Pumpkin carving and a flock of running onions

This week in preparation for Halloween we carved a pumpkin and did some crafts around the house. Here are a few photos from our pre-Halloween festivities.



We also had one hilarious night where Lena was cracking herself up so much by running through the dining room. We would say "what was that!?" and joked about trying to take some photos to figure out what was flying by. Somehow our joking morphed until soon we were all convinced that a "flock of running onions" was in our house. Who knows but it was the best.

Scallops, Moths, and Bikes

Last week I (Paul) I traveled to Mexico to give a talk as part of a colloquium on biodiversity at the Instituto de Ecologia. In the photo above Lena helps me pack the day before I left.
I flew into Mexico City and spent a couple days before the meeting working in the paleontology collections at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The photo above is of a fossil scallop collected near Veracruz.
While in the collections I looked at a lot of specimens and tried to find ones on which the larval shell was still intact for a project I am starting on scallop life history evolution.
My last afternoon in Mexico City I walked around the university. It is a huge campus (with over 300,000 students enrolled!) and promptly got lost. Once back on track I walked by the stadium which has a huge Diego Rivera mural on the side of it.
Here is a view of the main library at UNAM.
Another view of the library.
Central campus near the library.Murals on the UNAM campus.


I was very excited about my trip but also a bit nervous because I speak little Spanish. All in all that went fine and my last day in Mexico City I was even able to order something for lunch that wasn't even on the menu in Spanish! Very pleased with myself I promptly took the photo above.Walking through Viveros Garden near the hotel where I stayed in Coyoacán.
In the garden.

I then walked to the main plaza in Coyoacán.
A church built in the 16th century located on the main plaza.

The next day I met up with students from the Instituto de Ecologia and traveled with them and some of the other speakers to Xalapa in the state of Veracruz. It was a wonderful drive with views of 18,000 foot volcanoes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popocatepetl) in the distance. When we got to Xalapa I crashed and woke up an hour or so later to the sound of flapping over head. I found a gigantic moth on the ceiling which I ultimately was able to escort safely out of the room in a garbage can using a file folder for a lid.

The Instituto de Ecologia has a fantastic garden with the largest collection of cycads in Latin America.
Here is a photo of Maize in the ethnobotany garden.

Ginger.Coffee.
Coffee flowers.
Some of the forest at the Institute. The vegetarian in the area is a really cool mixture of temperate and tropical species.
Views from the hotel in Xalapa.

In my room at the hotel.
The colloquium was really great and the day after we traveled as a group around the area. Here are some photos from one of the parks in Xalapa.

I couldn't help snapping these photos of this playground surrounded by lush plants. Lena would have loved it.


Tree ferns!


From the park we traveled to the Museum of Anthropology where the following photos were taken. The museum was absolutely stunning. These large heads were made by the Olmec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec) between 1500 - 900 BCE.

A jaguar sculpture.

Looking down through the museum.
A sun deity? (I think) which Lena thinks looks a lot like Rumpelstiltskin drinking out of a bird bath.


Little dog figures. Apparently 7 dogs are needed to transition to the next world. Not a good thing if you are primarily a fan of cats.
A bat figurine.
Writing.
Another jaguar figure - apparently in attack position (yet looks so round and cuddly).


Scallops!
A musical instrument made from a gigantic snail shell.



A map with colonial rulers inhabiting the underworld.
From Xalapa we then traveled to Xico where we ate lunch and visited the waterfalls.


The old bridge over the gorge.
Epiphytes growing on the old bridge.
Banana trees.

Many many epiphytes.

Checking out microbial mats.

A view of a shade grown coffee operation with coffee plants growing under a canopy of trees (bananas and others).
Now back at home after a great trip. Tonight we set up Lena's new bike (a weehoo) that connects to the back of ours. We are all really excited and look forward to trying it out more in the coming days.