January 14, 2020

Touch Tank – January 2020

January 14, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I enjoy the volunteer gig at the Robinson Nature Center Touch Tank….getting more experienced every time I spend an hour there. The Discovery Room, where the touch tank is located, is full of activities for pre-school through elementary school aged children with the Touch Tank being available when there is a volunteer to open it.

There are two kinds of sea urchins: the slate pencil with spines that look like slate pencils from the 1800s and pin cushion with spines that are more prickles. Both names are somewhat historical for young children. Some have never seen a pin cushion! Even the adults haven’t seen slate pencils that look like the sea urchin. Everyone enjoys seeing how the pin cushion urchins ‘hide’ by holding shells and little hats to themselves. The pin cushion urchins can also hang on well enough to hang upside down for a little while on my hand…always a surprise to the children.

Sometimes the sea urchins attach themselves to something else – a rock or a conch. Do you see the pin cushion urchin on the back of the milk conch in the pictures below? The conch was on the move with eye stalks extended and vacuuming up its food from the sand.

There are three conchs in the tank. The largest is usually the most active.

And then there are the sea stars. I like to look at them through the glass of the tank…with their suction-cup feet out and hanging on. I pick them up for the children to touch – back and front – but I like them better through the glass.

Overall, I am getting more comfortable with the animals in the tank and better at controlling the flow of people (children) around the tank. An hour at the touch tank is always an hour well spent!

January 09, 2020

30 Years Ago – January 1990

January 09, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

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.

January 07, 2020

My 2019 in Review - Travel

January 07, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The Space Coast of Florida….Providence, Rhode Island…Carrollton, Texas…Cape May, New Jersey…Springfield, Missouri… Smith Island, Maryland…Scottsburg, Virginia --- these were the places we traveled in 2019.

The Space Coast of Florida was for a birding festival held in January. I had quite a few blog posts about it. That road trip got the year off to a fast start for birding.

In late March/early April, I traveled to Providence, Rhode Island on the train to take the CZT class (Certified Zentangle Training). I posted about the experience of the trip and the training here.

The only plane trip of the year was in April – to Carrollton for a niece’s wedding. And it was perfect timing for the pocket prairie (posted about here).

In May, the Cape May Birding Festival…another road trip and lots of birding…blog posts.

There were multiple trips to Springfield, Missouri during the summer to help get my daughter and son-in-law moved from Pennsylvania to Missouri. It’s a 2-day road trip in each direction…often with very full carloads of fragile stuff. And then I was back for Thanksgiving too! I did a little exploring – the botanical garden, the art museum, and the conservation nature center. The posts are here.

The first attempt at a boat trip to Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay was cancelled due to wind in April. The re-scheduled time was in October…and we enjoyed the trip. I posted about what we saw. The pelicans were the high point for me.

Later in October, we were camping at Staunton River State Park near Scottsburg, Virginia for a star party. We’ve been going every year that the weather permits for the past several years. It’s always cold at night but we survive - enjoy ambience of a field of telescopes, tents, campers and cars. This year we took a short hike on one of the mornings.

Looking back – our travel was full of variety (places, activities, and seasons)…a good mix. I’m already primed for more adventures away from home in 2020!

January 06, 2020

My 2019 in Review - Volunteering

January 06, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I am looking back at the volunteering I did in 2019…what was like prior years…what was the same…how might things change in 2020.

Howard Country Conservancy is where I did more than half my volunteering. I enjoy the school field trips at Mt. Pleasant, Belmont and the streams around the county – “connecting people to nature”. The variety of locations and age groups keeps my interest. The field trips evolve to stay linked with curriculum in the schools but being out in the natural world is a continuing learning experience for a lifetime. In 2019 I changed the activities I did with summer campers…and volunteered more frequently during the summer than in previous years. Looking forward to 2020…it will be more of the same, but I’ll add the expertise I gained from the “Flying Wild” and “Growing up Wild” workshops to summer camp activities. The HCC staff and other volunteers are engaging and thoughtful. HCC is a great place to volunteer over the short and long term.

Three years ago, I added Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy to my volunteer activities. I’ve increased my hours each year. In 2020, I’ll probably do about the same as I did in 2019: 1-2 shifts per week when I am in town. The butterflies, interactions with the visitors to the exhibit, and helpful staff members keep me coming back.

Toward the end of 2019, I started volunteering at the Robinson Nature Center – specifically for the Touch Tank. I’ve enjoyed the shifts so far (I am still learning something new every time I volunteer!) and will continue volunteering in 2020. It’s an indoor venue…different from my other activities. Right now my strategy is to volunteer more frequently at Robinson in the cold and hot months….less frequently in the spring and fall.

Overall – volunteering is my best way of connecting to my community…helping to make it a good place to be for everyone.

December 06, 2019

Christmas Cactus

December 06, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

My daughter got a cutting from her grandmother’s Christmas cactus a few years ago. It is much travelled; the cutting originated in Texas…was potted in Pennsylvania… moved to Missouri last summer.

It has grown into a lush plant and is getting ready to bloom – right in sync with the season. It is on a glass topped table in front of a window…making the cloudy and cold days more cherry.

I took some closeup views of the buds. I like the curves and the color fade from white to pink to red. The spines at the base of the buds show up as well.

December 03, 2019

30 years ago – December 1989

December 03, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

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!

October 27, 2019

30 years ago – October 1989

October 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I’m starting a new monthly post: “30 Years Ago.” It will feature some high points gleaned from my notes and pictures of that time. As I prepared this first post, I realized how vividly some of the memories are…how the notes and pictures provide a level of exactness to when things occurred but not as much detail that my memory holds.

I was just settling into motherhood 30 years ago…still very aware of the learning curve. I marveled that just when I thought breast feeding was becoming easier, my daughter would have a growth spurt and be voraciously hungry – again. It happened at least twice during the month.

My metabolism was still somehow high, and the early part of the month felt hot most of the time. Later in the month it was cooler, and the baby enjoyed a wakeful outing to the back yard with the leaves falling all around. A little while later she slept, and I raked some leaves.

She started making facial expressions during REM sleep before she made them during awake times: smiling and laughing. Being around her enough to notice those developments is something I cherish.

I used the stroller a few times for a short walk around the neighborhood before I had enough confidence to take her Brookside Gardens.

I learned to warm the crib with a heating pad before gently lowering the baby I’d rocked to sleep. She cuddled into the warm place and didn’t startle awake! The heating pad was an old one my husband had for a very long time. It warmed just the right size space…could be easily removed with one hand before I lowered the baby into the crib. We still have that heating pad and it still works…it’s probably over 50 years old.

I read books while I nursed the baby…. sometimes I read them aloud when the baby fidgeted. Hearing my voice often calmed her and she would settle down to her milk meal.

The biggest disaster during the month was when I decided to bathe the baby in the bright sunlight shining in the sliding glass door. With the weather getting cooler, she been chilled during previous baths. The baby bath was very portable, and the sunlight made the area the warmest in the house. The bath proceeded well…but disaster struck when I put her on the towel beside the bath. As I wrapped the towel around her – cat hair – everywhere. I realized that our vacuum cleaner was not adequate for our carpeting. I managed to recover the situation with several towels I had not put on the floor to be ‘ready’ for a wet baby...and I didn’t do her bath there again.

By the end of the month I was still 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I wasn’t dieting except to make sure I was getting enough calcium to support breast feeding.

At the end of the month the fall leaves were swirling and beautiful. I was glad the outside temperatures were getting cooler.

September 26, 2019

Green Tomato Salsa

September 26, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

This is my year to make green salsa. I posted about the tomatillo salsa I made back in August. This month – it’s was with green tomatoes. It is more golden than green…but just as tasty. As usual for my culinary experiments, I was prompted by getting a key ingredient in my Community Supported Agriculture share:

Green tomatoes (3 of them…about a pound). I’d also gotten some of the other ingredients: a red jalapeno pepper, some medium ‘heat’ peppers, and 3 garlic cloves. I put everything in the food processor with some ginger preserves, a little salt and cracked pepper, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice…pulsed a few times. Then it cooked for 15-20 minutes. Yummy!

I used it as a savory side for grilled chicken, a salad dressing, and in lieu of stir fry sauce. It didn’t last long!

August 18, 2019

Summer Camp Volunteering- Week 4

August 18, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

The theme for last week’s Howard Count Conservancy’s summer camps was ‘Friends in Flight – Bees, Birds, Bats.’ For the activity at Mt Pleasant – I added ‘Butterflies’ to the Friends in Flight list – playing a Monarch Migration game (instructions here) with each of the three groups. The numbered and laminated cards were taped to colorful cones and mug box dice were used for the cards that needed them. The route of cones was set up on the bricked path in the Honors Garden because the grass was so wet everywhere.

All the campers discovered that there are a lot of hazards along with way during migration….and most played the game about 3 times. We tallied the successful and unsuccessful migrations…with the unsuccessful being slightly ahead!

At Belmont, I started the Zentangle® session with a discussion of blue jays and their feathers using some pictures.

Then the two groups of campers made mono-tangles with a feather-like pattern. For the first group (skewed toward the older in the 5-12 years old range), I used 3” square coasters and a finer point pen than they had used before. The younger group used Apprentice tiles and the Sharpie ultra-fine pens. Some, but not all, of the campers had been in the previous Zentangle sessions. Overall – it was an impressive week!

It was the last week of summer camp. I’ll take a little break – but am already looking forward to the fall field trips ramping up soon.

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.

August 04, 2019

Summer Camp Volunteering – week 2

August 04, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

The theme for last week’s Howard Count Conservancy’s summer camps was ‘Fantastic Beasts.’ I spent a morning at Mt. Pleasant and the next morning at Belmont. At Mt. Pleasant there were three groups of campers….45 minutes for each. I used the dinosaur and mammal track rock found at NASA Goddard (saw it back when I was in the HOLLIE program) to initiate the conversation about extinct animals and fossils. There were some fossil shells from Calvert Cliffs and some of the campers had been there to explore themselves. I had on my ammonite shaped earrings too.

Then for some action: Two pans of water, a measuring tape and white board. A person put one foot into each pan (shoes on) and then stepped out and walked normally. The measurement team (usually two campers) measured heal print to heal print to determine the walking stride length. We measured the walking stride of the tallest and shortest in each group (and then everyone else because everyone wanted to know their stride length…or game it and take extra-long steps!). In the oldest group of campers, we measured the running stride (heel first and on toes). It was a great activity to further explore what information can be gleaned from tracks.

We transitioned into evidence of animals living today with some whelk shells and egg cases found on a beach. Some campers were surprised that the whelks were animals that still live in the ocean along the east coast of the US.

One of the junior counselors had participated in a dinosaur dig in Montana…and shared some pictures for her adventure with the campers.

It was a busy 45 minutes!

At Belmont, there were two groups of campers making Zentangle® tiles. I introduced the session using the NASA Goddard rock, the welk shells and my ammonite earrings….and then showed them patterns for beasts. The first group (younger) made octopus/jelly fish and tracks. The second group experimented with an ammonite type pattern, tracks and shells. The theropod tracks were the most popular. Many made some big therapod tracks and then some small ones (moms with babies). A variation from one camper: a therapod track….then a blank area where the therapod flew….then more tracks. One camper made mammal tracks. Both groups enjoyed adding colors after they made their patterns with the black Sharpie ultrafine pens.

July 28, 2019

Zentangle® Butterflies at Summer Camp

July 28, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I enjoyed making Zentangle butterflies with about 70 Howard County Conservancy summer campers last week. They were in 5 groups and 2 locations. The first three groups were done outdoors on picnic tables set up with blotter papers and pen/pencil in holders to keep them from rolling away. There was a little breeze, but the pen/pencil holder had just enough weight to keep everything in place.

I attached my sample butterflies to a plant hook and a pad of paper to use for pattern demonstration on an easel. This was the calm before the first group of campers arrived.

The campers overall were ages 5-12. The oldest of the three groups came first…the youngest were last. I presented different patterns to each group as we talked about butterfly body parts and symmetry. The campers were focused and were very creative both with the patterns (and making up their own) as well as adding color. I took a picture of the creations from each group (click on the image below to see a larger version).

The following day, I did two groups at the second location. This time I was indoors and used the projection technique with the iPad camera (that I had used during my session with the camp counselors back in early June) to demonstrate the patterns. The youngest group came first followed by the older group. I corralled the butterflies for a picture at the end of each session (although one was missing from the older group and I ended up taking that picture later).

Overall, I was pleased with these sessions and I am getting better as a CZT as I gain experience. For example – the blotter papers get used for additional artwork rather than just blotter papers and then the next camper comments on what is on their blotter! The different age groups have different types of challenges which I will get better at detecting…but they all produced beautiful and interesting Zentangle butterflies!

July 01, 2019

Zentangle® - June 2019

July 01, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I had a lot of tiles to choose from in June….it was the usual challenge to limit myself to 30 – June having only 30 days.

2019 06 phicops img111 (1).jpg — I did a series of tiles with the phicops pattern for the whole tile – using it like a string for other patterns. All of these were physical tiles.

2019 06 img098.jpg — And then there were all the others – the black tiles are digital (iPad)…which shows that about half my picks for June were digital…half physical.

I’ll be doing a several road trips in July. It will be an adventure in Zentangle-on-the-go. I anticipate that I’ll create tiles at the beginning or end of the day….unless there is a substantial storm and I stop to wait it out.

June 27, 2019

Leading a Zentangle® Class

June 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I applied what I learned at the Certified Zentangle Trainer class (taken back in April) with a group of summer camp counselors last week…a prelude to working with the summer campers in a few weeks. The counselors were in their pre-camp training session. Most of the camp with be outdoor activities but on very rainy or hot days….creating Zentangle tiles can be a great option.

I prepared for the session by developing a method to project my work on a screen (iPad on a tripod, Camera app, connector to allow display of the iPad screen on any projector/screen via HDMI cable) and making folded paper ‘trays’ to keep the pencil and pen together (not rolling around the table).

I also made variations of the tile I would coach them to make during the first session.

The session with the camp counselors took a little over 30 minutes in all….and look what they created! Now one took an after lunch nap…they were all too focused on creating the patterns on their tile.

I am always impressed by class mosaics…how every tile expresses the individuality of the person that created it.

After the session we had a feedback session and agreed that the apprentice tiles (4.5 inches square) should be used for the younger campers….that the smaller ones (3.5 inches square) might appeal to the older campers that want to create tiles with more detail. Allowing more than 30 minutes would be good too!

June 23, 2019

Mt Pleasant Field Trips

June 23, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Schools didn’t end until June 21st in our area so the Howard County Conservancy spring field trips were still happening into mid-June! As usual, I volunteered for field trips at both Mt Pleasant and Belmont. Today I’ll share some pictures I gleaned from before the school buses arrive at Mt. Pleasant….tomorrow I’ll do the same for Belmont.

2019 06 IMG_4345.jpg — In late May – I noticed how lush everything was looking: the sweetbay magnolias, the blue flags, peonies, the new plantings around the flower pot people, and the trees along the gravel road toward Montjoy Barn.

By early June the flowers in the Honors Garden, like the columbines, were blooming.

But the big draw of the Honors Garden – for me and for the children on field trips – were the green frogs in the pool. I would talk to the students before we came near the garden about walking very quietly…not talking…as we approached the pool so that we would see frogs. And I challenged them to find more than 4 frogs (or however many had been seen with my previous group). One group claimed to see 7…but I only saw 6. The pictures in the slide slow below were taken over several mornings before the buses arrived. Green frogs sound a little like a rubber band being strummed. It was fun to share the sights and sounds of the frogs with my hiking groups!

June 02, 2019

Zentangle® - May 2019

June 02, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

May was a busy month…but I made time to keep my Zentangle-a-day plan and did more than one on some days. 18 of the 31 tiles I picked for May were made on the iPad. My favorites are still the black background with white ‘ink’.

There were some with a different color background or ink.

Toward the end of the month I started experimenting with complex loopy strings and mixed patterns that made some different looking tiles than my usual.

Switching away from the digital tiles - I am still enjoying the 3-inch round coasters. I did a lot of experimenting with the phicops pattern in May.

I made very few square tiles. I will probably be making more in June in preparation for my first ‘class’ as a CZT to dry run the module I will do with summer campers during the counselor training in mid-June.

I’ve been making small tiles (2” squares, Bijou size) with single patterns that I will use as prompts when I’m teaching…or to help select patterns for my own tiles.

As usual – looking back at the Zentangle tiles I produced in May is very satisfying. It’s awesome to see all of them collected together…realizing I made all them…savoring them again.

May 30, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2019

May 30, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

May has been a busy month with travel and prep for more travel…lots of volunteer gigs and home maintenance too. As usual – it was easy to identify something to celebrate each and every day. Here are 10 that I’m highlighting for the month.

**Plantain chips.** I made my own plantain chips using a plantain from the conservatory at Brookside Gardens. It was a spring celebration of Thanksgiving – good food from a local harvest.

Caterpillar on the hickory. I was hiking with second graders looking at habitats…and what lives in them (paricularly insects). When we came to a young hickory tree that had been planted on earth day, it had some holes in the leaves. It was a small enough tree that we could carefully look under the leaves…and we found a caterpillar! It was one of those serendipity momets…the children were pleased with their find and I celebrated sharing their experience.

Clean car mats. My husband and I both took the mats out of our cars and hosed them off – no more salt and mud that had accumulated over the winter! We picked a sunny day so they could mostly dry out in the driveway after we hosed them off. I am celebrating a cleaner car interior.

Good weather for 4th grade field trip. Earlier in May we were having a lot of rain…and I wondered how the back to back field trips were going to dodge the deluge. At this point I am celebrating not having a single rainy day field trip (even thouh I am prepared with a super rain poncho). The 4th grade field trip was a close call….it didn’t rain and we managed to step around the mud puddles.

A whole day at home. Between volunteer gigs and travel, there were very few days that I could just be at home. When it happened – I celebrated the day to recouperate.

2019 05 IMG_8308.jpg — **Horseshoe Crabs.** I had never seen horse shoe crabs in action like I saw in Cape May. They are recovering after overharvesting….an ancient creature filling its niche in the web of life. Something to celebrate.

2019 05 IMG_4257.jpg — **Light on flowers.** I missed most of the azaleas blooming this spring…but managed to get some spotlighted in the dappled light along the path near the stream at Brookside Gardens. I celebrated the photographic experience.

Pre-schoolers are Belmont. I’ve only managed to do one field trip with pre-schools so far this season. What fun they are! I talked to them about trees. We pretended to start out as seeds and grow into a forest…then have the breeze ruffle out leaves (fingers)…and then we talked about trees and wind. Some groups fell down in a heap when the really strong winds came! It’s easy to celebrate the outdoors with pre-schoolers.

Rainy day with butterflies – Mother’s Day. It rained on Mother’s Day and the morning started slow in the Wings of Fancy conservatory – the butterflies weren’t very active and there were not early visitors. I celebrated by taking some butterfly pictures with my phone. And then the ramp up of activity began. It became a busy morning.

White morpho butterflies. The brilliant irridescent blue morphs are probably the most popluarl butterflies in the Wings of Fancy exhibit. I celebrated the butterflies that are new or not quite as common. The white morphos are one of the special ones I’m celebrating this year.

May 01, 2019

Zentangle® - April 2019

May 01, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

At the beginning of April, I was in the Certified Zentangle Trainer class…creating tiles as we learned best strategies for teaching others the Zentangle® Method. The tiles were put into a journal with corners like were used for pictures in old scrapbooks. My two favorite tiles that I did during the class were the ‘creature’ tile and the triangular tile (the different tile shape and color).

I didn’t include the tiles from class in my 30 picks for April (I averaged over 3 tiles for each day of April…so had a challenge to pick just 30 for this blog post!). I’ve grouped them into 2 groups below:

The tiles I made on the iPad. I keep returned to black background and white ‘ink’ – even though I sometimes am in the mood for color…change up a little…temporarily.

The big experiment of the month was some round coasters I ordered from Amazon (here). They are 3-inch rounds rather than 4.5-inch that we did in class (and I found overwhelmingly large). The coasters are a good thickness and texture for Zentangle. I’ve used two pens: the Pigman Pen 05 (used for younger students…which I will have in summer campers this summer) and the Sharpie Ultra Fine (lots of colors). At some point I might experiment with a sealer and use them as coasters!

March 27, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2019

March 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

March had increased activity from February – a nice ramp up to the busy months of the spring field trip season of April, May and June. It was easy to find little celebrations all during the month.

A Creative Live course on bird photography – I always celebrate courses that hone what I already know…and show me something new that I want to try.

Getting new glasses – I had skipped getting new glasses last year – thinking that my prescription had not changed enough. It’s worth celebrating to see better again.

Snow on the ground but no on the streets – I celebrated a beautiful snowy day when the streets kept enough warmth to remain clear. It’s one of those instances where you can enjoy the scenery and not worry about hazardous driving conditions.

Cleaning out stuff – We donated two carloads of stuff (a bicycle was a big part of one load. I celebrated making progress on cleaning out accumulated things that we no longer need.

Then there are signs of spring – appearing throughout the month – and celebrated for the breaking of winter’s hold on the landscape:

**Miniature daffodils** blooming in the front flower bed that bring back memories of my mother-in-law that bought and planted the bulbs in another garden 30 years ago.

Tulip poplar and cherry buds brought inside and opening a few weeks before the buds outside open.

2019 03 IMG_5075 (4).jpg — **Doves mating** on the deck railing.

2019 03 IMG_5170.jpg — **Frogs eggs** in the little pool at Mt. Pleasant.

A spring-like afternoon – full of sunlight and a warmer temperature.

The biggest celebration of the month was the news that both my daughter and son-in-law have faculty positions beginning next fall in the same place! It’s quite an accomplishment for them to both get their PhD and then do a couple years as post docs…then this milestone.

January 27, 2019

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2019

January 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

As usual – it is easy for me to find little celebrations every day…and here are the top 10 for January 2019.

Getting rid of ‘stuff’ – My husband and I celebrated taking two loads of ‘stuff’ to the landfill (trash and recycling) and donation. I feel like we are finally making progress in getting rid of things we no longer need. We managed to fix 4 floor lamps that we thought were broken…just before we were set to take them to the landfill.

Wedding anniversary – My husband and I usually have a quiet celebration when our wedding anniversary comes around just after Christmas and the beginning of the year. We’re always pleased with ourselves for becoming long-time marrieds….but realize that it has been easier for us than it is for so many others.

2019 01 IMG_1076.jpg — **A morning hike at Mt. Pleasant** – It was muddy but otherwise an excellent day for a winter hike. I enjoyed getting outdoors.

2019 01 IMG_1404.jpg — **New hiking boots** – I celebrated getting new hiking boots. The lining of my 4-year-old boots was tearing. I bought the same brand (Merrell) but waterproof and a little wider to leave more room for bunions and thick socks.

No cavities – I went to the dentist for a checkup and celebrated ‘no cavities’ or anything else that required follow-up! It’s been that way for the past few appointments…and I’m glad my teeth seem to be OK and stable.

Anticipating Zentangle class – I registered for a Zentangle class scheduled for late March and started working through the pre-work….what a joy and worth celebrating both the tiles I am creating now and the anticipation of a great experience in the class.

2019 01 IMG_1295.jpg — **Walking in snow at Belmont** – I celebrated the beauty of snow on the landscape….and that my boots didn’t leak!

**Witch hazel blooming** – What a thrill to find the burst of color in the browns, dark greens, and whites of a winter day! I like that the petals are like little streams as well…. appropriate for a celebration.

**Peppermint snow ice cream** – Yum! Yes, I was very cold after I ate it but is was well worth it…celebration-worthy food!

Macro photograph collection – I celebrated the macro photographs I’d made over the past year or so as I prepared charts for a presentation. I have enjoyed the clip on macro lens more than any other photography accessory!

December 28, 2018

YE Thinking: Reducing Plastic

December 28, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

It’s impossible to stop using plastic completely – but I am reducing in every way that I can. Plastic on our land or in our water is not a good thing and it is a totally man-made problem that is becoming more apparent every year. Here are my strategies for reducing my plastic footprint at the end of 2018:

Buy products in containers that are not plastic (i.e. milk in cartons rather that plastic jugs, lemon juice in glass jar, peanut butter/preserves in glass jars).

2018 12 IMG_0669.jpg — Always have reusable shopping bags handy. This was probably the first strategy I implemented, and it’s been over 10 years ago now. It was very easy for the weekly grocery shopping. Doing it for the quick trips of one or two items - and to stores other than the grocery store – happened over time. I now carry a small bag in a stuff pocket attached to my purse.

2018 12 IMG_0668.jpg — Put produce in reusable produce bags. The challenge is that the labels spewed out by the scales don’t stick to the fabric…so I have a pad of paper to stick them too and the checker easily scans them when I am checking out.

Avoid single use plastic utensils. Go with plastic that can withstand many passes through the dishwasher or stainless flatware. My husband and I have travel sporks that we use for picnics on road trips.

2018 12 IMG_0663.jpg — Make your own body wash with slivers of soap with water in a plastic bottle (I have a bottle from purchased body wash that I like for it’s shape….it will last for several years replenished from time to time with bar soap slivers!)

2018 12 IMG_0665.jpg — Stop buying soft drinks and bottled water. I have been surprised at how easy this is to do for me. My husband is still working at it. It’s a healthy choice too. I carry my travel mug almost all the time – usually with just ice water. Another plus – it can reduce ‘grocery’ costs.

In the end – plastic is unavoidable. I try to choose plastics that are easier to recycle in our community.

Our recycling does not take clamshells like salad comes in so I rarely buy salad in that form. I buy the bundled organic full leaves (or plant) and put it in one of my reusable bags….or in a container that I can recycle (like a plastic bag).
I buy popcorn in a plastic bag rather than plastic container since I am more confident that the grocery store where I return clean plastic bags gets them recycled than the vendor that processes the multi-stream recycling picked up at our curb.
If there is an option to buy something I use frequently in a larger container (both plastic), I buy the larger container. My rationale is that larger containers probably get through the recycling process and into the correct bin (i.e. plastic) to be recycled.

One strategy that has helped me reduce the amount of plastic we are using is to look at what we put in our trash or recycle bins. I am fast approaching the point that I’ve done what I can do until packaging changes and I have more choices – choices that don’t include plastic.