Leonard Leslie Brooke was a leading children’s book illustrator in the early 1900s. This week’s book of the week is his Ring o' Roses published in 1907 and available from Project Gutenberg. There are 4 sample images from the book below. Enjoy!
A lot happened in November…a birding festival and my first visit to my dad’s new memory care place…and then Thanksgiving…so many little celebrations! Here are my top ten for the month:
Laguna Seca. My husband insisted on a photography-oriented field trip and I acquiesced. It was great. I celebrated seeing a coachwhip snake….and lots of cardinals…at close range with great background.
Trekking poles. Hurray for trekking poles! They help me avoid back pain while I am hiking.
Chachalaca. I celebrated seeing the pink neck/check pouch come/go in the one video I took of chachalaca drinking from a water puddle…and listening to the flock for warnings.
Sunset on the mudflat. The last evening of the birding festival we were on a South Padre Island mudflat photographing the sunset. It was a great way to celebrate the winding down of the festival. I will post about it soon.
Bobwhites. We had been expecting to see bobwhites on several of our field trips in the Rio Grande Valley….celebrated when we finally saw them when we were on the last field trip!
Dark chocolate. I am celebrating the season with specialty dark chocolate first thing in the morning!
Aurora. I celebrated my small collection of pictures of the Aurora as seen from the Springfield MO area.
Cooking a big pumpkin. There was one pumpkin left from son-in-law’s pumpkin carving event and I celebrated it multiple times: that the flat side made it an easy fit in my oven to cook whole, that the seeds were large (great for roasting and then used to top salad and soups), and that there was a lot of pulp and I made custard, a cake and a frittata!
Seeing a great blue heron from my hotel window. I celebrated seeing a great blue heron on the pond below my hotel room window when I first opened the drapes on my second day in Dallas. What a great way to start the day!
Thanksgiving at memory care. The memory care facility held a special meal for the residents the Friday before Thanksgiving. My sister and I enjoyed it with my father. He cleaned his plate and enjoyed the live music. It was wonderful to celebrate with him.
It was a very hot afternoon (after our visit to Santa Ana) when we arrived at Bentsen- Rio Grande Valley State Park – about 90 degrees. On the plus side – we saw turkeys before we got to the visitor center!
We opted to take the tram to get an overall view of the park and then get off at the bird feeding station closest to the visitor center. The tram stopped long enough for me to photograph a feeding station dominated by turkeys.
When we got off the tram, the green jays and great-tailed grackles were at the feeder.
A golden-fronted woodpecker was on a post and then a roof.
A great kiskadee was on the same roof striking a vulture-like pose.
I was sitting in a swing and watching the plain chachalacas when I managed a short video which became the highpoint of my Bentsen visit. One of the birds started drinking from a puddle a few feet away from me. It was aware of calls from the other birds in its group….and showed its red bare skin patch!
We walked back toward the visitor center over the canal. Next time we visit, I’ll want to go in the morning!
We visited the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on the third morning of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. The visitor center was not open (it was during the government shutdown), but the restrooms were. I knew the morning was going to include some hiking, so I brought along my trekking poles and they worked great – I got tired, but my back didn’t hurt!
There was a lot to see. The highlights in my photographs were:
Altamira oriole and a nest created by the species
Eastern Pondhawk (dragonfly)
A bee on the ground mimosa - Powderpuff (Mimosa strigillosa)
A preening Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and a preening Great Kiskadee
A Great Egret in the wind
A Green Heron – very hard to find among the plants
A Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Of course there were lots of plants/landscapes to note as well. Somehow a leaf on the ground full of holes looked interesting to me as I rested midway through the hike. Turks cap grows wild at the refuge. There are a lot of legumes in the area…many with thorns! And there is enough moisture for Spanish moss to thrive.
And now for the rest…mostly bird pictures that are mainly for identification…many of the waterbirds were almost out of the range of my camera or there was vegetation between me and the birds. The largest insect was on an awning near the tower.
I used the Deet spray on my lower legs but got bites (mosquito) through my leggings above my knees and on my arms through my sunblock shirt sleeves! Fortunately, they did not itch too much (after I put baking soda water on them); so far, I am not feeling any ill-effects; next time I will be more careful and spray myself more thoroughly.
There are red-crowned parrots and green parakeets in Harlingen TX. They are native to Northeast Mexico and might be to the area just across the Rio Grande River which is where Harlingen is located. Both species have adapted to an urban lifestyle. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival field trip involved getting on a white van in the late after that slowly drove through Harlingen looking for sites the birds routinely come to before dusk.
We went to a Whataburger parking lot first….and the green parakeets showed up to sit on the nearby wires about 5:45 PM! They sat in groups – preening each other.
The red-crowned parrots were more elusive. We heard them in the air before we saw them. The van was parked in a church parking lot. There were a few parrots on a nearby line. I got bored enough to take a picture of a flowerbed with a bird of paradise plant!
Just as we were about to give up at 6:45 PM, a large flock few overhead (very noisy) and many landed on the lines at the end of the parking lot furthest from where we were. We walked down and took a few pictures even though the light was not very good. The sound the flock made was worth the wait!
And that was the end of our second day at the festival….
Anzaldus Park is not far from the National Butterfly Center in Mission TX. It was used as a COVID quarantine area and is sometimes closed by ICE, but when we were at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival it was open and we walked around looking for birds. Our guides that had been there over the years reported that there were not as many bird as before the quarantine/ICE usage years. There was considerable noise from an airboat stuck on a sandbar (trying to get back in the water) and then the boat roaring around in the water after the finally managing to get free); it wasn’t clear if the boat belonged to Border Control or ICE…they appeared to be unfamiliar with their equipment and the area….just out for fun on an air boat.
Common Gallinule
Great Egret
Hybrid Muscovy ducks
Terns (probably Caspian)
Scarlet Tanager
I couldn’t resist a feather photo. I wondered if the feather might have been from a cattle egret.
Soft Shelled turtle
Powderpuff (Mimosa strigillosa) and Mexican Ash (Fraxinus berlandieriana) So far, the Emerald Ash Borer has not attached this species…but it may only be a matter of time.
We got back from the morning field trips in time of a late lunch. I remembered to take pictures of two murals on the façade of the Harlingen Convention Center near where we exited the van!
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.
Spotted Lanternfly Biology and Lifecycle – Missouri is trying to stop them from gaining a foothold in the state….but it will take a lot of vigilance. The invasive insects are already in Illinois and could move into Missouri very easily – particularly as egg masses on vehicles. In the current infestations, spotted lanternfly has shown to have one generation per year consisting of four nymphal stages, an adult stage, and overwintering as egg masses.
Could Non-Invasive Colon Cancer Screening Replace Colonoscopies? – It would be great if these could work….colonoscopies are invasive tests….but, for now, they are the only choice for a reliable screening for colon cancer.
13 Non-Toxic, Plastic Free Electric Kettles for a Healthy Cup – A plastic free electric kettle is on my wish list for this year. It will be used a lot in my office.
Reindeer Hunting Artifacts Emerge from Melting Ice in Norway - Melting ice in Norway has revealed a 1,500-year-old reindeer trap, preserved beneath centuries of snow and ice layers. Archaeologists uncovered wooden mass-capture fences, marked antlers, weapons, and a unique decorated oar from the site this year.
Why are thyroid cancer cases increasing across the world? - We're likely observing a multifactorial phenomenon that includes environmental, metabolic, dietary and hormonal influences, possibly interacting with underlying genetic susceptibility.
A Bird in Mourning Wins the 2025 European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – Great photos!
Anxiety is one of the world’s most common health issues. How have treatments evolved over the last 70 years? – I was surprised that no new drugs have been approved since 2004. While existing treatments can be very effective for some people — in fact, life-changing for some — we still have some way to go to develop effective treatments for everyone who struggles with an anxiety disorder, and ensure these treatments are available to them.
What a baby's first poo can tell you about their future health - T he Baby Biome study, which aims to understand how a baby's gut microbiome – the trillions of microbes living in their digestive tract – affect their future health. Babies born vaginally seem to inherit most of their bacteria from their mother's digestive tract; babies born via C-section had more bacteria associated with hospital environments.
From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste - Russian bombardments have generated more than a billion tons of debris across Ukraine since 2022. Now, local and international efforts are meticulously sorting the bricks, concrete, metal, and wood, preparing these materials for a second life in new buildings and roads.
Our Plan to Restore the Gulf Coast for People and Wildlife - America’s Gulf Coast stretches over 1,700 miles and is home to 15,000 species of fish and wildlife, making it one of the most biodiverse areas in the country. It’s also one of the fastest-growing—the counties that border the Gulf are home to approximately 65 million people. Despite the challenges, including federal funding cuts to states, shifting political priorities and increasingly destructive storms and flooding, the National Wildlife Federation remains optimistic about what we can achieve in the next five years and the decades to come.
Paul du Chaillu was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s for his reports from central Africa; he was the first modern European to confirm the existence of gorillas and the Pygmy people. He collected type specimens for species of bushbaby, bat, squirrel and 39 birds! This week’s eBook is one he published later in his life (in 1900) drawing on his African experiences. The illustrations are done by C.R. Knight and J.M. Gleeson.
Our second morning at the Rio Grand Valley Birding Festival started with a walk around the National Butterfly Center in Mission TX. It was a pleasant morning for a walk round the place. My husband and I stopped by the last time we went to festival in 2017, but it was a rainy and cold day….so we didn’t go past the visitor center! This time it was a beautiful sunny day, and we enjoyed walking around the space behind the visitor center with our guides. At one time there was a lot of anxiety that the border wall would cut through the center…but evidently the land for the center was preserved and there is still a lot to see there.
I saw a lot more than I was able to photograph! It was an interesting walk. I started with some plants near the entrance.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Spiny lizards
Neotropic Cormorants in flight
Northern Mockingbird
Green Jay (including an interaction with red-winged blackbird)
Bronzed Cowbird
Plain Chachalaca
Great-tailed grackle (including a picture that makes it easy to see the size difference between the grackle and the chachalaca)
White-winged Dove
Black-crested Titmouse
Inca Dove
Hummingbird
Queen butterflies
A rescued tortoise (not native…shell damaged by a fire)
Logs with beer, banana, brown sugar mix painted on daily) that attract insects
Olive sparrow (I saw several during the festival but these were the only photos!)
Nest of an Altamira/Audubon oriole hybrid
An adult and juvenile white ibis flying
By the end of the walk, I was ready for a rest on the bus while we headed to another birding hotspot.
Our first afternoon at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was spent at the Laguna Seca Ranch doing songbird photography from a blind. We met our guide at a Love’s near the ranch and caravaned on better roads to get there and through the gate. We stopped at an area for facilities and to sign in…then went to the area where a blind was set up. There were folding chairs and we all had a space to look through the curtains at a small pool with enhancements to make more interesting photographs: logs, freshly cut branches with green leaves, a tree near the pool, a branch rigged to drip water into the pool from a few feet above the surface. The guide spread nut butter on the logs (out of direct line of sight). I used my Canon Powershot SX70-HS (bridge) and my monopod.
The first picture I took was while the guide was putting out the nut butter – a dragonfly on a nearby branch. It was pink! I think it was a Roseate Skimmer.
A green jay made an appearance.
And then there was a coach whip snake that came for a drink. I made a short video.
Over the course of the next few hours, I took a lot of northern cardinal pictures.
The queen butterflies frequently enjoyed the mud at the edge of the pool.
The pyrrhuloxia were around as well but not as numerous as the cardinals.
A couple of female red winged blackbirds stopped for a drink.
The black-crested titmouse was a new bird for me. They are only found in far south Texas. Hybrids of this bird and the tufted titmouse (the one I see in Missouri) are found in the San Antonio area.
The golden-fronted woodpecker thoroughly inspected the branch that was rigged to drop water into the pool!
Just as we were losing the good light on the pool, a couple of crested caracaras arrived. It was a good finale for our time at Laguna Seca.
After our Rio Grande Pontoon adventure, we boarded our bus to head toward Quinta Mazatlán, a park that is a birding hotspot in McAllen TX. The park is expanding and there is construction associated with that; a car had to be moved to allow our bus to pass through the reduced parking lot!
The only bird photograph I took was an Inca Dove high in a tree!
There were insects – a praying mantis, a moth, a butterfly.
The pods of Texas Ebony…palm fans…trees blooming in November – looking at plants we don’t have in Missouri.
Lichen looks about the same everywhere!
Looking back at my pictures – or lack of pictures – I realized I must have been tired and just focusing on keeping up with the group!
Next time we are in the area, Quinta Mazatlán might be I place I would like to go on our own…taking our time to see things and looking at the restored adobe hacienda that is there. The expansion should be finished by then!
The first morning of the festival was an early one; we were at the Harlingen Convention Center by 6 AM to board the bus that would take us through the border fencing to the dock where we would board a pontoon boat. I took a few pictures of the plants growing at the edge of the parking lot as the guides talked about the trip and what we would likely see.
The boat was large enough to provide space for everyone plus our gear. There was a lot to see during the whole trip. The birds that I managed to photograph and that are in the slideshow below are:
American Coot
Caspian tern
Ducks (hybrids)
Egrets: Snowy, Reddish, Great
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker
Great Kiskadee
Herons: Great Blue, Tricolored, Yellow-crowned Night
Kingfishers: Green, Ringed
Osprey
Pied-billed grebe
Roseate Spoonbill
The river was clean – almost no trash. There were some houses on both sides and parks. A small group of people were picking up trash along the river in a park on the Mexican side; they must do it frequently enough that there isn’t a lot of trash to pick up. Border control was evident on the US side. It was a quite weekday morning on the river…great for birding.
We spent the first week of November at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival headquartered at the Harlingen (Texas) Convention Center. We had enjoyed the festival back in 2017; in the intervening years we moved from Maryland to Missouri and opted to drive rather than fly this year. My husband did the driving.
The fall foliage as we started out was at its peak…but muted because of our dry summer.
The segment of our trip through Dallas was, as anticipated, the worst part of the drive. We were going through in the early afternoon on the way down.
On the way back, there was a decorative mosaic in one rest stop south of San Antonio
And a window reminiscent of a water wheel in another.
We drove through Dallas about 9:30 AM. The traffic is never ‘good’ going through Dallas.
The railroad bridge over the Red River and the Jersey wall makes it hard to see much of the river from the bridge. It didn’t look as ‘red’ as usual – or maybe it was just the light.
In Oklahoma, there was a little fall color, and I managed to take a picture of the art along Interstate 44 in Tulsa. The hill with sparse trees along the turnpike not far from the border with Missouri always draws my attention; it is a natural hill or something that was constructed?
Most of the fall color was past peak in Missouri – too late to collect any new leaves to preserve for my tree presentations.
More posts about the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in upcoming days…
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.
Inflammation Starts Long Before the Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis - Millions of people around the world suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder that causes debilitating joint swelling and pain. New research reveals more early biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis which may lead to ways to prevent, rather than treat, the disease.
Bottled Water is a Major Source of Microplastics - Nano- and microplastics have been linked in studies to inflammation, immune dysregulation, cardiac events, and metabolic disruptions. Though human data are still emerging, evidence also suggests a connection to respiratory disease, reproductive issues, and even neurotoxicity.
Traces of Opium Detected on Egyptian Alabastron - Traces of opium have been detected in an ancient Egyptian alabaster vase held in Yale University’s Peabody Museum. It had been previously suggested that such vases held perfumes or cosmetics for royal elites.
Gum disease may quietly damage the brain - Researchers observed that participants with gum disease had significantly more white matter hyperintensities, even after accounting for other risk factors. The findings hint that chronic oral inflammation could subtly impact the brain, especially in older adults.
6 Best Non-Toxic Lunch Boxes That Don’t Shed Microplastics – I am using my glass left-over containers….but I don’t need to carry my lunch every day!
How Air Pollution is Aging People Faster - Long considered mainly a threat to the lungs and heart, air pollution is now emerging as a driver of biological aging at the molecular level. With air pollution’s role in accelerating aging, researchers are exploring interventions ranging from reducing emissions to using protective measures. Alongside identifying the effects of different pollutants, scientists are now investigating the biological mechanisms through which air pollution accelerates aging.
Domestic Solar Manufacturing Booms During Trump Administration with Entire Solar Supply Chain Reshored - New data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows that the entire solar supply chain has been reshored and U.S. manufacturing capacity has grown across every segment of the solar and storage supply chain. With the news of Hemlock’s new ingot and wafer facility coming online in Q3, the United States now has the capacity to produce every major component of the solar supply chain.
Covid 2020: Where cruise ships went to die - Aliağa Ship Breaking Yard in Turkey is the fourth-largest facility in the world for breaking down large ships, and as the effect of cancelled cruises began to bite, it's where many of the cruise companies sent their huge ships to die.
China Has Added Forest the Size of Texas Since 1990 - In many wealthy nations — the U.S., Canada, Russia, and much of Europe — forests are making a comeback, according to the U.N. assessment. As India and China become more developed, they too are seeing forests return. Even as fires and drought destroy some forest, on balance, these countries are adding trees. Over the last three and a half decades China has planted roughly 120 million acres of forest, according to U.N. figures, much of it added to contain the spread of deserts.
How Do Cadaver Dogs Recognize Human Remains? - Someday scientists will understand how cadaver-associated molecules bind to receptors in dog noses and how this binding, in turn, affects the molecules’ structure and chemistry. Knowing the exact stimuli that cadaver dogs pick up may also advance researchers’ efforts in building “electronic noses.” These chemical sensors are not meant to replace cadaver dogs but rather as stand-ins that could go to places that are inaccessible or too dangerous for dogs.
Internet Archive has digitized versions of many Life Magazines. I have been browsing through them – slowly since there was an issue for each week. As I looked at the issues from 1943, the ads that almost always have a linkage to the war stand out. Every issue had one or more articles about the war too. The magazine depicted a country pulling hard to support the military and the war effort.
The aurora was visible from the Springfield MO area this past Tuesday! My husband said that he couldn’t see it when he walked outside at our house in Nixa – but his phone certainly did! The picture was taken at 8:20 PM.
Dr. Mike Reed (a colleague of my daughter’s at Missouri State) saw it too – at 9:20 PM.
One of my daughter’s students (Bishwash Devkota, MSU astrophysics senior and president of Ozark Amateur Astronomy Club) went out to Missouri State University’s Baker Observatory and provided 5 photographs taken after 10 PM.
The sky is not particularly dark at our house; seeing the aurora and a few stars demonstrates how good the phone camera is!
October was a lull in regular Missouri Master Naturalist volunteer gigs; the Butterfly House closing at the beginning of the month and Project FeederWatch not yet begun. Project FeederWatch starts in November and will continue until the spring. My husband I enjoy our view of the birds at our feeders through a window…accumulating our count for each week. I looked back at my FeederWatch pictures from last year and created the slideshow below…savoring the images before we really get going on FeederWatch volunteering this year.
The fall festival volunteering bridged September and October and is over until the spring festivals start. The hours to support the MMN chapter continue throughout the year.
I attended the Beyond Plastics Grassroots Advocacy Training so I am ready for that volunteering in the coming months; it will probably be the most significant change in the type of volunteering I do…and I am still exploring the form it will take.
I am still volunteering as a Friends of the Library in the county where I live. It takes the form of sorting used books and then setting up for used book sales. This month there will be a general meeting of the group that I plan to attend.
Overall – the cool season volunteering is beginning and I am looking forward to the change.
This is the 14th anniversary of this blog. It all started in 2011 when I made the firm decision to retire and started a daily blog…a few months before my computer/engineering career formally ended. It was a way for me to guarantee a little bit of structure for a time of my life without many external requirements on my time.
There are some other activities that have emerged over these 14 years that also structure my days – weeks – years:
Volunteering in my community – specifically as a Maryland Master Naturalist for a decade and now as a Missouri Master Naturalist.
Reading a lot of books - almost exclusively electronic (primarily from Internet Archive).
Creating Zentangle tiles almost every day.
Participating in the care of my parents and now my dad – monthly trips to the Dallas area for in-person visits.
Traveling for birding festivals.
Exercising.
The blog has documented my technology migration
from Intel based PCs/Laptops to a Mac
from a Kindle Fire to a Nivida Shield to an iPad tablet
from a Canon point and shoot to a Canon bridge camera
from Samsung Android based phones to an iPhone
from an Acura TL to a Prius Prime (plug in hybrid).
The blog has offered opportunities to showcase my growing photographic skills and my increasing knowledge of native plants…particularly trees. Recently plastics have become a big concern, and I anticipate that there will be a lot more posts on that topic over the coming year.
Previous anniversary posts: 13th anniversary, 12th anniversary, 11th anniversary, 10th anniversary, 9th anniversary
A good starting point for reducing microplastics in food is to eliminate plastics in the kitchen. This blog post focuses on the plastics not associated with food packaging.
I bought a set of glass containers for leftovers/food storage and boxed up my old plastic containers; that created some extra space to reduce the crowding in my lower cabinets. The old mugs with plastic components and plastic reusable water bottles were also boxed since I have ceramic and stainless mugs (that I use without the lid most of the time since it is plastic). I also have stainless steel reusable water bottles – haven’t figured out a good way to no use the plastic lid though.
I am negotiating with my husband on mixing bowls. I have one large stainless-steel bowl which I will use for mixing – get rid of the red plastic ones. He likes one of our older plastic bowls for popcorn….and I’m not sure he is willing to let it go.
I am challenged to get rid of my Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper. I like popping corn without oil and in the microwave. But – the bowl does get very hot and that probably means it is shedding microplastics into my popcorn. I have also noticed that my air purifier detects particles in the air when I take the Nordic Ware bowl out of the microwave (the fan motor runs higher) ….so it’s time to get rid of the plastic bowl. I am experimenting with cardboard boxes and paper bags to contain the popping corn…dumping the popcorn into a glass bowl to eat it (with salt or butter or both applied after it is in the glass bowl).
I have a few old pans and muffin tins with non-stick coatings that I still need to take out of my kitchen…a job for another day.
Previous Plastic Crisis posts
My daughter and son-in-law bought 13 pumpkins for his annual carving party with his research group (he is a faculty member in Missouri State’s Biology Department). It took two baskets to get them from the store to the car. They lined them up on the workbench in their garage…ready for the big event.
The carving party was the day after Halloween. My daughter reported that they started a little earlier than previous years…cooked on the fire pit. It was chilly outside, so they were indoors for at least part of the evening.
I am always impressed with the carvings. There were 12 carved pumpkins…that filled the outdoor steps of their garden room for the pictures at the end of the evening.
Copyright © 2025, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from last month:
Copyright © 2025 Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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