Sunday, January 4, 2015

visits & travels, cider donuts & urchin sands - fall to winter

 A mishmash of photos taken over the last three months, starting with a photo taken this past week over the winter break, during our visit with Morgan's mom in southern California.
 An evening spent snorkeling at home.
 Halloween night with two cats and a basketfull of homemade cider donuts.
 Playing music as a gang with our friends Tii & Deb
 Milkweed relative
 Deb, Lena, and Hazel at Spalding Conservancy
 Tii and Morgan at Spalding Conservancy
 Niagara Falls in early November
A trip to Niagara Falls with family after seeing the retrospective show of Paul's grandfather's art work at the Albright-Knox in Buffalo in early November.
 Sometimes pilgrims have big feelings
 Susquehanna river around Thanksgiving
 Morgan birding on the banks of the Susquehanna
 Along the river
 Christmas decorations at home
 Making challah
 Loose tooth season
 One of four rain barrels that we had installed this fall with a grant that Morgan wrote last summer. These four will all fill and overflow in a 1" rainstorm which is a bit mind boggling. The excess water than gets shunted down to a raingarden with native plants also created with grant funds.
 Permeable pavers for our front walk
 Permeable pavers in the backyard leading to the raingarden.
 Late fall raingarden with dormant plants
 Sandbox that Morgan built late this fall using logs we harvested from a neighbor following an ice storm last winter.
 Holidays in Michigan with Paul's sister, the bowling champion!
 Bowling with the dudes.
 Paul's dad, Alan.
 Hazel, Lena, and Izze.
 Paul and his mom and sister.
 Ann Arbor lichens.
 A clay frog complete with lily pad and fly on the tongue.
 Along the shores of the Pacific near L.A.

 Tide pool hopping



 Urchin sands
 Pholad bivalves







Marine mammal care center in San Pedro, CA

Sunday, October 5, 2014

alligators, pawpaws, family visits - summer into fall.

 some photos of our august through early october rambles. Hazel reading with her great grandmother Isabelle.
 Lena and her grandmother Gillian drawing together
 a hornworm on a pepper plant on our back deck. discovering this felt like we'd been living with a moose in our living room. very big!
 Paul's grandmother Isabelle during a visit in August.
 Paul's dad Alan in August.
 Celebrating Morgan's birthday with a plant-encrusted cake and family
 trouble for our little hornworm (cocoons made by parasitic wasps) - fascinating and a tad bit horrific
 first day of school
 the ghosts of scallops past at the florida museum of natural history during a visit Paul took there in late august
 payne's prairie, micanopy, fl
 payne's prairie, micanopy, fl
 payne's prairie, micanopy, fl
 payne's prairie, micanopy, fl
 bats filling the august sky on the university of florida campus
 hazel and riley in late august. our big orange man died in september. he was real sweetheart and we miss him alot
 parasitic wasps hatching
 wildflower garden at hawk mountain
 hazel drawing plants with morgan
 botanical illustrations with kiddos
 celebrating lena's birthday in early september
 adventures at spalding conservancy near our house - a few minutes after this was taken hazel was almost mowed down by not one but two very large bucks. yikes
 lena's homemade pinata at her birthday party
 lena's homemade pinata at her birthday party
 rambles in the test valley in southern england one afternoon after a workshop paul participated in in early september
 american gothic at lena's birthday party complete with pinata and wacking broom
 rambles in the test valley in southern england one afternoon after a workshop in early september
 part way through restaining the deck at our house

 our garage after a major overhaul of the front facade just in the nick of time (i.e., before it came crashing down!)
 morgan received a grant from to implement some really cool stormwater management practices at our house. here is the early stages of the installation of the rain garden by our garage
 morgan's native plants in the front yard

 Plants going into the raingarden
 mid-september found us in calvert county, md for a weekend fieldtri
 plants going into the raingarden
 mid-september found us in calvert county, md for a weekend fieldtrip
 paw paws, calvert co., md
 chesapeake bay, calvert co., md



ten million year old shell beds exposed along the western shores of the chesapeake bay
 miocene sediments, calvert co., md
 experiments with origami

 view of the susquehanna river from the pinnacle, lancaster co.
 the pinnacle, lancaster co
 creatures in the woods
 susquehannock state park

 lena rambling through the woods with her beloved dog
 fall fungi
 not sure what this is (other than very cool!)
 crazy birders