Springfield’s Artsfest

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Last weekend we enjoyed the Springfield, Missouri Artsfest. My daughter has enjoyed it in years past and I’ve been on the receiving end of some of her purchases; we missed it by about a month last year when we moved to the area in June. So – we anticipated a great spring outing this year.

The day we went was forecasted to get to the high 80s, so we chose to go in the morning before it got too warm. There were enough people around to make it a festival but not too many to impede browsing the arts. Artsfest is held on a street with older houses that are now businesses and (Missouri State University) student housing. Food trucks and canopies for artists lined the street (that had obviously been closed to traffic). It was a great opportunity to buy local!

We wandered all the way down the row enjoying the artists on the right side then worked our way back as we looked at items on the other side. I bought some earrings for myself right away…before my daughter reminded me that she intended to buy my Mother’s Day present at the fest!

She bought the next pair from an artist that upcycles glass; the glass I the ones I bought is from a jam jar!

My husband bought a turned wood plate for my daughter and son-in-law (they seemed very drawn to it…we were happy to indulge them)!

I found am stainless steel yard ornament that I plan to give to my mother next time I go to Carrollton. I chose to get one with pink speckles to pick up the color of the oxalis and hydrangea in her garden.

After a little more than an hour at the Artsfest, we made the decision to find a restaurant rather than getting something from the myriad of food trucks and sitting on a curb to eat it! Overall – an excellent outing!

Later in the day, the Allen, Texas mall shooting occurred. It put a damper on the joy of the day. We are reminded again and again that mass shootings are unpredictable…can happen anywhere (evidently more frequently in the US than anywhere else in the world, and more frequently when there are few/no limits on guns). Thoughts, prayers, and more guns aren’t reversing the trend. If something does not change dramatically, we will eventually modify the way we live to make ourselves less vulnerable (i.e. not gather in larger groups, order items to be delivered rather than shop or go to an Artsfest, interact differently (or not at all) with anyone we don’t know)….a dystopian vision for the future.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 13, 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.

The chemistry of the coronation crowns – Not included in other reporting of the coronation in the UK…

Surging Brain Activity in Dying People May Be a Sign of Near-Death Experiences – An observation that surges of gamma waves occurred in the brain of two comatose patients when they were taken off life support and their heart stopped. Not enough evidence yet to know if this is a mechanism that happens more frequently at death…but it is an intriguing possibility.

A special omega-3 fatty acid lipid will change how we look at the developing and aging brain – Perhaps something that will develop into a treatment to help sustain myelin sheaths of our nerves better as we get older.

The puzzle of Neanderthal aesthetics – More evidence that Neanderthals might have been capable of the kind of complex symbolic concepts and behaviors that characterize our own species.

A Brighter Future for Attwater’s Prairie Chickens – Native to the coastal plains for Texas and Louisiana. Overhunting (commercial markets and shooting contests), land development, fire ant invasion…by the 1990s, fewer than 100 birds remained in the wild. Captive breeding began with some success. Hurricane Harvey wiped out nearly 90% of the wild population in 2017. Landowners have enlarged the habitat available to the birds…and there are now at about 250 wild birds.

Busts Provide New Insight into Spain’s Tartessos People – Carved of stone…dated to 5th century BC. Not much is known about the people except that they were goldsmiths.

Supreme Court Slaps Down Fossil Fuel Companies — Five Times! – Good news….the power of litigation as a tool for climate action can continue to move forward.

People who think positively about aging are more likely to recover memory – There is a power in positive thinking!

What causes the scum on tea? – Calcium and bicarbonate ions are the culprits. Adding lemon juice can be the cure!

Six ways to lower your carbon emissions quickly – The easiest one for me is to not fly; my husband and I haven’t flown for the past few years (since before COVID-19)!

Carrollton Yard – April 2023

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I took pictures between rain showers…tended to do zoomed images because it was too breezy for macro photography. The irises were past their peak…but there were still plenty to photograph.

What a difference light makes! The two images below were taken less than a minute apart with clouds moving rapidly through the sky.

The glass orb among the oxalis and Queen Anne’s Lace just missed being spotlighted in the same situation!

Other flowers were blooming as well. The white daisies were photographed with different lighting…but enough to freeze their movement caused by the breeze.

It was still cool enough for roses to be blooming too.

Of course – there were the ‘always there’ subjects…dandelions and red yucca pods.

Overall – lots of beauty in the yard to photograph…cool temps and rain made it a little harder to be out and about.

Pocket Prairie/Josie Ranch

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When I was in Carrollton, Texas in late April there were a lot of rainy days…but I managed a brief visit to the Josey Ranch area one morning. The Pocket Prairie area suffered last summer and the gardeners have done work to restore it this year. A bluebird was sitting on a post as I got out of my car…a great start to my visit.

A few flowers were beginning to bloom. I could tell that the rain garden area was planted to be better than ever.

When I retraced my steps toward the car, I noticed Canada Geese in the distance: a pair with 5 goslings! Hopefully everyone will give them space…avoid being attached by the parents!

The lake seemed relatively empty…between seasons. There was a Great Blue Heron preening in the shallows. The cattail area that had dried out last summer seems to be back to its normal watery condition.

Snowy Egret Rookery

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As we were driving to the end of the parking lot at Quietwater Beach after our Blue Angels Cruise, I saw blobs of white in the trees just after where the turn was for the highway. I asked my husband to park, and we went to see what the place was. The sign said “James P Morgan Memorial Park and Botanical Gardens” and it was a little oasis of calm in the highly developed area ….full of the continuation of the beach and a stand of live oaks and pines.

On the beach there were several Skimmers.

In the trees were nesting Snowy Egrets (note the red around the eyes of these birds).

There was also a pair of mallards resting (maybe protecting eggs).

The herons made gentle noises…like they were in quiet conversation with each other. The grackle in the pine trees was the noisy one.

The serendipity of finding a place like this made the day even more special!

Big Lagoon State Park and a Beach Sunset

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Big Lagoon State Park entailed the longest hike of our Pensacola trip. There are still some parts of the park closed for repair from damage caused by Hurricane Sally in 2020 but plenty of area open to explore. While my husband was getting his camera out of the bag and into a harness, I concentrated on a life oak tree at the edge of the parking lot. There was a downy woodpecker working its way around the branches and a butterfly resting in a sunny spot underneath!

The trail was sandy or boardwalk. There was curly lichen and

One of my favorites – powderpuff lichen. There was a healthy community of ground-based lichen among dried live oak leaves within easy zoom distance of my camera from the boardwalk.  

The same was true of some shelf fungus on a stump.

We reached the lagoons. A brown headed cowbird pair was perusing the area.

There were turtles in the water…enjoying the warming morning. There were signs warning of alligators, but we didn’t see any.

There were different kinds of ferns….providing the floor of the live oak and pine forest.

The pines tower over everything else in the park!

Later in the day we went to the Pensacola Beach Pier. There were too many people and loud music to make it a place for bird watching.

We stopped on the way back to the hotel at the Quietwater Beech area. The sun was setting and a laughing gull’s breast reflected the color!

3 mallard ducks (2 males, 1 female) made their way across the sand…kicking up sand with their webbed feet.

It was a good finale to our day in Pensacola.

Blue Angels Cruise

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We made reservations for a Dolphin Cruise before we left home…but were notified that there were not enough people for the cruise so we were rescheduled for the same time the following day which happened to be the time the Blue Angles practiced!

It was a coolish April morning – sunny. We were boarding at Quietwater Beach (in the Pensacola Beach community). I took pictures of birds before the boat arrived: A immature ring-billed gull (past its second winter),

Laughing gulls (the last two on the pier as we were walking down it to get to the boat that had arrived!),

A Royal tern,

And a sandpiper (maybe a sanderling).

The boat headed out going under the Pensacola Beach Bridge. The older bridge minus its central section (lower than the new one) was retained as a fishing pier. I looked for bird nests in the structures but didn’t see any.

The boat headed toward the Fort Pickens (on the barrier island) and the Navel Air Station (on the mainland)…past seaside developments.

The Coast Guard Station and lighthouse (mainland) and Fort Pickens (barrier island) were recognizable landmarks from the water when the boat reached the viewing area.

Soon the Blue Angles C-130 known as ‘Fat Albert’ appeared to begin the show.

I noticed that the lighthouse had people on the viewing deck! They would have a unique view of the Blue Angels!

The F/A-18 Super Hornets of the Blue Angels appeared. There were 5 planes in all but most of the patterns were done with 3 or 4 planes.

Evidently the lighthouse is the landmark for many of the stunts. It must have been loud and a bit scary for the people on the viewing deck of the lighthouse.

 The brown pelicans flew low over the water while the Blue Angles practiced above.

And then it was over and everything was quite again.

We made the return trip under the bridge. The only dolphins we saw were the ones painted on the sides of storage tanks.

As we crossed under the bridge, I took two pictures….I was surprised to see the damaged support beam at the end of the old bridge!

Overall – it was an excellent morning to be on the water. The passengers were a wide range of ages. One little girl fell asleep on the top deck and her mother simply moved into position to shade her while she slept! A family with an elder in a wheelchair and a baby probably about 6 months old enjoyed the trip but the elder, grandfather, and child also snoozed for part of the trip. A group of women from Tennessee were talkative and took pictures of each other and the views from the boat; they were keen on restaurants. Everyone enjoyed the Blue Angels practice!

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 6, 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.

Digesta: An overlooked source of Ice Age carbs – Partially digested vegetable matter from large herbivores (such as bison) might have provided carbohydrates and other macro nutrients reducing the burden of ‘gathering’ for a time after an animal was slaughtered. Perhaps during migration, it was the dominant source of carbohydrates in a situation with reduced accessibility of plants. And maybe women participated in hunting to a larger extent than previously thought; ‘grave goods’ in burials found that perhaps 30-50% of all large-game hunters in the Americans during the late glacial era may have been female!

Anemia found to be common in ancient mummified Egyptian children – CT scans were done on 21 child mummies (between ages 1-14 at death) to study the skeleton inside the wrapped remains. 7 of the children had pathological enlargement of the cranial vault, typically associated with anemia. The study also found a child that died less than a year after birth of thalassemia (the body could not produce hemoglobin).

Bathing through the ages: 1300 – 1848 – 14th and 15th century bathhouses provided services beyond bathing (lancing abscesses, pulling teeth, steam rooms, mineral baths, cupping, herbal concoctions); they helped shape the public health services of larger cities as they grew, and health conditions deteriorated. By the 16th century, bathhouses started to disappear as Europe was ravished by plague, smallpox, and syphilis. But – by the 1800s, sanitation reformers were arguing that making bathing facilities available to the poorest classes of society offered an ‘affordable and immediate way’ of improving public cleanliness and health. Bathhouses, along with waterworks and sewage systems, laid the foundation for the UK Health Act of 1848.

Glass or Plastic: which is better for the environment? – There is not a clear-cut answer. I will lean toward glass because of its non-toxicity….but I also realize we need to improve the ways we use it (less single use) and recycle it (better sorting and improved processing that avoids melting it twice),

Greener batteries – Batteries with Organic Electrode Materials (OEMs) are one alternative that is being researched…in this case using azobenzene by a research team at a Chinese University. Hopefully there are researchers around the world also focused on producing greener batteries.

Protein powders: When should you use them? – I think of protein powder as an ultra-processed food….a food I only want to use if I can’t manage to get enough protein from unprocessed or lightly processed foods in my diet. It is not something I want to use every day!

Long Reviled as ‘Ugly,’ Sea Lampreys Finally Get Some Respect – Not so long ago…lampreys were an organism that seemed destined for extinction because we only saw it as a predator that wiped out the Great Lakes lake-trout fishery. Now, the consensus is that, in their natural habitat, marine lampreys are “keystone species” supporting vast aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They provide food for insects, crayfish, fish, turtles, minks, otters, vultures, herons, loons, ospreys, eagles, and hundreds of other predators and scavengers. Lamprey larvae, embedded in the stream bed, maintain water quality by filter feeding; and they attract spawning adults from the sea by releasing pheromones. Because adults die after spawning, they infuse sterile headwaters with nutrients from the sea. When marine lampreys build their communal nests, they clear silt from the river bottom, providing spawning habitat for countless native fish, especially trout and salmon. Wow!

The Pacific Garbage Patch Is Home to Coastal Species—in the Middle of the Ocean – A surprise for researchers…they found shrimp-like arthropods, sea anemones and mollusks, Pacific oysters, orange-striped anemones and ragworms. Crustaceans were taking care of eggs and anemones were cloning themselves. This does not make the Garbage Patch acceptable!

Photography In the National Parks: Same Spot, Different Time / Season / Weather – Spots in Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, and Olympic National Parks.

Greater fat stores and cholesterol increase with brain volume, but beyond a certain point they are associated with faster brain aging – People in wealthy countries have largely grown accustomed to eating more and exercising less -- habits that are associated with decreased brain volumes and faster cognitive decline. This study looks at indigenous people (two tribes in Bolivia that live along tributaries of the Amazon). The tribe that was closer to our subsistence ancestors had the lowest rates of hear disease and minimal dementia; in this group - BMI, adiposity and higher levels of "bad" cholesterol were associated with bigger brain volumes in older adults!

Marcus Bayou and Johnson Beach (Pensacola FL)

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Marcus Bayou is a boardwalk over a water reclamation facility. We were there in the afternoon – enjoyed a forest walk without worrying about mud or tree roots! We heard many forest birds but did not see any long enough to photograph. The height of the boardwalk made for excellent views of shallow water…full of leaves and vegetation…reflections. The water appeared to be the color of weak tea.

The pine needles were long and there were both green and brown ones on the boardwalk – along with other debris. The boardwalk surface was rough….maybe stained pine.

There were quite a few ferns…a few fiddleheads. My camera’s zoom helped me get reasonable images of them from the boardwalk.

The next morning we visited another part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore – Johnson Beach. We waited a little too late for a lot of bird activity…only saw a Great Blue Heron

And some Laughing Gulls at the beach.

It was windy and I opted to photograph the various plants on the dunes that help hold the sand. There are wavey grass-like plants and others that hunker down and must sometimes get partially buried. The round glossy leaves barely above the sand were my favorites.

The roads in the National Seashore have areas of shallow water and accumulating sand – piles to the side where plows have scraped the sand just as they do after snowstorms in the north! We learned that the standing water happens after rainstorms…and dissipates quickly. That was true. There was a lot of rain the first night we were in Pensacola…and water on the road to Fort Pickens the next morning. We could see that there was a lot less water when we went to Fort Pickens the second time.

Fort Pickens

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We visited the Fort Pickens area of Gulf Islands National Seashore twice during our visit to Pensacola. We looked at the fishing pier area first --- searching for birds. Brown pelicans were searching for breakfast…not minding the fishermen on the pier nearby. They are probably in the area year-round.

Some of the structures were derelict. Water and salt are hard on concrete.

Several immature red-breasted mergansers were also finding food in the surf. They might continue north even though they are not breeding this year.

Willets and a great blue heron were wading in the surf.

Immature Bonaparte’s Gulls were on the beach…resting.

Looking toward the mainland from the Fort (on a barrier island), a lighthouse is visible. It is on the Naval Air Station which limits tours to people with military IDs.

We heard and saw small birds in the grass near the historical buildings/discovery center. Looking closer we saw that they were blue grosbeaks! They were probably refueling before they continued their migration northward.

Two osprey were building a nest at the top of a chimney nearby.

On the drive away from Fort Pickens after our first visit, we spotted a mature bald eagle in a tall pine. I’d spotted a large nest as we had driven toward the Fort….so we were looking closely for the bird!

We joined a ranger-led walking tour of the fort to learn a little about its history. Fort Pickens was built after the War of 1812 and before the Civil War….built with slave labor (many were skilled laborers specializing in brick structures).  It was the largest brick structure on the Gulf of Mexico after it was finished and was a deterrent to conflict for a time. Its only active use was during the Civil War; it stayed in Union hands for the duration. Much of the brickwork has survived. The Fort was modified for other purposes over the years…with part of the structure used to store land mines! It served as a prison for Geronimo before he was sent to Fort Sill (in Oklahoma). Today – plants grow on the structure and in areas that were once busy with military preparations. The tour was a bit long (1.5 hours); I enjoyed the first hour but was tired for the last half hour.

Vacation to Pensacola, FL

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Our trip from home (Nixa, MO) to Pensacola, FL in April was our most substantial post-pandemic vacation…three days in a place we had not visited before bracketed by long driving days. We thought we were used to long drives because of all the trips between Maryland and Missouri last spring associated with our move, but the non-Interstate roads and long rural expanses going to Pensacola made it a harder drive. The only rest stops were welcome centers when we crossed state lines; we made stops at fast food places and gas stations but sometimes they were further apart than we prefer.

It was scenic…with roadcuts and forests, rivers and fields. In Arkansas there seemed to be a lot of farmers plowing…kicking up dust; I’d seen so many no-till fields in recent years that the plowing struck me as a retro strategy (and one that obviously depleted topsoil). In Mississippi, we noticed a community with blue roofs; as we got closer, we realized the blue was from tarps and there were big stacks of fallen trees nearby; a police car monitored the comings and goings from the community. By the time we got to Alabama we were tired…glad we were getting close to our destination.

Our previous visits to Florida had been primarily to the Atlantic coast and Orlando. Pensacola had a deep South vibe. The military presence (current and historical) also influenced our perception of the area. We wanted to see the Gulf Islands National Seashore and several other natural areas – for birds and plants. We stayed at a hotel with a small kitchen…took advantage of the breakfast they provided and snacked in our room in the evening after having a substantial lunch while we were out and about during the day. There was a magnolia blooming near our room.

Overall – the trip was OK but not spectacular. We learned about ourselves as much as about the area:

  • A google maps time of 11.5-12 hours is too much for us to do in a day – particularly if the route is not mostly Interstates.

  • Spring is a great time for road trips….fall will be too. Summer is often too hot and winter weather can be problematic.

  • Birding festivals give us the discipline to get up and out early…into places that are harder to find on our own in an unfamiliar area of the country. We’ll register for a festival to structure our next trip.

I’ll be posting about our Pensacola vacation in the upcoming days….stay tuned.

Ten Little Celebrations – April 2023

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Glorious spring…cool mornings and very pleasant afternoons…flowers…travel. So much to celebrate.

Springfield Botanical Garden and Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden. Visiting gardens is one of my favorite spring activities! There is so much to see and celebrate as the gardens come back from winter…blooms abound.

Finding a lost ring in a gardening glove.  I celebrated finding a ring I thought I had lost in the tip of a gardening glove finger. It must have some off with the glove and then pushed to the tip when I put on the glove the next time. It was lost for over a month before I finally realized there was something in the end of glove finger!

Ducklings on the neighborhood pond. Another sign of spring – baby birds. The ducklings were all staying close to their parent…still tiny enough to be vulnerable to turtle predation.

Getting to Pensacola FL. We took our first multi-day vacation since before the pandemic. The drive to Pensacola took us longer than we anticipated but we made it. More posts about our adventures in the week ahead. We both celebrated when we got to the hotel after 13 hours on the road.

Indigo buntings. A small flock of indigo buntings was enjoying the grass/weed area near some buildings in Gulf Islands National Seashore….more than I had ever seen at one time! Celebrated noticing the small birds with vibrant coloring.

Home again. It always feels good to come home again after being away. It happened twice in April: once when I can back from Texas and the again when I returned from Florida. Celebrating being at home.

Mowing the yard. I celebrated that the new yard and new mower are going to be a positive learning experience during the growing season – the yard looks great and the work is helping me build up my stamina, get some ‘intensity minutes’ into my routine.

Forsythia with composting mulch. The idea to pull some none flowering weeds as mulch under the forsythia where there was bare soil has worked beautifully. I celebrated finding a place in the yard to put cut/pulled vegetation rather than taking it to the recycling facility.

Great day to put out mulch around trees in the front yard. After mowing the front yard the first time, I realized the trees needed mulch under them to make mowing eaiser. I celebrated that we had great weather on the day we bought the mulch and were able to complete mulching the trees in the front yard…and celebrated again every subsequent mowing.

Great day to put out mulch around trees in the front yard. After mowing the front yard the first time, I realized the trees needed mulch under them to make mowing eaiser. I celebrated that we had great weather on the day we bought the mulch and were able to complete mulching the trees in the front yard…and celebrated again every subsequent mowing.

Planting bulbs around the red maples. I realized that the mulch around the trees made it easier to plant bulbs too. I planted some summer blooming flowers – lilies and butterfly weed and gladiolas. I celebrated that it was so easy to do…and will be celebrating again when the plants bloom this summer.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 29, 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.

Cold is beneficial for healthy aging, at least in animals – Research with nematodes and cultivated human cells. Both carried genes for ALS and Huntington’s disease. Cold actively removed protein clumps…preventing protein aggregation that is pathological for those diseases. The protease activator that caused the change was discovered…and the impact of temperature explored. Interestingly – “human body temperature has steadily declined by 0.03 degrees Celsius per decade since the Industrial Revolution, suggesting a possible link to the progressive increase in human life expectancy over the last 160 years.”

See Colorful Paintings of the Zodiac Signs from an Ancient Egyptian Temple – Ceiling paintings in a Ptolemaic temple…suggesting Greeks brought the zodiac tradition to Egypt.

 Nearly 1,000 Acres Added to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve – The acres are in the Preserve part of the park. I have visited the park only once…passing through on one of my many trips between Maryland and Missouri. There is a lot to explore there!

Vehicle Exhaust Filters Do Not Remove “Ultrafine” Pollution – Aargh! No wonder there are so many yellow and red air quality days in our cities caused by particulates.

What it really takes for Asia to get to net zero – Home to 5 of the 10 largest emitters: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. An article posted ahead of the BBC’s Sustainability Summit in Singapore. "The perception of higher cost for sustainability practices remains," says An (chief sustainability officer of City Developments Limited in Singapore). "But companies are starting to wake up to the fact that achieving climate goals is an "investment, not a cost."

Thread-like pumps can be woven into clothes – My first thought was maybe these will be commonplace in clothes – enabling us to work outdoors even on very hot days.

Sabertooth cat skull newly discovered in Iowa reveals details about this Ice Age predator – Almost as iconic as dinosaurs when it comes to childhood curiosity about extinct animals. One piece of trivia about modern cats: 40% of lion skulls in a study had survived head trauma to hunt another day. One of the ‘sabers’ of the Iowa Sabertooth was broken not that long before it died…might have even caused its death. Prey fights back…the predator does not always ‘win.’

Europe's unique trials in food 'social security' – Two projects: Montpellier, France and Brussels, Belgium. Run by collectives. The idea that quality, nutritious and organic food should be accessible to everyone.  Each citizen receives a monthly allowance enabling them to buy food meeting certain environmental and ethical criteria. The trials are running for 12 months. The big challenge is changing the way society thinks about food.

The Beauty of Bugs – The picture at the beginning of the article jogged my memory – of the necklace made from insect exoskeletons I saw at the Edge of Cedars State Park Museum when I visited Utah in 2013! I posted about it and took a picture back then…and am pleased to learn more about it and the possible implication it might have re the Basketmaker II culture.

Scientists discover a way Earth’s atmosphere cleans itself – It’s surprising that we don’t know more about how the Earth’s atmosphere works!

Zooming – April 2023

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The zoom capability of my bridge camera (Canon PowerShot SX70 HS) is used in almost every picture I take! I rarely carry binoculars anymore since I’d rather have the option of taking a picture once I find the subject…and I am keen to minimize the weight of gear I carry around.

The locations for the zoomed images selected for this month are Nixa MO, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (near Sherman TX), Carrollton TX, Coppell TX, and Springfield TX.

My favorite subject this month was ducklings! I was thrilled to find them in my neighborhood pond when they were only a few days old.

Enjoy my views of April 2023!

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 22, 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.

Home Electrification Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act – Now to decide what to do first….

How mobile phones have changed our brains – Some research about the impact phones have on our focus.

Drug overdose fatalities among U.S. older adults has quadrupled over 20 years, research finds – Overdose is a problem across the lifespan. Most deaths are unintentional.

Macro Photography Captures the Delicate Dance of Mantises in Malaysia – Wonders of the insect world. We have mantises in North America…but not as colorful as these Malaysian species.

A Plateau in the Heart of Texas – The Edwards Plateau…one of the geologic features of Texas that makes for scenic drives.

The Shaman’s Secrets – A 9,000-year-old burial of 2 people (one adult, one very young child) with 100s of ritual objects. The grave was first excavated in the 1930s…and assumptions were made…the adult was a man, blond hair, blue eyes. But modern analysis tells a different and more complete story.

Winter Rains Bring Mushroom Boom in California – Extra rain….and there are a lot more mushrooms!

Protecting Nēnē, The Threatened State Bird of Hawai'i – We didn’t see in nēnē when we went to Volcanoes National Park in 2015….it was good to see pictures of them.

Want to Improve Your Outdoor Recreation? Try Birding. – Yes! It has certainly been true for my husband and me. There are so many good resources about birding (festivals, birding trails, apps)!

A must-see sunset spectacle at Monument Valley – Wow! We visited in 2013 at midday. Next time I’ll plan to go in late March or mid-September…and stay until sunset.

Older adults with dementia but without close family: Who are they? And who cares for them? – Thought provoking.

National Tiger Sanctuary

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The National Tiger Sanctuary is only about 30 minutes from our Missouri home; a tram tour of the place on a sunny spring day was a great ‘experience’ for a spring birthday in our family. We arrived about twenty minutes before our tour time…plenty of time to photograph the sculpture above the gate

And sculptures around the building.

There was also a pile of damaged big cat ‘toys’ behind the building.

The tram tour passes between rows of large double/triple wire enclosures – sometimes for single big cats and sometimes shared spaces for siblings or cats that appreciate company. The cats looked healthy although some are hampered by their experience prior to being rescued (i.e. declawed, teeth filed, finicky eaters). Even though the name is ‘tiger sanctuary’ we saw more lions! There have been two ‘surprise’ litters born at a sanctuary (a group of rescued adult lions…the male supposedly had a vasectomy…but two lionesses were having litters!). The litters were 4 cubs each and are almost adults now…so the numbers are skewed toward lions.

We heard vocalizations of cats several times while we were there. Our tour guide said that cool days in spring and fall are not as smelly as warm, humid days. Good to know…made us even more glad we went in April.

There were white tigers and ligers – rescued from breeders or entertainment companies. They tend to have genetic-type health problems in addition (sometimes) to problems with ill treatment. Hopefully the breeding of these big cats is slowing down/stopping.

The sanctuary rescues other animals as well. The lemurs seemed to enjoy having people around; some of them had been ‘pets’ that became problematic for their owner.

There are also some wolf dogs and farm type animals. Providing a ‘forever home’ to all the animals rescued is what the sanctuary is about (not just tigers).

Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden – April 2023

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Earlier this month, we made our first visit to the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden since the winter holiday lights event in December (Gardens Aglow). I plan to go frequently during its April – October season since I joined Friends of the Garden; one of the membership benefits is free entry to the stroll garden.

We walked around the loop counterclockwise. Near the Meditation Sand Garden there were many cairns…some large and permanent…others built of smaller stones by other visitors. My favorite was a small stack of three stones on top of a post.

There are lanterns throughout the garden, and I always make a little project of photographing the ones that I notice. Next time I will hone my skills getting the horizon straight!

Interesting textures and colors abound: dried hydrangea flowers, new Japanese maple leaves in the sun, a pine tree with a challenge (disease, drought,?), reflections in a tinted pool.

A phoebe was close enough to identify.

A native dogwood was close enough to the path for some macro photography with my phone. I was fascinated about the way the flowers open – stuck at the apex…one petal-like bract opening …then another…the last two finally letting go to open the flower completely.

I suspect that there is a richness in this garden that will make it one of my favorite places in Springfield.

Springfield Botanical Gardens – April 2023

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The uptick in vegetation is in full swing at the Springfield Botanical Gardens this month. We went on a morning cool/breezy enough to require a jacket with a hood and gloves. The early blooming trees and bushes (cherry, magnolia, quince), spring bulbs, and some violets made it worth the walk. The magnolias appeared to have been hard hit by the cold weather of the past weeks – with wads of ruined flowers; but some buds were evidently not impacted, and the few flowers were a taste of how grand the tree would have been without the cold weather.

As usual, I couldn’t resist some macro shots. In years past, I have often contented with very active bees, but the breezy cold must have kept them away. I didn’t see a single insect on the trees. The picture of the ‘open’ redbuds (last picture) was one of my favorites.

But – my favorite of the morning was the tulips. Not all the tulips were blooming quite yet…but these very bright flowers stood out in their brown mulch bed. I liked their color and spikey shape!

I am looking forward to seeing how the gardens change by May!

Coppell Nature Park

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Coppell Nature Park is about 15-minutes from my parents’ home in Carrollton, TX. I enjoyed my first outing there last month. It is a 66-acre park surrounded by ball fields and playgrounds of Wagon Wheel Park. There is a Biodiversity Education Center there is well (although I didn’t go in). The trails are mulch covered…the vegetation leafing out for spring. I took some macro pictures of ‘new leaves.’

I took some macro pictures of ‘new leaves.’

There is good signage on trees which would make it easy to teach yourself tree recognition….even in the winter! Persimmons are one of my favorites with their blocky bark.

The only wildflower I saw during my short walk was common dewberries….prickles.

The forest views are good but the sound of airplanes overhead is a frequent distraction. I’ll have to go back next month explore more fully (I’ll print the trail map) and see how spring is progressing.

Bluebonnets and Dandelions

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I looked for bluebonnets on my March road trip to Texas, but only saw them in two ‘cultivated’ places: at the Texas Welcome Center on US 7 (just after the bridge over the Red River from Oklahoma) and at the Coppell Nature Park. Maybe it was a little early to see them along the roadsides (or maybe there are not as many growing ‘wild’ anymore). Even the places I did find them were not dense stands that I remember. I’ll be looking for them again during my April road trip. They are the state flower of Texas!

Dandelions were everywhere during my road trip (and also at home). They are deep rooted plants growing in a variety of places that have photogenic flowers and seed puffs….and are an example of a garden plant cultivated by early European settlers that escaped into the wilds of North America. I enjoyed dandelion greens from my CSA in Maryland, but it’s too challenging to get the soil grit cleared from the shorter ‘wild’ leaves (I.e. so I haven’t eaten any recently). Most people attempt to keep their yards free of dandelions; I did that for years and have now decided it is futile. I’ll mow them…but that’s it. I tell myself that their deeper roots reduce soil erosion. And they support pollinators!