20 Years of Themes, and still going

2023 Fern Year (aka Seedless and Seed)
2022 It's about Time
2021 Mycochronos The Time of the Fungi
2020 Year of Here (chosen BEFORE it was so needed)
2019 Ball Year
2018 Witch Year
2017 Pie Year
2016 Bird Year
2015 Glow Year
2014 Floraganza
2013 Acid Year
2012 Root Year
2011 Star Year
2010 Noodle Year
2009 Bean Year
2008 Lucky Year
2007 Rodent Year (Sparkling Squirrel Year)
2006 Spice Year (not celebrated much)
2005 Fruit Year (not celebrated much)
2004 Pink Year
2003 Sparkling Year

2024 A Year of All Seasons

It's About Time for a New Theme

 Time Year Begins!

So we have a new year and a new theme.  I still don't have the official name for it, but this year "is about time".

There are some time things I know I am going to be doing, turning 50 prominent among them.  There are plenty of time traveling books and movies (add your suggestions to the post below) and time (but not time traveling) books and movies I hope to enjoy.  There are thyme recipes to cook and maybe a sundial to place in my herb garden. I hope to have a personal best 5K time.  I'm going to keep my house cleaner (it's about time, really) and maybe have an "End of Time" party.

What else?

Time Travel Suggestions

 What are your favorite books and movies about traveling through time?

I have written about a few time traveling books on this blog in the past (Connie Willis's Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Time Machine and mentioned Time Traveler's Wife on multiple occasions).

The Mister and I are starting to list time travel movies we've seen and they range from Star Trek to Looper to Arrival to Interstellar to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Let us know what you think! 

Time for a New Year: Time Titles and Books about Time

 What are your favorite books or movies "about time" or with time in the title, but not about time travel?  Non-fiction (from timekeeping and the nature of time to seasons of life) and fiction both desired. 

Have recommendations for  Love in the Time of Cholera or A Brief History of Time or A Time to Kill or Wheel of Time?  How about Gone in 60 Seconds, 72 Hours, 28 Days Later, 9 1/2 weeks, 4 Months, 2 weeks and 3 Days, or 100 Years of Solitude?

"Time" books go here, along with media with minutes, seconds, or years in the title.

Growing Mushrooms

I started MYCOCHRONOS in the winter of 2021 growing oyster mushrooms in the lab, and then grew blue oysters, pink oysters, and lion's mane mushrooms at home.  They were all from kits and all are highly recommended.  The lion's mane was used for "crab cakes" which were great, and also makes one wonder if the crab flavoring or the crab cake seasonings is what really makes the taste. 

January 27== middlewas started 1 week priot

Second flush of pink oysters

Truffles

 I haven't been blogging about MYCOCHRONOS- the time of the fungus for all sorts of reasons.  You can trust that I have done a good job of growing mushrooms, eating mushrooms, and observing fungal things  (or not, it's actually not a matter worthy of asking for your trust).  
The Mister, ever willing to celebrate silly with me, gave me truffle oil and truffle salt for Christmas, and ordered the truffle supplement when we took Dianthus and Aster out for an omakase meal in Boston.  Then, in a surprise move, he purchased a fresh black truffle at Eataly when we found ourselves back in Boston on January 1.
Salmon sashimi with truffles was amazing, and covered with a lot of truffles.
We used our truffle on pasta one night, on mashed potatoes and beef the next, and on poached eggs and potatoes this morning.  While I really like the heady aroma of truffles, I think I will seek out chefs to do it well, or add a little splash of oil here and there, but will not be buying fresh truffles again soon.  Among other things, I think we just didn't use enough at once, but when something is so dear (in the British sense), it feels right to ration it, even if possession in the first place is the height of indulgence.

Thanks to the Mister for trying truffles with me.

Heavily truffled delicious start to an omakase meal.

Our truffle of 34 grams

Kites and Flowers

 I was walking to work this morning (Monday, May 3) and thinking how odd it was that I haven't seen a kite yet.
I walked home at 10:30 and there were 12 on the power lines in one alley.  
Two friends around town mentioned seeing single kites over the weekend, and they certainly aren't ALL here yet, but I would argue that they truly arrived approximately 9 am this morning.
(In 2020 I saw 2 on April 30 and then a larger bunch on May 1.)

In my other annual phenology update: here's my May Day bouquet (actually picked on May 2).  The peony is the only peony currently in flower (from against a south-facing brick wall), the irises are at about peak, and none of the roses, honeysuckle, or mock oranges is blooming yet.  The wheat is from the growing wheat patch (last year I baked a loaf of bread from it).  My next career might be growing grains for the florist industry.  The Mister suggests that might not be much of a career, but one can hope.

I Count Plants: What I Study Part 2

Setting out Kansas transects June 2020

"What do you really mean when you say you count plants?"

Um, I mean I go outside and count how many plants are there.

This somehow frequently makes me giggle.  When I was interviewing for my current job, I asked why Plant Physiology was part of the job description when one of my colleagues is an algal physiologist seemingly well-suited to teaching the course.  The algal physiologist explained that he is not really a physiologist, he is more of an eco-physiologist and went on to explain what he does (physiological responses of algal grown in different light conditions to different types of radiation).  It was an interview and I wanted the job, so I didn't blurt out, "You know that I count plants, right?"

A 3m x 3m plot Kansas 2020

Most years I go to Kansas where I re-find plot corners in a prairie hay meadow (now using a metal detector called "The Gold Digger") based on triangulation from fixed fence posts (hand held GPS is still not nearly as accurate as walking 45m from that post and 55m from this one).  A dear friend and I search 3m x 3m plots looking for every prairie turnip (Pediomelum esculentum) within the plot.  When we find one, we record its location based on the tape measure that is temporarily making a plot frame and record its height, spread, and reproductive status.  We eventually compare to the individual information from the previous year, so not only do we have a sense of what is happening to the population overall, we also know fates of individuals.  Eventually, these year-to-year individual transitions are combined into a matrix to make projections about the population as a whole.  I counted these particular plots in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020.  I have also counted a population in Nebraska 2002, 2003, and 2004 and a population in Montanta 2001-2004.

Flags are bases of Cyclanthera Sept. 2019

In Oklahoma, I am tracking a population of annual vines, so there is no year-to-year survival.  Since 2010, students and I have documented the location, size and reproductive status of every plant in a woodland 5 miles from campus.  While most years the population has had 100-400 individuals, we have counted as few as 11 (2011) and as many as 2,748 (2019).  We do this in September and October, when the plants are flowering and fruiting.  Concerned that I was missing a critical step in the life cycle, in 2016 we started a spring plot count and in 2019 and 2020 I am re-visiting the plots all summer so that I can document within-season survivorship.  In 2018 there were more seedlings in the plots in May than there were in May 2019, even though there were only 44 plants in the fall 2018 population compared to 3,000 in fall 2019.  Locations are recorded as vectors (compass degrees plus distance) from marked reference trees.

Most years I also document the populations of invasive plants, tree-of-heaven, johnsongrass, and giant reed in and around my small town.  These involves actually counting trees and estimating their size and measuring patches of grasses and estimating their growth.

An early freeze in 2019, along with 3,000 plants
led to counting locations of flags hastily placed
before the plants actually disintegrated.

Sometime later-- the answer to the more interesting questions-- why these particular plants? and what do we learn from these counts?

Spring 2020

 

Ecological Big Questions: What I Study Part 1

I've been asked by some friends to explain what I do, science-wise.  I'm stunned and having a hard time of it.

This is a novel query-- most folks have no interest and those that are interested usually already work in the field.  So I am writing it out here so that I can figure out the best way to say it, and direct people here should there every be similar queries again. 

My actual job is almost entirely teaching.  Research and scholarly activities are expected, but there is little time for them during the school year and institutionally little reward for doing more (and also few negative consequences for doing less, a real perk as a parent and a teacher who would, in fact, perish in a "publish or perish" system).  I also have a bunch of "scholarship adjacent" roles-- herbarium curator, greenhouse manager, invasive species monitor, and teaching materials editor-- for which I have never figured out fully how to receive "credit" (nor, in fact, figured out who is doing the crediting).

Summer 2019

As a researcher, I align with one of the most basic ecological questions, "Why are organisms where they are?"  Ecology has a geographic component (it's the interactions of organisms and their environment, after all), but as I type I realize that the temporal component is as important: "Why are organisms where and WHEN they are, and how do those change?"

I'm also fascinated by the core question of conservation biology, "How can humans simultaneously use and converse natural resources?"

These questions, of course, are addressed by all ecologists and conservation biologists, and I am not going to answer them anytime soon, but they are behind what I do.  At this point I choose to look at terrestrial plant populations, but I have done community level work in the past, and am very interested in ecosystem-level and individual-level processes.

Super Bowl, Overlapping Years, and the Difference A Few Terms Can Make

Welcome Year of Here.

I've known for some time that my theme for this year has been something to do with plants, peoples, and places native to North America (more about that and where it came from throughout the upcoming year).  Once Kansas City made it to the Super Bowl, I knew I would write about the overlap* by talking balls and Chiefs at the same time.

Then, this past weekend, I spent some time discussing phrasing with friends and we didn't come up with any name, whether "YoNAN!" (Year of North American Natives) or "Indigenous!" that didn't feel as if had the potential for being cringe-worthy mascot-y.  We settled on dealing with a sense of place, particularly this place, and Year of Here came out of that conversation.

Year of Here is much better in many ways, and I can see some many ways to take it (and will, of course, be asking for your suggestions) but the name weakened my first post.  I was intending to confront my continued support of the Kansas City Chiefs and the racism inherent even in "positive" mascots.  Of course, many people much more qualified than I have already written that much more eloquently than I could (here's one:  Much better than I could write piece on the racism of Chiefs. ). 

But if I am involved with Year of Here, my post can be more about geography of fandom and how much I prefer football to war.  It's like intending to talk about racism and instead choosing to talk about diversity.  It's related.  It's important.  It may be easier and more palatable.  But it is not the same thing.

So yeah, "I set out to do this one thing, but I couldn't articulate it, so I'm doing a variation that I can articulate better, but it is in fact not the same, and I can explain by analogy why they are different, but I can't actual add anything meaningful about either right now" is not a great way to start a new theme.  It is a reasonable reflection of where I am at.

Should you want to discuss, I'm open to listen**

And congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs.  I remember all 8 Super Bowls "my" team has played in, 5 hard losses and 3 wins, and I'm really glad that The Mister, has now had that experience, even if experiencing it from small town Oklahoma with young kids is quite a bit different from being in the place of the team (hey, wait, I could write about that in the Year of Here!). 

*Other overlaps-- birds and pies = magpies and chicken pie
pies to witches= Witch's Pie book, magical baking book and winter apple and groundhog pies
witches to balls = Imbolc pies, moon, sun and various orbs

**Unless you are going to tell me that it is a bad thing that the local scout crossover ceremony will not involve white teenagers dressing in Indian regalia because national Boy Scouts of America has banned the practice.  Or that the tomahawk chop is "just a chant" and doesn't matter.

Ball Party

The Groundhog Ball Party was to celebrate "all the other balls*" and somehow I became a person who decorates, and decorates with a selfie station.  We had arancini, meatballs, snowballs, cheese balls, gougeres, chocolate cake balls, tangerines, Jell-O balls, chocolate balls and cranberry ice balls.  The winner of pin-the-shadow on the groundhog won the Magic 8 Ball.
*Other than sports ball, dancing balls and testicles.

I actually followed directions to make gazing balls
or perhaps they are palantiri.

The topiary ball is on a glass ball with a glass
ball vase with flowers inside it.

Witching still happening

"Disco" Ball and Magic 8 Ball

Full Weekend of Sportsball-- Organizing 50 Teenage Boys and Other Impressive Things

We attended almost a half of a high school football playoff game Friday night and a college soccer conference championship on Saturday.  We also watched a KU basketball game, a KU soccer tournament game and the end of Monday night NFL game is happening right now.

Most of my Friday night observations were comparing football games here, now, to football games in suburban Denver in 1987 (shockingly, it was more fun then) but I did have a few actual ball sports thoughts.  Coaching, for instance, is entirely different in soccer, basketball and volleyball than it is in football.  Football is a game of strange logistics, and at high school that is really remarkable.  Getting fifty teenagers to pay attention to anything is really impressive.  Getting fifty people to go where you want them to go is tough.  Getting fifty guys to get on and off a field and lined in particular places is really quite something. 

It's also a good reminder that they could probably follow the instructions on their lab reports.

(And, for the record, the local high school football team won, so will continue with the play-offs. The KU basketball team won. The local university won the soccer conference tournament and will start NCAA Division II tournament next weekend.  KU soccer won and advances in the NCAA Division I Tournament.  The Broncos did not win, but I did not watch that collapse, and the Chiefs just did win.)

Looking for a ball (at which I won't lose my slipper)

I have not yet gone ballroom dancing or attended a ball as part of ball year.

I'm looking for suggestions as to where I could do either.

I anticipate The Mister joining me, so presence or absence of Prince Charming is irrelevant.

The best ball I can envision will 1) include actual dancing in ball gowns  2) not take itself too seriously (sneakers balls or adult proms welcome) 3) be affordable enough that my friends and I could go and 4) in support of a cause that I personally support.

Dropping the Ball but then Getting On the Ball for Ball Games

As part of ball year I planned to attend all sorts of ball games at all sorts of levels.

In the spring I attended minor league baseball, youth soccer, and college basketball.  Over the summer I attended 9 international soccer matches.

This fall.  Well, this fall I attended eight youth soccer games (missing four for BioBlitz Oklahoma and three for the Lego League competition).  I intended to go to semi-pro soccer, and high school sports, and lacrosse and field hockey and maybe even some rugby, and then it was crazy season with the 3,000 plants, so I dropped that ball.

BUT it turns out that the college at which I teach has a conference winning soccer team, so they are hosting the conference tournament on campus, starting tomorrow.  We'll attend if they make it to the finals on Saturday.  AND the local high school football team's regular season is over, but they have their first play-off game at home on Friday.  I suddenly feel so on the ball.

Ball Book-- The Crossover

Kwame Alexander's The Crossover is amazing.  A librarian friend suggested it for ball year and, despite her suggestion and it being a Newberry winner, I balked when I opened it and realized that it was written not only in verse, but 13-year-old basketball player first person narrator verse.
But it works.  I read it in a sitting or two and I cried lots.
Months later I started reading it with Dianthus one evening and while he was intimidated by the form, he went to bed and had finished it by the time we walked to school the next morning. He claims he didn't cry. Highly recommended for many of my readers, including my mother and mother-in-law, whether or not you are interested in junior high basketball.

I want to read more Kwame Alexander, but I think at this very moment I am going to go read Pride and Prejudice again as my favorite ball book for Mo'BallMoNo.

Mo'BallMoNo Begins

Recently I was telling someone about the seasons in my life ("spring semester" but it really is winter, groundhog day, spring semester and spring soccer, finals, field season, summer, back to school, crazy season, I survived crazy season, "Thanskgiving, finals and Advent", actual "holidays").

"Crazy season" lasts Labor Day to Fall Break and includes the time in which I teach double lectures, Aster and Dianthus's soccer seasons, and my field season.  This year I was also writing a promotion document and Dianthus was doing before-school Lego League during the same time.  While most of that is done, we haven't fully entered "I survived crazy season" because my students and I have only documented 1,917 of the the nearly 3,000 plants in a place where there were 44 last year.

BUT, I am back on the ball and thinking about ball things and things other than teaching and will blog again. 
In fact, I am so excited to blog again that I am calling it More Ball Month November (Mo'BallMoNo) and I have a lot to say.  That's right, I am so caught up that I am starting a month-long November project on the 11th, and then not really starting it now.

Balls soon.  In the meantime.  Cyclanthera dissecta (now C. naudiniana) after an early (Oct. 12) freeze and think about waging piece to remember the Armistice.

"The Ball is Round"

We've attended eight World Cup matches so far (9th today) and I feel I should have more to say about them.  Yet I don't want to jinx anything, nor am I ready to type about the details.
It has been a great trip.  The ball keeps rolling.

Halftime at USA vs England semi-final

Is it American to score big? Is it sexist to care?

I fell asleep when the US was only up 7-0 in the match against Thailand last night.  I'll admit I was a bit disappointed by the final score; 13-0 is just so unseemly.  I don't like gloating; I'm embarrassed by hugely obnoxious gestures of my country-mates; and big wins feel loud, a trait I am endeavoring to teach my family not to be.
But then I awoke to lots of criticism of the US women, as if they had done something wrong by playing really well and being proud of it.
Someone asked if the same criticism would have been leveled at the US Men's National Team, which I found laughable, because the US men just aren't that good. But it did make me wonder how much of this does have to do with sexist perceptions.  So I'm comparing this to the Dream Team at the Olympics.
I'll point out a few things here:
There are only 3 subs in an international soccer match.  There is no putting in a second team or resting the starters.
The first US Dream Team in 1992 had a 350 point differential over 8 games.  That means they were averaging more than 40 points more than their opponents per game.  I seem to recall comments about how lucky their opponents were to play with the best, and how insulting it would have been for the Dream Team to quit shooting at an international competition.
Thailand may have been out of their league last night, but they are a team who had to win a spot to be here at the World Cup.  In the Asian qualifying tournament, they won a match 6-1 and beat out teams who defeated other teams 10-1.  It is too bad that women's soccer is so poorly supported elsewhere, but winning big is not a US thing, or something to be ashamed of.

Boats Before Balls

Perhaps because we live on the edge of the high plains, boats fascinate us.  So far on this adventure we have ridden a small tour boat on the Firth of Forth (under the bridges and to Inchholm), a little passenger ferry from Britain to Lismore and back, a motor boat to Threave Castle on an island in the River Dee, a car ferry across the Rhine in Germany and a wonderful current-powered passenger ferry across the Rhine in Switzerland*.

Today the "ball" part of our adventure begins (Go Jamaica!), but the boats have sure been fun.

*Two boat rides included strangers from the internet and we all survived; in fact meeting them was delightful.

Car ferry in Germany

Oh, we also rode a boat through the
world's first water balanced
 circular boat lift.

 

Threave Castle

Isle of Lismore

Testing Travel

Tornadoes, floods, and life stressors are all around, but two good friends and I managed to have a ball and count some plants in the last two days. (Okay, I had an image to accompany that thought, but since this is mostly a test, I'll leave these two.)