traveled over Thanksgiving and didn’t get home until the first of December. As usual after being away, I celebrated being home again.

Weather Conference for 6th graders – The weather was great…the students were focused…the speakers geared for the audience. It’s another annual volunteer gig that is now part of my celebration of December.

Maryland Water Monitoring Conference – This was my third year to go to the MWMC and I learn something new every time. It’s a pretty intense day of learning.

Howard County Conservancy Natural Holiday Sale – I love stocking the cookie table and keeping the urn full of Russian Tea. The event is always a celebration of the season.

Touch tank at Robinson Nature Center – I have a new volunteer gig! I chose something different than my other volunteering and easy to do during the winter since it is indoors. I really like the sea stars…watching the children observe the ‘feet’ through the glass and what happens when I ‘tickle’ to help the sea star let go so I can pick it up.

Flying Wild and building a nest – I took a train-the-trainer type class for activities intended for grades 3-8…and one of hands on activities was building a nest. I celebrated that the one my team made managed to meet all the criteria: holding ‘marble’ eggs even when the nest moved and holding (weights) of fledglings!

Fog in the forest, birds at the feeder – It was a beautiful time looking out from the window of my office…the quiet of the forest holding the fog in the soft morning light, the birds coming to the feeder for breakfast. A moment to celebrate.

Maryland State House Christmas Trees – I enjoyed seeing all the creativity of the garden clubs…getting idea for upcoming years (maybe). It was just one of the things that put me more in the mood for all the other celebrations of the month.

The Rise of Skywalker – It was a good ‘book end’ with the other end being the original Star Wars movie back 1977. I liked that so many story lines were resolved. Now I’m ready for a marathon watching of the other movies!

Bird feeder camera – We’re still perfecting how to mount the camera to optimize the view or our bird feeder. I’m celebrating getting the squirrel climbing the ladder as one of our early successes.

Camera on the Birdfeeder

The new ‘toy’ we are playing with over this holiday week is a camera on our birdfeeder!

So far, we’ve been experimenting with temporary mounting on ladders to decide where to position it more permanently and adjusting parameters. The camera is not very big physically (the white blob on the right side near the top of the ladder is the camera).

This was my first image I clipped from one of the videos – a female red-bellied woodpecker.

I’ll get better with my editing over time. It’s very different than my usual pictures through my office window.

Ever see a squirrel climb a ladder? This one climbed right up to the camera after it was unsuccessful in dumping the seed from the bird feeder!

Next steps are to mount the camera from the eve of our covered deck and put out the small solar panel to help keep it charged. I’ll share some the technical details of our set up…once we get it working a bit better. My husband and I are enjoying the project!

Oatmeal with a Difference

When I was growing up, we doctored our oatmeal with brown sugar and butter…maybe we added some raisins. In recent years, I’ve substituted maple syrup for the brown sugar and, if I wanted raisins, I added them to cook with the oatmeal rather than after the fact. Sometimes I added cinnamon.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed oatmeal with very different additions: cooked with a mashed banana and cranberries….drizzled with honey after it is in the bowl.

It’s a very different flavor. I should have put chopped walnuts or pecans on top to give it some crunch and protein. I’ll try to remember for next time.

Cat Playground

Our den has some comfortable chairs but I’m beginning to realize is it turning into a playground for our cat. The most recent cat toy is a donut shape with entrances on two sides. The cat enjoys napping or simply hiding in there. Sometimes he takes one of the small toy mice inside to play.

Outside the donut are cushions, corrugated cardboard platforms (excellent for clawing), a battery powered feathery ‘bird’ and some wands with feathers on the end – which the cat drags to a person to make the fluff come alive (sometimes going up the stairs with the toy during the night).

But for this month, the donut is the new toy.

Tracks in the Snow

Last week we got a little bit of snow. It was an easy snow to deal with: less than an inch, pavement warm enough to melt it. There was no delayed opening for schools or cancelled events. It was pretty on the surface of our deck and the grass in the yard. The juncos were out at our feeder and in the snow. I took some pictures of their tracks on the deck floor. Some areas had been so heavily used that the tracks were overlapping – showing the density of bird traffic for the whole morning. The tracks look a lot like the theropod (dinosaur) tracks I used as a Zentangle pattern with the summer campers! The campers were quick to tell me that birds are our ‘living dinosaurs.’

Of course, I made my own print in the snow when I went out to take the photographs.

By the end of the day, all the snow and footprints had melted away. Maybe the next time it snows there will be enough to make snow ice cream.

Decorating for Christmas

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.

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Festive…without a lot of effort.

30 years ago – December 1989

30 years ago – I did my first airplane travel with my daughter. She was 3 months old and I flew from Maryland to Dallas to introduce her to my family in early December. My husband went off to a conference in San Francisco the same week. We had two suitcases to check --- or maybe I checked three. I know I carried the diaper bag on the plane and the baby was in a denim carrier on the front of me….so that I could use my coat to keep her warm and have both hands relatively free. Note the old style suitcases; one had wheels but they were tiny for the size of the suitcase. At least the security at the airport was not as strict as it is now – no taking off shoes and all outerwear and all liquids in 3 ounce sizes in a quart sized Ziploc.

I had barely gotten the baby to enjoy formula from a bottle before the big travel day….making it easier to feed her on the plane. I’d taken the bottle with water in it and used powdered formula so that it didn’t spoil. The plane was not full for the trip to Dallas. My sister and her husband met us as at the airport and wondered where the baby was (in the front carrier almost completely hidden)!

3 months is a time of more baby smiles and interactions with others. She had a growth spurt will we were in Dallas and wanted to nurse all the time…and then sleep. My father snapped a picture of us both getting a quick nap between feedings.

When she was awake, the baby was holding toys and trying to roll over.

Once we were all home again – there was more snow and Christmas cards. It was a very family and friends focused month. I was still on leave from work; a few of my colleagues came by to see the baby. I was still adjusting to motherhood…my husband was feeling a little neglected!

Zooming – November 2019

November was busy with activities that didn’t include a lot of photography…..but still enough to show off some great zoom photos. Museum photography is easy using the zoom since I can get the shot I want while standing well back from the object to avoid reflections off glass cases. Usually the lighting of objects is concentrated so that my camera’s autofocus works very well. Then there are the pictures from outdoors – birds and autumn scenes. The zoom allows me to frame the picture the way I want – avoiding the need to crop later.

All the images this month were taken with my small point-and-shot Cannon SX730 HS rather than my larger Canon SC60 HS bridge camera. The smaller camera is easier to carry in my purse and faster to turn on and get the pictures of birds at my feeder!

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2019

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.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

My favorite birds in our backyard this month has been a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. They are probably the largest bird that comes to our feeder. They contort themselves to move seeds around until they can get the larger sunflower seeds. Both the male and female take turns. The red feathers extend to the top of the head on the male…and are just on the back of the head/neck on the female. These birds both look like they are in prime condition.

I’ve also discovered that our neighbors have a feeder that the birds frequent. The birds are getting a lot of support in this neighborhood!

Sometimes the birds fly away with their seed and sometimes they seem to take it to the roof edge of our covered deck. I am beginning to wonder if they are slipping the seeds under the shingles for storage. Both the male and female seem to be doing it.

Most of the time I haven’t been able to photograph the birds in the trees but now that more of the leaves are gone in the red maple, maybe I’ll see them more frequently.

Cranberries

I am enjoying cranberries almost every day this month!

In breakfast smoothies (together with vanilla flax milk, walnuts, and a banana), salads (chopped with nuts, raw sweet potato, celery plus flakes of canned chicken, a dressing of mayo and ginger preserves), stir fry (any time I want a tart fruit flavor with the veggies), baked with an apple, a few pecans and a dab of butter.

Cranberries are easy to freeze so I’ve been stocking up and freezing them…using up almost all the small plastic containers I have. I’ll be enjoying cranberries long after the season is over.

When I want a pretty smoothie – I add some fresh or canned beets to the smoothie along with the cranberries. Very pink/red…a great seasonal start to the day.

Through my Office Window – November 2019

There has been a lot of bird traffic visible through my office window in November. The Blue Jays are frequent visitors – at the icy bird bath (we’ll put the heated bird bath out soon), in the trees, on the gutter, and in the yard.

Both male and female Northern Cardinals enjoyed the seeds on the deck and from the new feeder.

The Downy Woodpecker pair comes to the feeder and finds seeds between the deck railings and insects(?) in the knots of the deck boards.

The House Finches have returned

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As have the Dark-eyed Juncos. It took the juncos a few days to discover the feeder. They were finding enough seeds on the ground underneath it before that.

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The Mourning Doves are always around.

The Northern Flickers (yellow shafted) rarely come to the deck but they are around – probably more frequently than I see them. The pictures are not as good because the birds are farther away from my window – usually on a neighbor’s roof or in the red maple. One picture shows the yellow shafts very clearly.

The White-breasted Nuthatch is fun to watch – sorting through the seeds until it gets a sunflower seed. The bird has a unique shape and behavior!

The Tufted Titmice move around a lot but are frequent visitors to the feeder. They always look like their eyes are too big their head.

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There are other birds that come to the feeder as well. The chickadees come frequently but are so fast that it’s hard to get a picture of them.

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The squirrels stay in the trees most of the time. They come to the deck for water – but are frustrated by our feeder that has turned out to be as ‘squirrel proof’ as advertised.

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Temporary House Plants

I have been trying to keep alive the plants I got at the Greater Washington Area’s volunteer appreciation day back in Septembers (posts about it here and here) so that I could take them to my daughter over the Thanksgiving holiday. 5 out of 6 have survived on some shelves in a south facing window.

Watering has been a challenge since weather got cold enough for the heat to come on; our whole house humidifier does not seem to be working properly. The mints need watering almost every day. I repotted both into bigger pots and my daughter will probably have to do it again…and then plant them outside in the spring. There are two kinds: spearmint and chocolate mint.

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The obedient plant is blooming. At first I thought it was just one stalk but then I looked to the shelf above and discovered a taller stalk that is in full bloom on the sunny side of the pot with the chocolate mint making an arc over the blossoms (maybe I need to trim the mint so that the obedient plant gets maximum sun.

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The cardinal flower is just low growing leaves. It needs to be planted outdoors next spring to make its stalk and flower.

Finally – the blackberry lily looks about the same as when I got it.

The plant that didn’t make it was a turtlehead. It got dried out when the heat started coming on and I didn’t catch if fast enough. It was not as resilient as the mints.

I’ll be glad to hand off the plants to my daughter soon….and then be back to just enjoying the plants (and birds) I can see via the windows of my house!