explore...

 … is today's photography theme.

Prickly pear fruits (I believe).

Took these photo whilst exploring the farmer's market in Houston, today.

It's MAJOR.

Had NO idea what many of the items were.

Which makes me very happy. =)

A key to exploring, in my mind, is to:

1st, embrace your ignorance,

2nd, ask someone to teach you.

That way you get to learn,

and they get to be a smarty pants;

a win-win.

=)

There was one item that looked like bags of dried green dodder or Spanish moss*.

A young girl explained to us that it is what you put in the manger for the baby Jesus.

Not for eating--oops.

She was SUPER cute.

I love learning from a 9-year-old.

So, there ya go.

Day 23 of the 30 day photo challenge (by @just_go_do_it): DONE.

xoxobb

*Now that I look at it, I'm wondering if what they were selling IS Spanish moss, which is neither Spanish, nor moss. Apparently, it's an epiphytic flowering plant. And it is native in this region (I'm in Texas)… interesting!

music, biology, and earworms

So, GREATLY appreciated the recent blog post title by Hipster Birders, "Rock me, Ammodramus" about the sparrows they'd been seeking. SO much so that I had to comment. And got this in reply:

"We've been really wanting to see the Ammodramus sparrows since we've moved here,

and I've actually been singing that tune for weeks."

So, THAT brought up this topic: music, biologists, and earworms.

And reminded me of years ago, when I was being hounded by Hemizonia.

This is the genus of a common plant at my research partner's and my study site.

EVERY DAY, once that plant (tarweed) bloomed,

and I passed it on the way to our study site,

the Hemizonia record would start spinning ROUND and ROUND in my head

to this tune--substitute "Hemizonia" for "Paranoimia"

(specifically it's the singers that come in 1:25 into the video):

Made me wonder just how many of us, during whatever obsession (required or otherwise) we're enduring, have had songs adapted by our brains into something subject-relevant, then repeated again and again.

This was not something I TRIED to do.

I didn't search my mind for song lyrics and compare them to
the myriad biological terms I have in my brain.

It just happened.

Thankfully, I DO enjoy the above song.

Tho' what was in my head was mostly just those voices,
repeating Hemizonia, over and over. And over.

hee.

Well, I suppose that's just one of the dangers of knowledge.
You never know where it will take you.

Has this ever happened to you? Do tell. =)

And now, this biologist, must break away to dance in her kitchen.

=) bb

pre-Mono wind mums: pollinator, schmollinator...

 
Having read the forecast re: crazy winds, I went to the garden one late afternoon for a last chance photo session. I assumed the winds would strip our precious flowers of their dazzling petals.

Who knew chrysanthemums were so stunning in the fall when all else is drab, drab, drab? I, clearly, did not. Consider me re-educated.

By the way, I am (was??) not a big flower person.
I love them, but feel that growing food is a higher priority
and possibly a better bang for my carbon buck.

However, I am a color pig.

AND, the pollinators LOVE all these flowers,
whether it's spring, summer, or fall,
and that draws them to my garden,
wherein pollination of squash, etc., occurs.

So... I think I'm changing.

I believe in FLOWER POWER!

xobb