Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 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.

Antarctic 'greening' at dramatic rate - Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades… fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region.

Is cleaning with baking soda better for the environment? – Maybe not…and it might not be very good at some types of cleaning either.

Meet Milagra, a Rare Condor Rescued as an Egg and Newly Released Back into the Wild – A success at Arizona’s Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

Landslides, Thousands Of Downed Trees, Undercut Roads Along Blue Ridge Parkway – Lots of repairs for the National Park Service after Hurricane Helene. Some damage is severe enough (i.e. more than just clearing mudslides and debris) that it will take time to repair. The fall foliage will come and go.

In Search of Microbes That Weave Colors into Moroccan Carpets - A scientist’s quest for microbes that produce purple pigments led to the vibrant world of natural dyes for women in the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco creating sought after traditional woven carpets…it’s a great intersection of biology and traditional artistry! The findings are compiled into a 48-page open-source guidebook, also translated into English, which described their project, introduced microbial dyeing, and catalogued recipes for plant dyes.

Dementia diagnostic markers change with time of day - Biomarker levels (p-tau217) were at their lowest in the morning when participants woke and highest in the evening.

Great Lakes Water Quality Project Seeks to Restore Coastal Vegetation - Returning certain croplands to perennial vegetation to reduce runoff and limit erosion.

'A warmer, sicker world': Mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases are on an unstoppable march across the US - West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), malaria and dengue…The mosquitoes that carry these diseases are thriving in a warming world.

Extinct Volcanoes Could Be Source of Key Metals Needed for Clean Tech - Rare-earths lurking under extinct volcanoes may be easier to extract. The iron-rich magma that formed some extinct volcanoes would be up to 100 times more efficient at concentrating rare-earths than the magma found in active volcanoes today. By one estimate, demand for rare-earths is set to grow fivefold by the end of this decade so finding them closer to home could contribute to more rapid conversion to clean technologies.

See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More - With the help of artificial intelligence, researchers have found hundreds of ancient artworks carved into the pebbled ground of Peru’s Nazca Desert in 6 months compared to 430 found between 1927 up to before the use of AI.

Intentions 2022

At the end of last year, I posted about what I thought would be different about 2022 for me – things that I wanted to make happen. Now that the year is half over, I am assessing my progress on the four areas I wrote about last December.

Releasing myself from some of my daily metrics. This has been the hardest change…and I still find myself pushing for the 12,000 steps…4 books…2,000 words each day. But there are days where other priorities have prevailed such as tasks on the critical path for our move from Maryland to Missouri. So far, I’ve ‘made up’ for the low days on books and words…am averaging the goal for 2022. I’ve not made very much of a change!

Reverting to a cleaner/neater house. In the Maryland house, the piles of boxes that accumulated over the three months before we moved made it harder to clean although we did clean the areas we could get to and cleaned items that were being packed. The house ended up sparkling after the carpeting was replaced; 35+ year old carpeting in a house that always had at least one cat is a cleaning challenge! In our new house, we are vacuuming frequently to clear the dog hair (previous owner)…successfully based on the vacuum canister not filling up as quickly as it did originally. We are still unpacking but there are lots of spaces to put things away and we are striving to keep more surfaces clear. The laundry chute is a plus – no hamper or other laundry receptacle in the bedroom. This intention is still a work in progress but both my husband and I are making the effort; we are motivated to have the house comfortable….keep it cleaner and neater than our Maryland house.

Look for the unique. It’s a habit now…I record something unique at the end of each day and have been surprised how easy it is to identify an event or sight or food…that was a 1st or one/only. The habit has caused a slight change in my attitude. I am more likely to look from a unique perspective or try something new than I was a year ago!

Moving to live closer to my daughter. Done! We are still working through the aftermath…address changes, new licenses/registrations, completely unpacking. Of all the changes I anticipated at the beginning of the year…this is the big one. It probably happened faster than I thought it would. We’ve owned our house in Missouri for about 1.5 months now – enough time to realize we make a great choice. I’m already set to make a fall road trip with my daughter, accompanying her on a road trip to Canada for her to attend a conference – something I would have not been able to do if we still lived in Maryland.

I am doing so well on my intentions made at the beginning of the year that I am adding to the list for the remaining months:

Spend some time each month with my parents (Carrollton).

Design/implement landscaping tweaks to our yard in the fall.

Start volunteering (again).

Are we ready for the movers?

We have another day before the movers arrive to load the truck. Are we ready? Other than the short list of things to do tomorrow – I think we are. We packed 3 boxes today with 2 of them still open to receive the small items (mostly light bulbs) still in use.

We’re in the mode now of cleaning up – getting extra packing materials carted away and vacuuming. I am beginning to put painters’ tape to indicate ‘do no move.’ Most items we are not moving are small and in closets out of the way so I can close the door and put the tape on the outside of the closet but there are some other items like metal shelves in the garage and basement that are larger….and the television which will be on the hearth….ready to go into my car shortly after the movers are done; I’ll be leaving for Missouri the following day.

My husband is going to make a video of the rooms to document the contents (just in case something arrives damaged)…and also as a keepsake.

The list for tomorrow includes putting our computers into a closet (since they will be going in our cars)…folding up tables. We already prepped the floor lamps – a day before I had that task on my schedule.

 I also have a list for the morning of the day the movers are due (mainly removing bedding)!

Cleaning up and out – January 2021

The donation that didn’t get picked up in December because of snow and ice, finally left the house this week with a few additional bags added in the interim. It added up to a full porch of ‘stuff.’

Cleaning up and out is not an activity I am as enthusiastic about as photography or a good book or taking a walk or cooking – but I am realizing how good it feels with the pile of ‘stuff’ gone. Maybe my enthusiasm for the activity is increasing.

I’ve developed some evaluation ‘rules’ for myself as I go through the accumulation of items from the 25 years we’ve lived in this house:

Is it something I will use in the next 6 months? If so – put it away in the appropriate place

If no – Is it something that is important enough to me that I want to move it to the next house? If so – pack it and label the box.

If no – decide how it will leave the house: donate, recycle, trash.

My husband is much more reluctant to get rid of things than I am. Much of what I am packing is stuff that he wants to keep but has been in the basement for at least 10 years without being used (lots of dusting required before it is packed). It’s not worth arguing about. So far – I’ve found plenty of boxes to pack up items.

In the realm of cleaning – my husband looked more closely at the carpet attachment for our cordless vacuum cleaner and discovered that it was almost clogged with lint and hair (human and cat)! He cleaned it thoroughly and we are anticipating that its cleaning ability will be ‘like new’ after it dries out.

The next big round to stuff leaving the house will be a trek to the landfill in early February with ‘household hazardous waste’ (some old fluorescent bulbs), electronics (non-functioning computers and cables that have accumulated in our basement), and trash items too large to conveniently put out at the curbside for the weekly pickup. I’ll post about our landfill adventure in February!

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The Tennessee Wildlife Agency is hosting a Virtual Celebration of Cranes January 11 -16. Check it out at https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/birds/sandhill-crane-festival.html - we are planning to enjoy a little ‘armchair birding’ with this first virtual event of 2021.

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2020

When I wrote the blog post about October 1990, I realized what a happy month it had been and now looking back at October 2020 and the things I recorded as little celebrations…the same is true. Maybe October is always my favorite month of the fall….lots of things that make me happy in this transition time of the year.

The celebrations that are could happen in any October:

The grand finale of the CSA season. The abundance of the last weeks of veggies from the farm….I have a freezer full to enjoy well into November…plenty of winter squash puree to make Thanksgiving dessert and breads and soups (maybe not all for the same meal). It happens every year….the celebration of the bounty.

Conwingo outing. We didn’t know about the bald eagles congregating at Conowingo dam 30 years ago, but now that we do…there is almost always a trek to the place every October. Even if it isn’t a great day for lots of eagles (which it wasn’t this year)…we celebrate the field trip. This year it was appreciated even more because field trips have been such a rarity for us this year.



Fall leaves. Yes – cleaning up the leaves and acorns is a fall chore…but it also is a joy: the colors, the textures, the breeze made visible by leaves wafting from the treetops. The trees in our yard and in the forest behind our house fill our views; I’m realizing that I am celebrating the extra time I’ve had this year to observe them. Home has become more special during this pandemic year.

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Wild turkey in our back yard. I missed it – but my husband saw it. He said there may have been more than one, but he only saw one clearly. We’d heard that there were wild turkeys in the forest but had never seen any until a few day ago. I am celebrating that they really exist…and hoping they return so I can see them too.

Flowers still available in the cutting garden. I thought the cutting garden might fade before the CSA ended…but it didn’t. I love having cut flowers in my office and on the island in the kitchen. Seeing them is an automatic mood brightener. Now I am beginning to realize that the strawflowers will last long into the winter – dried and arranged on a blue glass plate they remind me of water lily flowers.

Letting go of more stuff. Cleaning out stuff that has collected in over 25 years we’ve lived in our house is tough. But I managed a big pile that I donated (picked up from our front porch) and am working on another. It feels good to clean out the house…particularly if it is something others could use.

And then there are the celebrations that are unique to 2020:

Cape May Fall Festival (virtual). I celebrated the whole festival of videos but particularly the roving reporters at the morning flight of songbirds. It would be wonderful be there some future year to see it in the field.

Hawai’i Festival of Birds (virtual). When I first discovered that the festival was going virtual, I thought it was a great opportunity because I probably would not make the trek to the Big Island again….but now I’m wavering…leaning toward making the trek for the festival and to see how things have changed since we were there in 2015. Maybe next year…or the year after. It’s an opportunity to celebrate an environment very different than the one where we live.

Telephone conversations with family. I normally take telephone conversations for granted…they happen often enough. During this pandemic year when I am not traveling to visit with my family, phone conversations have increased in importance….worthy of celebration.

Voting. In years past, we voted but it wasn’t something that made it to my little celebrations list and we usually did it on election day. This year we requested a mail-in ballot and returned it to a drop box….and checked the online site to track that it was received and accepted/counted. Voting is a celebration this year because of the challenges the country is facing on many levels….and a heightened awareness on our part of how much it matters.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Old monitor heading off to a new home. I’ve had my old monitor mostly idle for the past year – since I got a new one – and finally found a way to give it a new home. There was an article in the Baltimore Sun about a teacher in our area trying to find monitors for teachers that need a second monitor as they forge ahead teaching virtually. I sent an email letting them know I had one to donate and someone came to pick it up! I’m thrilled to let it go!

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/8/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Hearing the phoebe first thing in the morning. I am hearing a phoebe outside my office window every morning as I begin my day. Maybe it’s in the sycamore. Maybe its nest is nearby. I know from the time that the sun has just come up this morning but the clouds are hiding it; it’s too dark too look for the bird and try to get a picture.

Cleaning off the covered deck furniture. With the temperature forecast to get into the 70s in the afternoon, I cleaned off the table and chairs on the covered deck in the morning so I could spend time there in the afternoon. Everything was very dusty since it hadn’t been used over the winter. The furniture is over 20 years old and had been on the covered deck since we got it. It is undercover but ‘outdoors’ and I noticed there are some bubbles in the paint on the metal parts. It probably needs to be sanded down, primed, and repainted…which I am not enthusiastic about attempting.

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Walking the neighborhood. The forecast here is for cooler/wetter/windier after today so I wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine…look around the neighborhood. Things change fast in the spring. Our cherry tree lost most of its petals overnight when thunderstorms rolled through. Most of the petals were on the ground. At another house the driveway was polka dotted with petals.

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The azalea still just has buds (and the deer have browsed the bush so there are not very many buds left).

A neighbor has a deciduous magnolia in bloom and it held its flowers in the storm.

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There is another tree blooming nearby. A fruit tree?

I recognized the redbud. ‘Cauliflory’ is a recent vocabulary word I learned from a tree tutorial; it means that the flowers are on branches and trunk…not where the leaf buds are…and that is how redbuds bloom!

There were several kinds of maples in various stages of producing seeds.

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When I got to the pond, I noticed several flowers nearby (dandelions being everywhere but not always so thick as near the pond).

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And then I looked more closely at the water retention pond itself. There were turtles! There were two large ones and one small. They were all Eastern Painted Turtles. The two big ones slipped into the water and then came back. The smaller one didn’t move except for the head and I noticed the scutes looked like they were peeling. Maybe they do that more when the turtle is growing up?

And there were robins just about everywhere.

Enjoying some outdoors-with-the-laptop-time. I tried standing at the table on the deck…that lasted for about 10 minutes…then I spent about an hour in one of the chairs. It was a great way to savor the spring day…listening to the birds (they came to the nearby bird feeder while I was there) and windchimes and breeze through the forest.

Catching up with the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safaris:

• Manatee

• Red River Hog

• Isla the Tamandua

• Okapi

• Komodo Dragon

• Aardvark

• African Pygmy Falcon

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/7/2020 – Macro Cecropia

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Taking pity on the red-bellied woodpecker’s contortions…..refilling the bird feeder. I noticed the woodpecker late in the day on Monday…waited for it to dry out a little yesterday morning before I refilled the feeder. The pictures are clips from our birdfeeder cam videos.

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Putting away groceries. The non-perishable groceries had been sitting in the back of my car since Saturday evening. We had put them there after they were delivered….to give any coronavirus time to dry up and die before we put them away.

Washing the plastic table covering – making a Zentangle mosaic. I’ve had the covering for over 20 years and have generally just wiped it down thoroughly. It was time it seemed grubbier than usual, so I put it in the washer with a few towels. I hung it over some deck chairs to let it dry thoroughly afterward. Then I made a mosaic of Zentangle tiles under it when I put it back on the table. Now we have new art to look at while we’re eating…during the pauses in conversation.

Creating some face mask variations. My husband discovered that his favorite pizza place does not deliver to our area….so he will pick it up as he has done in the past. He’ll wear a face mask as recommended by the CDC. I got some hair ties (covered rubber bands) in our last grocery delivery and I have coffee filters on hand. He had some old handkerchiefs to make his. If I must go out, I’ll make mine from a bandana or washable silk scarf. We are not going out very often so it will be easy enough to launder the cloth part of the mask after each use.

Catching up on Charles Cockell’s Life in the Universe Pandemic Series:

• Is the heroic age of exploration over? (absolutely not!...this is probably my favorite video in this series so far)

• Where did life begin?

Noticing a Northern Flicker in the yard – next to a robin. I saw the robin first through my office window then noticed the other bird when it moved. I had on my computer glasses, so my distance vision was not great. Then I used the zoom on my camera to id the bird…and take the picture in the next second.

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Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

And now for the first installment of macro photography with our mail-order bugs. Today I am featuring the Cecropia Moth. It’s the one pictured in the lower part of this picture – our order from The Butterfly Co.

I used my smartphone with a clip-on macro lens for this session. The Cecropia is the largest moth in Maryland. This one is a male based on the antennae. They are somewhat feather-like in that they have a central rib…but the stems off the rib are different. The Cecropia stems seems to be in pairs and there might be tiny fibers connecting each pair. I’ll have to get more magnification with a loupe next time (and be very careful not to break the antennae off).  

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A few years ago, we had the caterpillars at the Wings of Fancy exhibit at Brookside Gardens, so I am more familiar with the caterpillar than the adult moth. I didn’t unpin the specimen for this round of photographs but I know that it doesn’t have mouth parts….all the calories for the life of these moths are eaten when they are caterpillars. The adult form is only mating and laying eggs!

The wings have scales – sometimes looking like scales on butterfly wings…other times looking fur or hair-like. Another opportunity for my next round (using the loupe rather than the clip-on lens).

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The downside of the loupe is that it works best sitting on the specimen…and inevitably some of the scales will come off. I am giving my husband the opportunity to photograph the bugs before I do anything that might damage them. Tomorrow’s post will be about the Luna Moth.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/6/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Perusing the updated IHME model. It was updated on April 5th (prior release was April 1st). In the new model, Maryland peaks earlier on April 18th rather than April 29th…and the peak deaths are higher too (138 rather than 53). The number of ventilators needed has increased to 1,040 from 659. There have been cases in nursing homes and a psychiatric hospital reported recently – even with the increased precautions that had been taken at those facilities….a vulnerable population that are at higher risk…leading to a cluster of deaths. As I looked at the results for Maryland and other states, I noticed that the error bars on the projections are quite high….still a lot of uncertainty out there. The model predicts New York’s peak in will be on 4/8th.

Creating a botanical print inspired Zentangle® tile. I am working my way through the 11 volumes of Flora fluminensis available on Internet Archive….found inspiration for a Zentangle today in vol 7. After I made the 4 botanical-like shapes, I couldn’t resist added auras to fill in all the blank space! The tile itself is from a yellow folder that I cut into 3.5-inch squares. The Ultra Fine Point Sharpie was a light green.

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Replacing a screen on the screened deck. We have a few screens with holes and one that seems to attract Carolina Wrens to enter…and then have trouble finding a way out. My husband put new screening material in the frame this morning and reinstalled it yesterday. There are at least 3 others that need to be replaced and he thinks he may only have enough material on hand to do one more. He’s planning to use all the material he has over the next few days (one screen a day). One of our strategies is to do projects over multiple days and enjoy the tasks multiple times.

Noticing the sycamore branch beginning to wilt. The water is probably not getting up the stems as efficiently as would be the case if the branch was still attached to the tree. I took a picture of a group of leaves near the center of the branch…miniature sycamore leaves. The branch will probably go into the brush pile tomorrow.

Finishing the second module of the Fashion as Design Coursera course…Heroes. I should have probably done the module over 2 days…but I got caught up in the topic. I still have 5 modules of the class to go.

Clearing off the accumulation on the kitchen table – cleaning it thoroughly. Magazines and mail had accumulated on our breakfast table. The magazines are now positioned between our chairs in the den and I have a pad of mall post-it notes to indicate that I’ve read a magazine…that it can be recycled when my husband gets around to reading it. I wiped down the plastic covering but it didn’t come entirely clean. It’s almost 20 years old!

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Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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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.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/16/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Discovered some to go peanut butter in my pantry that are ‘best if used by’ April 2020 which prompted a snack of peanut butter and celery….and taking everything out of the pantry to see if there was more items that needed to be used promptly. There was some cocoa that should have been used by 2014 and some coconut flour by 2017…into the trash they went. The before and after shot of the pantry is below….it was a good ‘cleanup and out’ project for the day.

Continued “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series” videos from Dr. Charles Cockell – Is there life on Mars? And Will Samples from Mars cause a Pandemic?

Cooked pinto beans. I soaked them for a full 24 hours (part on the counter…then in the refrig) then cooked them in the morning and ate a small portion with some leftover stir fry chicken for lunch. Yum!

Learned about Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae Cyanotype Impressions in a Europeana Blog post (one of my news feeds) and then searched to find an online copy. I was frustrated that the Internet Archive only had one print! It turns out that The New York Public Library Digital Collections has a digitized copy of the volumes once owned by Sir John Herschel. I enjoyed the first volume and added the others to my reading list for subsequent days.

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Watched the first Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Home Safari…daily at 3PM EDT…for children but interesting for adults as well…the first video is about their young hippo Fiona. From their Facebook Page.

Went to dentist to get permanent crowns. I was worried about the temporary ones that I had for over 3 weeks coming loose/off at a bad time….having a painful dental problem when the office might be closed. So - I had a very short breach of social distance…but I decided it was worth the (slight) risk.

Overall, this is my 8th day of adhering to the low density, 6 feet rule (except for the dentist which was low density but could not always achieve the 6 feet separation)…stay at home as much as possible…hand washing with soap/not touching face. The last time I was at a place with more than 25 people in a room was 19 days ago. I’m beginning to realize that some of what I am doing now (like the more frequent hand washing with soap) might be on the way to becoming habits.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/15/2020

I normally do a daily blog post…but during this time, I might do an extra post from time to time. Since I am ‘staying at home as much as possible’ to reduce our COVID-19 exposure (and potentially slow the spread of the virus), I have more time at home.

Normally this time of year I travel, get training for upcoming volunteer activities, and take day trips---as spring is unfurling. This year was no exception, but it all came to a screeching halt last week. So – what am I doing with this extra time at home? Fortunately, I have a house that I enjoy and there is a lot to do. If you are at home and getting a little low on ‘things to do’ maybe these extra posts will give you some ideas.

There are the usual things that I always try to work into my day (but don’t always succeed when I have a lot of other things going on):

• Zentangle (more than one)

• Breathing App (this is an smartphone app that provides tones for breathing – in and out – in a rhythm that people meditating achieve….I find it very relaxing for 15 minutes…better than a substantial nap and makes me even more focused on whatever I do afterward)

• Yoga (I’ve already built up my routine in the past week!)

• Browse through 3-4 books on Internet Archive and other online sources. (I like variety. Today I am still working my way through 1) The Vermont Life magazines – I am up to Autumn 2011; 2) Starting The English Home magazines; 3) Working backwards through the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri – I am back to 2013 now…getting to know to birds found in the state where my daughter is living; and 4) Keeping in reserve the Internet Archive collection by or about Alphonse Mucha.)

• 12,000 steps (this one is a little harder being at home all the time although I am taking walks around the neighborhood or working in the yard on days that the weather is good)

• Pictures of birds at the feeder or birdbath – right now the feeder is empty because we are discouraging a hawk from frequenting our back yard and it’s been raining so the birds don’t need the birdbath as often

But what I am doing more than the usual today…what are some ‘different’ things that I did today to keep boredom at bay?

• Cleaned the foyer and kitchen floors. I don’t do this often enough.

• Dusted the top of all the door frames. It might have been over a year since I did it. They were dusty!

• Photographed the plum tree (once the rain was over). There were blossoms at different stages of development and the day was cloudy enough to avoid the harsh shadows of sunny days.

• Read a chapter in a physical book (I usually read online these days but have a stack of books I’ve been meaning to read for several years)

• Started soaking some pinto beans (the bag has been in the pantry for over a year, their ‘best if used by’ date was December 2020...I’m going to cook them to use in chili…we have plenty of time to do slow food!)

• Watched Are Viruses Alive? Video by an astrobiology professor from University of Edinburgh (recorded at home for his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series”). I enjoyed his Coursera course several years ago.

What I am trying not to do?

• Eat more than usual

• Spend too much time looking at COVID-19 news and analysis

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2019

March had increased activity from February – a nice ramp up to the busy months of the spring field trip season of April, May and June. It was easy to find little celebrations all during the month.

A Creative Live course on bird photography – I always celebrate courses that hone what I already know…and show me something new that I want to try.

Getting new glasses – I had skipped getting new glasses last year – thinking that my prescription had not changed enough. It’s worth celebrating to see better again.

Snow on the ground but no on the streets – I celebrated a beautiful snowy day when the streets kept enough warmth to remain clear. It’s one of those instances where you can enjoy the scenery and not worry about hazardous driving conditions.

Cleaning out stuff – We donated two carloads of stuff (a bicycle was a big part of one load. I celebrated making progress on cleaning out accumulated things that we no longer need.

Then there are signs of spring – appearing throughout the month – and celebrated for the breaking of winter’s hold on the landscape:

Miniature daffodils blooming in the front flower bed that bring back memories of my mother-in-law that bought and planted the bulbs in another garden 30 years ago.

Tulip poplar and cherry buds brought inside and opening a few weeks before the buds outside open.

Doves mating on the deck railing.

Frogs eggs in the little pool at Mt. Pleasant.

A spring-like afternoon – full of sunlight and a warmer temperature.

The biggest celebration of the month was the news that both my daughter and son-in-law have faculty positions beginning next fall in the same place! It’s quite an accomplishment for them to both get their PhD and then do a couple years as post docs…then this milestone.  

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 27, 2018

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.

Earth Matters - New Tools to Boost Access to NASA Earth Science Data – How NASA is using big data strategies to streamline processing time to get the information from satellites into usable form.

Trend of the Month… asocially| What's Next: Top Trends – Richard Watson noticing that some people prefer to be left along to look at their devices.

Image of The Day: Open-and-Shut Case | The Scientist Magazine® - They used box turtles in this research….a turtle we see here in Maryland relatively often.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Migratory Birds 2 – National Geographic Blog – Tis the season for bird migration!

BBC - Future - Should everyone be taking vitamin D? – It’s not clear cut. In the winter we probably don’t get enough Vitamin D from diet/sunlight…but the impact of that shortage is not obvious in many people. There are some trials that are ongoing that may provide some answers.

Why the Current Hurricane Rating System Needs to Be Scrapped - Yale E360 – Hurricanes are rated based on wind-spead….but storm surge and flooding for rain (coastal and inland) also causes damage. Hurricane Florence is an example of a Category 1 storm causing tremendous damage even though it wasn’t a ‘major’ hurricane.

Detailed maps of urban heat island effects in Washington, DC, and Baltimore | NOAA Climate.gov – Close to home for me since we live between Washington DC and Baltimore (not on either of the two maps).

Well-Preserved Murals Discovered in Pompeii - Archaeology Magazine – Finding new things in a site that has been studied for many years.

Surprising places where germs lurk in bathrooms | Berkeley Wellness – Hmmm…maybe we should add some tasks to cleaning the bathroom.

Nikon Small World photo competition reveals nature in minuscule detail | New Scientist – The beauty in the microscopic world. I want to look more closely at spittle bugs next spring…see if I can see the bug.

Ten Little Celebrations – September 2018

Every month when I look at the notes I’ve made for each day of little celebrations – I enjoy them again. Many times, it’s hard to pick just 10 for this blog post. Here are the picks for September 2018:

Volunteering on the last day of Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy exhibit – It was good to be there for the good-bye day…and know that the next exhibit will open again in April. I enjoy being in the butterfly house and interacting with visitors…it’s a happy place.

Window cleaning – I am surprising myself at how satisfying cleaning the windows (taking the panes apart and cleaning all surfaces except the one on the outside) on a rainy day can be. Instead of spring cleaning – I’m doing fall cleaning! I celebrated the difference clean windows make.

A monarch butterfly emerging – Caterpillars crawled up from our front flower bed to make chrysalises at the top of the window frames. I finally managed to notice one that was still emerged - hanging from the bit of chrysalis still attached – and then crawling up onto the lentil to finish drying. Celebration!

Yummy zucchini bread – I made a double batch of zucchini bread from squash frozen earlier in the summer. We enjoyed it for days. I celebrated the spicy flavor…helped me feel ready for fall.

Howard County Conservancy volunteers and staff – With the training for fall field trips, we always have a pot luck lunch and this one – for me – was a celebration of those people (and that they are all such foodies)!

Elementary School Butterfly – What a celebration when the first Monarch butterfly emerged from a chrysalis I took to the elementary school! I wasn’t there for the excitement but got the description from the teacher. They even found another chrysalis on the fence around their school garden while they were releasing their butterfly.

Haircut - I told the stylist – with some trepidation - that I wanted it short….and celebrated the results.

A birthday spent at Longwood - This is a great place to spend celebrating a family birthday…better than a too-sweet cake!

Yard work – Just as the window cleaning – I celebrated the results. It’s good to know that I’m ending the month in relatively good shape when it comes to the yard…before a lot of leaves have fallen.

Lacewing larvae – Celebrating seeing (and recognizing) a new-to-me organism (looks like lichen since it covers itself with pieces of the stuff)!

Company Coming

The prospect of overnight visitors is always a good forcing function to get the house is better shape. I vacuum regularly but the parts of our house that we don’t use frequently (like the guest bedroom and bathroom) are not dusted and cleaned as often as the rest of the house.

And we tend to accumulate things on the surface areas in the kitchen – breakfast area – den. We have a lot more space than we need, and I’m always surprised at how long items remain in place once they are put down. So now I am feeling good about getting spaces cleared off and the house changed from summer to fall/winter. I brought in the glass birdbath bowl, cleaned it thoroughly, and filled it with the CSA bounty of winter squash – a great center piece for the kitchen island.

Fall Cleaning

I am trying to pay a little more attention to the house between volunteer work. My new – and favorite – tool is a long-handled scrub brush that I bought about a month ago. Why did I not buy one before rather than delay any job that required scrubbing on my hands and knees? Now I make quick work of the tile floor in the bathrooms (cleaner than they’ve been in years) and the shower stall (base and lower walls), and even scrubbing in carpet cleaner that later gets vacuumed up.

I might have to get one for outdoors – the deck and the garage – because this one is for indoors only!