Fall Foliage in Carrollton

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The peak fall color in my parents Carrollton yard was in December this year….and seemed more vibrant than usual. The crape myrtle leaves turned red and stayed attached long enough to be noticed.

The pecan turned stayed green for a longer…then turned yellow. It sheds small branches of leaves rather than single leaves. I caught one small branch in the process of turning…the sun bringing out more colors than I had noticed previously.

The mulberry leaves turn yellow. They dominate in the collection of leaves that must be mowed/mulched into the yard.

The red oak in the front yard is indeed very red when the sun shines through the leaves.

Even the neighbor’s wisteria that is coming over the fence contributed fall color.

After last summer’s drought and high temperatures in this area, the trees have apparently recovered sufficiently to provide a magnificent fall display…before settling into winter.

Carrollton Yard – November 2023

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At the beginning of the month – the yard in Carrollton, Texas was still needing to be mowed almost weekly and the leaves were mostly green on the trees. The metal iris I bought last spring was still surrounded my growing vegetation – not the only focal point of the garden as it will be in the winter.

There are still some things blooming.

The pecan tree is shedding groups of leaves that are still green onto the pavers.

I cut the three millet seed heads that grew under the bird feeder. I’ll put them in the sunniest corner of my yard in Missouri. Maybe the seeds will come up next spring, grow as ornamentals, round the corners of the yard that I mow, and feed birds by the fall.

Carrollton is renovating the infrastructure in my parents’ neighborhood. The alley already has flags to mark where the gas line is located. The alley will be removed/replaced and plantings about 8 inches from the existing concrete will be destroyed.

That 8 inches includes some tiger lily and iris bulbs, sunflowers that have come back year after year from my niece’s kindergarten sunflower-in-a-cup planted there over 20 years ago, native hibiscus, and lots of chives. My sister cut the sunflowers and put the stalks further back in the bed (hoping the seeds will continue to mature there), dug up the lily and iris bulbs to plant elsewhere, and dug up/moved the native hibiscus plants.

In the front yard, there were mums planted in open spaces in ground cover…the red oak in that area is beginning to shed a few leaves.

Across the sidewalk, the red yucca has mature seed pods full of black seeds…but is still blooming as well.

Overall – a yard beginning a slow slide to fall.

Carrollton Yard – March 2023 (2)

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Continuing the report on my parents’ yard….

It’s not just flowers that were blooming. The crane flies emerged while I was there. They seemed to be everywhere. One got in the house and stayed put near the door…posing for portraits. Later I saw one on a plant. These short-lived adults are eaten by birds (as are the larvae in the soil)!

Of course – there are still flowering bulbs, sage, wisteria, and daisies blooming around the yard too.

The pecan tree had tuffs of leaves and blooms. It’s a young tree…maybe this year I will make pecans.

The sweet gum was also leafing out. It is fruitless variety (i.e. no spikey seeds). The tips of its branches are still very complex.

My favorite picture of the yard this month was some red yucca seed pods from last year….still holding the black seeds….the old stalk bent almost to ground level so that the leaves of the plant form the background.

I am looking forward to seeing the changes that April brings…

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 28, 2021

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The subtle influence of the moon on Earth’s weather – Tides….and a lot of complex interactions associated with them. High tide flooding will increase as the climate changes for example.

So much ice is melting that Earth’s crust is moving – When the weight of ice is removed, the land lifts upward…but new measurements show that it moves horizontally as well.

Top 25 birds of the week: Spiderhunters and Sunbirds! – Lots of colorful feathers in this group!

Pecan-enriched diet shown to reduce cholesterol – 470 calories per day is a lot of pecans more than ½ cup. I like pecans but will generally stick to about ¼ cup at a time…may skew toward eating pecans over other nuts although walnuts are a healthy choice as well.

California Drought Hits World’s Top Almond Producer – And maybe almonds are a nut that will be increasing in price…maybe driving people away from almond milk. I’ve already made my switch to lactose free milk.

Northern paper wasps recognize each others faces – Each face is unique!

Giant clams have a growth spurt – thanks to pollution – Evidently modern clams grow faster than ancient ones because of nitrates in the water. It doesn’t necessarily mean that are healthy…just that they are growing faster.

Photography In The National Parks: Fun Fact Photography, Part 2 – The post not only includes ‘fun facts’ about the National Parks – it also explains how the images were captured!

What happens to your brain when you give up sugar – A well timed article for me --- I am dramatically reducing refined sugars and artificial sweeteners in my diet (i.e., I still eat foods that are sweet like bananas).  I thought the headaches that occurred in the first week of my new diet were the simultaneous reduction in caffeine but maybe they were also caused by the sugar reduction.

Watch a bolt of lightning strike the Washington Monument – The monument is on a hill and the tallest thing around…..a conduit to the ground for lightning.

Texas Morning

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I kept checking the sky at sunrise all during the time I was in Texas. The sky was clear for most days and the sunrise color washed out. Then there was a day of light clouds that reflected the color. I noted that the palm that had looked ruined after last winters deep cold has recovered.

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My parents’ backyard has changed since one of the large mulberry trees was cut. The cosmos flowers are large and blooming profusely.

The naked lady lilies are not as numerous and will probably shift to the shadier parts of the garden. They were the thickest around the old tree but now the area is too sunny for them.

There are still mulberries in the yard. They are well trimmed and will probably last a few more years. The one closest to the house has leaves sprouting from the trunk! I sat in a comfortable patio chair and took some zoomed pictures. There are even some high key pictures in the mix.

I turned a bit and noticed that the moon was still up. I balanced my camera on my knee. That was steady enough to get even the highly zoomed image!

The pecan tree that used to be between 2 mulberry trees is growing rapidly now that one is gone. The tree trimmers had done a good job in taking off lower branches and the tree will quickly become the dominate tree in the garden. It might get above the remaining mulberry this year!

It was a great morning to be outdoors photographing the garden…until I noticed a mosquito buzzing around me. A sign that it was time to go indoors…

10 Objects that Defined 2020

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BBC Future had a blog post last week that listed 37 objects the defined the year. It prompted me to create my own list…what objects will I remember most from 2020. I didn’t limit myself to objects that would be good for a time capsule…some of mine are perishable…but everything on the list is a physical object that will remind me of this pandemic year from now on.

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The face mask – I’d never worn a face mask before this year…and it took some getting used to. The masks were hardest to wear when it was hot…but now that the weather is colder they are not as bothersome. It could also be that I am more adept at wearing them now. There are some that are ‘in the mail’ from my daughter – ordered a few weeks before Christmas to see me through to a time we don’t have to wear masks (hopefully in 2021 when a large number of people have been vaccinated and new cases plummet).

Hand sanitizer – We never leave the house without a bottle of hand sanitizer. At first, we thought we’d be using huge amounts of it but the places we go often have dispensers…and we aren’t out and about away from home that frequently.

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Bar soap – At home – we use soap and water on our hands rather than hand sanitizer. We switched from liquid soap dispensers to bar soap in our house with it was hard to get the dispensers early in the pandemic. My husband has gone back to the soap dispensers, but I like the artisan bar soaps and will continue to enjoy them even after the pandemic. Added benefits: the ones I am using don’t seem to be as hard on my skin….and I buy bar soap in paper or cardboard packaging so no plastic!

Pecan topped custard (pumpkin, sweet potato, butternut squash) – I discovered pecans put on the top of custard stay on the top (like pecan pie)…and will always associate that dish with the pandemic for years to come.

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Haystacks – I made haystack cookies (Chow mein noodles coated with melted chocolate/butterscotch) for the first time; it all started when I realized I was missing the holiday cookies from events usually held in December – but cancelled for this year. Making this treat helped improve my mood for the different sort of holiday we had this year. I’ll probably add it to my repertoire of sweets for the holidays going forward.

Bird feeder cam – We got the bird feeder camera in early 2020, before we understood that a pandemic would dominate the year. It was something we enjoyed all year long…a continuing project to learn more about the birds that visit out back yard feeder.

Cut flowers (from the CSA and then from Wegmans) – In previous years I would cut flowers occasionally at the CSA…for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’d buy flowers. This year I got flowers every week during the CSA season and now I buy flowers every time I go to the grocery store. It’s something easy to do that brightens my mood every time I see them….and my husband likes them too.

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Magnifying glasses with lights – There have been so many photographic mini-projects during the pandemic…things we could do without leaving our neighborhood. Most of the time we already had the equipment we needed…but the magnifying glasses with built-in lights were new…and I found myself using them for a lot of different things…some of them not involving photography.

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Layered Zentangle tiles – I moved from making Zentangle patterns (sometimes with shading) to using that as just a starting point…adding coloring and highlighting – sometimes in stages rather than completing the tile all at once. I had more time to spend making tiles…and I enjoyed taking the tiles in a different direction than previous years.

Home – It’s a physical and emotional place…but an assemblage of objects as well. Over this year, my perception of it has deepened because I have been surrounded by it for more hours. There are some objects that I’ve found easier to put in the donation pile…others that I have used more frequently….a few that are rediscovered objects to treasure. My appreciation of my house and home has increased dramatically.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

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Soup for a winter day. Pureed sweet potato, a few pieces of beet (both have great color), garlic, onion powder, Italian seasonings, left over brisket, beef broth with pumpkin seeds and Chinese noodles on top. Yummy and pretty too.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 26, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Scientists Find Way to Fully Recycle Plastics Without Losing Quality - Yale E360 – I hope this process undercuts plastic manufacturing from fossil fuels…plastics should not be the glide path for the oil companies! The heating of the plastic to 850 degrees for this process should be done with renewable energy. And what happens to the parts that don’t get recycled (I assume there is waste from the things that weren’t plastic that got into the stream (i.e. ‘dirty’ containers).

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Bird Interactions – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Birds with other birds (not always the same species).

Maya Tomb of the Unknown Red Queen - Red from cinnabar (mercuric sulfide) power that covered everything inside the limestone sarcophagus…a mask of malachite.

Time Spent in Nature Is Good for You | The Scientist Magazine® - Spending at least 2 hours in nature per week is strongly correlated with self-reports of being in good health and having high well-being…..based on a study in the UK with 20,000 participants between 2014 and 2016. Intuitively – the idea seems right. But what does ‘time spent in nature’ really mean and what is it that causes the correlation? Do you have to be outdoors or is viewing it enough? I am outdoors in beautiful natural places (gardens, forests, seashores, rivers and lakes) so frequently…the 2 hours per week is at the low end for me…except for the coldest or wettest weeks.

Cooking food alters the microbiome: Raw vs. cooked diets have distinct effects on both mouse and human gut microbes -- ScienceDaily – No recommendations from this research but lots of prompts for further research.

The Short List Of Climate Actions That Will Work | CleanTechnica – These are country or continent type actions like: electrify everything, overbuild renewable generation, build continent-scale electrical grids and marks, fix concrete, change agricultural practices, shut down coal and gas generation aggressively. Some of them can be impacted by individual decisions…to move in the direction. For example – 1) The CSA I belong is on a path to not use plastic to control weeds and retain moisture around their crops. 2) The next house I buy (in the next 2-3 years) will be all electric and have solar panels…maybe battery storage too….maybe geothermal heating/cooling. 3) The next car I buy will be an EV rather than a plug-in hybrid like I have now. And I can change my yard into a mini-forest (of redbuds, dogwoods, spice bush, hollies….not huge trees but ones that are native to the area where I live).

Air Pollution May Damage People's Brains | The Scientist Magazine® - Mortality, respiratory health, cognition, and social behavior. This is scary. This is yet another reason to move away from fossil fuels.

Humankind did not live with a high-carbon dioxide atmosphere until 1965 -- ScienceDaily – I was in 5th grade in 1965. It was the grade between two memorable events: seeing a tornado just before it touched the ground and traveling with my parents to Mexico City for a weeklong vacation (two firsts: on an airplane…and out of the US). But the cross over to a high-carbon dioxide atmosphere has the greater long-term impact. I already suspect that unless something changes dramatically, climate change by midcentury will probably shorten my life.

Ailing U.S. pecan industry calls on India to reduce tariffs - UPI.com – I couldn’t find an update on this story from a few weeks ago. Evidently China used to buy 40% of the pecan crop in the US but now there is a tariff and the market is gone. So, the farmers are trying to develop the Indian market. It’s been tough to be a farmer for many years…but the tariffs have added even greater challenges.

Stressed out: Americans making themselves sick over politics: One in five report lost sleep, damaged friendships -- ScienceDaily – If individuals are stressed by politics….hopefully they’ll realize that it’s time to implement strategies to reduce the stress. Spending less time on ‘news’ would provide time to shift focus to other aspects of life – skew toward activities that make you happy and help others too. ‘Staying informed’ of politics 24/7 should not be a priority (although participating in elections should be).

A Carrollton Garden – Part I

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I am visiting my parents this week in Carrollton TX and their garden is responding to the warmer weather. Mounds of oxalis line the large patio – carpeting the partial shade area under the mulberry trees.

Various kinds of iris are in bloom. The Dutch iris blooms seem to last longer than the other kinds.

The mulberry trees are a fruitless variety. The trunks of the largest trees have a lot of color when they are wet. Most of the trees have small branches emerging along the big branches. The larger branches have been thinned to allow more sunlight to reach the ground so all the little branches that are within reach of the pole clippers are snipped from the trees keep the canopy open.

The pecan tree is finally old enough to bloom and may produce some pecans this year. Hopefully the nuts will be the paper-shell variety.

The red yuccas are not blooming yet but the seed pods from last fall are still on the stalks. Some of them look almost black (like they were burned). I like the shapes of the empty pods.

More pictures from the garden tomorrow.