The Amazing Wellesley Ravens

I just love corvids. I used to live in the Far North, where the ravens are the size of small aircraft. Now I live in the tropics, and we have Fish Crows, the smaller, cuter cousin of the American Crow.

Fish Crows, MRobb, 20014

I love them, but I do miss the ravens. So I was delighted to find a happy raven family on a webcam at Wellesley College. It's nesting season, and the happy pair (ravens are monogamous) are raising 4 lovely ravinettes...let's check it out!

http://www.wellesley.edu/ravencam

The latest research shows that some crows, particularly the New Caledonian Crow, are as smart as chimpanzees! If you want to learn some amazing facts about just how much more intelligent corvids are than a lot of humans you know, read this right now:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

Have a great weekend and Happy Gardening!

Oh No, More Age of Lonely....

I truly don't like being a Debbie Downer. I'm generally described as "perky" or "bubbly". Heck, I'm even a blonde! Still, I manage to maintain my five senses, and I don't like what I'm sensing some days.....
I used to go free diving, SCUBA diving, and snorkeling in South Florida and the Florida Keys. This was back in the Jurassic, when there were reefs, and fish. It was amazing! It was mindblowing! Now we are heading toward the Neo-Eemian perhaps, and the ocean I loved so much is acidifying, more quickly than predicted. Here is the Then (when I was a snorkeling kid in these waters) and Now, in the Age of Lonely:

Photos courtesy of Chris Langdon, Climate Central

Acidification from too much carbon dioxide, higher temperatures, and possibly, too many nutrients in the water from too many people and agricultural corporations not cleaning up their *S&% before it hits the ocean. A magical environment dead and gone. I've heard the same thing is happening in Australia with that miraculous place, the Great Barrier Reef. I grieve for that amazing place that I've never seen, and maybe never will.
Will we learn how to care for our world in time to save what's left???
Link:
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/florida-reefs-dissolve-much-sooner-than-expected-20309

Frostweed and Jamaican Leaf of Life

I grow a number of medicinal herbs in my outdoor garden. The two I'll show today are Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) and Jamaican Leaf of Life (Bryophyllum calycinum and pinnatum):

Frostweed is thusly named because it sends out water vapor when temperatures plummet, and creates some amazing natural frost sculptures along its stalk:

In traditional medicine, the leaves are smoked for a variety of ailments, including bereavement and grief in general. I have not tried this, so I have no comment! The Jamaican Leaf of Life is used for respiratory conditions, particularly asthma. I make a tincture or tea out of the leaves. The flavor is astringent and salty, and rather pleasant. Some people around here just chew the leaves, but I find that makes me pucker, like I do when I eat a persimmon.

The Leaf of Life propagates the way the Mother of Millions does- from nodes in the leaves themselves. Just throw a leaf on the ground and watch roots sprout and tiny plantlets grow. In tropical zones, the Leaf of Life is lively indeed! My herbalism teacher gave me one leaf a few years ago, and now I have over 20 plants! 

Schwantesia borcherdsii blooms!

Yes, I really do still grow mesembs, and Schwantesia is one of my newer additions. Schwantesias are dwarf mesembs, just like Lithops. They have gone through an extreme form of evolution to become very small, compact, and highly stonelike in appearance. They did this because they live in some of the harshest corners of our planet. (Do planets have corners? I guess they do!)

Schwantesia herrei, by Fred Dortort

 According to Mesemb Expert Fred Dortort, Schwantesias don't turn their outermost leaves into dry, protective sheaths the way Lithops or Conophytums do. They live in cracks in boulders and other out of the way, rocky hideouts. The evolved along the Orange River. Their blooms are a startling yellow. They really don't like much water or soil. Here is mine, a Schwantesia borcherdsii:

Schwantesia borcherdsii in bloom, MRobb, 2016

I am thinking this little plant needs even less water than a Lithops, and perhaps it wants to be misted and splashed now and again, as it would along an arid river bank that flash floods every once in a while? Fred Dortort recommends soil devoid of organic matter, bright sun in the growing season, and a little water every 2 weeks during the growing season when light is longest. He says that if in doubt, don't water. So that's what I'm trying. So far, so good....

Bloomin' Babytoes Meets...The Monster!

I'm supposed to be making ceramic dishes and pencil holders this weekend, you know, serious stuff. And they need to be finished by late next week. But I'm distracted by a bloomin' Babytoes, the first of spring 2016!

Babytoes Blooms in 2016, MRobb

There it sits, right in the window of my studio, distracting me with its cheerful beauty. So instead of making serious pots, I made...the Monster!

The Monster! Greenware MRobb 2016

Yes, yes, I know, I'll get to work now. Have a wonderful weekend and happy gardening!

Weekend Fun: Angel Muse Perfume Review

After almost a month of embroilment in serious environmental concerns here on my sand dune, I needed a completely frivolous moment in order to lighten up a little. In fact, my family and friends insisted on this. Fortunately, the House of Mugler came to the rescue with a sample of the new Angel flanker, Angel Muse, in the mail.

My longtime readers know that I have a deep sentimental attachment to Angel, even if I wear it only rarely. The backstory is here:

http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/2011/03/perfume-that-always-makes-me-cry.html

So I always review the newest Angel somewhere in the Virtual World. Here is my take on Angel Muse:

I own the Taste of Fragrance Angel, which is Angel spiked with dark chocolate. I don't wear it often, but when I have a craving for it, it's a freakin' awesome sillage monster of epic proportions. I think of it as a friendly Kaiju.

That's my Angel, a Sillage Monster!

Angel Muse substitutes a gentle hazelnut milk chocolate for the dark chocolate, and as a result, Angel Muse is more of a wombat than a kaiju.

Common Wombat, Tasmania, Photo by JJ Harrison

Muse is absolutely Angel, but relatively soft and cuddly compared to the other flankers. Mugler has used the hazelnut cream note before, and it's lovely. I like Muse so much more than Angel Eau Sucree', which I thought was dull and perhaps even a little trashy. Muse has a sense of fun and twisted elegance. And House of Mugler's choice of Georgia May Jagger is inspired!

Melancholy Musings and an Update

I've been too sad and too busy with the current environmental meltdown here to blog. Mostly too sad. After gathering data on the human health effects, putting that together with some other concerned residents, and sending it out to everyone, including the governor, and attending various meetings, the upshot is...not much. The human health effects were deliberately ignored, as was a state of emergency, because key officials did not want to "scare away the tourists", and tourism is the biggest part of our economy. I don't think they realize that we now have extensive social media and all it takes is one unhappy, ill tourist to send images of the current horror all over the world. It's better to face up to our addiction to pollution and environmental exploitation and get into recovery! Now!

The only photos I have are so sad I can't even upload them from my camera. Maybe someday. I do have some links on the human health effects of cyanobacteria,which we have here. These "demons of the ancient world" are ironically the reason we are all here- billions of years ago, they created our oxygen-rich atmosphere! But today, they are back, and are quite a scourge to life on land and water:

http://epa.ohio.gov/Portals/28/documents/HABs/Publications/cynobacteriahabs.pdf

Interestingly, another species of cyanobacteria has been found in Greenland, on the ice, greatly accelerating the loss of that ice by making it dark, pockmarked, and mushy so it absorbs more sunlight.  Their little homes are called cryoconites, if you want to Google that. Maybe cyanobacteria are Gaia's way of voting us off the island???

I'll be back next week with proper posts on mesembs, including some new ones I am growing, and of course, the News for Tillies.