Powell Gardens – Part I

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Last week, I made my first trip to Powell Gardens to see their orchid display. It is a day trip from my home in Nixa MO so I will probably go again later this spring….and/or next fall. It was a cold day, and we weren’t planning on walking around outdoors, so we weren’t disappointed that the trees were mostly still bare. Our membership at Springfield Botanical Garden got us into Powell Gardens too!

The horse sculptures on the way into the visitor center were a plus. I was surprised that they were not listed in the Wander Walk Art in the Gardens brochure.

We knew in advance that the main reason for our trip was the Orchid Delirium event. It was in the visitor center….beginning as soon as we walked in. There is a large area of the building that has a glass roof – and lots of windows in the walls.

It was a great place to wander around and get close looks at orchids; more of my orchid pictures in the blog post for day after tomorrow.

There was a side exhibit about First Ladies and Orchids that I enjoyed.

One aspect of the exhibit that was unique was manikins in formal wear among the orchids. My favorite was one where the skirt of the gown was plants!

On the way back to the car, I saw a redbud in bloom. The flowers along the larger branches were OK but the ones on the small branches appeared to be damaged (killed?) by recent frosts.

More orchid photos day after tomorrow….

Bluebonnets

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The bluebonnets were blooming when I was in Texas last week. I stopped in the Texas Welcome Center on US 75 to see them. They are not at their peak bloom…but enough are blooming to be noticeable.

As I left the welcome center headed south, I saw more along the sides of the highway, but construction (current and recent) had taken out a lot of the areas where bluebonnets and other wildflowers bloomed in previous years. The wind was fierce and it often sounded like sand was hitting my car; I turned my attention from noticing the flowers to keeping my car firmly in the lane!

Later in the day, I noticed that the city of Flower Mound has bluebonnets along some of their major streets. My sister told me that there used to be more before construction projects, but there are more every year since the projects have completed. Once bluebonnets are established, they do very well – natives thriving where they have been forever.

George Washington Carver National Monument

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Last week my husband and I made our first visit to George Washington Carver National Monument. It is south of Carthage, MO and a bit over an hour from our house near Springfield….a good choice for a day trip.

It was a sunny and cool spring day. I took a few pictures of plants in my yard while I was waiting for my husband to be ready to go. The dandelions are blooming and there was one seed puff already! My Missouri Evening Primrose is coming up from last year’s roots and the maple is already forming seeds.

On the way, I noticed that the redbuds along I-44 were beginning to bloom. The flowers were probably not fully open, but there was enough color to identify the trees as we drove. The redbuds at our house were not quite so far along.

I enjoyed the walk through the woods at the monument. There were some wildflowers – and clumps of daffodils (not wild, obviously) in the woods.  A few insects were out as well so the flowers will be pollinated!

There is a statue of a young George Carver in an area of stream/forest. He was born to a slave family on the farm…almost died when he was young (illness and kidnapping)…managed to survive and was able to become educated…he became head of the Tuskegee Agriculture Department in 1896; he taught there until his death in 1943. He is buried at Tuskegee University.

The woods were greening with the wildflowers, but the trees were mostly dormant. Some of them were probably ashes and would not be leafing out again. It is a common occurrence in Missouri right now; the emerald ash borer that killed the ashes in Maryland before we moved to Missouri is now killing the ash trees in Missouri. There is water in many places along the Carver Trail (loop) – Williams Pond/Branch and Carver Branch.

There were lots of birds, but I only managed to photograph a Dark-eyed Junco. We heard several woodpeckers.

We were at the monument on a Saturday, and I was pleased that there were other people that were there – many with children. The place is closer to Joplin so I assume the ‘regulars’ are mostly from Carthage or Joplin. It is a good place to visit in the spring….and maybe even better in the fall. In the summer, it would be very humid.

We opted to drive to Carthage for lunch at Iggy’s Diner. I am trying to find places other than fast food that my husband likes…and the diner seemed to be a hit with him. The quality of food is better than a fast food chain!

Zooming - January 2026

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The zoomed imaging from this month were taking in my daughter’s yard in Springfield MO, my yard in Nixa MO, Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield MO, the Lake Springfield Boathouse and the Texas Welcome Center on US 75. It was not a big photography month. I expect February will have more if the weather does not cause cancellations of winter hikes I have planned.

Plastics Crisis – Travel and Plastics

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I thought about plastics as I made my monthly drive from Missouri down to Lewisville TX and back. It might have been the noticeable plastic trash along the road – perhaps there was more of it because of recent winds.

The other reason I was thinking about it more was the breakfast set up. The same hotel chain we had stayed in when we went to St. Joseph MO late last month had used ceramic plates and stainless utensils – so it felt like a step backwards to have foam plates and plasticware. Both places had Keurig coffee makers in the room and plastic single used glasses. When I got the request for feedback to the hotel – I filled in several responses about the plastic in their hotel and pointed out that the bottle of water ‘gift’ is not as appreciated any more.

I have started carrying a ceramic mug in my suitcase…to make tea – avoid the Keurig completely and the cups they provide. I also carry a small water filtration pitcher to replenish my reusable water bottle and to make tea.

My eyes were itchy the whole time I was in Lewisville; when I checked, the air quality was yellow…and the hotel HVAC filter did not seem to help. The dominate pollutant type causing the ‘yellow’ level was PM2.5 which includes microplastics and products of fossil fuel combustion. I am considering whether I should travel with an air purifier like I did on road trips after COVID – when vaccines were still quite new.

The drive home was very windy with a front coming through (bringing ice and snow for the weekend) and there were several places where plastics were blowing in the wind. Not long after I got to I44 and was less than 2 hours from home, there was grass fire along the shoulder that seemed to go for at least ¼ mile…and the smoke was blowing across the road.  Another hit to air quality!

There was a bit of nature at the Texas Welcome Center where I stopped on the way down that I’ll use as a positive ending for this post even though it has nothing to do with plastics or air quality: the bluebonnet plants are above ground and the beautyberry still has a bit of color!

Phoenix Vicariously

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My daughter was at a conference in Phoenix last week and I enjoyed seeing her pictures of the area near the convention center. She went early for a workshop and managed to see a basketball game in the arena that evening!

She sent pictures of desert creature sculptures

And the sign for a pollinator garden – that obviously still has some plants blooming (daisies and lantana) – an urban garden.

My favorites were the images of architecture and murals. The one showing the white roof (along with a mural) was taken from her hotel window. I wondered how often the white needed to be refreshed to maintain its ability to reflect heat.

It’s been over a decade since I was in Phoenix and then I did more in the outskirts rather than the downtown area. Winter would be the time I’d pick to visit again!

Loess Bluff National Wildlife Refuge

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We got to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in the early afternoon on the day after Christmas. It was sunny and relatively warm – no coat required. We made a slow drive around the loop and side road. The next morning, we drove the wildlife loop again in the fog before heading home.

There were lots of birds to see and hear!

Trumpeter Swans

Snow Geese

White fronted Geese

And Bald Eagles

There were more eagles than when we had visited Loess Bluffs last March…but similar numbers of snow geese and trumpeter swans. The muskrats were not active outside their mounds, so we didn’t see any this time.

Unfortunately, another difference we noted were dead birds in the water; I recognized snow geese and trumpeter swans. Some looked like they had been dead for some time. Pre-Covid, the carcasses of dead birds were collected as one refuge we visited (to determine why the birds were dying and to minimize the contagion in the water); perhaps they no long do that because it isn’t effective, they know it is bird flu, or there are not staff to do the work. The area where most of the dead birds were located was not near where the bulk of living birds were; maybe water movement acted to collect the birds in the shallows along the shore (mostly) away from flocks.

I’ll end this post on a positive note with the botanical pictures! Seeds and pods and brown foliage dominate…but there was one green plant that had a lot of water droplets.

The wildlife refuge is a great place to see bald eagles in the winter….and other things too!

Road Trip – Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge

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The day after Christmas was a great time for a road trip to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. I had noticed that the latest Waterfowl and Bald Eagle Survey showed over 500 bald eagles at the refuge!

We headed out after breakfast…stopping in Springfield to pick up my daughter. I took a few pictures around her yard while she put her luggage in the car. A magnolia pod, sun shining through azalea leaves, yucca seeds, a leaf with dew drops, and colorful oak leaf hydrangea leaves.

I got some pictures of overpasses as my husband drove through Kansas City.

And then there was the dramatic bridge across the Missouri River.

On the way home the next day – the bridge looked darker with the clouds…still dramatic.

Ten Little Celebrations – December 2025

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December is always a month with a lot of celebrations – Christmas…my birthday…the end of the semester for my daughter…a great time to travel.

Oak wood chips to create a new native plant area. The branches trimmed from daughter’s oak (stabilizing an old tree) were chipped and I celebrated when I got the whole pile moved to my front yard – creating a great bed that I will plant with native plants in the spring.

Sweet potato soup. I celebrated a soup with of sweet potatoes, chicken, apple, fresh ginger, and a little lime…toast cubes on top. It was probably the best soup of the month!

New docking station. I had been having problems with my monitors becoming disconnected from my Mac…and an external drive not being available. There were work arounds that no longer worked consistently to fix the problem. I celebrated when my husband provided a new docking station….and the problems were resolved.

Rorra water filtration system. In my quest to reduce the microplastics in food, I bought the Rorra system and celebrated the step to reduce microplastics (and some other things) in our water. Now I can move on to other aspects of my kitchen/grocery shopping.

Great blue heron from my hotel window. I celebrated that the view from my hotel window in Lewisville included a great blue heron for a second month in a row.

Home before dark. I knew that December was the hardest month for me to get home before dark on my return from Texas…but I managed it…about 5 minutes before sunset.

Dickerson Park Zoo. There were some cold days in December but we took advantage of a day that the temperature reached into the 70s to visit the zoo. I always find something the celebrate there – either an animal seemingly poising for a photography or the different noises they are making (or not).

Daughter’s tenure. The major hurdles in the tenure process for my daughter happened in December. It won’t be formalized until the spring, but we are celebrating this milestone of her academic career.

Christmas time goodies. December is not a diet month. I’ve celebrated with goodies I bought for myself and the ones my sister provided! January will be the diet month.

Another birthday. Celebrating another year…and the experiences that surrounded my birthday this year – several out-to-eat events, a trip to the zoo, a trip to a wildlife refuge. My present was an electric tea kettle made of glass and stainless steel – replacing a coffee maker that had a lot of plastic components.

2025 in Review

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As the year winds down, I am looking back at 2025 and realizing that while there was no major life pivot point, there was a lot to going on.

Over the course of the year, we replaced three appliances: refrigerator, hot water heater, and dishwasher. None of that was planned. There was some inconvenience, but we appreciated that the separate apartment in our basement has its own version of all three…reducing the impact. Still – we realize that we should plan for other future maintenance needs. I’m not sure whether the roof or the HVAC will be next.

I continued my exploration of Missouri – focusing on prairies during the spring and early summer; I signed up for walks in 4 prairie remnants in southwest Missouri and seem to have learned to ID some plants I saw.

I also took a geology class and enjoyed a field trip in May that highlighted the geology close to home.

My husband and I made a short trip to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in the part of Missouri that was glaciated – quite different where I leave in the southern part of the state in the Ozarks!

Later in the year I enjoyed walks at Ha Ha Tonka State Park – which is pretty close to the middle of the state.

I savored volunteering at a butterfly house from May to September; it was more enjoyable than the one I volunteered at in Maryland because it was native butterflies --- no close monitoring of the entry/exit to prevent exotics escaping into the wild.

We had some health challenges this year requiring outpatient surgery and some PT (maybe more) for my husband – PT for me that has become on a long term exercise regime.

Nothing kept us from enjoying our trip to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival this past fall.

I maintained my monthly trips to Dallas/Lewisville TX to see my dad…occasionally my sisters. There is a routine aspect to them…but also something unique that happens each time. It is often stressful – hard to witness the month to month decline of my dad in his mid-90s.

My mood at the end of the year is not as optimistic as it was at the beginning. Have I crossed over to a pessimistic view of the future for our country (and for myself and my family)? It has occurred to me recently that maybe I have. There have been a lot of changes in the US over the past year that seem to increase the possibility of a dystopian future. Will 2026 be a pivot point for the country….or has the pivot occurred? There seems to be relatively little that individuals can do, but that doesn’t mean it is OK to do nothing.

Road Trip to Lewisville – December 2025

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My road trip to Lewisville in December was just two days. When I left home at 5:30 AM it was dark, cold, windy, and wet. The sun wasn’t up until my second stop of the trip – at the  Big Cabin Loves off I-44. I took two pictures to celebrate the light and that the rain had cleared - even if the wind had not and was making for a more challenging drive.

I listened to Christmas music as I drove….and tried to notice birds (there seemed to be more gulls and crows than usual…not as many vultures as on previous drives…perhaps the wind caused the activity change). There was a truck with a big bale of hay wrapped in plastic (bits of plastic flying off…I’d rather have bits of hay than plastic!). As I drove over Lake Eufala, there were sycamore leaves blowing across the highway – big enough that I could easily to id them.

I made the longest stop at the Texas Welcome Center – eating a grilled chicken wrap that I bought at one of my previous stops. I checked the beautyberry and noticed that there were still a lot of leaves on the oaks, unlike where I live in Missouri where the trees are bare. I picked up another bur oak acorn…and realized most of that oak’s leaves were on the ground.

My sister had left some home baked goodies on the bookcase in my dad’s room. I left her a bag of special teabags (in paper/cardboard packaging) and enjoyed walking around the room noting the seasonal decorations my sisters had added. I remember the fabric tree from many years…and wondered what its history is; maybe one of my sisters knows.

As I walked with my dad in the hallways, I took pictures of the decorations added in the shared areas of the facility.

The hotel was a short drive away and I was on the 4th floor this time…on the side toward the water retention pond and the great blue heron was there again; I took a picture through the window.  I also noticed that the Bradford Pear trees were very colorful.

The next morning, I took some pictures of the sunrise over the highway.

My dad had some medical appointments later in the day, so I didn’t encourage him to exercise as I usually do. One of my sisters arrived just as I was leaving so I got to visit with her a little before I headed toward home.

I stopped in Prague OK for lunch – the town where one of my grandmother’s was born and grew up. She would not recognize it today! The café was excellent and I might stop there again….think about our family history.

I made it home just as the sunset – which was my goal. This is the hardest month to do that because the days are so short!

My Favorite Pictures from 2025

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I forced myself to pick 2 pictures from each month to feature in this post. They were taken in my yard, at the Springfield Botanical Garden (and the butterfly house and Japanese Stroll Garden there), my daughter’s yard and during my travels for prairie walks in SW Missouri, to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in NW Missouri, Chicago IL, Branson, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They are all taken outdoors! Enjoy the slideshow.

Edinburg Scenic Wetlands

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Our fourth morning at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival required us to be at the Harlingen Convention Center by 7 AM for the bus; we were glad it wasn’t earlier! There was an odd cloud or smoke plume that obscured the sunrise; tt was moving rapidly and seemed to have an origination point so I think it might have been smoke.

We headed to the town of Edinburg TX and their wetlands oasis – the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands & Birding Center - about 40 minutes on the bus.

I often revert to taking botanical pictures…and there were a lot of interesting plants ranging from dessert plants to lush riparian type plants.  Click on the image in the mosaic below to see a larger image.

I even enjoyed some artsy pictures!

There were quite a few birds: Black-bellied Whistling ducks (and a mixture of hybrid domestic/wild ducks/geese)

Northern Shoveler

American Wigeon (and a Ruddy duck)

American Avocet

Herons: Great, Snowy, Green

Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Inca Doves

House Sparrow near the feeders

Crested Caracara

Neotropical cormorant

Curved-billed thrasher

There were turtles in a lot of places too – even crawling up the dam abutment! There were Texas spiny softshell turtles on a concrete pad near the boardwalk.

 We weren’t still long enough to do much butterfly photography – but I did manage three!

The trip had been advertised as a place to see Kingfishers, but the banks where they had frequented had been cleaned up (i.e. bushy vegetation removed) and the Kingfishers had moved elsewhere.

Zentangle® – November 2025

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Thirty days in November…so I selected 30 tiles from the 101 that were produced in November.

They are all ivory cardstock with black ink patterns…color highlights. There are patterns I repeat frequently and others that seem to emerge for a few tiles only. I am using color pens that are several years old; I remember that I bought some of them at the Walmart in Carrollton TX in the year I started traveling to Texas again after COVID. It takes discipline to not buy new pens until old ones are depleted!

I was traveling for 11 days out of the month and kept two pockets (one for tiles and one for pens) of my laptop bag packed with supplies! My Zentangle time is part of my winding down routine toward the end of the day whether I am at home or in a hotel; almost all the tiles were produced between 8 and 9 PM!

I’ve already cut red, green and white tiles for December – and plan to use black and white inks.

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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.

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

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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.

National Butterfly Center

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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.

Rio Grande Pontoon

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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.

Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival

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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…

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2025

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October included some great volunteer and travel experiences…and plenty at home to celebrate too.

Road trip to Jefferson City – I celebrated the Missouri Department of Conservation Partners Roundtable (particularly Dr. Nadia Navarrete-Tindall talking about edible native plants), touring the Missouri capitol building, and Ha Ha Tonka State Park!

Corn on the cob from the grill - The temperatures were milder…we cooked on the grill more often and I always enjoy the corn on the cob cooked that way.

New faucets on bathroom and kitchen sink - My husband installed new faucets (with a little help from me holding things together while he tightened from underneath). The old ones had been leaking onto the counters when they were turned on. We are both enjoying the dry counters around the new faucets!

Season finale for the Butterfly House - I savored the final volunteer days and the celebration for the volunteers and staff.

Home school fair – I celebrated that so many people visited my table at the Home school Fair and seemed to enjoy learning about trees.

My car repaired – The damage to my car (mostly underneath) was repaired and I have already taken it on a road trip. I celebrated that it was fixed quickly and that it looks ‘good as new.’

Hiking poles – I cheered myself onward during my first test walk with hiking poles…have high hopes that they will help me avoid back pain on future hikes.

Memory care – I celebrated finding two memory care facilities that would be good candidates for my dad’s next home. My sisters and I had a difficult time choosing (and it was stressful)….not something I am celebrating.

New hot water heater and dishwasher – I celebrated that the new appliances were installed quickly…that the hot water heater is better for the environment (heat pump electric rather than natural gas) and the dishwasher is quieter than our old one.

A rainy day - The past few months have been very dry in our area so the rainy days in the later part of October were something to celebrate – although the rain came too late to have brilliant leaf colors this fall. The leaves are still mostly on the trees…muted colors.

Trekking Poles

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My lower back often starts to hurt when I am out hiking; I suspect that I don’t stand up straight all the time and when I don’t, my back starts to hurt, and the situation seems to be unrecoverable once it starts. I bought some Trekking Poles and hope they will help me keep myself straight.

I’ve done a few short walks with them, and they seem to help. On my first test walk, I adjusted them several times. The shortest adjustment of the poles did not work at all…my back bothered me immediately. The other two adjustments worked great...effectively stopping my backache from the shorter poles! That’s an excellent result since I now can adjust my poles and (maybe) get some relief from back pain.

We have registered for another birding festival and that will be the first field test of the trekking poles. I’ll use a photo vest instead of a backpack (with my water bottle in the back pouch) and learn to use the wristbands to control the polls while I am using my camera or binoculars. I am savoring the prospect of hiking/walking with a lot less pain than I had during the Urban Birding Festival in Chicago.