Ramping up Elder Care – November 2023 (update)

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My sisters and I thought we had time to learn about various options at a comfortable pace and then ramp up support for our parents in a targeted way over the next few months. We ordered two cameras to install in their home and made appointments to meet with two service providers for the next time I was in Carrollton – but that plan changed quickly when one of my parents entered the hospital.

I went to Carrollton early - entering 24-hour rotations with one of my sisters to support my parent in the hospital. My other two sisters and my daughter handled things at my parents’ house (it is traumatic for two elderly people married over 70 years to be separated for even short periods).

We learned a lot during the hospitalization about changes we need to make to avoid aspiration of liquid into the lungs (i.e. thickening of ALL liquids to honey consistency is now required). Previously some liquids had been thickened to a lesser amount (nectar) but water was unthickened….and now even that will have to be thickened. But – the reward is no coughing while (and after) eating or drinking!!!!

Small anomalies can make big impacts…low potassium and dehydration were two that our parent experienced. And the associated weakness/dizziness curtailed almost all physical activity for a little over 24 hours which required some slow increase of activity on the following days to get back to ‘normal’…and maybe that was a ‘new normal’ that was a little reduced from the prior normal.

Two cameras were installed and we used them along with virtual meetings to help our parents talk to each between physical visits. We decided a third camera would be worthwhile, so it was ordered.

We quickly established a contingency sleeping arrangement in case the hospitalized parent required more support at night immediately after coming home from the hospital.  The room includes a twin bed with plenty of room for a caregiver to move around….and for extra equipment. We are anticipating that ambulation will need to be monitored/supported (i.e. a belt around our parent … a caregiver with a hand on it) during their recuperation until we are sure the fall risk is minimal.

As I write this, our parent is still in the hospital but due to go home within 24 hours. We hope we have ramped up our support plan sufficiently.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Ramping up Elder Care!

Previous posts: November 2023

Our Missouri Neighborhood – November 2023

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I am planning to do a lot more walks around my neighborhood – get some quality outdoor time/exercise…maybe even what the Garmin calls ‘intensity minutes’. I’ll take a small camera with me…just in case I spot anything interesting. My daughter called me just as I was heading out so I didn’t photograph the great blue heron that was in a sunny spot at the edge of the pond; I just watched until it flew away while I talked to her.

I did some power walking almost to the furthest bridge before I stopped to photograph some oak leaves that had caught in the grass at the edge of the pond. The tree still had quite a few leaves to drop!

The willow seems to still have mostly green leaves!

A little further along there was debris on the walk; looking closer I realized it was seeds rather than leaves!

Even though the temperature was only about 40 degrees. The sunshine must have made the bank warm enough for a turtle to leave the water.

After I got to the other end of the ponds, I noticed a lot of maple leaves had fallen in the drainage channel and the grass along the path.

A short length of sidewalk on my route was almost covered with pine needles. I enjoyed photographing some cones that had fallen as well.

There was a stump at one end of the row of pines that must have been cut several years ago – maybe before we moved to the neighborhood. The color of the pine needles stands out against the gray of the wood and the powdery green of lichen/moss.  

A big plus – I accumulated 29 intensity minutes!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 18, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Are pumpkins a future superfood? – Maybe. The plants are high heat and drought tolerant….. and tolerate salinity. Nutritionally they have essential vitamins, minerals, and fats.

Do or dye: Synthetic colors in wastewater pose a threat to food chains worldwide - Dyes create several problems when they reach water systems, from stopping light reaching the microorganisms that are the bedrock of our food chains, preventing their reproduction and growth, to more direct consequences like the toxic effects on plants, soils, animals and humans. Remediation technologies for dye-containing wastewater, including chemical, biological, physical and emerging advanced membrane-based techniques.

Billions Of Snow Crabs Have Died in Alaska. Will Billions of People Be Next? – Starvation….but linked to marine heatwaves that affected snow crab metabolism.

Even treated wood prevents bacterial transmission by hand – Maybe we should be using wood more frequently for surfaces where keeping bacteria at bay is important (countertops, for example).

Staring at the Sun — close-up images from space rewrite solar science – Results from Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter…and the ground-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.

Higher levels of triglycerides linked to lower risk of dementia – A correlation…not necessarily a causal relationship.

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io looks stunning in new Juno probe photos – From an October 15th flyby.

The Rio Grande isn’t just a border – it’s a river in crisis – So many rivers are in trouble. The Rio Grande drought story is complicated by international treaty…and contentious relations at the border.

These Rare Daguerreotypes Are the Earliest Surviving Photos of Iran in the 1850s – It would be interesting to see what these same places look like today.

Why are bed bugs so difficult to deal with? – They are increasingly resistant to pesticides that previously were effective. Creating policies that require reporting and resident notification by landlords…and requiring the landlords to treat infestations within 30 days has been effective in New York. Infestations can be managed, but probably not eliminated.

1897 Montgomery Ward’s Common Sense Cookery

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In 1897, Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business. Its first serious competition (Sears) had opened the year before.

They also published a book about cooking in 1897 that is available via Internet Archive. The title page indicates it is about more than just recipes: what to eat and how to prepare it, hygienic and scientific cooking!

They also published a book about cooking in 1897 that is available via Internet Archive. The title page indicates it is about more than just recipes: what to eat and how to prepare it, hygienic and scientific cooking!

The illustrations try to show the ideal of food preparation and enjoyment in the late 1800s.

Montgomery Ward & co.'s Common Sense Cookery

My mother remembers her parents ordering from Montgomery Ward in the 1930s for Christmas presents. I remember looking at their catalogs in the 1960s although I also looked at Sears catalogs.

I remember two other books from Wards.

One was the Wendy Ward Charm Book from the 1960s. It was full of somewhat dated information for teenaged girls; much of it we absorbed then jettisoned the parts that didn’t work for us as we entered the work force in the 1970s (the “I am Woman” era).

The other was the book written by Robert L. May on assignment to Montgomery Ward 1939 – the creation of Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer. I bought a copy for my daughter in the early 1990s from Wards! It can be checked out from Internet Archive here.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – November 2023

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I left Carrollton on the day the shift was made from daylight to standard time; it was easy to reach Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge just after sunrise; it was a hazy morning. There were already other birders driving the wildlife loop – some with the same strategy I use: photography through a car window!

One of the first birds I saw was a great blue heron that flew into a large pond and was immediately on the move – probably looking for breakfast.

I saw a group of snow geese at the edge of the pond with water reflecting the sunrise colors behind them. Note that some of the geese are smaller (i.e. Ross’s Goose). There were blue morphs of the snow geese mixed in as well.

A grebe appeared with some pintails.

Mallards are always around. The trees and shoreline vegetation were definitely showing their fall colors. And then the sun popped above the horizon.

American coots are back at the refuge.

The most numerous birds were red winged blackbirds. They were enjoying the abundant seeds (sunflowers mostly) and rose up in murmuration at any little disturbance. Sometimes the group landed on the road for a few seconds but then quickly flew away to another stand of vegetation with seeds or to trees. They seemed oblivious to a hawk in one tree they picked. The group was a mixture of males and females.

A disorderly V of cormorants (I think) flew by.

I got out of my car once to look over the shoreline vegetation to see if I could spot a group of pelicans in one of the larger ponds but didn’t see any…the vegetation was worth a few photographs.

Another group of snow geese/Ross’s geese was grazing in a grassy area. I did a series of images…with one of the geese stretching its wings. The geese were vocalizing…gentle noises that probably reassure all of them that things are OK with the world.

In summary – some of the birds that will overwinter at Hagerman have arrived but there should be even more arriving.

Sunrise before Time Change

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The day before the ‘fall back’ from daylight saving to standard time, I was in Carrollton TX and awake long before the sunrise…and I happened to notice it at a good time for photography.

I took a quick picture with my phone. The silhouettes of the of the trees in my parents’ backyard are in the foreground…the powerlines run through the color of the sun…a single star (or is it a planet?) is visible just above the trees which I didn’t notice until I looked at the image on a large monitor.

I went inside to get my bridge camera. It produced a crisper image and the deeper colors …although I wish I would have framed it to get the star just above the trees!

I celebrated capturing the sunrise…even while I thought about how I prefer that we didn’t change our clocks twice a year.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 11, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

In search of the Old Ones: Where to find the world's longest-lived trees – 25-30 woody plants can, without human assistance, produce specimens that reach the age of 1,000 years or older. Of those, only about 10 can reach 2,000 years and those are all conifers. 3 can produce trimillenials and 1 can produce quadrilmillenials. The longest-lived trees of eastern North America, bald cypress, grow in swamps and blackwater rivers. The eldest occur in backwater sections of North Carolina's Black River, just miles from industrial hog farms and fields cleared long ago for tobacco….these bald cypresses reach ages of 2,600+ years. Conifers achieve maximum longevity when conditions are cold and dry, or hot and dry, or steep and exposed, or high altitude, or nutrient poor. In the case of Great Basin bristlecone pine, the longest-living plant on the planet, it is all of the above, with some of these plants reaching up to 4,900 years old.

Conservation of Monumental Mexica Snake Sculpture Continues - Discovered last year in the heart of Mexico City at the site of the Templo Mayor, the main temple in the Mexica city of Tenochtitlan. The 500-year-old sculpture, which measures about six feet long and three feet tall, was painted with yellow, blue, red, black, and white colors made from minerals and plants employed by the Mexica on cult images and temples.

Fungal infection in the brain produces changes like those seen in Alzheimer's disease - When the fungus Candida albicans enters the brain, the body’s response generates amyloid beta (Ab)-like peptides, toxic protein fragments from the amyloid precursor protein that is considered to be at the center of the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners show the beauty — and precarity — of nature – My favorite is the Plants and Fungus winner (Last Breathe of Autumn) taken on Mount Olympus.

Scientists says identifying some foods as addictive could shift attitudes, stimulate research - Most foods that we think of as natural, or minimally processed, provide energy in the form of carbohydrate or fat -- but not both. Many ultra-processed foods have higher levels of both. That combination has a different effect on the brain. In a review of 281 studies from 36 different countries, researchers found ultra-processed food addiction is estimated to occur in 14 percent of adults and 12 percent of children. Viewing some foods as addictive could lead to novel approaches in the realm of social justice, clinical care, and public policy.

Flood Resilience Through Green Infrastructure - Green spaces don’t just mitigate flooding. They beautify the urban landscape and improve residents’ mental health. They filter out microplastics and other pollutants, keeping them from reaching sensitive water bodies like rivers. And when the weather is hot, they cool neighborhoods, because plants ‘sweat.’

15th-Century Theater Floorboards Uncovered in Norfolk - A combination of tree-ring dating and study of the building's construction dated the floorboards to between 1417 and 1430. This suggests that William Shakespeare may have performed on the boards!

Second report on the status of global water resources published - Large parts of the world experienced drier conditions in 2022 than those recorded on average for the equivalent periods over the last 30 years. The report results from the expertise provided by 11 international modeling groups to extrapolate from the data/statistics available. There is a particular lack of data on the situation regarding groundwater.  

More Mammals Can Glow in the Dark Than Previously Thought - By examining museum specimens, researchers documented the glowing property across 125 mammal species. Humans, for example, have fluorescent teeth, like all mammals do. In 1911, researchers reported fluorescence in European rabbits, marking the first documented case of the glowing ability in a non-human mammal.

21 species have been declared extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says – 10 birds, a bat, 2 fish and 8 freshwater mussels. There are now 650 species that have gone extinct in the U.S., according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which says factors such as climate change, pollution and invasive species contribute to species loss.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 4, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Oldest fossil human footprints in North America confirmed – New research that supports the dating of the footprints found in White Sands National Park to between 21,000 and 23,000 years old.

Downtown Dallas Gets a New Park – Harwood Park. It reminded me of a field trip with my parents – taking the light rail train from Carrollton to downtown Dallas to visit Klyde Warren Park and have lunch in 2014. I’m glad there is another park added to the downtown area.

BLM Releases New Plan for Moab Area - The plan limits motorized recreation to protect natural and cultural resources. I hope the BLM can succeed in reducing the impact of off road vehicles….requiring ORV users/organizations to take precautions to protect the environment for themselves and everyone else to enjoy in this area.

Active children are more resilient – Interesting….I’ve assumed this but the way the researches went about confirming the idea was worth knowing and reassuring.

A Road Trip Along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior – The Trans-Canada Highway from Thunder Bay to Marathon in June. Maybe a place we’ll go one summer?

What your hands say about your health – I wish the article had better pictures!

Trouble in the Amazon - In the southeastern Amazon, the forest has become a source of CO2….and maybe more will cease to be a carbon sink as well. Large-scale deforestation… plus even intact forest is no longer as healthy as it once was, because of forces such as climate change and the impacts of agriculture that spill beyond farm borders. Data has been collected every two weeks for 10 years! The selective logging permitted by the Forest Code in Brazil is often not sustainable. That’s because the trees that are removed are generally slow-growing species with dense wood, whereas the species that grow back have less-dense wood, so they absorb less carbon in the same space.

A Summer Light Show Dims: Why Are Fireflies Disappearing? – Habitat destruction (clear cutting, fragmentation of forests), water pollution (in Asia many firefly larvae are aquatic), pesticides and yard chemicals, light pollution (it blinds males so that they can’t find females). On a positive note: firefly ecotourism is increasing in Mexico and Malaysia….and around Great Smokey Mountains National Park in the US.

Large herbivores keep invasive plants at bay - Native plants have evolved such that they can withstand brutal treatment from species of herbivores they have co-existed with for millennia, while invasive plants usually cannot.

The Amazon May Be Hiding More Than 10,000 Pre-Columbian Structures - Based on a new aerial survey and modeling study, archaeologists suggest at least 90 percent of sites known as earthworks remain undetected. Also found - high concentrations of 53 domesticated tree species near earthwork sites. These include cacao, Brazil nut, breadnut and Pará rubber trees, plus dozens of others. This demonstrates how the region’s inhabitants altered the natural landscape, likely so they would have a steady supply of food and useful materials.

eBotanical Prints – October 2023

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Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection this month – available for browsing on Internet Archive. More than half of the books are Harvard’s Botanical Museum Leaflets from 1957 to 1982. These are relatively modern botanical prints! The rest of the volumes for October are “Contributions from the Gray Herbarium.” My favorite image is the next to last: silhouettes of Monstera leaves.

The whole list of 2,737 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the October 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

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

Botanical Museum leaflets V17 * 1957 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V18 * 1959 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V19 * 1962 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V20 * 1964 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V21 * 1967 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V22 * 1967 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V23 * 1974 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V24 * 1976 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V25 * 1977 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V26 * 1978 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V27 * 1979 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V28 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V29 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V30 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 40-50 * 1917 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 101-105 * 1934 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 179-184 * 1956 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 185-191 * 1956 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 206-208 * 1976 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 209-212 * 1982 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 28, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Water Worker Stumbles Upon 2,500-Year-Old Gold Necklaces in Spain – Celtic gold….from before the Roman Empire ruled the Iberian Peninsula.

Canopy gaps help eastern hemlock outlast invasive insect – Hemlock wooly adelgid killed most of the hemlocks in the part of Maryland where I lived previously. Perhaps part of the reason so many died was that they were in forests where there were too few gaps in the canopy around them.

Germany to Surpass 50 Percent Renewable Power This Year – Good milestone but evidently Germany is still not on pace to reach its goal of 80 percent renewable power by 2030.

The surprising origin of a deadly hospital infection - The burden of C. diff infection may be less a matter of hospital transmission and more a result of characteristics associated with the patients themselves (i.e. patients that are already colonized with C. diff were at greater risk to transition to infection). However, it is still unknown what triggers the transition from C. diff hanging out in the gut to the organism causing diarrhea and the other complications resulting from infection.

Meet the Bison: North America’s Most Famous Mammal – Lots of info on bison…their history of almost being hunted to extinction.

The secret world of rhododendrons: a plant more ancient than the Himalayas that inspired fables and stories around the world - There are around 1000 species in total, and modern DNA-based work confirms that all “azaleas” are in fact species of rhododendron.

A Sign of Things to Come? After Last Ice Age, Europe Cooled as the Planet Warmed - More than 8,000 years ago, as the planet thawed following the end of the last ice age, Northern Europe abruptly cooled. New research reveals that Arctic ice melt weakened a critical ocean current, leaving Europe in the cold, a finding with important implications for future climate change.

Fiber from crustaceans, insects, mushrooms promotes digestion – Chitin (from insect exoskeletons and mushrooms) activates the immune system and benefits metabolism. Insects are not on my menu….but I could eat mushrooms more frequently. The researchers plan to follow up to determine whether chitin could be added to human diets to help control obesity.

Review of over 70 years of menopause science highlights research gaps and calls for individualized treatment - Less than 15% of women receive effective treatment for their symptoms. Socio-economic factors such as lower quality of life and the potential negative impact of menopausal symptoms on a woman's work performance aren't often acknowledged. Therapy should be individualized depending on age and health risks, recognizing that health risks may increase with age.

California and Florida grew quickly on the promise of perfect climates in the 1900s – today, they lead the country in climate change risks - In California, home owners now face dangerous heat waves, extended droughts that threaten the water supply, and uncontrollable wildfires. In Florida, sea level rise is worsening the risks of high-tide flooding and storm surge from hurricanes, in addition to turning up the thermostat on already humid heat. Global warming has put both Florida and California at the top of the list of states most at risk from climate change. These futures bring into question how historic visions of economic growth and the sun-kissed good life that California and Florida have promised can be reconciled with climates that are no longer always genial or sustainable.

Portland, Maine in 1940

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The US Work Projects Administration sponsored Writers’ Projects in many states – putting people to work as a step out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The project in Maine produced a well-illustrated city guide for Portland in 1940. The illustrations are a mix of photographs, painting, and drawings. The book is available on Internet Archive. The images are worth a look as a snapshot of the city at that time (i.e. history) and for the artistry of the illustrations.

Portland City Guide

I selected 6 sample images from the book. A quick search revealed that the Portland Head Light and Portland Observatory still exist. The Wikipedia article for the city includes a picture of the waterfront that looks quite different from ‘The Twentieth Century City’ image!

Fantastic Caverns – October 2023

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A cold fall day – the 60 degrees F. tour inside Fantastic Caverns was warmer than outside! We arrived shortly before 10 AM and had almost no wait before our tour (via Jeep-drawn tram) began. I used the ‘night scene’ setting (causing the camera to stack multiple images for each image) to capture the cave scenes. My favorite is a zoomed image of ‘soda straw’ structures on the ceiling – with water droplets visible!

There are plenty of drapery and column formations to photograph. The lighting in the cave does a good job of enhancing the structures. Unfortunately, it also encourages the greening tinge (algae) to some of the formations.

This was my second visit to Fantastic Caverns, and I quickly realized that different guides emphasize different things. For example – I am pretty sure the guide for my first visit did not share that the darker gray color in the formation below is from manganese!

The reddish color in many of the formations is from iron….and the white is calcium carbonate without anything else to provide color.

Back at the visitor center – I enjoyed a display of pumpkins and other squashes/gourds.

Another successful outing…and afterward on the way back to my house we enjoyed a huge BBQ lunch!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 21, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Intact Roman-Era Sarcophagus Discovered in France – From the 2nd century AD, sealed with iron clasps, weighs about 1,700 pounds. It hasn’t been opened yet, but x-rays and an endoscope camera have revealed the contents.

Selective removal of aging cells opens new possibilities for treating age-related diseases - Aging cells, known as senescent cells, contribute to various inflammatory conditions and age-related ailments as humans age. The researchers created technology that specifically targets organelles within aging cells to initiate the cell’s self-destruction. There is still a lot of work to be done (and preclinical and clinical trials).

Cloud Rings Around a Volcano Takes Top Prize in ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’ Contest – Capturing dramatic weather moments…

Brainless Jellyfish Are Capable of Learning - Experiments that provide evidence that box jellyfish are capable of associative learning, or the process of linking two unrelated stimuli together.

How maps can protect children from extreme heat - Heat is becoming increasingly dangerous and it's a threat that is not going away. Community heat maps may not solve the long-term problem, but they are a step in the right direction, by providing awareness and empowering vulnerable children and their families.

Stunning 16th-Century Turkish Bath Reopens in Istanbul - Called the Çinili Hamam, the revitalized site won’t offer traditional bathing until 2024. In the meantime, however, it will feature private gardens and contemporary art in the newly discovered Byzantine cisterns that originally fed the baths. Nearby, a new accompanying museum will display objects associated with traditional bathing rituals—including towels, bowls and ornately decorated wooden shoes—and explain the baths’ original water and heating systems. It will also showcase artifacts from the Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman periods uncovered during the restoration.

The Resiliency of Urban Wildlife - Four distinct sets of traits that help urban wildlife adapt and survive in environments that seem hostile to animals: diet, body size, mobility, and reproductive strategy. Important to know since if you look at the traits animals are adopting to survive in urban environments, you can see how cities could be modified to become more habitable to a wider variety of species.

See the Trove of Ancient Treasures, including a Shrine to Aphrodite, Just Discovered in an Underwater City Off the Coast of Egypt - Thonis-Heracleion was Egypt’s biggest port for centuries, before being surpassed by Alexandria. The city was eventually lost thanks to a combination of rising sea levels, earthquakes, and tsunamis, disappearing beneath the waves along with a large section of the Nile delta. It was largely forgotten for centuries, until 21st-century archaeologists began investigating.

New Patch Inspired by Octopus Suckers Could Deliver Drugs Without Needles - A tiny, drug-filled cup that sticks to the inside of the cheek like an octopus sucker. The device is easily accessible, can be removed at any time and prevents saliva from dissolving the drug, which gets absorbed through the lining of the inner cheek.

Buried ancient Roman glass formed substance with modern applications - Photonic crystals were created by corrosion and crystallization over centuries. If we could significantly accelerate the process in the laboratory, we might find a way to grow optical materials (i.e. materials for communications, lasers, solar cells) rather than manufacture them.

The Delineator from 1890 – 1932

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Internet Archive has 39 volumes of The Delineator magazine from 1890 to 1932. It was published by Butterick Publishing Company – the same company that I remember from the 1960s and 1970s for patterns; I was making most of my own clothes at that time. The magazine always included patterns for clothes but as I gleaned images for this post – I also included advertisements, covers, educational displays. Click on any part of the mosaics below to see a larger version. Links to each volume are included…the historical perspective from browsing these volumes is worth it!

The first mosaic contains images from the magazines published in the 1900s. Some of my favorites are the ad for FAB flakes (Babes in the wools), the October 1922 cover full of fall foliage, covers showing active women (golfing and skiing), aquarium fish and Christmas trees. The most thought provoking was the one with a woman and, presumably, her two sons in miliary uniforms from the January 1919 issue; I wondered if the one on the left looking less serious was the younger brother. A peace conference was being held in Paris that month…but waves of the 1918 flu were happening around the world…and the US.  

The second mosaic contains images from the 1800s. The last color images were in 1897. The magazine was also more skewed to fashion/patterns than in the 1900s. Huge sleeves, corsets, and elaborate hats were in vogue (note that this was also the time when some birds were almost wiped out to get feathers for hats!). How did anyone really swim in those bathing costumes from 1894?

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 14, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Abandoned Lands: A Hidden Resource for Restoring Biodiversity – Nature colonizing abandoned land…maybe we need to learn to help it along. The amount of land under agriculture globally has been in decline since 2001. Sometimes the abandonment is not driven by economic, demographic, or social factors, but by pollution or industrial disasters. Hundreds of square miles of radioactive former farmland around the stricken nuclear reactors at Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan are now within exclusion zones and could be without human occupation for centuries to come.

How to build for aging in place - Aging-ready homes address two core needs—single-floor living and bathroom accessibility—by providing a zero-step entry, a first-floor bedroom, and a full first-floor bathroom with at least one accessibility feature. Today only 10% of American homes are ‘age ready.’ When my husband and I bought our current home, we were conscious of buying something that would help us age-in-place. Everything is on one floor except for the laundry room….so we might have to eventually add an elevator to the house.

The Mississippi is Mighty Parched – The river south of Memphis has narrowed considerably in the past 2 years. Barge companies reduced the weight carried in many shipments in September because the river was not deep enough to accommodate their normal weight. Much of U.S. grain exports are transported down the Mississippi; the cost of these shipments from St. Louis southward has risen 77% above the three-year average. The lack of freshwater flowing into the Gulf of Mexico has also allowed saltwater to make its way up the river and into some water treatment plants in southern Louisiana.

Electric Cars Are Transforming America’s Truck Stops – I’ve been noticing the changes described in this article as I travel. More of truck stops have banks of chargers…and the Pilot just north of Denison has better food and a larger shopping/eating area… Adding charging equipment for electric cars is a major transformation for truck stops and travel centers but represents a new business opportunity.

The seed guardians in the Andes trying to save the potato – Climate change/disease are risks that all species are facing. There are 1,300 varieties of potato growing in the Andes. Potato Park, located near the Peruvian town of Pisac, was founded by six indigenous communities in 2002 to preserve the genetic diversity of potatoes grown in the region, as well as the cultural heritage of the people that grow them.

Chemical Analysis of Viking Combs Hints at Long-Distance Trade – 85-90% of the combs found in a Viking settlement in Germany, came from northern Scandinavia – made of the antlers of reindeer. So large scale trading between the two sites was happening as early as AD 800.

See Ten Stunning Images from the Bird Photographer of the Year Awards – Birds and photography…images to enjoy.

Japanese Scientists Find Microplastics in the Clouds Above Mount Fuji – Maybe we should be more surprised if we looked and didn’t find microplastics!

Why Flamingos are Showing Up in the U.S. this Fall – The short answer is hurricanes…specifically Hurricane Idalia. Flamingos are strong fliers and will simply return south eventually.

A Sample of Ancient Asteroid Dust Has Landed Safely on Earth – We were at the launch of OSIRIS Rex in September 2016…so I continue to follow news about the mission.

Nehrling/Ridgway North American Birds

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There are 4 Henry Nehrling books about birds available on Internet Archive. The illustrations are the work of Robert Ridgway. Both men were products of the Midwest – born in Wisconsin and Illinois respectively in the 1850s. Both became ornithologists and horticulturists (Nehrling skewing toward horticulture and Ridgway toward ornithology). Were they friends or was the creation of the books just a transaction?

Die Nord-Amerikanische Vogelwelt Heft 1-10

Die Nord-Amerikanische Vogelwelt

Our native birds of song and beauty V1

Our native birds of song and beauty V2

It is easy to spot familiar birds in the illustrations!

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 7, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Nature's great survivors: Flowering plants survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs – Ancestors of orchids, magnolia, and mint all shared Earth with the dinosaurs…and are thriving today.

Woman Uses Hidden Cameras to Get Candid Look at Birds in Her Backyard – Birds (and squirrel, chipmunk, and groundhog) at the food bowl.

Climate Change Hurting Water Quality in Rivers Worldwide – Cycles of heavy rainfall and drought are impacting water quality everywhere.

Large amounts of sedentary time linked with higher risk of dementia in older adults, study shows – The average American is sedentary for about 9.5 hours per day! This study found that the risk of dementia begins to rapidly increase after 10 hours spent sedentary each day for people over 60 years old, regardless of how the sedentary time was accumulated.

The puzzling link between air pollution and suicide - More than 700,000 people kill themselves worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). People in the US might be particularly troubled to learn that the suicides here have increased by around 40% over the past two decades….and the nation now has one of the highest rates of wealthy, developed countries. Suicide disproportionately affects men. In the US, around 80% of suicides last year were male. More research is needed to understand the link between air pollution and suicide…but we already know that "tiny, invisible particles of pollution penetrate deep into our lungs, bloodstream and bodies…and are responsible for about one-third of deaths from stroke, chronic respiratory disease, and lung cancer, as well as one quarter of deaths from heart attack."

Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old mummy in Peru – Long hair still preserved.

Older adults with digestive diseases experience higher rates of loneliness, depression - While life expectancy rates for older Americans are rising, nearly 40% of adults report living with a digestive disease of some kind.

A Chronic Itch: Burrowing Beneath the Skin - Approximately 20% of people suffer from chronic itch, which is medically defined as an itch lasting greater than six weeks. For many, there is no relief. Itch has historically been one of the most overlooked medical symptoms, reflected in the limited available treatment options, most of which have only been discovered recently.

Puffins Are Making a Comeback in Maine - The fifty-year effort that helped puffins rebound in Maine is cause for celebration!

Capturing carbon in savannas: new research examines role of grasses for controlling climate change - Grasses accounted for over half of the soil carbon content across tropical savannas, including soils directly beneath trees. In general, forests primarily store their carbon in the woody trunks and aboveground leaves. In contrast, a significant portion of carbon in grassy ecosystems, such as savannas and grasslands, is stored in the soil, primarily within the extensive root systems of the grasses as well as decaying organic matter. In the context of long-term carbon storage, carbon retained in soils proves to be more reliable, particularly for a vulnerable future marked by warming and increased likelihood of drought and wildfires.

eBotanical Prints – September 2023

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Twenty-two more books were added to the botanical print collection this month – available for browsing on Internet Archive. More than half of the books are Harvard’s Botanical Museum Leaflets from 1932 to 1954…roughly the years between my parents’ births to my own. The publication was dominated by orchids!

The last two books were added well after I had finished the first 20; I opted to include the botanical books from the Natural History of New York series published in the 1800s. The last picture in the mosaic below is of the American Chestnut; I wondered how many other plants documented as being in New York are missing today, like that tree.

The whole list of 2,717 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the September 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

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

Orchid culture in Ceylon and the East  * Price, F. A. E. * sample image * 1918

Cactaceae of the Boundary * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1858

Botanic contributions relating to the flora of western North America * Engelmann, George; Gray, Asa; Fremont, John Charles0; Torrey, John * sample image * 1853

Report on the botany of the expedition * Torrey, John; Bigelow, John Milton; Engelmann, George * sample image * 1857

Botanical Museum leaflets V1 * Harvard University * sample image * 1932

Botanical Museum leaflets V2 * Harvard University * sample image * 1934

Botanical Museum leaflets V3 * Harvard University * sample image * 1935

Botanical Museum leaflets V4 * Harvard University * sample image * 1937

Botanical Museum leaflets V5 * Harvard University * sample image * 1938

Botanical Museum leaflets V6 * Harvard University * sample image * 1938

Botanical Museum leaflets V7 * Harvard University * sample image * 1939

Botanical Museum leaflets V8 * Harvard University * sample image * 1940

Botanical Museum leaflets V9 * Harvard University * sample image * 1941

Botanical Museum leaflets V10 * Harvard University * sample image * 1942

Botanical Museum leaflets V11 * Harvard University * sample image * 1945

Botanical Museum leaflets V12 * Harvard University * sample image * 1947

Botanical Museum leaflets V13 * Harvard University * sample image * 1949

Botanical Museum leaflets V14 * Harvard University * sample image * 1951

Botanical Museum leaflets V15 * Harvard University * sample image * 1952

Botanical Museum leaflets V16 * Harvard University * sample image * 1954

Natural History of New York Div 2 Part 1 * Kay, James, e. De * sample image * 1843

Natural History of New York Div 2 Part 2 * Kay, James, e. De * sample image * 1843

Sophia M. Sachs Butterly House

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After a day at the Missouri Botanical Garden – we headed to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House near St. Louis MO the next morning. Its another facility that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We were there a few minutes before it opened and walked around the outside gardens. It included a giant butterfly and caterpillar sculpture!

There was also a butterfly bench like the ones in Brookside Gardens in Maryland!

There were many fall plants blooming too – including cone flowers, butterfly weed, and goldenrod.

We entered the building as it opened. Everything had a butterfly theme – even a wall sculpture near the restrooms.

The conservatory is a year-round climate-controlled space for butterflies. We were familiar with many of the butterflies there because of our experiences at Brookside. Some of the butterflies were tagged – not sure why. We enjoyed watching the children with their families experience the butterflies – noticing butterflies in the air…looking to see them on the fruit or in the foliage.

The exit  from the conservatory leads to another garden with a water feature and sculpture of a child with butterflies on her hand and knee.

It was a good morning activity. We enjoyed photographing the gardens and butterflies (would be even more appealing in the winter when the conservatory would be pleasantly warm compared to outdoors) and we headed home afterward.

Missouri Botanical Garden – Chihuly

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I enjoyed the Chihuly glass exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Garden the second time as much as I did the first time…. photographing the pieces during the day and then in the evening. There were some differences between the two visits.

My husband was enjoying photographing them too, so the pacing of our visit was slower around the glass than it had been with my daughter (who did not bring a camera other than her phone).

It rained for about 30 minutes during the Chihuly Night event! We spent most of it in the visitor center then made a quick round of the pieces we wanted to see when it stopped – with lightning in the distance. It was not a leisurely stroll…rather an exhaustive power walk between the glass installations.

The lightning for the Chihuly night was not as robust. It seemed that the lights were configured at the beginning of the installation and then not maintained for the duration of the exhibition (i.e. some were poorly illuminated during the second visit).

I attempted to capture the structure within the glass more than I did the first time.

The Fiori boat has a lot of interesting shapes that I hadn’t noticed during the first visit!

Last time, I photographed the yellow glass on the rose garden arches…but didn’t realize that they were owned by the garden and not in the exhibit brochure. I remembered to look for the name of the piece in this second visit: Trellisses.

I’m glad we made the effort to go again…in September when the Chihuly Nights were still being offered. The exhibition will end in mid-October. Next time I visit the garden, I want to tour the Tower Grove House!