In Beaver World eBook

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In Beaver World was published by Enos A. Mills in 1913 and it is available on Internet Archive. I enjoyed the pictures and drawings….his observations about beavers he observed extensively near his home in Colorado. I’ve included several sample images from the book below.

Enos Mills was, according to the Wikipedia article about him, the main figure behind the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915. He gave speeches, published books on nature and hired/trained nature guides. He encouraged people of all ages to get outside and into nature. His methods of nature interpretation are still taught to students in the field of interpretation. He died relatively young (52 years) in 1922….his legacy a national park and his books.

Missouri Botanical Garden – June 2023 (2)

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There are aspects of the Missouri Botanical Garden that are not plants….but are part of the garden experience.

There are benches at handy intervals; it always seemed easy to find one in the shade! Maybe I will make a project of photographing more of the benches during some future visit.

The ceiling in the Sachs Museum is worth the few steps inside…check out whatever is being exhibited there too.

There is a statue of Henry Shaw, founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden near his mausoleum. He set out to create a major and lasting institution more than 150 years ago. He died in 1889 and the garden has continued to thrive in all the directions he initiated…has expanded in ways he could not have imagined. My first experience with the garden was via their Botanicus site where the Missouri Botanical Garden has been digitizing botanical books and making them available since 1995; I found the site in 2009 and have been browsing their books (mostly via the Internet Archive interface). Visiting the garden is something I have wanted to do for a long time.

The Japanese Rock Garden areas around the water feature have smooth curves created with a rake…and there are Japanese lanterns too. A Great Blue Heron flew to a large rock in the center of the water feature and began to preen; the Canada goose in the background is doing the same.

In the Chinese Garden there are mosaics made with small stones as well as the traditional lions at the entrance.

I liked the bench around a tree. It reminded me of the one at Longwood Gardens when my daughter was young; we used it as a resting place where she could easily get up to run into the mists when the big fountains came on (it was a warm day); and then it was gone as part of the fountain renovation. I savored that memory sitting on this bench half the country away from Longwood (near Philadelphia).

There are small sculptures of wildlife too: wood ducks in the forest, butterflies in the butterfly garden….

Geese and racoons as part of fountains.

A purple martin house looked almost full.

One of the green areas had a ‘Mowbot’ to keep it trimmed.

At the end – I took pictures of the floor in the visitor center…familiar leaf shapes: horse chestnut, tulip poplar, sweet gum.

Looking back, it was a good ‘first visit’ – but I already want to go again!

Missouri Botanical Garden – June 2023 (1)

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So much to see at the Missouri Botanical Garden…

The Climatron is full of lush tropical plantings. Intimate landscapes of ferns and bromeliads…

Flowers (including orchids) and seeds tucked into the greenery….

Cycads….

Flowers and stems different than we see in temperature parts of the world.

Out in the summer sunshine…cone flowers and sunflowers thrive.

Daylilies are blooming profusely.

There was a very odd plant in Linnean House. I took several views of it…and should have taken a picture of the tag too!

I found myself interested in objects where the light was not overly bright or overhead.

And there were some places/plants that became immediately special: a large puffball under a bald cypress that was growing before the garden was started, button bush (one of my favorite native plants), and a woodland area with a gurgling stream (artificial but made to look natural, I enjoyed a short rest on a bench).

I appreciated the Stumpery garden….learning a bit about the history too.

And a few more plants I enjoyed photographing….before we went into the restaurant for lunch (and air conditioning) before we headed home.

Chihuly (glass) in the Missouri Botanical Garden

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My daughter and I made big plans to see the Chihuly pieces in the Missouri Botanical Garden in late June. We made reservations a week in advance to see the gardens (and glass) at night on our first evening in St. Louis…and then planned a daytime walkabout on our last morning. We got to the gardens a little after 6 PM to have dinner in the garden restaurant (Sassafras) and the enjoyed the gardens until about 9:30 PM…from dust to dark. For our morning visit we arrived shortly after the gardens opened. I took pictures frequently…managed to photograph all the Chihuly works listed in the brochure plus 3 more. It was well worth the effort to see the glass several times…in varying light. Enjoy the images….and plan a visit to the gardens if you can! (Note: To see larger images click on any of the images in this post)

Vivid Lime Icicle Tower

Chromatic Neon

River and Cobalt Fiori

Black and Green Striped Herons with Green Grass (one of my favorites)

Red Bulbous Reeds

Ikebana

Macchia Forest

Ethereal Spring Persians (one of my favorites)

Vermilion and Canary Yellow Tower

Turquois Marlins and Floats

White Tower

Float boat and Niijima Floats

Red Reeds

Fiddlehead Ferns (one of my favorites)

Neodymium Reeds on Logs

Individual works (in the Sacs Museum South Gallery)

Summer Sun

Fiori boat and Fiori de Primavera

Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds

Burnished Amber, Citron, and Teal Chandeliers

Three that were not in the brochure:

Sun Gate (although I’m not sure what the official title is)

Cobalt Chandelier

Sunset Herons (one of my favorites)

I am already contemplating going again. The special Chihuly Nights go until late August…the exhibit itself continues until October 15.

Laumeier Sculpture Park

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We walked around Laumeier Sculpture Park on our way to the hotel in St. Louis, MO. The park is convenient from I-44 which is the interstate we take from Springfield to St. Louis. The goal of the place (engaging the community through art and nature) is appealing and it was a good time of year to be outdoors. The first sculpture we saw was the cat near the parking lot….full of color and texture…welcoming form. The cat was a good start to our visit!

It was a warm (maybe hot) afternoon, so we carried a bottle of water and did a circuit that went uphill first, then down and shady on the way back as recommended when we picked up our map. We didn’t see every sculpture…but enough to enjoy the place.

I like sculptures in gardens. A few of the sculptures (the ones in the children’s area) are intended to be climbed on. My favorite was probably the large, connected balls (titled “Ball? Ball! Wall? Wall!) that made their way through a forested area. My imagination made it into a strand of beads for a giant.

Toward the end, there were urns of succulents that caught my attention. They were much more attuned to the hot weather than we were; I was glad to have the blast of the air conditioner going as we headed to the hotel less than 30 minutes away.

More about our touring in St. Louis, MO in upcoming days.

Balloon Glow

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I missed an annual event near my home in Missouri while I was Carrollton TX in June – a balloon glow (where tethered hot air balloons are inflated at dusk at a local park as part of a summer festival). My husband and daughter decided to attend at the last minute after afternoon thunderstorms ended…and sent pictures! It was great to be able to enjoy the event vicariously (and maybe also good not to be slogging through a muddy field). But – I am determined pay attention to the scheduling of the event and be there rather than in Texas in 2024!

New Mexico Dreaming

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My daughter had a conference in Albuquerque, NM in June…took advantage of a tour to the Very Large Array (astronomical radio observatory) offered. She sent two pictures.

And started a whole sequence of thoughts about traveling to New Mexico again. The last few times (pre-COVID) were for Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the fall/early winter; they included a lot of birding field trips around Socorro, NM plus tours of the VLA. Prior to that we made vacations that featured Sandia Peak, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, El Malpais National Conservation Area, and Bandelier National Monument. As early as the 1970s, we took road trips from Texas to New Mexico….to Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos, Albuquerque.

Now we live close enough to enjoy a road trip to the state. I’m contemplating a loop that would start with an almost straight drive from Missouri across Oklahoma to Albuquerque…and come back through Dallas. Between the long drives…a lot of shorter drives to see areas we’ve been to before and maybe some that we haven’t too! We’ll wait for the temperatures to cool down…and maybe for the birding festival event…to make the trip.

Carrollton Yard – June 2023

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June is the ‘getting hot’ month in Carrollton, Texas…leading into more frequent 100-degree-plus days in the following months. It is already obvious which yards in the neighborhood are getting watered. My parents have a sprinkler system that my sister keeps tuned to maximize the watering where it is needed most. In the backyard the Queen Anne’s Lace, cosmos, hibiscus, and day lilies are lush – flowers and lots of green. In the front yard there are dusty miller plants in bloom, the last of the daisies, and the red yuccas with blooms and lots of green seed pods. The red oak planted there is finally getting a lot of light and growing well since the ancient mulberry has been cut down.

There is still grass to mow and weed eating/edging – a continuing chore – even though the years of gardening have reduced the area maintained in that way. Pulling ‘trash trees’ that emerge in the flowerbeds requires more finesse by the person doing the work (distinguishing what needs to be pulled from the plants that should be in the flower beds) and is always on the ‘to do’ list for the yard!

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Wishing everyone an enjoyable 4th of July…Independence Day in the US…a day for fireworks, parades, and watermelon!

Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie – June 2023

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My original plan was to walk around the Pocket Prairie and take macro pictures with my phone. It was a good thing my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) since the morning was very breezy…too much for getting close shots with the phone. The optical zoom on the bridge camera was the only option.

The trash cans near the picnic table are Carrollton themed! Are they new this season? I don’t remember them from before.

The prairie area is full of May flowers setting seed and then the full summer flowers in bloom. I particularly enjoy the sunflowers (buds and flowers).

Across the pond from the Pocket Prairie – a Great Egret was looking for breakfast.

Maybe the morning I go in July will be less breezy and the macro plan will work….and there might be more insects too!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 1, 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.

How technology helped archaeologists dig deeper – Tools that tell us a lot more than excavation can: chemical and genetic analysis, lidar. This article uses new archaeological data from several cities (New York, Cahokia, Rome, Pompei, Angkor Wat)…pointing out that new analyses reveal that they were often full of immigrants that built the city and there were places those people lived nearby that often were not noticed by excavators! Archaeology is now able to tell us more about how ordinary people lived – not just the elite.

The white roofs cooling women's homes in Indian slums – Maybe white roofs will become a trend in lots of places…reduce the heat island effect that cities must struggle to overcome as the planet gets warmer.

Vienna is the most livable city in the world – It has stability, robust health care and education systems and strong infrastructure, among other factors. There are no cities in the US in the top 10; Honolulu, Hawaii is 25th on the list and the top city located in the US. There are 3 in the top 10 located in Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. 

That's no pizza: A wall painting found in Pompeii doesn't depict Italy's iconic dish – Tomatoes and mozzarella were not available 2,000 years ago when the fresco was created! Tomatoes came from the Americas a few centuries ago and mozzarella was invented in Naples in the 1700s.

This Ancient Maya City Was Hidden in the Jungle for More Than 1,000 Years – Found during a survey with light detection and ranging (lidar) scans in the Balamku ecological reserve on the Yucatan Peninsula. The site is on high ground surrounded by extensive wetlands. The ruins have been named Ocotun (‘stone column’ in Yucatec Mayan) in honor of the many columns found at the site.

Is fast fashion making us sick? – Fashion can be rife with toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and chromium…and the US has done little to protect consumers from these toxins in clothes. Researchers are correlating declining fertility rate and the rise in autoimmune diagnoses in the US with chemicals found in our clothes.

Winners of the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards Celebrate the Beauty of Birds – Eye candy images of the natural world.

Surgeons must tackle three global health challenges to save lives – Assuming that a new device or approach is always better - not a good assumption but a common one that surgeon make!

The perilous life of the solitary pangolin – Learn about this African animal…their situation in the wild…and how things have changed over the past decade.

Winners of the 2023 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition embrace our world’s biodiversity – Images telling stories.

Sethos I at Abydos

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Sethos I is the name sometimes used for the Egyptian pharaoh Seti I. He ruled from 1290-1279 BC and was the father of Ramesses II. There are 4 volumes about work done in 1925-1926 at Abydos when the painted reliefs were copied by Amice M. Calverley with the assistance of Myrtle F. Broome and edited Alan H. Gardiner. The publication was financed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. with as many colored plates as possible. They were originally published beginning in the 1930s and made available on Internet Archive in 2022 by The Electronic Publications Initiative of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Perusing these depictions of the reliefs on a big screen monitor is a treat…certainly better than a crowded museum!

Sethos 1. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, Volume I: The Chapels of Osiris, Isis and Horus, 1933

Sethos 2. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, Volume II: The Chapels of Amen-Re', Re'-Harakhti, Ptah, and King Sethos, 1935

Sethos 3. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, Volume III: The Osiris Complex, 1938

Sethos 4. The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos, Volume IV: The Second Hypostyle Hall, 1958

Zooming – June 2023

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So many photographic opportunities in June…close to home and in Texas. There were more biting insects around so staying on paths was all-the-more important; almost every image I took used the zoom on my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS). Enjoy the slide show!

The pictures include:

  • A sunny day visit to the Springfield (Missouri) Botanical Gardens,

  • An afternoon and then (a week later) morning visit to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (near Sherman, TX), and

  • A morning at Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie (in Carrollton, TX).

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2023

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Every day brings multiple little celebrations…I choose one to log for the day and then select 10 each month to savor in this post.

One year anniversary for our Missoure home. June 2022 is when we moved to Missouri. We’ve settled into the house and I’ve confirmed that my favorite room in the house is my office…just as it was in the Maryland house. The house itself and being closer to family have confirmed again and again that we made a good decision to move when did! So we are celebrating the anniversary.

Dishwasher and sprinkler system working. Of course, every house needs maintenance…in June both our dishwasher and sprinkler system had problems (dishwasher leaked water and the sprinkler system developed a broken head/pipe after the grinding of the pine stump). Fortunately, both were easily fixed (rather than an expensive replacement) and we celebrated that they are functioning again.

Internet/TV/phones working. Shortly after I got to my parents’ home in Carrollton, their internet and TV and phones failed. We had a painful 4 days….celebrated when the tech finally came and replaced their outside box (it was at least 18 years old!).

Scissor-tail at Josey Ranch. Celebrated when I saw a scissor-tailed flycatcher while I was out of my car with camera in hand!

Ducklings at Josey Ranch. Celebrated seeing newly hatched ducklings with a mom trying to protect them from turtles!

Seeing beautyberry flowering. I had previously only noticed beautyberry plants after they had their purple berries. This June I celebrated knowing where the plants grew so I could see the flowers.

Trimming all the dead parts out of crape myrtle and rose buses. It was a daunting task because it seemed like there was so much to trim. It got a little better when I discovered that my gauntlet gloves worked (not thorn pricks from the roses) and that the dead twigs/branches would burn easily. I celebrated when the task was completed…felt like I had accomplished a lot in getting my yard looking better for the summer.

Buying a fragrant sumac (native plant sale). I celebrated my first native plant addition to my landscaping…there will be more through the years.

Homemade marinade with balsamic vinegar. Celebrating trying a new recipe and realizing that I will never need to buy bottle mariade again!

Road trip to St. Louis. Celebrating another road trip with my daughter! Blog posts coming up re our adventure.

Ducklings

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On the same morning as I photographed the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at the Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie, I noticed some almost grown Mallard ducks on the nearby pond with their mom. There may have been more than four in the brood originally, but 4 surviving past the stage where turtles can drown them is wonderful to see. They looked good in the morning light.

On the shore I saw a female duck in some taller grass. She looked very alert…and soon I saw why.

Ducklings! They must have been the second wave of young this season. The little ones were very active and heading toward the water.

I took a video – observing the mother trying to keep the ducklings close to the shore…probably aware of the turtles lurking in the pond. It was a breezy day, and the ducklings didn’t always stay in a tight group! It is surprising how quickly they move….how they can maneuver through the tall grass and bob in water shallow enough that the mother is standing. There were 5 of them. I’ll look again for the group in late July which I will be back in the Josey Ranch (Carrollton TX) area.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

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I saw scissor-tailed flycatchers flying along the roadside in my April and May road trips between Missouri and Texas. The bird is easily identified because of its long tail. I saw several in Oklahoma at first – to be expected since it is the the state bird. Then I saw several on the May morning I visited Hagerman. I could never photograph them because I was driving. I finally got lucky in June and spotted one getting breakfast the morning I went to the Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie in June.

The bird was sitting on a snag…periodically leaving to swoop over the grass…then would return to the snag. It was a breezy day and the long tail seemed to me a bit of a disadvantage; the movements of the bird to catch insects in flight were very dramatic. It was great to simply stand and watch the bird. Being able to finally photograph the bird was the highpoint of my morning!

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – June 2023

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It was hotter and dustier than May on the afternoon I was at Hagerman…a stop on the road trip between my home and Carrollton TX. The riot of wildflowers of May has shifted toward thistles and sunflowers and lotus…with the May flowers producing seed.

There were three types of egrets I saw: cattle and snowy…

And then a great egret on a snag - scratching.

The black vultures were on the ground. They didn’t appear to be around feeding. They were just in a group at the edge of one of the ponds…socializing.

The butterfly garden near the visitor center has a wider variety of flowers still blooming.

And they were attracting butterflies. I watched one getting nectar from a cone flower.

There were several other kinds around too…and I saw one butterfly laying eggs on a plant that didn’t have any flowers (must have been the plant that the caterpillars like to eat). I had a pleasant conversation with a woman as we both enjoyed the garden; she was about my age, had bought a butterfly kit for a granddaughter (the caterpillar had successfully developed into a butterfly that was released), and was part of the rotation caring for her elderly father in his home…a wonderful chance encounter that made the road trip unique!

There were bees in the butterfly garden too. One was taking a break on a bench…an easy picture!

Denison, Texas Travel Center – June 2023

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The Beautyberry was blooming at the Texas travel center on US 75 (entering the state from Oklahoma). I searched for the flowers since I knew the plants were growing there…remembering the purple berries I’d seen last fall. The buds and flowers are very small…easy to overlook among the foliage. This is a plant I will check every month to observe how the berries develop!

Some of the wildflowers that were blooming last month have already started to make seeds but there are new rounds of flowers.

It was hotter and, as I walked along the sidewalk with plants leaning into the walkway, I felt like there were biting insects around my ankles! I took pictures quickly – noticed insects on some of the flowers.

I headed back to the car to continue my road trip to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and Carrollton.

Sunflowers

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The plant-of-the-month I chose for June is the sunflower. They’ll be blooming for most of the summer, but late May and June is when they begin. I saw them at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge near Sherman TX and at Josey Ranch’s Pocket Prairie. They are large plants…sometimes grow in groups…dominating prairie type spaces.

I like them from every perspective and maturity. Even on windy days, I can get zoomed pictures. I like the structure of the buds when they are green…and then when the yellow petals begin to peek through. The bud structure can still be seen in the back view of the flower. Sometimes the petals are wrinkle free…sometimes they look like crepe paper. The flowers turn toward the sun so it is not uncommon to have a plant full of flowers with brown centers in view….or the stem and petals extending from bud remnants of the back of the flower.

The plants attract insects…and later will provide food for birds.

There is a lot to like about the sunny sunflower!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 17, 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.

Humans taking a toll on Yellowstone wildlife - In recent days two black bears have been killed by motorists, an elk and a bison were also hit by vehicles, a newborn elk calf was picked up by motorists concerned for its fate, and a bison calf had to be put down after a visitor tried to help it out of the Lamar River so it could catch up with its mother. I remember that the park had good signage trying to educate people….seems that it isn’t as effective as I assumed it would be.

See the Rare Albino Echidna Spotted in Australia – It’s been named (Raffie) and photographed…evidently still in the wild! A piece of trivia from the article: a baby echidna is a puggle.

Tune in to the Great Salt Lake kestrel cam – Take a look…they hatched on May 17th…and they are growing up fast.

Scientists target human stomach cells for diabetes therapy – Still very much in research phase…but it would certainly improve the lives of a lot of people if it can be developed into a treatment!

This New Device Generates Electricity from Thin Air – Evidently the device can be made from any material that can be punctured with ultra-small holes. Too good to be true….or competitive with established clean energy sources like wind and solar?

Super low-cost smartphone attachment brings blood pressure monitoring to your fingertips – A clip that fits over the phone’s camera and flash…an app. It costs about 80 cents to make but the cost could be as low at 10 cents when manufactured at scale. Evidently it does not need to be calibrated either! I wonder if cuffs will become a thing of the past very quickly!

What we know about the health risks of ultra-processed foods – Research teasing out what exactly about ultra-processed food is bad. I’ve been trying to reduce ultra-processed food…so have been following the advice in this article for at about a year: if you're considering eating a packaged food, read the ingredient list…If you really have no idea what some of those ingredients are, it probably went too far.

You can make carbon dioxide filters with a 3D printer – Printing a hydrogel material that holds carbonic anhydrase (an enzyme that turns carbon dioxide and water into bicarbonate).

Nepal Won’t Move the Mount Everest Base Camp for Now, Despite Risks – Everest’s highest glacier has lost half its mass since the 1990s because of higher temperatures. It may only be a few years before the camp needs to move.

Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippo’ population is even bigger than scientists thought – Wild descendants of the hippos introduced in Columbia by Pablo Escobar….considered the largest invasive animal in the world. There are probably 181-215 of them in Columbia. Several strategies are being tried: contraception administered via dart, castration, exporting the animal to sanctuaries abroad. Culling appears to be the only strategy that can save the biodiversity of Columbia.

Carrollton Yard – May 2023

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My parent’s yard was transitioning from spring to summer when I was there in late May. My sister had taken away the naked lady lily leaves that had turned brown; the bulbs have the stored energy for their bloom later in the summer. I put the stainless-steel iris I bought at the Springfield Artsfest in the hydrangea plot. It looked like it belonged there and will provide some color visible from the garden room during the winter.

The Queen Anne’s Lace is beginning to boom…and the cosmos. In the front yard the red yucca is the most colorful. The daisies are dispersing their seeds. The ferns are lush and there are still fiddleheads unfurling.

The lamb’s ear is blooming. When I got home, the ones in my yard were too!

Now I am beginning to think about whether I want to propagate some of these plants in my yard. My challenge right now is a lack of gardening space and the need to clear out plants that didn’t make it through the winter in some of the beds. On the plus side…that clearing could leave some places that I could plant some Carrollton transplants.