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Thanksgiving Eye Candy

11/28/2014

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Angie Lewin is a Scottish printmaker who specializes in these whimsical
prints  featuring the clifftops and saltmarshes of the North Norfolk coast and the Scottish Highlands.

I love to pour over her book Plants & Places, which is a visual celebration of habitats: the coast, woodland & hedgerow, and garden.

Wishing everyone a lovely and peaceful Thanksgiving weekend!

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autumn colors & urban toadstools

11/9/2014

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I found this little beauty in a shrubbery triangle between the sidewalk and an apartment building on Capitol Hill. Amanita muscaria is considered THE Quintessential toadstool (and I honestly thought that this must have been a ceramic one as it was so perfect); I have to admit I was hoping to see a little gnome hanging out somewhere close by...

In the science realm: the mushroom has been used for centuries by shamans, and are known for their hallucinogenic properties.
This from BBC: "The Sami have a custom of feeding fly agaric to their deer and collecting the urine to drink. The reindeer's digestive system metabolises the more poisonous components of the toadstool, leaving urine with the hallucinogenic and psychotropic elements of the fungus intact. Drinking the urine gives a 'high' similar to taking LSD. Under the hallucinatory effects of the drink, the Sami thought their reindeer were flying through space, looking down on the world. The reindeers' liking for the toadstool hallucinogens are such that they, in turn, have been known to eat the snow on which intoxicated humans have urinated, creating a reciprocating cycle."

I am intrigued with the Aminita/Shaman/Santa connection, and the discovery of the science behind the myth!  For those interested, check out Santa Claus is a Mushroom! I would also like to recommend When Santa Was a Shaman; both are guaranteed to spice up your holiday conversations with unusual historical and cultural facts (& perfect with Dr. Byrne's Eggnog).

P.S. and about that red nose...
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Crazy Weather

11/1/2014

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Seattle has had an unseasonably warm fall and our usual lovely autumn leaf colors have been delayed by weeks, resulting in dull yellow and brown leaves still on trees...I had always thought that it was amount of daylight that caused the leaves to change color, but it turns out that it is a combination of daylight and temperature, as well as precipitation and wind that causes the bright fall colors.

The crazy weather has much farther reaching effects than just leaves, I am a bit worried about our bees-who are still out trying to forage and are using up their winter stores of honey. Climate change has caused the shrinking and shifting of bird habitats causing 314 species of North American birds to be imperiled.

Point Blue is a good place to start if you are researching effects of climate change and what we can do to help slow/reverse the process. Their goal is "to reduce the negative impacts of habitat loss, climate change and other environmental stressors, while developing and testing nature-based solutions to the challenges ahead."

Just how bad is it? Niles Eldredge, paleontologist and professor, writes that the Sixth Extinction is different than other extinctions, as it is a human-caused event. Only 10% of the world's species survived the last mass extinction. Who will survive this one? We need to be more careful!

Unfortunately, I think the weather will only get crazier...

                                                                                                       * image credit: Radu Voinea "Wind"
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    Author

    Tracey Byrne~

    I taught K-12 students from north of the Arctic Circle to the Puget Sound Ecoregion, garnering  40 years of experience as a classroom teacher, learning mentor, and private tutor. 

    I spent most of the 1980s and 90s in Alaska flying airplanes, floating wild rivers, winter camping, teaching, parenting, and living off the grid. 

    Here in Seattle, I am an advocate for environmental stewardship, place-based education, and outdoor play. I share my enthusiasm for birds, bugs, and backyards and have been a featured writer and photographer for Pacific Horticulture. 
    ​

    All photographs © T. Byrne unless otherwise noted.

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