Gleanings of the Week Ending December 18, 2021

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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.

Monkeying Around with Venom – Hadn’t heard about ‘Snake Detection Theory’ before; it is the idea that snakes have exerted a selection pressure on the origin of primates’ visual systems, a trait that sets primates apart from other mammals. This paper is some recent research that supports the theory.  A condensed description of the research paper is found here.

Why climate lawsuits are surging - Lawsuits are becoming tool to force change…in conjunction with activism, policy and science. There have been some successful lawsuits…and more in the pipeline. Sometimes the suit is about better enforcement of environmental laws…and sometimes it is about climate protection for future generations becoming a constitutional issue.

Florida to Feed Starving Manatees, as Pollution Shrinks Food Supplies – Florida farm runoff caused alga blooms that cut the penetration of sunlight into the water so much that it killed the seagrass that manatees eat…and there have already been more than 1,000 that have starved. It is estimated that there are about 8,000 manatees remaining in Florida waters. It is unclear that the seagrass can be restored.

Top 25 birds of the week: December 2021 – Enjoying bird photographs!

How volcanic eruptions helped the ancestral Puebloan culture flourish – Response of people to the stresses of abrupt climate change evidently resulted in larger population centers…universal pottery making and turkey cultivation…more sedentary living…increasing social inequity.

Major Contract Awarded To Rehabilitate Section Of George Washington Memorial Parkway – The parkway is along the Potomac River between Great Falls and Mount Vernon. It was one of the first beautiful and history things we discovered when we moved to the area in 1983…and long overdo for renovation. Parts of it carry a lot of daily commuter traffic in Northern Virginia.

The impact of drugs on gut microbes is greater than we thought – Most people are aware of the impact of antibiotics, but other drugs impact the gut microbes too…and some of those drugs are treating chronic conditions so are taken for years. It appears this study was mostly about methodology to tease out the impact of drugs vs the underlying disease….much more work still to be done before concrete recommendations can be made.

The race to make vaccines for a dangerous respiratory virus – RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). There are currently 4 candidate vaccines and one monoclonal antibody treatment that are in last-stage trials. It appears we are at the cusp of much faster vaccine development times because of what happened to develop the COVID-19 vaccines.

The tomatoes at the forefront of a food revolution – The idea is to use Crispr modification to sustain the productivity of the tomato crop as the climate changes.

Chronic exposure to air pollution may increase risks for ICU admission or death among COVID-19 patients, study finds – Sometimes it is hard to separate the role of the environment on health disparities. This study analyzed 6,500 COVID-19 patients admitted to 7 New York City hospitals.

Christmas Lights at Brookside Gardens

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Brookside Gardens ‘Garden of Lights’ is a Christmas tradition that we restarted this year after a year away because of the pandemic; now that we are fully vaccinated and boosted, we are venturing out -- slowly. Tickets are required this year to control the crowd size and there is no model train exhibit in the conservatory. Our time slot was immediately after dark which worked well for us. It was in the mid-30s when we got there; we bundled up and headed into the gardens; I wore my mask even though we were outdoors the whole time since it was in the mid-30s and the mask keeps my nose warm!

The sky was slightly overcast. I noticed the crescent moon several times…never sharp because of the clouds but always there.

The caterpillar is looking good. We entered through the mouth and came back from the other end after we’d made the loop around the lights.

The rainbow was static this year….no ‘lightning’ flashes from the cloud. I took pictures of it from several perspectives. The night scene mode on my Canon bridge camera (Powershot SX70 HS) which takes several images then stacks them into one did reasonably well with all the displays.

In some cases, it provided a very intense ‘plant’ image. This bush had blue lights which appear as brilliant ‘flowers’…the green is the bush’s natural leaves!

The dragon with baby was in its usual garden room…no smoke or sound effects as it has had in some previous years.

There was a new orb sculpture in one of the rose garden fountains – perhaps part of the renovation. It will be interesting to see how it looks in the warmer months of the year with water.

Giant dragonflies were high in the trees.

There were also the usual animals: giraffe, dolphins, snail, and lion….among others.

The whole landscape of the gardens was full of lights…all with a garden theme. The spider web was very well done this year.

During our walk, the happy noise of children responding to the lights surrounded us. They were bundled up in snow suits or riding in strollers wrapped in blankets. There was one young child carried facing outward by its mother that made an awesome happy sound and waved his arms…everyone around laughed with him and his parents.

This year might have been the all-time best experience I’ve ever had at Brookside’s Garden of Lights.

21 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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And the pandemic continues …

Just as the Delta Variant seemed to be waning, the Omicron variant appeared…just starting its sweep of the country now; it’s too early to predict its impact over the next few months as the usual cold weather in much of the country and indoor holiday celebrations provide the ideal conditions for the spread of airborne infections (like COVID-19). It helps that more and more people are getting vaccinated but there are wide disparities in vaccination rates across the country.

Things are different than a year ago –

  • A year ago we were wondering when we would be able to be vaccinated…now we are have been vaccinated and boosted.

  • I wear KF94 masks now all the time rather than double masking with cloth masks like I was a year ago.

  • I am going to the grocery store every week rather than every 3 weeks.

  • My daughter came for a short visit at Thanksgiving (road trip from Missouri) – last year we settled for talking on the telephone.

  • My husband observed the Lunar Eclipse with the local amateur astronomy club…rather than just planning on going to some of their sessions. They are still doing virtual meetings.

  • We did some virtual birding events like we did last year but we also attended a Druid Hill Park (Baltimore) birding walk.

  • I traveled to Texas (road trip) to visit my family….something I would not have done last November.

Some things are the same:

  • We are still not eating in restaurants; we do get takeout occasionally…about the same frequency as we did last year.

  • My husband is attending the virtual AGU meeting.

  • We both enjoyed the Crane Fiesta from Bosque del Apache for the second year in a row.

From a mental health perspective, I am probably less anxious about COVID-19 than I was a year ago because I am vaccinated and my masks are KF94s…that protect me as well as others. I am frustrated that COVID-19 is still a pandemic. I acknowledge being uncomfortable in crowds….and realize that it could be years before I choose to go to a concert or fly on an airplane or go into a grocery store on a weekend. Maybe it is more than COVID-19 that has caused the feeling; there are so many events in the country that surprise me (not in a positive way) and avoidance, under the umbrella of being COVID-19 vigilant, is my way of coping.

From a physical health perspective, my cancer diagnosis and coming treatment are my priority…the health of my 90s-year-old parents is a close second. I’m anticipating trips to Texas – hoping that there won’t be an emergency trip to Texas before my surgery. My confidence in making road trips safely (from a COVID-19 perspective) is high based on my 3 road trips since being fully vaccinated in April: carrying all food with me, air purifier to run in hotel room, KF94 masking any time I am inside, making most stops at interstate rest stops.

I am anticipating a quiet holiday at home this month…and then a lot of action in the first half of 2022!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 11, 2021

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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.

Top 25 birds of the week: Shorebirds! – Always lots to see looking at birds!

Everglades' Wading Birds Had Mixed Success In 2020 – Overall wading bird nesting in South Florida has increased…but is still a fraction of the target. In 2020, an early arriving rainy season impacted the availably of food for chicks.

De-cluttering may not help people with dementia – People with moderate dementia perform better surrounded by their ‘usual’ clutter!

U.S. Is World’s Top Generator of Plastic Waste – Not surprising. And the US should take the lead in figuring out what to do about it: how to produce less and recycle more.

A Mosaic From Caligula’s ‘Pleasure Boat’ Spent 45 Years as a Coffee Table in NYC – Still a lot of mystery about how the mosaic got from its recovery when Lake Nemi was drained by Mussolini and then becoming the top of a coffee table for 45 years. It was seized in 2017 and returned to the Italian government.

Roadrunner: Meet the Real Bird Behind the Cartoon – I can remember seeing one a little north of where my parents live now (north of Dallas) in the 1980s…but they are probably long gone from that area now. I’ve seen them in west Texas more recently; one was at a rest stop between San Antonio and Laredo. They always seem to thrive in relatively harsh environments.

The bustling hidden world of hedgerows – The closest we come in North America to hedgerows are fencerows or windbreaks….and even those have been reduced over the years. Near where I live the advent of glyphosate/Roundup ready crops has eliminated the herbaceous growth along the edges of fields which in the past included milkweed and other plants that were attractive to butterflies and other small animals.

Master Artisans Fixed Mistakes Made by Apprentices at Ancient Egyptian Temple – I enjoyed the 6 minute video in this post…it’s quiet enough to hear the birds in the ruins.

Managing water resources in a low-to-no-snow future – We need to be thinking of adaptations to this manifestation of climate change now rather than waiting since the solutions will be challenging….take time to design and construct.

Old-fashioned rice custard – I have a container of rice from some Chinese takeout…..and plan to make this rice custard. I am anticipating that it will be yummy (and high protein too).

Trek to and in Druid Hill Park – Part I

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Last weekend we drove into Baltimore for an Audubon sponsored birding walk at Druid Hill Park. It was our first birding event since before the pandemic – outdoors for 1.5 hours in a park with less than an hour to commute into the city and the back home afterward. It was a cool, cloudy morning – cold enough to wear a mask comfortably which we both did once the group started the walk and it was hard to maintain distance.

The walk started at 8 AM and the clouds occasionally parted enough for good lighting. I saw more birds that I was able to photograph. Canada Geese flew overhead and there were ruddy ducks, buffleheads, grebe, and gulls on the lake in the park. They were too far away for great pictures…but I like the light around the gulls. There were also a lot of smaller birds – cardinals, Carolina wrens, down woodpecker, gold finches, house finches, etc.. The only one I photographed was a norther flicker what perched almost right overhead!

There was still some great fall color. The rose bushes (red leaves) were enjoying the cooler weather.

There were some areas of the forest that still had lots of leaves on the trees…like our backyard was several weeks ago. I also saw a small tulip poplar tree; I hadn’t realized that there leaves get much larger when they are young; this one still had green leaves while the big trees around it were already bare showing off their many seed pods.

More tomorrow about our trek to the park…and then home again…through Baltimore.

Last Images from Texas

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I was checking my SD cards in all my cameras and discovered some ‘new’ images from my last days in Texas during November.

There were still roses blooming on the oldest rosebush at my parents (about 30 years old)..

The cosmos were attracting butterflies. There might have been monarchs migrating through since some seemed larger than others.

The place still had a look of summer.

Over at Josey Ranch Lake….there was a different story. More winter migrants had arrived.

Scaups

American Wigeon

Pied-bill Grebe

There were also more American Coots that before…and they were not happy to have so many of their kind around…squabbles were happening frequently with one or both birds running across the surface of the water.

A Great Egret was hunting in the shallows and

A Great Blue Heron had waded into deeper water for a bath.

Overall….the images were a way to savor the good experience of my weeks in Texas last month.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 4, 2021

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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.

How driverless cars will change our world – A little realism in the projections….rather than hype. Hopefully by the time I am old enough to no longer want to drive myself, driverless car options will be convenient and safe.

Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment – The research was about carboxy methyl cellulose specifically. As I read the article, I wondered if this additive -that isn’t really about the nutritional value of the food at all – is one of the ways ultraprocessed foods are bad for us in unintended ways.

120 Volt Heat Pump Water Heaters Hit the Market and Make Gas Replacements Even Easier – This is good news. I’ll be watching as these come on the market…see how they are reviewed. I am assuming a line will quickly form with people wanting to replace their gas hot water heaters!

When Wildfire comes to Nature Conservancy Preserves – The preserves are managed with prescribed burns and forest thinning…and can provide examples of effective ways of managing wild areas against destruction by wildfire.

Children’s Teeth Reveal Breastfeeding Practices in Ancient Peru – A detailed study of the remains of 48 children from 2,500 years ago revealed that they were breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life and were weaned when they were about 2.6 years old. I wonder how many other ancient cultures have been studied this way.

Transparent Solar Windows: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – If solar windows could be produced at reasonable cost….a lot of people would be motivated to replace their windows/power their house. There is a pleasing aesthetic to this type of solar power too.

Why Putting Solar Canopies on Parking Lots is a Smart Green Move – A great idea…hopefully it becomes the norm. The first one I noticed was at the Patuxent Research Refuge.

Top 25 birds of the week: Nectar Feeding Birds – Always worth looking at some bird pictures!

The Colon Cancer Conundrum – Research is trying to determine why rates of colorectal cancer are climbing in younger adults….staying level for other age groups.

Our National Monuments, a Photographic Testimonial to Wild America – Some more places I want to visit (via an extended road trip perhaps).

Zooming – November 2021

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Three locations for my zoomed image collection this month: Maryland (home), Texas (Carrollton), Missouri (Springfield). Enjoy the slideshow of the whole group then look below for thumbnails by location!

Maryland

Texas

Missouri

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2021

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Celebrating a month of Thanksgiving…

A 90th birthday.  Both my parents turned 90 this year. I couldn’t be there for the 1st one (wasn’t vaccinated yet) but celebrated the 2nd on my last trip to Texas in 2021.

Coconut wind chimes. There are wind chimes outside the bedroom I use in Texas….and there were several days where the wind was brisk enough for their sound to be my evening lullaby….a celebration of the day.

Josey Ranch birds. The winter birds in Carrolton, TX are probably more exciting than the summer ones. I celebrated that I was there for their arrive this fall.

Fall foliage…and mowing leaves. The burst of color that is the last hurrah of summer foliage is always worth celebrating. This fall I saw more along the road as I travelled between Maryland and Texas than I did at my house….so I celebrated the effectiveness of mowing the still colorful leaves after I got home.

Narrow bridges over the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. A little driving adventure…a route not taken before. I celebrated an uneventful and scenic hour on two lane roads going from Missouri to Kentucky…particularly the bridges over the big rivers.

Cuddle socks. I love the thick socks I wear in the winter indoors; I celebrate the way they feel and my sister that bought them for me every time I put them on.

Hike with volunteer group. Celebrating being outdoors with people that enjoy it as much as I do…lots of shared field trip experiences before the pandemic and slowly starting up again.

New low weight for the year. Taking off weight requires a lot of focus so I celebrate every ‘new low.’ In November it happened just before Thanksgiving (which, of course, was a couple of weight-gain days!)

Daughter’s visit for Thanksgiving. Finally, we celebrated the holiday with a visit from my daughter. It was the first time she and my husband had seen each other since before the pandemic.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 4, 2021

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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.

Top 25 birds of the week: Predatory Birds – Starting out the gleanings list this week with birds…and photography.

The ingenious living bridges of India – Maybe other kinds of structures could be grown instead of built. The bridges look like Ewok structures from Star Wars movies!

Watch Over 150 Bison Weave Through Traffic in Yellowstone as Winter Migration Begins – I remember bison on the roadway during the early summer we went to South Dakota more than 20 years ago. It is an awesome experience to see them – using the car as a blind.

Chocolate: From Witchcraft to Miracle Worker in Early Modern Europe – A little history of chocolate as it was introduced to Spain.

More than ceremonial, ancient Chaco Canyon was home, new study says – I’ve only visited Chaco Canyon once…want to go again.

Richly Adorned Egyptian Tomb Could Rewrite the History of Mummification – Maybe….there is still testing to be done before the mummy in the tomb is confirmed to be old enough to be the man the tomb was built to hold.

Surprising Tales of Toxic Animals – I enjoyed the historical perspective in the information about several of the animals.

A diet of essential amino acids could keep dementia at bay – I wonder how long it will be before the patent for the supplement is awarded…..and it is released as a supplement. Hopefully there will be testing him humans beforehand.

This New Installation Pulled 20,000 Pounds of Plastic From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – We need to stop producing messes….and clean up the ones we’ve already created. This is one attempt to start a massive cleanup of plastics that are in our oceans.

Bone-loss discovery points to new treatment for osteoporosis – I am glad there is ongoing research on this issue since the existing treatments don’t seem to work that well….often have side effects. Hopefully there will be more effective treatments by the time I might need them.

National Park Service Publications on Internet Archive

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Last September - I browsed 18 publications from the National Park Service that have been scanned and are freely available on Internet Archive. They are all decades old….reflect history of the places. The oldest one is from 1917 (The National Parks Portfolio) which is clearly a snapshot from the early years of National Parks. I was particularly interested in the “Astronomy and astrophysics national historic landmark theme study” published in 1989 – the year my daughter was born and she has grown up to be an astrophysicist! The only park I visited before the publication was Yosemite; the publication is from 1990 and I visited in 1984. I’ve provided a sample image for each volume. Enjoy some armchair traveling with some browsing via Internet Archive…find some correlations in the publications and your own life.

Wind Cave, 1979

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska, 1980

Astronomy and astrophysics national historic landmark theme study, 1989

Cancer Diary – Entry 5

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My surgery is still more than a month away. The surgeon’s schedule is the ‘long pole’ at this point. There have been a few appointments relative to the upcoming surgery – some additional imaging and adjustments to medication. I noticed some late blooming flowers when I went for some recent bloodwork to check the impact of the medication; it was a cheerful interlude in a cold and cloudy day…with a needle stick coming.

The surgery could have been done in a very short window if the surgeon had been available. Are all surgeon’s experiencing the pent-up demand from delayed checkups/surgeries during the height of the pandemic?

My strategy of keeping myself busy has helped me during the past month. I was away from home for over 2 weeks on a road trip to Texas and Missouri. Being outdoors in the fall foliage – hiking or mowing leaves – continued the annual rhythm of activities that I enjoy. My husband found out about the 3 days of Crane Fiesta webinars from Bosque del Apache only a week before they occurred; it was a treat to hear and see the sandhill cranes again even if it was on a screen rather than being at Bosque ourselves (see the November 20th postings on the Bosque del Apache website for a video fly out (in the AM) and a fly in (in the PM)) ; maybe we’ll be there in person next year.

And now I am anticipating my daughter making a whirlwind visit to Maryland for Thanksgiving! My husband and I are negotiating the decorating we are going to do for December. We’ll see some Christmas lights and make some day trips. My big challenge is to continue my careful weight reduction; I am hovering at the high end of ‘normal’ weight for my height…want to get to the mid-range but it is hard work! I am also on track to browse more books this year than ever before.

Emotionally – I have settled into the waiting time…more accepting of my situation….not becoming more anxious. I am consciously keeping my routine of daily activities that keep me feeling well physically and mentally (i.e. exercise, eating well, making Zentangle tiles, writing things down…and letting them go).

Previous Cancer Diary entries

Springfield MO to Home

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I said goodbye to my daughter in Springfield MO and headed out at dawn. Her street was full of fall color – more on the ground than in the trees.

I had decided to take a different route east from Springfield to avoid the traffic on I44 toward St. Louis. I drove on US 60 toward Poplar Bluff MO. There were a few stop lights, but the traffic was light and it was a sunny day. I made stops at a grocery store, a fast-food place and then gas station. None were very photogenic although the Dino Mart name caught my attention.

While I was driving there was lots of beautiful scenery. There were signs for Missouri state parks and trails all along way. As I continued toward Paducah KY the road became two lanes (one in each direction) with no shoulders (often on the top of a levee) and there were two long bridges over the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. It was the type of road that begs for scenic overlooks…but it didn’t have them!

In Kentucky I travelled the Western Kentucky and Blue Grass Parkways to Lexington KY. There was one rest stop with some fall foliage along the way and I managed a picture of some fall color across the road.

I was relieved that my route from Lexington the next morning was on an interstate with frequent rest stops – and I started out with a full tank of gas so I would only need to stop once for gas during the day. The foliage along the route in eastern Kentucky was probably the best of trip even though many trees had already lost their leaves.

I set my destination to the New River Gorge National Park visitor center just off I64 in West Virginia. It was a very scenic drive, but I realized when part of the route was toll road that I was off the route I had used previously through West Virginia. I walked around the outside of the visitor center enjoying the fall foliage; I didn’t have time to stay very long since I wanted to be home before dark.

At first, I thought my route would still take me up to I70 eventually…but it didn’t. I was on the heavily travelled I81 before I knew it and then was locked into taking I66 (lots of construction) toward Washington DC. Traffic was a little better on the Washington Beltway. And I made it home before dark even though I was exhausted from driving in heavy traffic at high speeds.

My husband claims our maple tree lost its leaves while I was driving…there were still a few at the base of the tree the next morning.

I noticed a black walnut tree near where I parked for a doctor’s appointment later in the day: no leaves…but nuts still attached like decorative balls!

It is good to be home again even though I missed the best of fall foliage there this year.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 27, 2021

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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.

Lots of wonderful photography posts to enjoy this week: Winners of the Weather Photographer of the Year Contest Celebrate the Beauty of Nature, West Coast Landscape Photographer Perfectly Captures the Region’s Magical Vistas, Awe-Inspiring Winners of the 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards, and Photographer Zooms in on the “Hidden Beauty” of Small Seeds and Fruits – Not sure why there seemed to be so many of these in my feeds this week….

What is Play-Doh made of? – Thinking of toys this time of year….play-doh is something that has been around a long time. We don’t have any young children in our immediate family and I’m missing the joy of watching a child at play.

How your house will go carbon free – Efficiency and renewable energy. At least some of the technologies already exist and many can be retrofitted into existing houses.

Armadillos advance northward as temperature rises – I remember seeing armadillos years ago in Texas when we were camping….maybe we’ll be seeing them closer to Missouri and Maryland in the near future – although hopefully not digging up my yard.

Catching up on Top 25 birds of the week: Breeding and November 2021 – I am ready to do some birding…my husband registered us for a birding hike in a Baltimore hike in December and I hope the pandemic will wane enough that the birding festivals will be back in 2022.

Red, White and Green: Winter Colors in Arches are Awaiting You – My husband and I visited some of the Utah parks in October several years ago…and there was already a dusting of snow on some of the mornings and in the mountains. Maybe we’ll go in November next time.

California Condors Surprise Scientists With Two ‘Virgin Births’ – Maybe this happens in other species too. There was no way to verify the phenomenon before genetic testing became available.  

Seeing Red: What the Color of House Finches Can Tell Us – House Finches are frequent visitors to our bird feeders. It was good to learn more about them from this blog post.

For women, greater exposure to estrogen in life may protect brain regions that are vulnerable to Alzheimer’s – This post left me wondering if estrogen mimics in our environment (i.e. pollution) might be protective as well…and, if so, will younger women be less likely to experience brain shrinkage after menopause than the older generations of women are experiencing.  

Why mandatory vaccination is nothing new – A little history of vaccine mandates. I didn’t know that George Washington required all troops to be inoculated against smallpox in 1777!

Fall in Springfield, MO

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I arrived in Springfield when the squirrels were eating the jack-o-lanterns

And many trees had just dropped their leaves. At my daughter’s house, the maple and oak leaves collected in drifts on the driveway/patio, a mixture of leaves were staying where they fell on the grass (needing to be raked or mowed soon), and redbud leaves lined the stone walk at the side of the house.

We spent an hour vacuuming up leaves on the hard surfaces while I was there and put the shredded leaves in beds around the yard. I’m not sure all the leaves will be so easily dealt with although many can be mowed into the yard.

My favorite plants retaining their leaves were the magnolia (with some pods still holding their red seeds) and the oak leaf hydrangea with its drying flowers and red leaves. I think the oak leaf hydrangea moves to the top of my list for bushes I’d like to plant at my house!

The hosta’s are responding to cool temperatures with a yellowing of their leaves – a last bit of beauty from the plants before winter.

After we were done with our yard work, we cut some of the last Asian hydrangea flowers to take inside…maybe they will retain some of their color as they dry out.

Overall – it was a beautiful day in Springfield before I continued toward home.

My Blog’s 10th Anniversary

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I started my blog 10 years ago this month. It was part of my transition from being career focused for more than 40 years. And I’ve kept it going – it’s an enjoyable daily rhythm for me. I’m savoring my history of the past decade in this post.

The blog posts from 2011 included a trip to Longwood Gardens and a long road trip to Tucson, Arizona (with photos of rest stops along the way) where my daughter was in graduate school. I stated the gleanings of the week and enjoyed posting recipes and photographs of places I was visiting. The new technology was a Kindle Fire; I was making the transition from physical to digital books…it would take several more years to complete the transition and I’d graduated from the Kindle Fire to an iPad, Smartphone (and laptop) for reading. Some of my favorite posts form 2011 include: Recipe of the Week: Homemade Soup for a Cold Day, Water Lily Pictures, and 10 Cosmetics from the Kitchen.

In 2012, I started the monthly ‘10 days of little celebrations’ and experienced the trauma of my parents getting older…beginning to experience substantial health problems. We added a bird feeder on our deck – visible from my office window and I started enjoying birdwatching through the window. Some of my favorite posts include: Birds from my Office Window, Gray Day Reflections, Yucca Seed Pods, and Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2012.

The next year I started the zooming and free eBooks posts. Over the years my camera’s optical zoom capabilities have improved dramatically and I enjoy using it to get better images. By this time, I was almost completely transitioned to digital books too. We made a road trip to Florida for a satellite launch at Cape Canaveral and I got my first close view of Sandhill Cranes in the Orlando airport cell phone lot waiting for my daughter to arrive. Some of my favorite posts close to that anniversary include: 3 Free eBooks - December 2013, Sandhill Cranes in Florida - November 2013, Herons in Florida - November 2013, and Zooming - December 2013.

In 2014, I started my effort to reduce the ‘stuff’ we had accumulated from living for more than 25 years in our house. My volunteer work has gradually increased…and would be easily sustained until the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of my favorite posts from the end of 2014 include: The Grand Cleanout - December 2014, December Sunrise, and Fall Field Trips.

The big event at the end of 2015 was our travel to the big island of Hawaii…including a day trip to the top of Maunakea. It was an wonderful experience but I find myself wondering if I ever want to take a long flight like that again.

2016 was our first birding festival – the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache. We also discovered the Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam, closer to home. I started my monthly Zentangle posts. Here are some sample posts: Highlights of 2016, Conowingo - December 2016, Zentangle® – November 2016, and First Day at Bosque del Apache.

I started the monthly eBotantical Prints posts in November 2017. I’d been browsing historical botanical books in the last decade of my career and was beginning to figure out a way to share my list. At the time I thought that I had about exhausted the supply, but I’ve continued to add 20 or so books every month until there are now over 2,200 books on the list!

In 2018 we attended our second Festival of the Cranes in New Mexico then enjoyed the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival early in 2019.

In the last few months of 2019, there was a last road trip with my parents at Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the Christmas lights near home and planned for a birding festival in Laredo, TX in the early part of 2020.

As we were coming back from the Laredo birding festival, COVID-19 was in the news and soon we were ‘staying at home as much as possible’. By November 2020, we were anticipating that a vaccine was going to become available and the pandemic would end. We were doing virtual birding festivals and otherwise keeping ourselves happy at or close to home.

And here I am in November 2021, still not like I was pre-pandemic. I enjoy many of the same things I have in the past 10 years, but I am not out venturing into crowds…not flying. I am facing a health challenge of my own (cancer). My parents are home bound in Texas, and I have made visiting them my rationale for 3 road trips since the spring when I became fully vaccinated. At this point, it is not the pandemic that causes most of my anxiety, but the changed behavior (sometimes abrasive and violent) of people under stress that has become so apparent over the past year.

The blog continues…it’s a way to document my present….and notice the subtle changes in the way I am ‘living well.’

Texas to Springfield, MO

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I got up early on my last day in Texas – starting a load of sheets and towels before I loaded up the ice chest…got everything in the car; early enough to step outside in the cold morning to photograph the sunrise.

I was away by about 7:30 AM thinking I was going to experience a lot of Dallas rush hour traffic but most of it was going in the other direction; I was heading north – away from the city. My first stop was the ‘Welcome to Oklahoma’ rest stop provided by the Choctaw nation.  It was the first of two highway rest stops along my 6 hour route.

The other stops along the way were commercial gas/travel stops. The one at Atoka was nice. My daughter commented that she had good experiences at facilities owned/operated by the Indian tribes (cleaner…employees more likely to be wearing masks (and wearing them correctly)); I’ll try more of those next time I drive the route.

The last stop of the drive was at the Welcome Center in Missouri on I-44. The trees there were still full of fall leaves and I anticipated that my time in Springfield might be the best fall foliage of the trip!

The drive was easier than the previous ones along the route because 1) it was sunny (rather than raining) and 2) I had my new TxTag that worked for the Oklahoma tolls as well!

Texas Macro

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I enjoyed two sessions of macro photography with my phone and clip on lens in the Carrollton, Texas. Getting very close to the vegetation with a magnifying lens provides a different perspective of the plants. Can you find the red yucca pod, the cosmos flowers, the rabbits ear leaf, the underside of a fern, hydrangea leaf, black seeds of the chives, cone flower seed pod and French flower? There is an occasional insect. Each image can be enlarged by clicking on it to pop up a larger version.

This is probably the last hurrah for summer type macro images. The subjects will shift to leaf color transitions and snowflakes …or indoors with store bought flowers for the holidays or holiday decorations.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 13, 2021

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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.

The great experiment to put a price on nature – Whether it’s toting up ecosystem services or simply realizing that Mother Earth is our one and only…we should all realize that we need to start taking care of ‘nature’ a lot better than we have in the past.

Microplastics May Be Impacting the Climate, Study Finds – A starting point for combining climate science and microplastic science into a model….still a lot if refinement/additions. We already know that the microplastics in our atmosphere are increasing so whatever impact they have it will likely be increasing during the time the model is being refined.

Ancient Stone Ram Heads Unearthed on Egypt’s ‘Avenue of the Sphinxes’ – New finds…and part of an advertisement for some restored places reopening in early November. Are tourists ready to travel again to places like Egypt?

Spending time in nature promotes early childhood development – A study from metro Vancouver of 27,372 children from birth to age 5… that pushes us to get serious about making sure spaces for children include a lot green space…that includes day care and preschools and K within the age range for this study. And while we are doing that – let’s think about how important green space is to everyone else too.

Meet the muskrat: push-up champion of cattail marshes – This article made me wonder if muskrats eat phragmites – and a plant that is taking over marshes. I found an article that says they do…at least in some situations.

Changing ocean currents are driving extreme winter weather – Looking at the impact of the slowing Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and extreme cold weather (like in Texas last February) using a high-resolution global climate model. They’ve only done the simplest model (turning off the AMOC) so far…but plan to refine it to address the more complex reality.

Finding Fall Colors At Bandelier National Monument – I hope everyone found someplace to enjoy fall colors these past few weeks. My main opportunities were in my own backyard and as I was driving down the highway between Maryland and Texas!

Cheers! Wine’s red grape pulp offers nutritional bounty – Not compost or fodder...getting more than wine from vineyards!

Hit the sleep ‘sweet spot’ to keep brain sharp – Evidently 5.5-7.5 hours of self-reported sleep is about right.

2021 EPSON International Pano Awards Celebrate the Creativity of Panoramic Photography – Enjoy some eye candy as the last of this week’s gleanings!

Josey Ranch Birds

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The lake at Josey Ranch in Carrollton, Texas is my favorite place to look for water birds. There were not very many this time…only a few of the winter birds have arrived. The two resident swans were still there, and they were both on the water preening.

A Great Egret was in the shallows near the cattail bed. I didn’t see it get any fish was it was strutting around

And flying short distances to continue searching. By the time I left, it was standing almost hidden by the cattails…looking out toward the lake.

There were mallard pairs – probably year-round residents.

The American Coots were the most numerous birds. They were interacting with each other…seemingly having spats…taking off running across the water to separate themselves.

There were a few Ruddy Ducks…with their upright tails.

The first Northern Shovellers had arrived. One male looked scruffy (and angry) to me!

As the season progresses, there will be bore Ruddy Ducks and Northern Shovellers…Scaups will also appear. In the previous winters, there always seem to be a few Bufflehead as well. I saw a cormorant in the air but didn’t see any in the lake this time.