Museum of Osteology…then Ducks

/

The Museum of Osteology is another museum my daughter and I visited on July 4th. It is a short drive from the First American’s Museum in Oklahoma City. It is a small museum with lots of skeletons; I was glad we were there when it wasn’t crowded. I found myself doing comparisons – which animals have the more neck vertebrae (hint: it isn’t the giraffe) and which animals walk on their toes. There was a whale skeleton mounted from the ceiling that brought back memories of the one in the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. There was a case of cat skulls whose health problems manifested in their bones and sclerotic rings of owls that prevent their eyes from moving within the socket. I didn’t see any bird skeletons with spurs although I don’t thing the collect included a peacock skeleton.  I also noticed that the skull of a gila monster has bumps that seemed to match the bumps of its skin!

After the Osteology Museum we headed to Norman to check in to our hotel then to Brandt Park where my daughter had seen a lot of ducks during a previous visit. There were more ducks that she remembered and almost all of them seemed to rush toward us when we got there! There were a lot of juvenile ducks and maybe they thought we were bringing food?

There was a white domesticated duck – and one that might have been a daughter of that duck.

There was one female with a juvenile that looked a lot smaller than the other young ducks and the female seemed very attentive: maybe the last of a late brood?

We headed back toward Oklahoma City to visit the memorial there when it began to sprinkle in Norman. The clouds were very thick. With my daughter driving, I was free to photograph the sun just barely showing from the edge of the cloud layer.

First Americans Museum

/

My daughter and I visited the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City at midday on July 4th. It was a hot day, but I walked around the circular courtyard outside the entrance. I took pictures of the front and back of each of the columns on the outer rim of the courtyard – fire and water are the ones I picked to show below. I realized it was too hot to do much else outside. I’ll come back sometime when it is cooler to find out more about the mound.

The restaurant was not open (although we did pick up some recipe cards at the door); we had lunch at the café….at tasty turkey with cranberries and greens wrap and cheesecake. There is a building with a sun symbol on the side…lots of construction in the area…it will be changing a lot in the next few years as projects are completed.

Beginning our stroll through the exhibits…I enjoyed different media and the messages of tragedies…and survival…of the cultural heritage that emerges in modern form.

The film of creation stories for the tribes that were in the pre-Colonial area that is now Oklahoma was particularly well done. I took some quick pictures with my phone.

There are images on the walls that are memorable. The first one has a lot of detail (click on the image below to see a larger version) including a silhouette of a space shuttle! The second one is a repetitive motif that is used on items like key chains and mugs and glasses in the shop. I bought a mug because I liked the motif so much!

There is much to learn in this museum that is sobering and sad…but also uplifting. It is worth visiting more than once.

Then and Now – Strategies for Reducing Food Costs

/

Many of the strategies for minimizing food costs my mother applied in the 1960s are still applicable today. The goal is to get the best nutritional value for your expenditure….and waste nothing.

  • Minimize out-to-eat meals. It always costs more to eat in a restaurant – even a fast-food place. In the 1960s there were not as many options as we have now; takeout and delivery of prepared food was not as common. My mother made our hamburgers at home; I didn’t have a ‘fast food’ version until I was a teenager. I remember getting grilled cheese sandwiches and a cherry limeade at the drug store…but not frequently. We took picnics when we made road trips to see our grandparents. I eat out more now than I did for most of my growing up years…although not as much as I did during my career. One way to reduce the bill at a restaurant it to drink water with your meal. Another is to eat half your meal…have the rest for another meal (i.e. spread the cost to 2 meals rather than 1). I try to avoid the poor nutrition options that seem dominate many fast-food chain menus.

  • Plan meals in advance. My mother wrote out her menus for a week or two at a time; I remember them on legal sized paper posted on the refrigerator. I don’t write menus now, but I do know what I have ingredients to make. I usually give my husband a choice for our big meal of the day each morning since he is harder to please than I am.  The focus is on nutrition – enough protein and other nutrients – and avoiding high sugar/fat, ultra-processed foods.

  • Have ‘backup’ meals in the pantry or freezer. My mother always had a well-stocked panty – canned goods (soups, vegetables, fruits, and meats (chicken, tuna, salmon)), nuts, potatoes, onions, peanut butter, bread. These days we eat fewer canned vegetables/fruits – skew toward frozen versions which I can buy in larger packages than fresh since they will last long enough for us to eat the whole package. My mother bought larger packages of raw meat and froze the part that she wasn’t using immediately. I still do that.

  • Scrutinize protein sources and amount. Meats are an expensive item. My mother was a fan of eggs as a protein source; eggs are easy to prepare and they are the least expensive source of protein that we all liked – and not just for breakfast; she didn’t serve them daily…but it was close. I don’t eat eggs as often now (and I have added frittatas and quiche to the way I prepare them), but they are still a relatively low cost source of protein. We generally only have meat once a day and utilize other lower cost sources to add up our daily protein requirement for example, peanut butter, milk, eggs, mushrooms, beans, nuts, bread (not the ultra-processed variety), protein drink/powder.

  • Go to the grocery store with a list…and only buy what is on the list. You want to buy what you need when you shop, avoid another trip to the store for something that was forgotten. In addition to the expense, the spur-of-the-moment purchases are often not healthy choices. It was a special occasion when my mother bought chips or popsicles or oreos or soft drinks or chocolate bars….and I shop the same way now. The strategy is to avoid all ultra-processed foods most of the time.  They may seem inexpensive…but they often have no nutritional value; from your body’s standpoint they are a hinderance rather than a benefit.

  • Leftovers. My mother always used leftovers (i.e. no food waste); they were usually small amounts so we would have a ‘cafeteria day’ and clean out the refrigerator. Sometimes she would combine or add new ingredients to achieve the nutritional value needed for a meal. We do the same now. Nothing goes bad in our refrigerator!

There is a new way I reduce my grocery bill now that didn’t exist in the 1960s: I shop for myself…don’t pay extra for someone else to do shopping or deliver it. I did during the height of COVID-19, but that was a special situation.

Previous Then and Now posts

Fireworks on July 4th

/

My daughter and I were traveling on July 4th. Our original plan had been to enjoy the fireworks in a park in Norman, Oklahoma but it started raining around 6 PM and it didn’t look like the rain would clear until much later; the program was going to be delayed, at least.  

The radar indicated that it wasn’t raining in Oklahoma City so after dinner we headed into the city to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial at the site of 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. The museum was closed…we went to see the grounds: the 168 empty chairs representing the people that perished (small chairs for the children), the reflecting pool, the gates of time (the peace before the blast at 9:01 and 9:03 the first second of recovery), the Survivor Tree (an American Elm), and tiles made by children…sent to Oklahoma City after the bombing. The sun was getting closer to the horizon and it began sprinkling as we were getting ready to leave. It was a poignant place…flags had been placed by each chair in celebration of the 4th of July.

As we drove back to Norman, there was harder rain, lots of lightning. We began to wonder if the lightning would cause the city to cancel the events that were planned in the park. It was very dramatic – cloud to ground and cloud to cloud. We were glad to get back to the hotel.

We enjoyed the lightning show from our hotel window. The rain tapered off, but the lightning continued…with almost no thunder. We started to see some fireworks – not professional shows but clearly people that had planned their own fireworks event. Looking at the map – we expected to see the fireworks in the park at some point but the time it was schedule came and went. Lightning was still lighting up the sky. We decided that the show must have been canceled. About 5 minutes later we heard a barrage of fireworks sounds…we looked out the window again and it was obviously the fireworks in the park – high, loud, a steady stream of bursts for at least 15 minutes! I took pictures through hotel window. Toward the end, it was obvious that there were a lot of smoke in the air from the fireworks…they began to look like science fiction images of explosions inside a nebula.

I’m seeing more stories about how environmentally unfriendly fireworks can be…impacting air quality and then the remnants of the explosions (some toxic) drifting down over a wide area. And many pets are panicked by the sounds of fireworks. Evidently some places are moving toward drone light shows rather than fireworks. Maybe I’ll find one of those shows next year. I appreciate the effort Norman, Oklahoma put in for their event this year…even though I ended up observing it from my hotel window!

Library Adventures – June 2024

/

My most frequent interactions with my local library are digital…checking out Kindle books. In June, there were 3 interactions that were not digital at all!

The first one was volunteering at one of the branches with the Friends group used book sale. It was a smaller branch and was only a one-day event. I helped with the set-up the day before and then with the first hours of the $3/bag sale. There were quite a few people that stopped by and left with 1 or more bags of books and the Friends netted $295 from the day. My favorite was an elementary school aged boy that came in with his mom and picked out two bags of books; he was very pleased with his haul and shared that he might share some of them with his older brother.

The second interaction was an art class that was announced in the monthly library newsletter. It was free…held in the early evening…2 one-hour sessions over 2 weeks. It was scheduled in the branch library closest to where I live. I signed up. We made a color wheel the first session and then did shades of the same color (by adding white) on the same small canvas in the second.

I took a picture of the plate I used to mix the paint for the shades of ‘red’ in the second class.

The next day I made Zentangle patterns over the white space of the canvas (and into some of the painted areas as well).

The class was a good learning experience. 1) It was my first experience with acrylic paints…and I realized that I enjoy the pens and Zentangle too much to make time for paints! 2) Canvases are not smooth enough for pens. I used a Sharpie Ultra-Fine pen and it was hard to control the tip of the pen over the bumps of the canvas fibers.  3) A free class is a low-risk way to try something new!

The third interaction occurred when we had a form that required notarized signatures. My husband found out that the library had a notary so we took our form there and indeed the person at the desk was a notary – it was very easy!

 Positive interactions at the library….it’s more than just a place to check out books!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 6, 2024

/

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.

Extended maternal care central factor to human other animal, longevity – In species where offspring survival depends on the longer-term presence of the mother, the species tends to evolve longer lives and a slower life pace, which is characterized by how long an animal lives and how often it reproduces.

The 'gene deserts' unravelling the mysteries of disease - Less than 2% percent of the human genome is dedicated to coding for genes which produce proteins, while much of the remaining 98% has no obvious meaning or purpose. But scientists are slowly managing to accrue information about the ‘gene deserts’ apparent purpose and why they exist.

These Stunning Butterflies Flew 2,600 Miles Across the Atlantic Ocean Without Stopping – Painted Lady butterflies spotted in French Guiana where they are not usually found. Sequencing the butterflies’ genome revealed that they were related to African and European painted ladies – not North American. And looking at weather data revealed that wind conditions in the weeks prior to the sighting were favorable for the butterflies moving from Africa to South America.

Simple test for flu could improve diagnosis and surveillance - Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested, in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment. The current version of new test is a low-cost paper strip that distinguishes between influenza A and B and subtypes H1N1 and H3N2. It works at room temperature…takes about 90 minutes. They are working to reduce the time to 15 minutes.

To Save the Red Knots, Look to Blue Carbon – Red Knots migrate over 9,000 miles to the Arctic to breed. Along the way they stop for meals of mussels and clams in coastal areas. This post highlights 6 projects from around the world that are restoring those area…for the red knots and the health of the planet.

Photography In the National Parks: Two Cave Parks Above and Below – Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. Full of ideas for photographing inside caves and above them! My first thought was to see if there is a trail that goes over the top of Sequiota Cave and Spring near Springfield MO (we did a boat tour of the cave last spring).

Surprising phosphate finding in NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample – Remembering when we went to the launch of the mission in September 2016.

Swift Parrots and the Heartbreak of Rare Species – Endangered Australian parrots…with only an estimated 500 birds left in the wild. “We conservationists bear witness to so much loss: of species, ecosystems, and the places we know and love. Often, it feels like we’re watching extinction in real time, powerless to stop it. But there is value in staring these losses in the face. Value in bearing witness to a rare parrot with an uncertain future, knowing full well I might mourn its extinction in a few years time. If the worst happens, at least I will have cherished it while it was here.”

A Big Picture of the US Housing Market - High interest rates, supply constraints and growth in home insurance premiums (particularly in states like California and Florida) are all driving housing costs. There is some news that’s more positive. Nearly 450,000 new apartments were finished in 2023, the highest rate in about three decades. However, average rents remain above pre-pandemic levels in most markets.

Sheep & Solar: A “Beautiful Symbiotic Relationship” - When solar farms use sheep instead of mowers for vegetation management, they minimize burning fossil fuels, and costs associated with labor are also reduced. Investment costs for a solar farm might include water tanks, troughs, a small water pump to fill the troughs, predator-proof fencing, and dividing into sections for rotational grazing. The sheep eat the tall grass, weeds, and clover, and their chomping inhibits the vegetation from blocking the panels. Their steady consumption of forage on the land prevents grassy plants from growing high enough to block sunlight from reaching the panels, maintaining the productivity of the array. Sheep are the most appropriate ruminant species when it comes to vegetation management on solar farms because they are too small to damage the panels when rubbing against them, and they are not predisposed to chewing on wires or jumping on the panels.

eBotanical Prints – June 2024

/

Twenty more books were added to my botanical print book collection in June - available for browsing on Internet Archive (and the new-to-me New York Public Library Digital Collection where I found Pomona Britannica). The whole list of 2,903 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.

So many botanical print books available…and so beautiful. I’ve stopped thinking that I am about to run out of books. It seems likely that finding 20 that I haven’t seen before to share every month won’t be ending anytime soon.  Enjoy the June 2024 eBotanical Prints!

Wildflowers * Blanchan, Neltje; Dickinson, Asa Don (adaptor) * sample image * 1926

Pomona Britannica * Brooksaw, George * sample image * 1812

Annales d'horticulture et de botanique V1 * Socit royal d'horticulture des Pays-Bas * sample image * 1858

Annales d'horticulture et de botanique V5 * Socit royal d'horticulture des Pays-Bas * sample image * 1862

Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand V1, 1845 * Morren, Charles (editor) * sample image * 1845

Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand V2, 1846 * Morren, Charles (editor) * sample image * 1846

Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand V3, 1847 * Morren, Charles (editor) * sample image * 1847

Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand V4, 1848 * Morren, Charles (editor) * sample image * 1848

Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand V5, 1849 * Morren, Charles (editor) * sample image * 1849

Fuchsia * Morren, Charles; Fusch, Remaclus * sample image * 1850

Lobelia * Morren, Charles * sample image * 1851

Pear Growing in California * Weldon, George Percival * sample image * 1918

Icones plantarum novarum vel imperfecte cognitarum floram Rossicam V 1-2 * Ledebour, Carl Friedrich von * sample image * 1830

Icones plantarum novarum vel imperfecte cognitarum floram Rossicam V 3-4 * Ledebour, Carl Friedrich von * sample image * 1833

Icones plantarum novarum vel imperfecte cognitarum floram Rossicam V 5 * Ledebour, Carl Friedrich von * sample image * 1834

Icones Plantarum V1 * Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1837

Icones Plantarum V2 * Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1837

Icones Plantarum V3 * Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1840

Icones Plantarum V6 * Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1843

Icones Plantarum V30 * Hooker, Joseph Dalton; Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1913

Green Heron in the Neighborhood

/

The forecast said the day was going to be very hot and humid…so I was out taking my daily walk at 7 AM. As I neared the first pond – a bird flew out of the shallows and land at the other end of the pond. I managed to use the zoom on my camera to see what it was: a green heron. It was standing up tall making it a little easier to spot. It is surprising how well their coloring blends into the environment.

They are occasional visitors to our neighborhood ponds. There is not enough habitat here for them to be residents. This time the bird was looking for breakfast. It stalked down through the grass to the edge of the pond – eventually sitting   at the edge of the water. The morning light was excellent for photography.

A grackle flew down nearby for a drink.

I was walking slowly closer to the heron…although across the pond from its location. The grackle startled it enough for it to move along the bank and then up into the grass again….before it flew away.

Balloon Glow – June 2024

/

Last June, my husband and daughter attended the annual Balloon Glow in Ozark, MO’s Finley Park while I was in Dallas; they sent me pictures  and I wrote about the vicarious experience….also realized that I wanted to attend the event this year. This year it was sunny rather than thunder storming before the event. It was hot a muggy. That did not deter the crowds at all. We parked in overflow parking and got to the the field where the balloons were going to be inflated shortly before dusk. Our timing was near perfect. The teams were just starting to fill the ballons with hot air. The first one to come upright was an old-fashioned one with gold swags on the side. Others quickly followed.

We took a break to buy lemonade and snow cones. We walked around the roped off perimeter surrounding the balloons to see different vantage points. As it got darker, the periodic burn of the heaters lit up the ballons and made percussion type noises. It was a dramatic and beautiful summer event.

I was drinking the ice melt from my large lemonade but still felt dehydrated when I got home. I took a picture of the moon that was almost in the treetops ….and then focused on rehydrating before bedtime!

Zentangle® – June 2024

/

I created 74 tiles in June…and chose 30 to feature in this post. I did less traveling in June; all of these were made in Dallas or my home near Springfield MO. At my home they were made at my computer table rather than in a glide with a clipboard to support the tile as I had been doing in previous months; for some reason, being at the computer table was easier on my back!

Backgrounds were still the theme when I started many tiles. There were a few that carried over the three-hash-line fill from May.

But the majority used what I think of as ‘screen’ fill. Many of the tiles were created on cardboard cut from separators in cat food boxes.

There were also a few that used circle shapes to fill the background. That might be the one I will continue into June.

And the remaining tiles – where the background was not a factor. My favorite was the blue and green inked square…full of the paradox pattern.

--

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.

Then and Now – Pattern of Days

/

During my growing up years in the 1960s, my days were largely determined by school – at least during the school year. Now, there is nothing equivalent to that structure. The lack of externally caused structure now is somewhat like the summer days when school was not in session - when I had more self-determination of how I would spend my time.

I have always been a morning person although I get up earlier now  than I did in the 1960s (5ish rather than 6ish). By the mid-60s I chose to shower in the morning rather than take a bath at night. I was the one that got the paper from the front porch and read the parts I wanted before anyone else. My family had breakfast together and it was never the same two days in a row. These days I still shower in the morning and browse through news feeds in my office on two screens while I have a light ‘1st breakfast’ – something with caffeine and some supplements. By 8ish I am ready for something more substantial. Right now, peanut butter on toast is the dominant ‘2nd breakfast.’

I spend the morning in my office now and there is quite a similarity to things I did in the 1960s – reading and writing and art and science and PE. The difference now is I control how much time I spend walking (PE), native plant gardening (science), Zentangle tiles (art), or volunteering…and how much a computer or a phone is part of almost every activity now. At least once a week, I mow my yard during the growing season (battery powered); there is no corollary to that in the 1960s although I remember a few times that I helped use the riding lawn mower (gas powered) to mow my parents’ yard. Another day, I shop for groceries; I always had list just as my mother did (even though mine is electronic and hers was on a piece of paper) and am generally more successful than she was at only going to the store once a week!

Lunch is the largest meal of the day for me now and it is about 1 PM; I plan the menus and do most of the cooking while my husband cleans up afterward. We often watch news or a series on television while we eat sitting in comfy chairs. In the 1960s I either ate in the school cafeteria or took a lunch from home during the school year; lunchtime happened between 11:30 to 12:30 depending on the schedule for the school. In the summer, the schedule was roughly the same at home; often we helped prepare part of the meal with my mother….and had part of the cleanup job too. We ate at a table at school and at home.

After lunch, is more of the same….both in the 1960s and now. Overall – I determine more what I do than in the 1960s. I sign up for classes I am interested in rather than keep to a curriculum like I did in the public schools of the 1960s. Some of my classes cost something rather than being free but I often benefit from discounts because of my age.

In the 1960s, the evening meal was between 5:30 and 6 PM and was the same or larger than the mid-day meal. In general, homework was completed before that. My mother limited our television viewing to an hour a day or less. The evening was family time. Now –  our evening meals are always lighter than our lunches – a smoothie being my preference for summertime evenings; it is the time of day when family phone conversations usually happen.

The pattern of days is the baseline, but a lot happens that is outside the routine of the pattern. Some are similar between the 1960s and now: road trips to visit family, seasonal events like Christmas lights, local events like fairs and festivals, and out-of-town family members visiting us. I thought I was busy in the 1960s, but when I look at what I get done now, it seems that I accomplish more!

Previous Then and Now posts

Zooming – June 2024

/

Lots of opportunities to capture images of some of my favorite subjects in June 2024: big cats, birds, butterflies, and (of course) flowers. Some were close to home (Dickerson Park Zoo, Lake Springfield Boathouse) while others were from our two days in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Big cats. The animals are obviously in some kind of enclosure. The cheetah at the Dickerson Park Zoo was photographed from a high deck over the enclosure…maxing out the zoom capability of my camera; it was the only one that did not have a fence between me and the cat! The other three images had the fence challenge; it is most visible in the lion image. It’s always a little unnerving to realize that a tiger, even looking very relaxed, is following me with his eyes!

Birds. I always see birds the best after I get home and look at my images on a big monitor. The optics of the camera allow me to get very close views without being close to the bird! The peacock (head and feet) images were taken at Dickerson Park Zoo and the bluebird and purple martin were near the Lake Springfield Boathouse.

Butterflies. The three butterflies on rocks were taken in the parking area of the Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas Railway. The insects were fluttering around looking for moisture. The butterfly on a flower was in the meadow near the Lake Springfield Boathouse. Butterflies are as challenging to photograph as birds, but it does help to keep a distance. If the insects are on a flower or looking for moisture, they might sit for long enough to capture an image; sometimes a little bit cooler temperatures help too.

Other wildlife. The lizard shedding its skin must have been terrified of the people walking on the boardwalk; it would have felt the vibration. We stood back once we realized it was there…and I got my picture. The same was true of the cicada although it flew to the post (I saw it in the air and followed with my camera already zooming) and then flew again within about 30 seconds.

Flowers. And then there are flowers.  I love to take pictures of flowers filling the frame. I like that using the zoom blurs the background – often to various shades of green. Depending on the light, the background can also go black (the leaf on a vine). My strategy it to capture the ‘as is’ in a way that appeals to me. The blade of grass almost like a pointer to one of the stamens in the day lily image was a bit of serendipity!

As we near the end of the month – I am savoring these zoomed images!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 29, 2024

/

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 Electric Revolution of Gardening Tools is Here – Hurray! We’ve been completely transitioned to battery powered yard tools for a few years now. I wouldn’t be mowing my own yard without our electric mower. Our old gas-powered one was noisy and my throat got scratchy from the fumes. Now I think of mowing the yard as a challenging exercise rather than a negative impact on my hearing and lungs!

US Cities Ranked by Vehicle Miles Traveled – As I read the article, I wondered where Dallas/Fort Worth fit since they were not on the top 10 list. I went to the source cited in the article and found that Dallas/Fort Worth was 19th.  Other Texas cities are high too – San Antonio at 14, Houston at 18 and Austin at 22.

See Frida Kahlo in Her Element in a New York Show of Rare Photographs – There is a picture of her (and Diego) viewing a solar eclipse in 1932 (Detroit)!

The apple detectives hunting for lost varieties - Apple fanatics across the UK are now taking samples from very old apple trees in hopes of learning more about antique varieties, and perhaps making some surprising discoveries. That's because there are apples, documented in 19th-Century books like Robert Hogg and Robert Bull Graves' The Herefordshire Pomona, that have slipped through people's fingers.

In North Macedonia, an Ancient Lake Faces Modern Threats – Lake Ohrid - 19 miles long, nine miles wide and 945 feet deep, teeming with fish, snails, leeches, flatworms, phytoplankton, crustaceans, and more. Of the lake’s roughly 1,200 known native species, 212 of them are endemic, occurring nowhere else. It faces growing threats, including from overfishing, nutrient pollution, invasive species, booming tourism, unregulated building, official neglect, and perhaps the most inexorable challenge of all, global warming.

Rare White Bison Calf Born at Yellowstone National Park - Photographed on June 4, as a group of bison crossed a road with traffic stopped.

A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels - This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds. They haven’t come to the Walmart near me yet…I’ll be looking for them every time I shop there.

A new way to measure aging and disease risk with the protein aggregation clock - Although there are other "clocks" to measure ageing and health, most of them are based on nucleic acids like DNA. A biological clock based on proteins could be a useful complement to these existing clocks, as proteins are among the most abundant molecules in cells and are crucial for all cellular functions. With the help of such a protein aggregation clock, scientists and doctors might move one step closer towards helping people age healthily and preventing age-related diseases.

Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind the microscope – Great illustrations…worth scrolling through.

New metric for blood circulation in brain to better understand dementia - By accurately measuring how pulsatility is transmitted in the brain, researchers can better understand the underlying mechanism of brain conditions (including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia) and potentially guide development of new treatments.

Restoring Ancient Bronzes eBook

/

Henry W. Nichols’ Restoration of ancient bronzes and cure of malignant patina was published in 1930 and documents the process used by Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History to restore ancient Egyptian bronzes (and some from Mesopotamia too) in their collection. They used the Fink electrochemical process which was inaugurated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The author was the curator with a geology and chemistry background responsible for the work on a total of 360 bronzes from 1926 to 1929. The before and after images contained in the book are dramatic. The book is available from Internet Archive.

 Restoration of ancient bronzes and cure of malignant patina

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2024

/

June 2024 ---- the transition to the heat of summer ---- celebrating June days.

Sunflower in the window…following the sun. I cut a sunflower from my wildflower garden and put the vase on the windowsill in my office…and celebrated when that it followed the sun!

Peachicks. I had never seen a peachick before and had walked more than halfway around the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO before I spotted three peachicks with a peahen. Celebration! The young birds already had the beginning of the topknot on their heads but none of the iridescent color.

Corn muffins. Sometimes deciding to make a food remembered from childhood is about celebrating more that the food itself. The dash of cayenne pepper in the batter provided an extra flavor pop.

Mowing the whole yard. My plan at the beginning of the season was to mow the front yard on one day and the back another…but I am doing great mowing both on the same day. I am celebrating that I am physically able to do more than I anticipated!

Blueberries. Picking blueberries was another first this June. I celebrated the experience – and that the orchard is less than 30 minutes from my house.

Breakfast with my daughter. My daughter wanted to try breakfast at a coffee shop she frequents…invited me to meet her there. I celebrated the serendipity of the event (and savored the breakfast  and spending more time with my daughter too).

Hummingbird. I’ve seen a hummingbird buzzing around our yard several times. I celebrate every sighting and am determined to plant some ‘big nectar’ plants for them for next year.

Young robin. I celebrated seeing a small robin – about half the size of the adult feeding it – on our backyard fence. And it could fly!

So many good books. There are so many books available electronically from my local library and Internet Archive that I am never without reading material. I celebrate living at a time when technology makes books so available.

Scissortail flycatchers in the neighborhood. I hadn’t seen scissortail flycatchers in our neighborhood during the two previous summers….so am celebrating seeing a pair of them this month!

Macro Photography – June 2024

/

My yard is full of subjects for macro photography this time of year.

The wildflower garden is in its second season and is very lush after the spring rains…both flowers and insects abound.

The area in our front yard that once hosted a large tree (before we moved here) now has mushrooms after almost every rain. It is surprising how quickly they can develop and then degrade to black goo.

One of the daylilies I planted last under the red maple is blooming this year. Hopefully the plant will propagate to surround the trunk. There are enough buds to appreciate this year from a photographic standpoint.

I’ve let the Virginia Creeper that came up in the front flowerbed cascade over the castle rocks. Mowing the lawn contains it once it is in the grass. I like the foliage now and it will look great in the fall when it turns red.

I’ve found several eggs in the grass and always try a photograph. This one was white. The cracks in the shell around the edges and inside appealed to me. The grass offers a sense of scale.

I took pictures of two small branches blown off by an overnight storm – making a macro image of the part that interested me the most.

The plant by the mailbox is full of buds. Another plant of the same type is near the house, but its buds always get eaten and there are holes in the leaves!

The two ‘hens’ that I bought last year at a farmers’ market have more and more chicks. There were only 3 chicks at the beginning of the season. I count more than 30 chicks in this image when I look at it on a bigger monitor!

I enjoy ‘filling the frame’ with magnified images from my yard!

Lake Springfield Boathouse – May 2024

/

My husband and I enjoy the area near the Lake Springfield Boathouse for its meadow and birds. I forgot about our late May visit until I rediscovered the pictures I took!

The gardens around the boathouse were beginning to bloom and there were gardeners at work while we were there. There is a good stand of milkweed and butterfly weed but I didn’t see any Monarch butterflies.

The Purple Martin houses were full of birds!

Bluebirds were around as well. They are probably utilizing houses in the area, but I saw them near the feeders and nearby trees.

There were a pair of tree swallows on a sign as well. They use the same size house as bluebirds.

The meadow is beginning to bloom but the morning was still cool enough that I didn’t see many insects – a few butterflies and bubble bees.

My husband commented that he missed the meadow we frequented in Maryland that had a path mowed through it – the plants on both sides making it easier to get close to insects for photography. The meadow near the boathouse is one large area: no easy access to the interior.

Then and Now - Progression in Health Issues

/

There are lots of changes in my perception of health between the 1960s and today.

Allergies. Hay fever sneezes were a big part of my life during the growing season in Wichita Falls. TX in the 1960s. I remember learning to swallow pills as a young teenager so I could take over-the-counter medication! Now I almost never need to take anything for allergies. Perhaps better air filtration indoors overcomes the pollen and mold I experience outdoors….and maybe the areas I frequent now are not a challenging for people with hay fever tendencies.

Gastro-intestinal bugs. I remember having short duration ‘stomach flu’ in the 1960s. My mother gave us chipped ice, fizzy liquids or apple juice until we could graduate to saltine crackers and slowly back to other food. It never lasted very long. Strangely enough – I don’t remember any recent instances!

Blisters. I remember getting blisters from my shoes as I was growing up. It was probably because my heals were too narrow for most of my shoes…so the shoe tended to move around somewhat independent of the foot and rubbed when it did. I had a pair of sandals in the late 1960s that rubbed a blister on my big toe that was sustained enough (because I continued to wear the shoes) to create a scar. I guess I learned to buy and/or wear my shoes more effectively because I haven’t had a blister in a very long time.

Sunburns. Sunscreen was not available in the 1960s although I do remember thick white zinc oxide that lifeguards at the pool used on their noses. In general, people talked more of building up a tan early in summer to avoid burns later. Now – of course – sunscreen is very big deal for me…and wearing hats and sun-block shirts.

Cuts and scrapes. I had my share of skinned knees and minor cuts growing up…nothing bad enough to require stitches or an extra Tetanus shot. Some of them produced scars that have faded over time. These days I am more likely to get a paper cut than anything else although I am consciously eliminating as many fall hazards around my house as I can. My last scraped knees happened almost 10 years ago when I tripped over a chunk of asphalt at a star observing gathering in Hawaii (in the dark…the chunk of asphalt did not show up at all) and those scars are relatively new and very white. The response is very similar between the 1960s and now: clean the wound (soap and water), stop the bleeding with pressure, antibiotic ointment, bandage if oozing (otherwise give it air).

Foot/leg cramps. My feet have always been prone to cramps. In the 1960s, the cramps were most frequently arch related but sometimes involved the toes as well. In retrospect, they might have been mostly caused by dehydration. The same happens occasionally now but less frequently in my feet/toes more…in my ankles and calves. If I pay attention to my hydration before bedtime…they usually don’t occur!

Exercise. I remember tennis and softball and playgrounds in the 1960s; we walked to elementary school; hiking was one of the activities with Camp Fire Girls. I didn’t consider myself athletic and I still don’t, but I am more conscious of getting a baseline of ‘steps’ every day and sometimes longer walks as well. Mowing the yard and doing other gardening also counts as exercise for me now. In my current stage of life, exercise is one of the pillars to sustain mobility and health.

Coordination. I was growing fast in the 1960s, struggling to improve my coordination enough to dance or swim, play a musical instrument, or perform the tasks of living. Coordination now involves the challenges of intermittent aches in my back and joints…I move differently to keep from hurting! So far, I haven’t curtailed any activities, but I can envision a time…hopefully years in the future…when that could happen.

There is a contrast between growing up years and the being 70ish – but I also realize that it is not as substantial for me as it is for others. I have been fortunate.

Previous Then and Now posts

Young Robin

/

I was heading out for a quick trip to the grocery store at 6:30 AM earlier this week. Before I got in the car, I walked out of the open garage door since there seemed to be an odd leaf under the dogwood tree beside the driveway. It wasn’t a leaf!

A young robin was in the grass. It stayed very quiet and still – although it did move its head slightly to follow my location. I didn’t get very close….used the magnification available on my camera. The wings didn’t look developed enough for the bird to fly.

When I came back from my errands about an hour later, the young robin was gone. There were no feathers scattered in the area so I think the bird hopped away – hopefully to a secure place.

A quick google search revealed some posts about young robins that left the nest very early and some of them managed to survive because their parents continued to feed them and tried to show them safe places where they can hide close to the ground!

—

A few days later I saw an adult robin feeding a young robin on our fence. The young bird was half the size of the adult but it could fly! I am hoping it was the birds I saw in the grass.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 22, 2024

/

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.

Life in a heat dome: The American West is figuring out how to keep cool – Summer in US cities…strategies to mitigate the hotter temperatures caused by climate change.

Statins for heart disease prevention could be recommended for far fewer Americans if new risk equation is adopted – Not a lot of details in this article although I have suspected for some time that statins were being over-prescribed.

10 States Where the Gas Tax Is Highest – This post prompted me to compare gas taxes in the states I drive through to on my frequent road trips to Dallas (Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas)…and the decision to always buy the tank of gas required in each direction in Oklahoma!

Creating a throw-away culture: How companies ingrained plastics in modern life – Aargh! Despite growing public pressure, companies increased their use of new plastic by 11% between 2018 and 2022!

What happens when you take too much caffeine - When we consume caffeine, it's quickly absorbed into our bloodstream, where it out-competes adenosine by preventing it from connecting to these receptors and doing its job to make us feel tired. This is why consuming caffeine can make us feel more awake and alert. Caffeine can also boost levels of other neurotransmitters like dopamine and adrenaline, which can make you feel more stimulated. Research has associated caffeine consumption with up to a 60% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's. One explanation for this is that caffeine improves blood flow to the brain. While caffeine enters the gut quite quickly, its effects can take hours to wear off. Scientists recommend having your last 'dose' of caffeine eight hours and 48 minutes before you go to bed.

Why do 1 in 10 Americans get eczema? Is it too much salt? - Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic disease that causes dry, itchy skin. It's one of the most common skin conditions, affecting more than 31 million people in the U.S., and one in 10 people will develop it at some point. It has become increasingly common in recent years, especially in industrialized countries, implicating environmental and lifestyle factors like diet.

A fierce battle is being fought in the soil beneath our feet – and the implications for global warming are huge - In some parts of the world, increased CO₂ means tiny bugs in the soil “hold onto” their phosphorus, making less available for trees.

Rock Art Found in This Saudi Arabian Cave Offers ‘Rare Glimpse’ Into Ancient Human Life – Sheep, ibex, and goats on the walls of a lava tube.

Depressive symptoms may hasten memory decline in older people – 16 years of data from 8,268 adults with an average age of 64. This study shows that the relationship between depression and poor memory cuts both ways, with depressive symptoms preceding memory decline and memory decline linked to subsequent depressive symptoms. So – interventions to reduce depressive symptoms might slow memory decline.

D-Day shipwrecks were a WW2 time capsule – now they are home to rich ocean-floor life – 80-year-old wrecks that line the coasts of Britain and France…reclaimed by sea life.