Keepers of the Light

This time last year we were treated by family to a stay at the assistant lighthouse keeper’s house at North Head Lighthouse in southern Washington near the mouth of the Columbia River. It had been commissioned in 1897 and was manned for the greater part of the twentieth century until the light was automated. ItContinue reading “Keepers of the Light”

Seeing the Invisible

The trip to Barr Hammock Preserve revealed further spectacular “wild life” with the help of a microscope to view water samples I cautiously collected while on the hike. There are gators in those waters, but there is so much more. Myriads of microscopic creatures inhabit every drop and could be seen through the microscope cavortingContinue reading “Seeing the Invisible”

Barr Hammock

Between Gainesville and sleepy little Micanopy, a one by two mile lowland alternates between swamp and shallow lake and is called a hammock. Known as Barr Hammock Preserve, it is mostly swamp with a few ponds this time of year. Along its margins leafless cypress and maples sport beards of Spanish moss thought grass andContinue reading “Barr Hammock”

June in January

”It’s June in January…” crooned Bing Crosby in the 1934 movie Here Is My Heart. The photo above is actually June 2021 at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon. By Florida standards it was “January in June,” or worse. Fortunately for us our weather this January has been much milder than June at the lodge,Continue reading “June in January”

More Than Meets the Eye

I posted the two flower images recently; yesterday afternoon I got my microscope out to look at the pollen from each. Wow, what a difference! Both flowers have their own distinct pollen as do all the other flowering plants. Not only are the flowers beautiful, their pollen proves that there is much more to theContinue reading “More Than Meets the Eye”