Spring before Winter

Phenology in the Cottonwood Gallery

Allison, Judith, and I made the observations for the Nature's Notebook project on Monday morning.  The Great Backyard Bird Count folks had already made their early morning sightings and were largely gone.  The Siberian elms were dumping pollen and the golden current was breaking bud.  Otherwise, all was quiescent. 

I took a side trip to the Japanese garden to see what the Zelkovas were doing--nothing at all.  Afterwards, Judith and I had a pleasant chat about things botanical:  landscaping with native plants, the Bosque trail issue.

An Afternoon in the Garden

Ric and I took as stroll through the winter garden on Thursday afternoon.  It was my first jaunt with a (borrowed) docent's vest.  I clocked 2.25 hrs of General Grounds towards my 60 hr annual requirement.  

Pasque flowers, crocus, iris, and Forsythia were blooming.  In the Mediterranean Conservatory there was a riot of Cyclamen, Kalanchoe, and other colorful nursery plants.  We drifted through the Desert Conservatory and then out to the Japanese Garden.  All in all, a great time to take early season photographs. 

We passed some birders from VT who were armed with 800mm of Nikon and Sony glass.  Ric had a splendid time chatting with one of them, JC.  We looped back along the west side of the pond.  While Ric photographed wood ducks, I captured a couple photo spheres. 

Ground Hog Day

Winter Photo Spheres

A long-duration winter storm moved across the area on Thursday (1/29/15).  Cheri sent an e-mail encouraging me to come out to the Botanic Garden to photograph it in the snow.  Unfortunately, other commitments (Bella's vet appointment) kept me away until the afternoon.  Even so, there was enough snow to be interesting.  I managed a few photo spheres in the Japanese Garden and a number of standard photos elsewhere. 

Phenology

Last Monday (2/2/15) I went out to join the Nature's Notebook study at the Botanic Garden.  Things were a bit muddy from the half inch of snow and rain that had fallen on the preceeding Thursday and Friday.  Even so, the sun shone brightly and the day, which started chilly, quickly warmed up.  We stopped at the four stations and, no surprise, saw little change.  Some four-wing salt bush fruits had dropped, but they were from last season.  No buds were expanding on any of the target plants.

I did take the time to make photo spheres of each site.  These are now public on Google Maps. 

Later today (2/9) I'll repeat the trip.  Perhaps the extremely warm weather will have tricked some plants into breaking bud early.  Stay tuned.

Graduation

Saturday (2/7/15) was Recognition Day at the BioPark.  Caro and I went early to the Zoo.  While I sat through the Volunteers Meeting, she strolled around looking at the kookaburra, koalas, and others.  A number of exhibits were shut down for the winter or closed for renovation.  By 11:00 graduation began.  I am one of about 40 new docents in the Class of '15.  We were amazed at the seniority of some of the volunteers--35 years as a zoo docent was the top.

Last Monday afternoon (2/2) I had met with Marlene to discuss my vest, the official "uniform" that docents are required to wear.  She took measurements, the official patterned cloth, and a t-shirt as a sample that looked like its color would be good for the lining. 

The Zoo

Yesterday (as I write this Monday 2/9), we took Gert to Le Crepe Michelle and then to the Zoo.  Lovely near-record-breaking weather, sunny, light breezes.  Spent most of the time looking at birds and reptiles for an easy loop.  About half the time I pushed Mom in her transfer chair, but she still got a lot of walking for exercise.