Veggies into the Freezer

The day before the pickup of the CSA share and the crispers are still relatively full….it’s time to do some freezing.

The leafy greens (kale, lettuce, cabbage, arugula, spring greens) - I cut up coarsely and stuffed gallon Ziplocs. I can use them in smoothies or stir fries. They are easy to break into small pieces once they are frozen.

Fennel top was chopped and placed in a smaller bag. They might go in soup - or maybe a smoothy. They have a stronger flavor so I will use a little at a time.

Garlic scapes are cut into pieces and in a plastic container. They will be easy to use in stir fries.

The summer squash is in chunks. They’ll be great in smoothies and stir fries….or thawed and processed into custards.

On the plus side, I managed to use the beets (including the tops), the scallions, the snow peas, a small head of lettuce, the carrots (with tops), the broccoli, the cucumbers, and some of the summer squash. It’s not that I didn’t eat a lot of veggies….just that the CSA supplies an overwhelming amount of them this time of year! At least I don’t waste any of them….but my freezer is getting very full.

Unique for Yesterday:

Catching up on Fashion as Design course. I enjoyed the Fashion as Design Coursera Course back in April. I didn’t complete all the assignments, so I am still getting updates for the class; the instructors are adding to the course material. The latest offering included some zoom meetings about fashion related to news (specifically masks, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter) and a panel discussion on how designers have approached the pandemic crises and the nature of ‘emergency’ itself. And then some videos and a forum on makeup. I signed up for both meetings that will be held later in the week and watched the videos immediately.

A wedding with the bigger celebration being postponed to the 1st anniversary. There was a July wedding planned for a family member that lives in Texas which I had sent along a gift and regrets that I couldn’t attend. Now it’s been changed to be a dramatically reduced event with just bride, groom, and the 2 sets of parents….and then a big celebration planned for the 1st anniversary. A good plan! It’s something to look forward to in 2021.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/12/2020

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Aargh! Brown-headed cowbirds. This is the first year I’ve noticed cowbirds coming regularly to our feeder. There is a pair that seems to be hanging around and I’m concerned that we’ll have baby cowbirds demanding food from the robins and sparrows and cardinals and maybe even the finches.

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Making a new plan – then changing it. I had big plans for my front flower beds yesterday afternoon because it was so warm – mixing soil with compost and planting some seeds, placing the glass bird bath on its stand and filling it with water. Then I looked more carefully at the 10-day forecast and remembered that there had been ice in the birdbath cantilevered from our deck for the past 2 mornings. Planting seeds needs to wait until after danger cold temperatures…and I wasn’t keen on the glass bird bath having frozen water in it either. So - I picked up sticks that had fallen from several trees. The oak and sycamore always have small twigs around them after gusty days. But this spring I noticed our cherry does too. There are a couple of larger branches that aren’t getting leaves this year. I told my husband that he’d have to help me when I cut them – although I want to wait a little while to make sure they aren’t going to leaf out.

Photographing windfall. While I was making multiple trips to the brush pile with loads of twigs, I noted small bits of trees that had blown to the ground: a twig from a pine with very green needles still attached, groups of samaras blown from the red maple before they could fully ripen, and some seed pods formed last fall on the tulip poplar. I gathered up my treasures before going inside. Just after I put them on the kitchen table, I noticed that one of them had a hitchhiker.

A tiny spider crawled around. I quickly tried to get a picture, but it was moving too fast and was very small. I decided to use the jeweler’s loupe to contain it…and get the picture with my cell phone The jewelers loupe is 22x magnification…it was a very small spider!

I took a close look at the junction between the pine needles and the twig with the clip-on macro lens on my cell phone. The twig has wrinkles at the junction!

The samaras from the red maple have been a topic previously. They are drying out and losing their color…but still are quite beautiful with the green and muted pink.

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The pods from the tulip poplar are thoroughly dry. One still contained some seeds. I pulled a seed out to photograph. I’m always in awe that such a tiny seed grows to be such a big tree!

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

I am opting to continue this series of blog post to emphasis how different this time is. This is the longest time I’ve stayed home that I can remember. While I am here, I am choosing things I enjoy doing and documenting some of them in this series….and following recommendations to keep myself and others healthy. Overall – the emotional roller coaster from the early days has become more subdued. Every day I become more confident that the way I am living now is sustainable for as long as it takes. My wish for everyone is to

Stay well and help others to be well too.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/26/2020

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday – a beautiful sunny spring day:

Noticing the first dandelion flowers while I took a walk in the neighborhood. I want to take advantage of every good spring day to either work in the yard or take a walk in the neighborhood. As it gets warmer – I’ll do it early…get a picture of the sunrise from a better vantage point that my front porch.

Celebrating a family birthday virtually. Sharing pictures and video…talking on the phone…there are ways to share the celebration other than being in the same place!

Assisting my daughter’s test of her virtual class delivery. My husband (on his iPad) and I (on my laptop) were the ‘students’ in my daughter’s test of the technology (Zoom) she will be using for her two classes beginning next week. The university is closed…all classes virtual. The professors are doing it from their homes. My daughter and son-in-law have the additional challenge of teaching classes in the same time slot. The bandwidth at their house might be an issue and so might the sound of them both lecturing at the same time!

Surprise – just as we were finishing the Zoom test with my daughter, an American Goldfinch (male) flew to our birdfeeder and I got a picture. It’s getting its summer plumage – the first I’d seen that was yellowing this season. It was the grand finale of the meeting for me.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/24/2020

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Receiving a flowering plant – virtually. My daughter sent a picture of her Persian violet in bloom. She was excited since it is a plant that requires a lot of sun….lots of grow lamps in her office in Missouri. She has it at home now since the university buildings are closed. And in all the turmoil….it’s blooming! She is getting ready to begin teaching her classes virtually next week.

Beginning the experiments with Dutch Chocolate protein powder. We ordered it at my daughter’s suggestion - protein with a longer shelf-life and doesn’t require refrigeration. Chocolate for me; vanilla for my husband. My first experiment was a red smoothie: 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1 heaping teaspoon beet root powder, banana, 1/4 cup walnuts – yummy and pretty too.

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Making a list and checking it twice. My daughter encouraged me to stop going into the grocery store beginning this week. I made an online list for curb side pickup with my usual grocery store…reviewed it carefully with my husband to make sure it would be everything he wanted for the next week. And then – just before bedtime – I tried to submit it. I quickly discovered that there were no available times for curbside pickup! I went to bed extremely frustrated deciding to wait until the morning to look at other options. The saga continues tomorrow….

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23

30 Years Ago – March 1990

30 years ago this month – my husband and I took our daughter on her first overnight trip. We went to Blackwater and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuges on the eastern shore of Maryland/Virginia. At Blackwater we saw our first Bald Eagle in the wild while the baby was working on a bottle (i.e. she was weaned from breast milk). We used our new umbrella stroller on some grassy paths at Chincoteague; by the end of the trip, it was somewhat scuffed…no longer ‘new’ looking.

I was making plans to go back to work in May…had sent a note off to my manager about wanting a part time assignment for 4 months and then would go back to full time after that.

My parents came from Texas for a visit – being with us for my Dad’s birthday. We bought some soft balls for our daughter to give to him for his birthday and I remember taking this picture. She has a pillow behind her because she wasn’t yet adept at sitting on her own. My dad’s arm is in the picture and the red ball he is getting ready to roll to her is in his hand. He moved it several times before he let it go…training her to keep her eye on the ball!

Previous 30 years ago posts can be found here.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/22/2020

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Trying macro photographs of spicebush and red maple. My original plan was to tromp through the backyard and into the woods…do the photography outdoors. But – it was colder and breezier than I anticipated so I cut a small spicebush branch and picked up a twig of red maple samaras that had blown off. The photography part of the project would be done inside.

I worked with the red maple samaras first. I used a jeweler’s loupe and my cell phone with the samara on my kitchen countertop…a small flash light supplementing the natural light coming from one side. I like the graceful ridges in the ‘wings.’

Then I ‘got close’ with my Canon point-and-shoot camera….let its macro setting do it’s best. These are small immature samaras…about 1/4 inch.

The spice bush flowers are small too. I put the branch in a vase (with the sycamore branch). I might get to see its leaves unfurl too…after the flowers are done. I noticed an ant on the branch as I put it in the water. Can ants be pollinators?

I tried several approaches to photographing the small flowers. The ones below were done with the clip-on macro lens on my phone. The challenge is the shallow depth of field. These flowers are small but not flat!

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Then I tried putting my Canon bridge camera on a tripod across the kitchen and using the zoom. It blurs the background and provides more depth…but the color is gone. Maybe I’ll put more light on the flowers and try again. The sycamore buds might benefit from the same photographic strategy. My husband gets into the action too – helping me with the more complicated set ups.

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Catching up on the Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari videos:

• Moe the two-toed sloth

• Lions Imani and John

• Penguins (in a very noisy habitat…I didn’t watch the whole thing)

• Seyial the black rhino

Completing the Jackson Pollock segment of the In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting Coursera course. I’ve been doing one ‘week’ of the course every day and enjoying all of them – particularly the part about learning how they were made.

Re-assessing our investment strategy…making some changes. At first, we thought that maybe the social distancing strategy would work, and the economy would blip but recover soon. Not enough people are following the guidance – it says something very sad about us as a nation – and means that the pandemic with be more overwhelming. From an economic standpoint, it is more than a blip and deteriorating further. So we made some investment changes to stabilize rather than free fall…..continuing our social distancing…and hoping that the tests of potential therapeutic drugs work well enough to save lives and shorten the time people are in the hospital to recover. Both my husband and I fell of the wagon of limiting time spent following the coronavirus stories and statistics yesterday…back to limiting that activity today – no one needs a constant pounding of repeating bad news.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/17/2020

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

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

• Picking earrings to wear that I haven’t worn in a long time. Yesterday I wore some from Orlando FL and today they are from Watkins Glen NY. Earrings are my favorite item to purchase when I travel…small keepsakes that I can wear! Both are over 10 years old, but I still remember where I got them.

• Maintaining the compost pile and walking around the yard. I’m trying to get out of the house at least once a day….enjoy that it is springtime here!

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• Watching the second installment of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari (about Rico the Porcupine). They have established a website where all the videos will be available after they air live. I am watching the recorded version, so I don’t have to pay attention to the time to be online at 3 PM EDT!

• Calling family far away, I had planned to be in Texas this past week…but I was already ‘staying at home as much as possible’ a few days before I was going to get on the airplane. Talking on the telephone is the next best thing for keeping in touch until it is not as risky to be out and about in larger groups of people.

• Making a Zentangle® butterfly. I was straightening up my office and found a few extra butterfly tiles left from last summer’s experience with summer campers. I couldn’t resist using the tile…thinking that this would be a good activity for anyone needing a quiet calm time. If you want to learn a new pattern, checkout out https://tanglepatterns.com/ . Later in the afternoon. it was warm enough that I saw a real butterfly - a cabbage white.

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• Watching the 4th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell - Why didn’t dinosaurs build a space program? His pet gecko, Europa, is part of the lecture too!

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16

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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.

Staying at Home as much as Possible

The CDC guidance for people at risk for serious illness from COVID-19 has changed over the past week. A few days ago, the first bullet basically said ‘stay at home as much as possible.’ Now that advice is the last bullet and it is only if there is a COVID-19 outbreak in your community. There are some disconcerting cases near where I live (a rector at a church and at person at a large conference) that are not travel related; I guess we will know in 5 or so days how contagious the individuals were. There does not appear to be a lot of testing happening in my area yet so it’s hard to know if there is an outbreak of not.

So - I am trying to chart a middle course….

I am in the higher risk group because I am older although I rarely get sick, so my main concern is for others close to me that are also older and have chronic conditions. I don’t want to be a carrier of COVID-19! At this point I am:

• Stocked up on supplies (food, household supplies)

• Avoiding crowds (when I do need go for groceries, going in the early morning; not going to classes; thinking more about ‘social distancing’)

• Not flying

• Washing hands frequently and practicing not touching my face during times I am out and about.

This is a change from the norm for me….but one that I am enjoying so far. The sudden shift to being at home more has me savoring the place….noticing the red maple blooming as I look out my office window,  cleaning out the basement, pulling weeds/grass in flower beds and noticing the bulbs planted out in the yard by squirrels. I’m getting a lot done that I have been meaning to do but never seemed to have the time available. I’ll be posting more about my ‘living in COVID-19 times’ over the next few day

30 Years Ago – February 1990

30 years ago this month - Our household was beginning to make changes to sustain itself with a baby that was increasingly active. In February she became even more adept at rolling, got two baby teeth and began eating in the highchair (colorful food like carrots seemed to be favorites). About the time the first teeth came in, her tongue thrust became much less pronounced. She managed to hold things in her hands for longer periods….and we managed to capture the first picture of her with a book. She was awake and interacting much more during the day…and sleeping through the night most of the time.

My husband and I were planning our first mini-vacation with the baby before family visits to our house started in March. It was going to be tacked onto a trip he needed to make for work. I was already beginning to wean the baby and plan what I needed to do before I started back to work part-time in May. I didn’t want her to associate weaning with me suddenly being gone.

At the same time, my husband and I were finally acknowledging the stress we both were experiencing after being a couple for over 15 years…and adding a baby in the mix. The transition was harder than we anticipated but it was beginning to improve by the end of February because we were finally acknowledged that we needed to actively work on it.

Previous 30 years ago posts can be found here.

Memorable Picture

I took this picture back in November. It is the side of the Missouri State University stadium. What do you think the image between the two columns represents?

My mother glanced at it – thought it was a spider….but the logo is actually of a bear! It a rectangular clip of a squarish logo that is obviously a bear. But I can see how it does look like a spider at first glance….and that’s what makes the picture memorable. It draws me back to a moment in time on a cold November day, walking between the building and our car, noticing the fierce whatever-it-is, laughing. I took the picture just after my mother’s comment and we all pilled into the car. A happy time.

Touch Tank – January 2020

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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 - Travel

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.

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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).

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

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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.

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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.

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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!

My 2019 in Review - Volunteering

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.

Christmas Cactus

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.

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!

30 years ago – October 1989

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.

Green Tomato Salsa

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!

Summer Camp Volunteering- Week 4

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.

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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.

Summer Camp Volunteering – week 2

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.

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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.

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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.