Quigley Castle

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We stopped by Quigley Castle on our way from Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge to Eureka Springs….and enjoyed it more than we anticipated! We were greeted by a granddaughter of the builders of the place and several very comfortable cats. The garden is full of plants and yard art made by Elise Fiovanti Quigley: bottle trees and aggregates of stones and other small objects on many different forms. She evidently started her collecting as a child and her husband moved the rock collection with them when they came to the farm that was near the lumber mill where he worked…and he helped her continue to collect too.

The house was built from lumber cut from their own property to Elise’s specification in the mid-1940s which includes 4 feet of soil between the edges of the living space and the walls making it possible to grow tropical plants that grow 2 stories high; the house has 28 windows. She worked for 3 years to cover the outside of the house with a collection of fossils, crystals, arrowheads, and stones; her work has proved to be very durable – the exterior of the house not requiring any significant maintenance.  She had parakeets that were free to roam through the plants (and her grandchildren have continued the tradition)!  Inside the house there are more aggregate covered surfaces...some with shells rather than rocks…and an insect collection in large jars and cover one wall in a bedroom. The moths had lost most of their color but some of the butterflies still look relatively fresh. There are original household items in the house too; the house has been continuously lived in since it was built. The granddaughter that handles most of the tours at the house lives there now (her rooms closed off from the places we walked through in the house).

Quigley Castle was a good finale to our Eureka Springs trip…and I’ll probably stop there again when I am in Eureka Springs.

Then and Now – Eye Care

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My third-grade teacher was the person that realized I needed glasses – when I couldn’t ever get the right answer during multiplication flashcard drills! That was in the mid-1960s. I remember my first frames were white plastic with tiny pink dots and the lenses were easily scratched. Later in the decade I was wearing rigid contact lenses (soft ones did not exist yet); they provided the best correction for me because they corrected astigmatism perfectly with their rigid surface. In the later 1970s I switched to soft contacts for comfort…but they were never as perfect as the rigid lenses.

These days I am wearing glasses except for close work. For photography – I often look over my glasses to the camera’s screen! I have two pair: single vision computer glasses and progressives with magnetically attached tinted lenses. Doing most of my reading on screens is easier for me than paper-based materials; the brightness of the screens is helpful.

At some point I will need cataract surgery. My dad had his cataract surgery in his mid-70s, but my mother didn’t need it until her 80s. One of my younger sisters had it recently so I know what to expect…however my eye doctor can still correct my vision to 20/20 with glasses so it might not be that soon. Whenever I have it – I hope to enjoy at least some years without having to wear glasses or contacts (except sunglasses); it will be a welcome break after 60+ years.

Previous Then and Now posts

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

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On our first day in Eureka Springs, we enjoyed the Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas excursion train and the Blue Spring Heritage Center. We had dinner at a local café (Sparks Roadhouse) and were at the hotel (Quality Inn Eureka Springs South) before the thunderstorms started. The hotel was different than I expected – more Victorian and with gardens. I took a few pictures as we packed up the car after breakfast.

My daughter had give us a Pride Membership to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge for Christmas and my husband made reservations for our morning tour (one of the benefits of the membership). Before the tour we walked around some of the enclosures. Taking pictures is challenging – requiring focusing on the cat rather than the cage; it’s possible to make the cage (almost) disappear!

In one enclosure there were two cats that were in motion. A staff member did a training session with one of them; using hand motions and sound to prompt the cat to move in certain ways…rewarding with a morsel of food (looked like chicken). This activity makes it easier to assess the animal’s health in the least traumatic way so is something they try with all the animals.

The tour is done on a tram with several parts; we were impressed that the sound system was very good and enjoyed the commentary about each cat.

Servals are not that much bigger than house cats…but they are evidently much more aggressive and spray frequently…they make awful pets. Evidently quite a few people have tried it and most of the rescues are from those failed attempts. They also have a serval – domestic cat cross; it is a bit smaller and looks more like a domestic cat…but has the behavior of a serval!

The enclosures have 3 areas – an enclosed ‘den,’ a night cage that includes the den and some area around it, and the larger enclosure. Most enclosures have two night cages to enable the refuge to house two cats in each (only one cat out in the larger enclosure at a time) to provide backup capacity for emergency rescues. When we were there, the cats (and the grizzly bear) were out in the larger enclosure…enjoying the morning sun.

The refuge offers several forms of lodging and we are considering going back in the fall for that adventure. The cats vocalize more at dawn and dusk!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 8, 2024

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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.

Picture this: Snapping photos of our food could be good for us – A study that showed that when people take pictures of what they eat…a more accurate food record (than people’s memory) is obtained and can be analyzed to improve diet! I might try this…do a little self-analysis.

People Are Spotting Rare, Blue-Eyed Cicadas Around Illinois – Most periodic cicadas have red eyes….but this year some have blue! We aren’t hearing cicadas yet at our house even though our area of Missouri is in the range of Brood XIX.  

The people racing to build shelters outside tornado alley – It does seem like there have been more violent storms outside of the traditional tornado alley recently. Even in tornado alley – many houses are built on slab foundations (i.e. no basement) and don’t have storm shelters. My husband was the first to voice the requirement for a basement when we were looking at houses in Missouri…and we ended up buying one with the storm shelter too (in the basement and reenforced).

Relics of a Warmer Past, Some Species May Be Suited to a Hotter Future - By the end of this century, the planet is expected to be approximately as warm as it was 130,000 years ago. Species that arose during this time (like the African grass rat) would be able to withstand a hotter climate. A new model projects that there will be a 39% drop in the number of resident species in tropical lands due to excessive heat.

In a Seismic Shift, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Elevates Nature-Based Solutions – Finally! Some examples of solutions that are nature based include: Floodplains, Living shorelines, Beaches, Dunes, Wetlands, Reefs, Islands, Green roofs, Tree canopies, Rain gardens, Bioswales, Retention basins, and Permeable and pervious pavements. The upcoming rule issued by the Army Corps is expected to further institutionalize the nature-based future landscape architects have pushed for. But more advocacy will be needed to spread the benefits of designing with nature across all the communities with which the Army Corps engages.

7 Strange Species from the Ocean’s Depths – How many of these have you heard about before? I’d heard of 6 of the 7…the one that was new to me was the Yeti Crab. I didn’t know the Greenland Shark was the same as Ommatokoita though.

Women are 14 times more likely to die in a climate disaster than men. It’s just one way climate change is gendered – And women represent 80% of people displaced by extreme weather. The reasons include women’s pre-existing social and economic disadvantage…and their responsibility for caring for other vulnerable groups, such as children or older people. The author is writing about Australia…but this probably is happening around the world too.

Giant Pandas are returning to D.C.'s National Zoo – Hurray! The new pandas are due before the end of the year and the zoo is upgrading the building and outdoor space now to be ready for their arrival.

Cool Pavements Show Promise as Part of Urban Climate Resilience Strategy – Results from a pilot project in LA that applied a solar-reflective pavement coating, to more than 700,000 square feet of neighborhood streets and another special coatings to basketball courts, parking lots, a school playground, and a colorful community mural by a local artist in July 2022. The study results were published in April 2024: reductions in ambient air temperatures by as much as 3.5°F during extreme heat events and a 25-50 percent reduction in the local census-tract urban heat island index during daytime temperature peaks. The research also indicated notable reductions of up to 10°F or more in surface temperatures following the application of solar reflective pavement coatings, which directly correlated to a reduction in air temperature and felt temperature in the community.

Riverdance at 30: how Riverdance shaped Irish dance, and reflected a multicultural Australia – The history of Irish dancing….and the impact of Riverdance. The article includes multiple videos.

eBontanical Prints – May 2024

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Twenty-one more books were added to the botanical print collection in May - available for browsing on Internet Archive. The whole list of 2,883 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. Click on any sample images to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink to view the entire volume on Internet Archive. Enjoy the May 2024 eBotanical Prints!

The set is unusual because the oldest book was published in 1928. Most months the books are from earlier decades/centuries. Another aspect that is unusual is that 19 of the books are from the same source (American Plant Life Society) and published over many years (1938 – 2006).

The Marine Algae of Florida with special reference to the Dry Tortugas * Taylor, William Randolph * sample image * 1928

The American species of Crepis, their interrelationships and distribution as affected by polyploidy and apomixis * Babcock, Ernest Brown * sample image * 1938

Herbertia V 1-5 (1934-1938) * American Amaryllis Society * sample image * 1938

Herbertia V 6-10 (1939-1943) * American Amaryllis Society * sample image * 1943

Herbertia V 40 (1984) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1943

Herbertia V 41 (1985) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1985

Herbertia V 42 (1986) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1986

Herbertia V 43 N1 (1986) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1987

Herbertia V 43 N2 (1987) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1987

Herbertia V 44 N1 (1988) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1987

Herbertia V 46 N1-2 (1990) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1990

Herbertia V 47 (1991) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1991

Herbertia V 48 (1992) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1992

Herbertia V 49 (1993) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1993

Herbertia V 50 (1994-1995) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1995

Herbertia V 51 (1996) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1996

Herbertia V 52 (1997) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1997

Herbertia V 53 (1998) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1998

Herbertia V 54 (1999) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 1999

Herbertia V 59 (2004-2005) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 2005

Herbertia V 60 (2005-2006) * American Plant Life Society * sample image * 2006

2nd Anniversary in our Missouri Home

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Today is our second anniversary in our Missouri home and I am thinking about what has changed relative to the house in that time. We still have some boxes in the storage areas of the house that we haven’t unpacked – a sure indication that we probably moved some items we didn’t need.

We’ve changed more in the yard than inside the house.

I planted a wildflower garden in the back and some hens and chicks in the front.

One of the pine trees in the backyard fell over last summer and I’ve planted some irises and native plants in the area where the stump was ground up after the tree was taken away; colorful stinkhorns are coming up in the mulch too!

We hired a crew to mow the yard the first summer, but I mowed it last summer and this summer too. The depression in the area where the previous owner took out a large tree in the front yard is obvious when I mow….and when mushrooms come up in the grass.

Both my husband and I are glad the yard had a sprinkler system – even though we haven’t needed it so far this season (we got 10 inches of rain in May!). This is our first house with a sprinkler system, so we have a company to check the system in the spring and fall.

We haven’t used the community pool or walked around the ponds as much as we thought we would…but I did enjoy walking patterns on the tennis courts in the snow last winter. The amenities of the neighborhood are greater than anywhere we’ve lived previously.

As far as the inside of the house….

I like my office in the basement (with windows on three sides) as much as I thought I would. The views were nice to begin with, but we’ve added bird feeders, a bird bath, spring bulbs, and some native plants. I also like having the mini-kitchen near my office. I’ve turned off the gas to the gas fireplace and put a magnet blanket over the opening; it leaked heat (from the pilot light) into my office in the summer and let in a cold draft in the winter. I like that my office area has its own heating/cooling.

We’ve only used the basement storm shelter once….but I am glad it is there. Fortunately, the storm did no damage in our neighborhood. Our challenge in using the shelter is getting our three cats (additions since we moved to the house) into crates and down there in time!

Both my husband and I have enjoyed the large shower – just as we anticipated. We still have not used the Jacuzzi tub!

The laundry chute has eliminated the need for hampers…and eliminated the need for carrying dirty laundry. We did put baby latches on the doors to the chute since the kittens were way too interested and dexterous at opening things; we added latches on the lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms for the same reason.

We discovered magnets strong enough to hold a wreath for our front door (it is metal) and added a Ring doorbell since the door did not have a peephole already installed.

The 3-car garage is a wonderful upgrade from our previous 2-car versions. We enjoy the room (and have not filled it up!).

Both my husband and I agree that this is the best house we’ve owned. It’s very satisfying to realize that we’ve thought the same thing every time we have moved!

Blue Spring Heritage Center

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According to its website, Blue Spring Heritage Center has been a tourist attraction since 1948 with the blue spring and surrounding gardens. In 1993, 33 acres became the Eureka Springs Gardens and then in 2003 the history of the area was incorporated into the attraction becoming the Blue Springs Heritage Center.

It is a bit pricey ($17.75 for adults, $15.75 for seniors) but it was worthwhile to do at least once. We all appreciated that the afternoon we were there was in the 70s rather than hotter. As we made our way down to the spring, we heard and then saw periodic cicadas! My daughter and I had heard them on our drive back from Hot Springs a week earlier…and were glad to see them on this trip.

Blue Spring is blue! It emerges underneath a circular enclosure wall and overflows to flow down to the White River. I wondered if the algae in the water means that nutrients from modern farming methods have penetrated to the rock layers that are the source for the spring (i.e. that the nutrients in the water are much higher now than previously).

Some native flowers were blooming and

The rock bluff that included an overhang that was a shelter for prehistoric people offered points of interest for the gentle walk. The area was a stop for the Cherokee along the trail of tears.

But the biggest drama of our visit was reptilian: a lizard shedding its skin and a black rat snake (the snake crossed the path at a leisurely slither right in front of us….but I was too startled to take a picture)!

Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas Railway

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My husband, daughter, and I took a two-day trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas just before Memorial Day. It’s less than a 2-hour drive from our home in Missouri. The nav system took us on a scenic route…curvy 2 lane highway all the way, with frequent road cuts that were generally well back from the shoulder (I wondered if students on geology field trips use them to see the underlying rock of the area), and over a narrow part of Table Rock Lake.

We arrived a little early and drove through the town. I remembered the main street from more than 50 years ago; the streets that turn off are very steep and narrow up the side of the valley. The place is a driving adventure! We parked in the Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas Railway just after the terminal opened; we had reservations for the morning excursion train. It was a cloudy morning and had rained recently; the first photographic opportunity of the morning turned out to be butterflies in the gravel parking lot! The mourning cloak on the curb was not moving but all the others took some patience to photograph.

There was collection of old rail cars and engines. I was interested in a tractor that must have been quite a change on farms where horses or oxen had previously done the heavy pulling.

The car and engine that took us on our excursion was waiting for us. They had a ramp mechanism that enabled wheelchair access to the car, but we could also get into the car using stairs.

The train follows a stream, and I managed a few pictures while we were in motion. I saw a pawpaw tree with fruit beginning to grow (but didn’t get a picture); pawpaw is the food plant of the zebra swallowtail butterfly (like I photographed in the parking lot for the train).

The route is only 4.5 miles up and back (and takes about an hour). At the halfway point, we got out and I took some track and vegetation pictures.

The conductor gave us a tutorial about putting pennies on the track as an optional activity for this excursion. My daughter had told us ahead of time (she had done the excursion last fall) so we came prepared. I gave a penny to a man that didn’t have any change with him. We all stood away from the tracks and the train rolled over our pennies – waiting to retrieve our pennies from the track until the conductor got the word from the engineer that it was safe to do so.

Below is a picture of a penny and a train-flattened penny. I am thinking about putting some earring posts on two of the flattened pennies….wearing them as earrings!

It sprinkled a little while we were on the train but had cleared by the time we returned to the station. The train was an excellent start to our Eureka Springs adventure.

Then and Now – Food

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My mother had taken a college nutrition course in the 1950s, so my memories of meals growing up were relatively well balanced.

  • There were more canned vegetable and fruits than we eat now when we usually eat fresh or frozen…very few canned goods. I do remember frozen strawberries, spinach and broccoli in the 1960s…but they didn’t come in a plastic bag (it was a box of thin cardboard,sometimes with metal ends). Fresh fruits and vegetables were seasonal. A lot of our produce seemed to come from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas (and we lived in Texas). My grandparents had vegetable gardens; I particularly remember corn on the cob, tomatoes, watermelons and cantaloupe during the summer. Still - most of our food came from the grocery store which is true today as well. Fresh fruits and vegetables were purchased whole – not cut up or pre-washed as they sometimes are today. Vegetables that were stable at room temperature like potatoes and onions were kept in a bin in the pantry --- frozen versions were not generally available.

  • Meats were mostly cooked from raw although my mother did use canned chicken, tuna, and salmon (I have canned chicken and salmon in my pantry…but I don’t like tuna). The raw chicken was more likely to be a whole chicken that my mother cooked whole or cut up and then cooked; now I buy boneless chicken breasts exclusively….and I never fry chicken; my mother didn’t fry chicken either she but she did bake chicken with crumbled Cheez-it cracker crust.  Bacon was the same although the curing might have been a bit different; it wasn’t packaged in plastic. Ham was purchased whole usually with a bone; sometimes it came in a ham shaped can without a bone. We rarely had deli meats although there were some packaged meats like hotdogs, baloney and chipped beef…which my mother served occasionally. My mother liked to buy ground chuck rather than the higher fat hamburger meat. These days I buy more chicken than lean beef and almost no pork.  My mother probably served more beef…followed by pork…and then chicken. I skew toward organic meats; even though that labeling did not exist in the 1960s, the meats were probably closer to organic since it was before CAFOs and prophylactic antibiotic use in farm animals.

  • My mother searched for whole grain bread. It was hard to find. Roman Meal was the brand I remember the most. White Wonder bread seemed to be the most popular with everyone else. These days I buy whole grain organic bread with a short ingredient list.

  • The other foods from grain we ate included oatmeal (generally for breakfast), pasta (egg noodles and elbow macaroni were more frequently served than spaghetti), boxed cereals  (Cheerios were a favorite although my Dad really liked Sugar Frosted Flakes…which my mother frowned on), and crackers (saltines and graham crackers). My father didn’t like rice so my mother rarely served it.  I still use oatmeal occasionally but there are new grains too: quinoa and bulghur wheat. I rarely eat rice; it’s not that I don’t like it…but I just don’t like it enough to cook it. I don’t buy crackers since I don’t need the empty calories and neither does my husband.

  • The only beans my mother liked were pinto beans. I can remember her cooking a large pot of pinto beans whenever she had a ham bone…it was the last ‘meal’ made with a ham. We ate the beans with chunks of ham as a soup as soon as they finished cooking and then as leftovers with other meals. I generally my organic canned pinto beans now when we make chili.

  • Eggs and dairy were a daily part of my mother’s meal plan. She always kept whole milk on hand. She bought it in gallon cartons (not plastic coated) since there were enough of us to drink it relatively quickly. These days I drink 2% fat Lactaid milk since I have become lactose intolerant, and it comes in a plastic jug. My mother used Velveeta cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese (she cooked the macaroni…made a white sauce that melted the cheese…put both in a baking dish with wheat germ sprinkled on top to bake together before serving). I don’t eat cheese sandwiches or macaroni and cheese anymore! I do still occasionally have cottage cheese…but I take a Lactaid pill when I do. Eggs are still prepared as they were in the 1960s: hardboiled, fried or scrambled (but with spray on a non-stick pan rather than in bacon grease). I also like frittatas and quiche and other egg casseroles which we didn’t make in the 1960s.

  • We did occasionally have Koolaid or Lemonade or Hawaiian punch in the summer or a soft drink for a special occasion (making an ice cream float or when I visited my grandmother at her work). Most of the time we drank water or milk. It was a special treat to have sweet iced tea with special meals or to eat a popsicle (usually frozen in our freezer) on a hot afternoon. Ice cream was always a favorite – but not eaten daily. I drink soft drinks more often now and unsweetened tea…but milk and water are still frequent beverages. I am trying to cut back on soft drinks and any beverages with sugar (refined or artificial).

  • Nuts were used for snacks although they often required a hammer and cutting board to get the goodie out of the shell. My mother seemed to enjoy buying a bag of mixed nuts in their shells (pecans, walnuts, filberts, Brazil nuts, almonds) from the produce section during the winter holidays. Our favorites were probably pecans. Now I general buy nuts that have already been shelled. We also liked peanut butter; my mother did not approve of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but we enjoyed peanut butter and celery or peanut butter on toast with brown sugar sprinkled on top. My favorite breakfast in recent months is peanut butter toast (no sugar on top).

Food is prepared differently now too:

  • My mother’s favorite quick meals were a protein (hard boiled eggs, canned tuna, chipped beef, canned chicken) in white sauce over toast with a canned vegetable (green beans, for example) or fresh vegetable like carrot or celery sticks. For the younger children, she would cut up the toast before spooning on the white sauce concoction; as we got old enough we learned to cut it up for ourselves after the white sauce was on top. Now I tend to do stir fries for fast meals. I usually do the whole meal in one pot and serve it in a bowl rather than a plate. Gravies like white sauce are not part of the meal at all.

  • There were no microwaves in the 1960s. We made popcorn in a pan if we wanted it. I still use the same type of popcorn…but have a bowl that I use in the microwave to pop it in and I use walnut or sesame oil rather than butter.

  • Sometimes we had hot tea for breakfast or when it was cold outside (always with lots of milk). We made it with tea bags in a little pot or directly in our cups. There were no Mr. Coffee or Keurig machines! I use a Coffee Maker that has never made coffee to make pots of tea now.

  • There were Czech desserts for special meals when I was growing up; no one picked up the role to bake like that after my grandmother died because we just don’t eat that much bread and sugar anymore.  These days we rarely have dessert although when I do - I am still partial to desserts that include fruits (apple pie, apricot tarts, etc). I do enjoy a good carrot cake or red velvet cake but might buy it from a bakery; if I make it myself, I usually serve it without icing!

  • Salads are somewhat easier now. Greens can be bought pre-washed and in convenient bins…and there is a huge variety of kinds beyond iceberg and Romaine lettuce (I like arugula and spinach and ‘spring’ greens). Other ingredients can be bought already cut up now although I generally choose to buy salad ingredients that I cut myself (with the exception of carrots which are my go to snack in the afternoon). The selection of salad dressing is much greater now too although Ranch dressing seems to be too dominant; in the 1960s I remember Thousand Island and French and Vinegar/oil dressings.  I get dressings with names like creamy ginger…or make my own balsamic vinaigrette.

  • My mother sometimes prepared milkshakes (milk, ice cream, raw eggs) for breakfast with toast. She had a blender with a glass body that was heavy but did the job of making a slightly thickened drink. These days I have a Ninja Master Prep and I make ‘smoothies’ rather than milkshakes…without raw eggs. I use milk, frozen fruit (banana + another fruit), frozen veggie (like broccoli), protein powder if I am short protein for the day, and hemp seeds. It comes out the consistency of soft serve ice cream but without any refined sugar!

Overall – there are a lot of ways to eat healthy today even though there are also a lot more ultra-proccessed foods to avoid. Right now, with the exception of soft drinks, I am eating healthier than I did as a child!

Previous Then and Now posts

Zentangle® – May 2024

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I created 68 Zentangle tiles in May…plenty to choose the 31 to feature in this post. These tiles were made at home in Nixa…in Dallas…in Hot Springs…in Eureka Springs. Enjoy the results of my ‘islands of calm’!

There were several themes for my tile making in May. Trilliums (flowers with 3 petals) were in 4 tiles.

There were 4 ‘spider’ flower tiles as well.

I seemed to enjoy three-hash-line fill for a lot of tiles. The 11 below are my favorites.

And then there were the 12 more to make the 31 picks for May.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 1, 2024

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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 Storm King Art Center Became One of World’s Top Sculpture Parks – Adding to my list to consider seeing if I travel to New York (state).

Dirt Cheap Batteries Enable Megawatt-Scale Charging Without Big Grid Upgrades Right Away – Hope the technology trend continues…that this idea helps us transition to more electric trucks and other vehicles.

Extreme Birding: Shorebirds at the Sewage Lagoon – Maybe a great place for birding….if you can stand the smell. The same thing happens at landfills.

The human brain has been shrinking – and no-one quite knows why - The brains of modern humans are around 13% smaller than those of Homo sapiens who lived 100,000 years ago. Exactly why is still puzzling researchers. I was a little surprised that the authors did NOT consider the challenge of birthing babies with larger heads (i.e. until C-sections allowed mother and baby to survive if the baby’s head was too large, both mother and baby died) which would result in natural selection of genes for smaller heads.

Climate change is most prominent threat to pollinators - Pollinator populations are declining worldwide and 85% of flowering plant species and 87 of the leading global crops rely on pollinators for seed production. The decline of pollinators seriously impacts biodiversity conservation, reduces crop yield, and threatens food security. Changes in water and temperature associated with climate change can lower the quantity and quality of resources available to pollinators, decrease the survival of larvae or adults, and modify suitable habitats.

The deep ocean photographer that captured a 'living fossil' – In 2010, Laurent Ballesta was the first diver to photograph a living coelacanth. In 2013, Ballesta and his team returned and encountered multiple coelacanths, spending up to half an hour in their presence. Thanks to Ballesta's work, we now know the coelacanth is among the longest-living fish species, with a lifespan of around 100 years, and has one of the slowest life histories of all marine fish – so, like deep-sea sharks with a reduced metabolism, the coelacanth grows slowly, taking as long as 69 years to reach sexual maturity, and with a gestation period of around five years.

Under stress, an observer is more likely to help the victim than to punish the perpetrator - It takes more cognitive effort to punish others than it does to help them. Studies show that when witnessing an act of injustice while stressed, people tend to behave selflessly, preferring to help the victim than to punish the offender.

Stunning Aerial Photos Capture the Abstract Beauty of Iceland’s Glacier Rivers – Iceland….blue.

These tricks make wind farms more bird-friendly – Migratory birds can crash into wind turbines…but there are ways to reduce the carnage: adding high visibility reflectors and spirals to cables, not building wind farms in flight paths, painting one blade on each turbine black (or stripes of black on each blade), and sound.

Swarms of miniature robots clean up microplastics and microbes, simultaneously – Interesting idea. While the bots were decontaminated and reused…they were not as effective…so more work is needed.

Fine Art History (collection on Internet Archive)

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This ‘book of the week’ post features a collection found on Internet Archive that includes slideshow collections of art works from artists around the world and different time periods. There is a lot to browse in this collection and I will probably feature it again from time to time since I enjoy the images and learning about the artists. I have chosen 20 for this post…hopefully the sample images will provide enough of an incentive to look at these artists and the rest of the collection. Enjoy!

Fernand Léger (1881 - 1955)

John Hoyland (1934 - 2011)

Zooming – May 2024

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After collecting the images I wanted to feature this month, there seemed to be more distinct reasons for why the amount of zoom was used.

One image – from the Anthony Chapel at Garvan Woodland Gardens – was composed to capture the pattern of glass in the ceiling.

5 images were composed to get a near macro view of flowers and water droplets without being very close to the subjects.

The zoom was used to fill the frame in 8 of the images. It works in almost every situation! Flowers and landscapes with structures outdoors as well as museums and nature center exhibits are seen below.

Probably the rationale for zooming I enjoy the most is when the camera allows me to ‘see’ better than I would with just my eyes. There are 7 images in this category this month: a close up of a peacock and some flamingo feathers at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri; tiling on a bathhouse dome and a magnolia flower in a large tree overhanging the street in Hot Springs, Arkansas; an ebony jewelwing on a fern, a fairy house and a Ouachita Map Turtle at Garvan Woodland Gardens.

Sometimes I remember the rules and zoom to position the subject along one of the lines…to the left or right of center in lieu of switching to a portrait orientation and filling the frame.

I am savoring my favorite zoomed images of May 2024.

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2024

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May 2024 was full of little celebrations…with near perfect temperatures and some big events.

3 pink irises - Most of the irises were fading by May but there were three still in good condition in a flower bed at the side of our house which can’t be seen (by us or our neighbors) except by walking around our house. I saw them when I was mowing and cut them to bring indoors.

Bleu Monkey - The first thing we did in Hot Springs was to have lunch. We picked a great place – tasty food and a huge drink (that my daughter did not finish)…but what made it celebratory was the interaction with the other patrons!

Garvan Woodland Gardens – My daughter and I both celebrated our experience at Garvan Woodland Gardens (via golf cart and on foot). I’m sure we’ll go again…maybe experience it in every season over the next few years.

Whirlpool bath at Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs – The Buckstaff Bathhouse is a way to celebrate history and the great feel hot springs.

Large birdbath – I moved a large glass birdbath from Maryland but didn’t set it up last year because I didn’t think the old stand was stable enough in our environment. I bought a new stand at Branson’s Butterfly Palace last fall and celebrated how great it looks set up near our bird feeders…and that I’ve seen birds coming to get a drink.

Mowing the whole yard in one day – Usually I mow my yard over 2 days…so I celebrate when I can do it one. It helped that May was cool…I probably won’t attempt it when the temperatures are higher.

A new family member - One of my nieces had a baby girl….always a celebratory event.

New glasses - I celebrated new plastic frames (rather than wire rims with pads as the bridge) that feel better on my narrow nose bridge.

Salmon salad – Salad made with canned salmon and celery (and other veggies) with chipotle mayonnaise (or other spicy dressing) has become one of my favorite lunches. I celebrated rediscovering a staple (canned salmon) that my mother always had in her pantry.

Aurora from our deck – My husband and I both celebrated that we managed to see and photograph the aurora from the deck of our house! It was very special.

Then and Now – Houses

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My parents house during the early 1960s was three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The bath associated with the master bedroom was very small with a shower stall rather than a bathtub. I always used the other one and so did my parents. My mother had a combination washer and dryer in a space along the hallway which my Dad had to enlarge slightly to help it fit. The kitchen had a window over the sink and a tabletop that folded up from the opposite wall which also had shelves that was the pantry. There was no built-in dishwasher, but my parents bought one that rolled over to the attach to the sink when it ran.

The house had wood floors; I can remember my mother cleaning and waxing them. The living room and what was intended as a dining room were separated by an accordion curtain that hung from the ceiling and had a track on the floor. We used the dining room as a continuation of the living room where we could play. Those two rooms were carpeted a few years before my parents built a new house in the mid-1960s.

The new house had a lot more room in every area (4 bedrooms, 3 baths) but was still one floor on a slab foundation – the most common type of construction in that area of Texas. The new house had tile in the foyer, vinyl in the high traffic areas, and carpeting in the bedrooms. I remember going with my mother to the store to pick the knobs for the builder to use in the bathroom that would be between the two bedrooms used by me and my sisters. My parents had built-ins made in all the bedrooms so that we didn’t need furniture for our clothes. My bedroom with my sister had the built-ins the closet; the furniture in the room included twin beds with bookcase type headboards, desks with chairs (without rollers), and a credenza with sliding doors. Everything was new! The two-car garage (with one door) had an enclosed storage area on one side. The roof was cedar shake.

My house today is about 1,000 more square feet and has a walkout basement and a 3-car garage. There has been heightened awareness of the radon issue since the 1980s and our house had remediation installed as we were moving in a few years ago. Our house has a storm room even though the risk of tornadoes was higher where we lived in the 1960s than it is now (and slab foundation houses don’t offer as much protection as ones with a basement).

Cedar shake shingles are no longer popular (too much of a fire risk) although I did notice some houses that still had them were on the market when we were looking for our current house; I would never buy a house with that kind of roof unless I planned to immediately replace it with another, less volatile type of shingle.

My house has all electric appliances in the kitchen unlike the gas stove tops and ovens that dominated in the 1960s.

I have vinyl flooring in the kitchens (I have two in my house), wood-like vinyl plank in the living and dining and hallways. The rest is carpeted. That is similar enough to what my mother had in her house although the carpet color is neutral in my house; my mother chose a pink/red carpeting for me and my sisters bedrooms and gold for the other rooms!

My mother did not like blinds (she had bad experiences with Venetian blinds of the 1950s)…so all the rooms had custom made lined drapery. Today all our windows have blinds for privacy and the drapery is more to add color and shape.

The large den and kitchen area of my parents’ house had dark paneling. There is no paneling at all in my house now. One similarity that surprises me a little – my mother had the kitchen in the center of the house with lower walls on two sides that looked to the breakfast area and den; in my current house, the kitchen is also in the middle of the house, has low walls that look out to the den and dining room (that we use as our piano room)…and is continuous with the breakfast area. Her kitchen did not have an island; mine does.

As I am thinking through this aspect of then and now, I am realizing that my mother’s house of the mid-1960s was probably her favorite house…and the one I am living in now is my favorite. She was in her early 30s and I am in my 70s!

Previous Then and Now posts

Garvan Woodland Gardens (2)

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Our second afternoon at Garvan Woodland Gardens was after we hiked to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. Our lunch had helped us recover somewhat, but I still took more bench breaks in the gardens! The model trains were running; the tracks were wet and the trains stored during our previous visit.

I took a few more pictures along the way to the Treehouse…we had only seen the outside on our Golf Cart Tour and seeing the inside and the area around the structure was our priority for our ‘on foot’ experience of the garden.

The view from inside the treehouse is full of vegetation and structures – I loved the tree patio and the high bridge. Both my daughter and I tried the pinecone seat; it was reasonably comfortable. It could move from side to side and I wondered if there could be a home version if it that could be used like I use my Swopper chair at my computer table.

There are nooks and crannies in the rocks and vegetation around the treehouse. There was a path lined with young trees and boulders, an Ebony Jewelwing on a fern, quartz veins in rocks, and sculpture…a cave…so many things to hold the interest of children (and adults).

I took a few more pictures of fairy houses as we walked past.

It was the perfect time of year to see mayapples forming under their leaf umbrella.

At one of the paved path intersections there was a cluster of flowers in the pavement.

The Japanese Garden on foot is quite different than staying on the paved areas as the Golf Cart does. We went down stone steps and meandered over stones to cross some water features – saw a Ouachita Map Turtle, a bamboo fence (we learned the previous days that the fences are made from bamboo from the gardens!), and another perspective of the Full Moon bridge.

The oak leave hydrangea and Asian hydrangeas were blooming profusely.

I used my phone for some macro views of the Asian hydrangea flowers.

As we headed back to our car we stopped at the Anthony Chapel….another of the wonderful architectural features of the garden.

I am already thinking about going again to Garvan - earlier in the spring when they have a lot of tulips or in the fall when the leaves will be flying….or maybe in late November or December to see their holiday lights.

Garvan Woodland Gardens (1)

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I’d heard about Garvan Woodland Gardens from one of my neighbors – decided that it was a place to see along with Hot Springs National Park. Out membership in Friends of the Springfield Botanical Gardens provided us with free admission so we visited on both days we were in Hot Springs.

On the first day, we arrived after lunch and noticed the carillon as we walked from the parking lot to the welcome center.

It had rained earlier in the day and the humidity was very high. We opted to take the Golf Cart Tour (which cost us $20 each) – which turned out to be a great way to orient ourselves to the place. Our driver/guide was very informative about the history, maintenance, and highlights of the gardens. Our visit between spring and summer flowers so there were not a lot of blooms…but the trees and the ambiance of the place made the visit worthwhile. I took a few pictures along the tour: pools of water on rocks, a stone bridge, a few flowers, the slope down to the lake, butterfly weed, ferns with horsetails, fairy houses, and the shape of an eye in stone.

Tomorrow’s post will be about our second visit to Garvan Gardens when we revisited our favorite places.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 25, 2024

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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.

Shasta Lake Filles Up Again - After consecutive wet winters in Northern California, Shasta Lake filled up for the second year in a row, in time for summer 2024. The healthy cache of water in back-to-back years was a welcome turnaround from drought conditions and low lake levels in 2019–2022.

The chemistry of hydrangea colors – This works for the Asian hydrangeas….not the North American natives (oak leaf and wood hydrangeas).

Are there long-terms health risks to using Botox? - Botox is the most common cosmetic procedure performed worldwide, with nearly three million injections estimated to take place each year. It works by blocking signals from the nerves that control the facial muscles. The muscles relax, and fine lines and wrinkles disappear. Very little is known about the long-term health effects of taking Botox, as most clinical trials only follow up on patients for six months or so. However, some studies have found that long-lasting cosmetic use of botulinum toxin can trigger permanent changes in facial expression, with persons no longer able to flex their facial muscles.

How a Small Herd of Romanian Bison Is Locking Away Thousands of Tons of Carbon - European bison were reintroduced to the Țarcu Mountains, at the southern end of the Carpathian range, in 2014. Now numbering 170, the bison are reshaping the mountain landscape in ways that are helping clean up emissions: the Țarcu grasslands are capturing roughly 10 times as much carbon as they were before bison were reintroduced.

Preserving The Thermal Springs And Bathhouses Of Hot Springs, Arkansas – This post from National Parks Traveler came out while my daughter and I were in Hot Springs. I saw it after I got home.

How Can You Stop a Disease-Carrying Mosquito? – Hawaiian honeycreepers are dying of avian malaria spread by mosquitos. Now there is a project that is releasing male mosquitoes (they don’t bite and don’t spread diseases, females are the ones that bite/feed on blood) that causes breeding to fail – thus causing the mosquito population to crash. Even if this is successful, there is more to do for the birds to thrive: forest restoration, keeping weeds out, eliminating invasive pigs, some captive breeding of the birds.

Blood pressure drugs more than double bone-fracture risk in nursing home patients - The medications tend to impair balance, particularly when patients first stand up and temporarily experience low blood pressure that deprives the brain of oxygen. Interactions with other drugs and low baseline balance in many nursing home patients compound the problem. A combination of less medication and better support could significantly reduce the problem.

Hurricanes, heatwaves and rising seas: The impacts of record ocean heat - Every day since late March 2023, global ocean surface temperatures have set new records for the hottest temperature ever recorded on that date….and the repercussions are already beginning.

Fewer Than 100 Cigar Orchids Found In Big Cypress National Preserve - A months long search for rare cigar orchids in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida has turned up 85 of the plants the state of Florida considers endangered. No plant had produced any fruit in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Lead Pipes Make Up Nearly One Tenth of US Water Service Lines - Improvements to the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule proposed in late 2023 could finally require water systems to provide accurate information and enforce the replacement of lead pipes. However, a proposed exemption would give cities like Chicago an extension, letting them take multiple decades to replace infrastructure.

Korean Art History eBooks

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Internet Archive had 14 of the 15 volumes of the Chōsen koseki zufu – published beginning in 1915 in Japanese and full of illustrations of Korean antiquities. It was the result of the Japanese work to systemically organize and investigate cultural assets and sites throughout the Korean Peninsula after they annexed the country in 1910.

Most of what I know about Korea is in the context of the Korean War of the 1950s and, more recently, the products from South Korea that are exported to the U.S. These books enlarged my understanding of the deep history of the country via the pictures (although I probably would have gotten even more from the books if I could read Japanese!). I have selected a sample image from each volume…but there are many more in the books…well worth the time to browse.

Volume I. Sites of excavations, pottery, bronzes, inscription on stone, ancient metallic mirrors, etc. Chōsen koseki zufu V1

Volume II. Continuation of first volume, frescoes and other details of paintings from the tombs. Chōsen koseki zufu V2

 Volume III. Photographs and plans of sites excavated details of sculpture, beads, smaller bronzes etc. Chōsen koseki zufu V3

 Volume IV. Antiquities of the Silla period in Korea. Chōsen koseki zufu V4

 Volume V. Continuation of Volume IV (not on Internet Archive)

Volume VI. Antiquities of Koryo period. Chōsen koseki zufu V6

 Volume VII. Continuation of Volume VI. Chōsen koseki zufu V7

 Volume VIII. Pottery. Chōsen koseki zufu V8

 Volume IX. Metallic mirrors, bronzes, jewelry, household utensils. Chōsen koseki zufu V9

 Volume X. Temple architecture, including some details of decoration. Chōsen koseki zufu V10

 Volume XI. Continuation of preceding volume, sculpture. 1951. Chōsen koseki zufu V11

Volume XII. Temple architecture. Chōsen koseki zufu V12

 Volume XIII. Temple architecture. 1933. Chōsen koseki zufu V13

 Volume XIV. Painting. 1934. Chōsen koseki zufu V14

 Volume XV. Pottery. 1935 Chōsen koseki zufu V15

Hike to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower

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The morning was cool – a good time to start an uphill hike. My daughter and I had a hearty breakfast at the hotel and headed toward the visitor center at Hot Springs National Park, following the signs to the parking garage near the visitor center (the Fordyce Bathhouse). We walked uphill to the back of the bathhouses and along the Grand Promenade seeing steam coming from some open hot springs.

I had loaded the NPS app on my phone and was looking for the Peak Trail what would take us to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. We missed the trail’s connection to the Grand Promenade (signage was not good) but headed uphill and eventually connected with it.

There were quite a few burned trees along the way. Some looked like they had burned from within…others simply scorched on the outside. I read that the park service does controlled burns on the mountain to reduce the risk of wildfire. Were the ones that looked like they were burned from the inside caused my lightning?

The tower is at the top of the mountain. We took the elevator up (they don’t use the stairs except for emergencies) and walked around the two levels seeing how parts of the town emerge from trees, while much of the area continues to be forest (or at least appears to be forest). There was smoke from two fires in the distance….hopefully controlled burns.

On the way down I took time to notice more than the burned trees – lichen and moss decorated with pine needles and a branch ripped from a tree during a storm.  The lichen and moss reflect the aspect of the forest that develops over time…the branch an example of a change that can happen very quickly.

I appreciated the downhill hike back to Bathhouse Row…and was glad our next activity would be lunch! The hike resulted in my Garmin detecting about 100 intensity minutes.