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I was stunned today to find a Red-throated Loon in close to shore as I walked the Northeast Beach. This is a rare bird for me, atleast untilt his fall, and I find her(?) very elegant and graceful. So I grabbed a bunch of shots and put them here. I love the long, slender neck, the slightly upturned beak, the expressions of curiosity as she spots me, and the sleek body, rarely seen because it’s designed for underwater work. She reminds me of a young Katherine Hepburn – hmmmm, and come to think of it, the COmmon Loon reminds me a bit of Spencer Tracy

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This wasn’t the only highlight of today’s walk – another one in inclement weather where there was a constant mist out of the northeast on alight wind that raised more chop onthe bay than the ocean. In any event, as I came over the causeway I spotted a Brant  – a juvenile I believe.  I’m used to seeing these in flocks – and not very often. In fact, I can only remember seeing them here once before a few years ago.  So maybe this one’s lost, or maybe he’s just a rebel off doing his own thing, In any event, they remind me of a small version of the Canada Goose. When they mature there’s a white ring around their neck = this one has only the slightest hint of a ring.

Click image for larger version.

Click image for larger version.

And remember the Bufflehead dude from the other day – the lone male? Well, this time he had a female companion – and there were several others  along the way, but in small groups.

After walking the beach I turned inland towards the towers and couldn’t help noticing that while the landscape is pretty bleak. Here’s a view looking out at a passing ship.

Click image for larger view.

There is an awful lot of color here if you look closely. One yellow flower seems to not know winter is coming. I see it in a small bunches throughout the island. Seems to be the only thing left in bloom right now.

The bittersweet berries remain lovely.

And here are a couple of other plants that I found appealing, but I don’t have a clue what they are.

Saw quite abit of smallbird activity – but little I could identify. Maybe a Yellow Rump or three and I;m cetain of a pair of Mockingbirds.  But most were too far away and too fast forme.

On the way out I stopped on the causeway to admire some Eiders. Seems they’ve learned to avoid humans now that hunting season is here. But they’re smart. They didn’t fly – just sort of swam real fast with t heir wings. Could they be doing this on purpose? Perhaps they know they can only be shot when in the air? Nawwww . . .

So I found this vine when walking back to my apartment from the train station, and the leaves were perfectly shaped hearts! I have never saw such perfect hearts in nature before… and its always nice to find these types of things while walking around with your hunny Can anyone tell me more about this plant? I can’t seem to find good solid information on this particular plant. The leaves were only about the size of my thumb. I decided to dry and press them so i can keep them and make cards out of them or something… yeah… im still a crafty nerd

Miki Morigi creates `flowers and fantasy`under the brand forest feast.  From subtly coloured field flowers to glowing ethereal pieces forest feast really does have something for every garden, forest or faerie vale.  At the forest feast stall at garden fair you`ll find a little bit of all these.  There`s even some ocean plants and seaweed! 

Special favourites are the one prim plant rezzers.  Perfect for even the tightest of prim allowances simply place the single prim out and touch to activate.  Choose your prefered radius from the drop down menu and then sit back and watch these bloom.

  These are some of the best one prim rezzers I`ve come across, the density of the flowers seems just right.  A very sweet selection to choose from as well.

The must get is this one prim `Tree for Background 06`. There is a lot packed in to this one prim.  These are not only copy but from the drop down menu you can choose from High Rez or Low Rez and one of three seasons. With or with out glow and full bright or no.  Again, perfect for those primfully challenged plots.  They are also mod so can be shrunk down or stretched to fill any spot.  They make for nice little hedges this way, too.

Popular this year are glass bead like plants and forest feast has some of these for you also. Delicately beautiful branches of pastel tinged bubbles at an incredibly reasonable price of 20L for two no copy stalks. 

For those with out a green pixel thumb, forest feast has released the perfect thing.  The Sky Garden a 20×20 footprint sky platform with gazebo, fence and gate, four kinds of trees and ten different flowering plants. This all makes up for a nice little sky retreat or even as an add-on.  The instant garden!

Forest Feast at Albero Garden Fair

Garden Fair runs through Dec 27th.

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***ALBERO*** http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chowla/132/186/82

CIOCCOLATA  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hyssop/163/200/62

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There’s a Facebook challenge that’s been going on between Hubby and some of his friends. For each day in November, they’ve been posting something for which they are thankful. I’ve been thinking about this Facebook challenge, although I didn’t take part in it. I figured I’d give it a shot here on my blog – 30 things I’m thankful for (because November hath 30 days).

In no particular order, I give thanks for …

1. Family, particularly Hubby and the kids, but the rest of the whole bunch of you are included, too

2. Food (Need I say more?)

3. Clean, abundant, easily accessible water

4. Hot showers

5. A comfy house with strong colors on the walls

6. A cozy bed with a heavy comforter

7. Music in all its forms (Although I wasn’t ever sure I’d be thankful for an mp3 player that didn’t have physical art or lyrics. That has changed and now I’m VERY thankful for my iPod.)

8. My ability to easily string words together

9. The internet – for the voice it gives to ordinary peeps through a variety of apps (and the research, too!)

10. My computer – for letting me access the internet

11. Flowers

12. Birds

13. Books, acres and acres of books

14. GoodReads – for helping me keep track of the books I’ve read, and most especially for the books I want to read

15. My health. It’s been relatively good over the years. Not too many scary situations.

16. Dictionaries, thesauruses, grammar & punctuation guides

17. Yarn

18. Notebooks

19. Movies that suck me in over and over

20. Human creativity (although animal creativity is pretty fascinating, as well)

21. Museums – for saving so much of our culture and for being enthralling repositories of investigation

22. Kitties (They purr, which is a most loverly sign of affection.)

23. Bic Round Stic Pens – medium flow, black ink

24. Heated car seats (They keep my butt warm while the engine and heater heat up.)

25. Gift bags – for making gift wrapping easy

26. Life mysteries – for giving me so much to think about (What do those darned khipu mean, anyway?)

27. The opportunity to sleep in late (refer back to #6)

28. My sewing machine (a needle and thread will also do)

29. Sweaters, jackets, sweatshirts, turtlenecks, mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, neck-warmers, thick socks, and Steger mukluks (Can you tell by this and several other items on the list that I like to stay warm? Yeah. I’m thankful for warmth.)

30. Friends, both offline and on, because you’re all part of my real world no matter where I find you.

Have you been taking part in the Facebook challenge? Whether you did or not, what are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well & be joyous!

“Yay! It’s Harvest Fest Day,” crowed Cali as she greeted Owen with a big hug.  “Down!  Lummox. Down, Loki-Dog. You guys can’t go with us today. No dogs at that Conservancy Trust farm.”
“I always hate to exclude them,” said Owen, “But the elk need to have priority there.”
“Oh, we know it,” said Rhea, coming up with her arms loaded with the baby carrier. “And really, they have plenty of space to roam here on our Trust farm.”
Owen had the RCar Suburu wagon that was stationed in their little valley at the bottom of the Mountain. He’d first driven it back by his house and picked up his potluck apple pie up and the signs he’d done on his computer, as well as a couple of gallon jars for the cider they would be making today at the Fest. He’d already taken most the apples from his own trees over the day before along with some he’d picked from the neighbors’ yards. Neither of his neighbors would be coming to the Fest this year – one was pretty sick and didn’t get out much any more.  The others were away for a few weeks, taking advantage of the good weather to hike along the coast. All were glad the apples weren’t going to waste.
Here at Benden Farm he was collecting Caliente and Carlos, plus Rhea. By the looks of it Carlos was bringing his guitar and djimbe. He hoped that the costume trunks didn’t have to be squeezed in. People didn’t generally dress up for Harvest Fest but you never knew what these kids might have cooked up.
Cali did have a carton of the most recent issue of Squawk! the sporadically  published activist newspaper she helped edit and produce on her laptop. She was always organizing something – a true child of her parents. With her curly reddish hair – what women called “strawberry blonde” – peeking out from under her trademark cap knitted with sparkles, he thought she lived up to her name.
“Who’s bringing the plates and cutlery?” he asked, wondering if he’d need to swing by ReBound and pick up the rental ones. No way they’d fit in with this load.
“Don’t worry, Owen,” Janna’s already got them over there.”
Of course, they each had pies too in their baskets. Carlos had made a savory one by the smell of it. “Is that your sausage I smell?”
“Yup! It’s from the pigs we slaughtered in August. I hope there’s room for this cooler. I’ve got more sausage to sell today. It sold well all summer at the Friday Markets and this is the last of it. Next week we start making it for Angel’s Restaurant. I’m pretty excited about that. She’s very committed to selling local food.”
“Good thing our neighborhood has the station wagon. It’s gonna get filled up pretty fast. Let’s not forget the baby!”
It took some careful packing, including the box on the top, but they were soon all shoehorned into the blue Subaru for the three mile drive to the Conservancy Trust’s Locovore Farm.

“ I guess I needn’t have worried,” thought Owen, listening to the chatter around him.

He was still learning to relax into faith that all the pieces would come together even if he didn’t oversee every detail. Years of Board service and occasional part-time employment for the Conservancy Trust had him accustomed to tracking details and he did like to know that things were in hand. This was a large event with people from out of town and he wanted the Trust to show up well. These young people were enthusiastic help but sometimes they were a little casual for his comfort level and it had taken longer than he wanted to gather things up. Had they gotten off soon enough to get his signs there in a timely manner? He should have come half an hour sooner.

Hopefully, Alex remembered to pick up the tables and chairs from the Nekelew Community Center. This event used more than the Trust had in the barn. Had Molly arranged for the recycle bins to be delivered? Owen’s thoughts were spiraling again. Luckily it was a short ride and he didn’t have time to build up too much of a frenzy. “Breathe!” he told himself.

When they arrived, there was a familiar joyous bustle of making ready. Carlos headed to the performance area in the corner of the barn with the musical instruments. “I’ll come back in a minute to help with Menolly and the coolers,” he said over his shoulder to Cali.
The tables were indeed set up and Rhea hopped to spreading out the colorful cloths that had seen service at many a potluck. The extra recycle bins were lined up and Owen noted there was even a bin to collect for the Food Bank. “What a good idea. That’s new this year.”
Ursula was overseeing the placement of the pies. “Savory on this side and sweet over there,” she was telling people. “And if you could fill out a card with the ingredients.” The multicolored, mismatched plates were piled on one table along with lots of forks. At least now they had facilities to wash the plates unlike in the early years when they’d had to take them all home to be washed before going back to ReBound.
Owen handed her the small signs he’d made for vegan, veggie, carnivore sections.
“Oh, Owen, they’re lovely! That was an unfortunate mix-up last year. People are pretty tolerant of everyone else’s philosophical preferences and dietary restrictions, but some don’t like surprises – like cheese, or worse, meat, when they thought it was tofu. And it’s nice when it’s clear a crust is gluten free for those with allergies.”
Owen was just starting to wonder whether his two would be the only sweet pies, when two more arrived, made from the farm’s own pumpkins.
“Now, Owen don’t worry about the pies,” Ursula told him firmly knowing his tendency to fret. “Go see if you can help with the apple cider press. Johan is busy with a project deadline at the foundry so another hand is needed. “
“I’ll help as soon as I unload the signs I made for the Trust booth. Have the parking volunteers gotten here yet?”
“No, Janna told them to come at 11 o’clock. I’m sure that’s plenty of time for them to get here. The jitney is coming then to bring people over from the church parking lot when the inner field gets full.”
“You don’t think that’s cutting it a little close? What if they’re late?”
“Relax! It’s mostly the same folks who’ve done it for years. Go see about the apple press.”
Owen grinned at her sheepishly and after piling the signs near the non-profit booths (already set up, of course, by Janna), he moved the car to his special spot behind the caretakers’ house. That way he could get to his extra jacket if he needed it and could grab for emergency supplies if they ran out of anything. He knew he’d be here ‘til the very end for the clean-up but he still liked to have the car handy.
Maybe he needed to commune a little more with Cascara sagrada. There certainly was enough of it growing on the Mountain. Medicinally this deciduous tree’s bark helped loosen the bowels, so its essence was about moving gracefully with the current.

“Go with the flow, right, August and Anise?” he said as he passed the little ones playing in the mud puddle. “Worry is praying for what you don’t want,” he reminded himself.

After decades of seeing plants as passive recipients of fate, scientists have found them capable of behaviors once thought unique to animals. Some plants even appear to be social, favoring family while pushing strangers from the neighborhood.

Read more …

Source: Wired.com via GardenKauai.com

We’ve reopened the Outdoor Furniture section at Ambiance!

Our hopes are that this is a place where people also feel they can just come and hang out and spend time.  Come explore the garden, relax on a comfy chaise or swing, cuddle with your special someone in the romantic gazebo, chill with a friend in our rowboat, or soak away the day’s stresses in a luxurious hot tub.

We also currently have a small selection of garden plants available as well.   Keep checking back here for announcements of NEW Outdoor Furny releases to come over the next two weeks!

Outdoor Furniture Section @ AMBIANCE!

Small Gazebo with Menu Driven Hot Tub

Large Gazebo with Amore Furniture

Jewell Outdoor Collection w/Menu Driven Animations & Texture Change

Visit the new Outdoor Section at Ambiance.

Phytochemicals are special substances found in plants, specifically in the pigments of plants where they are most significant. There is clear evidence that this substance can help you prevent degenerative diseases and help you live a long heathly life.    

Plants and vegetables have different Phytochemicals in them so it is important to eat a variety of them for you to get their full benefits.

Below is a list of foods rich in essential Phytochemicals .

• Grapes – grapes preferably Red ones contains a compound know as polyphenols which is an antioxidant . This is beneficial in improving your cholesterol, help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease.
• Oranges – they contain limonoid which is found in that white stuff you see separating each section. Limonoid is known for its antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial capability.
• Blueberries – they contain anthocyanidins, an antioxidant that can battle free radicals in your body that can damage cells.
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables – collard greens, mustard greens, watercress, swiss chard are among the best that contains powerful antioxidants. These greens have in them carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin which benefits eye sight. Plus studies have shown people who consume foods rich in carotenoids live longer and less likely to die from diseases.
•  Apples – in addition to providing you with the fiber your body needs, they also contain flavanoids which is known for their antioxidant activity.
• Tomato – rich in lycopene which is also a carotenoid and lycopene is beneficial in protecting you from prostate and skin cancer.
•  Walnuts – contains lots of essential fatty acids and ellagic acid which can also be found in raspberries, strawberries, cranberries and pecans as well, is also known for its antioxidant capability.
•  Spices – cayanne, ginger, rosemary another great source of antioxidants.
• Mushrooms – shiitake, maitake and other Asian type mushroom contains Beta Glucan . This is special phytochemical that has been proven to help keep your immune system healthy and strong.

Many of us eat these foods already maybe with the exception of the dark green leafy vegetables but now that you know the benefits that they provide we need to be more conscious in incorporating these foods in our diet on a daily basis.

I don’t know about you but I plan to a centenarian. Don’t know what that is, look it up. Cheers.

Best I Ever Had (Drake Cover) by Donna, Anna & Ruby

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Art Cube
Wiedauwkaai 52
9000 Gent (Belgium)
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• Events / exhibition organisation
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Antwerp Engineering Company
Indiëstraat 10
2000 Antwerpen (Belgium)
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• Waste treatment / Refuse disposal
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• Hotels
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• Displays (design/fabrication)

This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

Beurs-World Trade Centre
Beursplein 37
3011 AA Rotterdam (Netherlands)
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• Sanitary / Water, bar & compressed air
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This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

De Doelen Concert and Congress Centre
P.O. Box 972
3000 AZ Rotterdam (Netherlands)
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• Stand construction: shell scheme
• Signage
• Sanitary / Water, bar & compressed air
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This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

Brabanthallen Den Bosch
Diezekade 2
5222 AK ’s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands)
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This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

Maastrichts Expositie & Congres Centrum (MECC)
Postbus 1630
6201 BP Maastricht (Netherlands)
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An overview of the available activities for Maastrichts Expositie & Congres Centrum (MECC) …

• Stand construction: custom build
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• Stand construction: shell scheme
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This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

Amsterdam Convention Factory
Czaar Peterstraat 213
1018 PL Amsterdam (Netherlands)
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• Stand construction: custom build
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• Floorcovering / Carpet
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• Hostesses
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• Stand construction: shell scheme
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I still think I can still offer some commentary on Olivia Judson’s take on an Evolve-By Date.

I’ve written before about what an important book it was and why it mattered so much, so I won’t do that again now. Instead, I want to mark the occasion by looking at the limits of evolutionary potential.

To see what I mean by this, consider the following paradox. Whenever we do evolution experiments in the laboratory or on the farm, we can cause pronounced and rapid change in the traits we are interested in — we can evolve bigger horses, smaller dogs, cows that make more milk, viruses that thrive at higher temperatures and so on.

That’s not natural evolution; those are examples of genetic engineering. That’s human beings forcing their way into a species’ inner workings to manipulate natural ability until it results in what might be a very unnatural ability. Evolution is the natural process by which a species adapts to its environment over time. Specialized breeding and gene tweaking and drugs work faster than evolution does. Every breed of dog or cow or horse or sheep or chicken out there has been humanly guided into those breeds over hundreds of years. Just look into the history of husbandry.

Nature maybe could have changed these animals, given thousands of years, or it might not have. If there was no need for the animal to change that much, it wouldn’t have changed. Humans wanted them to change, so we changed them.

In the laboratory, in other words, evolution has huge potential. But if it has that much potential — how come organisms keep going extinct in nature? In other words, why does evolution keep failing?

Evolution isn’t failing. Humans are. Humans killed off the dodo. That’s not the fault of the dodo. There was no way the species could have evolved in such a short time into a critter wise enough to hide or run from human beings. Humans knock forests down with little regard to what kind of species might rely on it. Humans want the pelts, teeth, bones, eyeballs, feathers, blubber, off all kinds of animals often without caring about poaching laws. There’s big money to be had if something’s hard to get. Humans got it into their heads that rhinoceros horns were an aphrodisiac. The rhinos are incapable of debating that. Tigers can’t stop people from taking their penises for the same reason. And plants are also at risk of extinction.

The question matters as never before. We humans are busily changing the environment for most of the beings on the planet, and often, we are doing so very fast. To know what effect this will have, we badly need to know how readily different creatures can evolve to deal with changes to their environment. For if we’re not careful, many groups will soon be faced with an evolve-by date: if they don’t evolve rapidly enough to survive in this changing world, they will vanish.

Look at the trouble Florida residents have with alligators. Land developers encroached on the swamps they’ve lived in for thousands of years and now there’s a swimming pool where a nesting site used to be. You can’t explain to an alligator that it’s time he moves on. If he even understood the concept, what land is left for him anyway? Cities have wild cat problems for the same reason. They’ve spread into the areas cougars used to have to themselves so they’re adapting in a way humans don’t like very much at all. Raccoons do the same. I’ve heard they’re quite nasty and destructive once they squat in an attic or under a porch and are hellish to get rid of. Animals are incapable of evolving into anything else that would save their lives. All they can do is attempt to change the way they behave, but since a lot of that relies on evolved instinct, fat chance. Evolution isn’t a Kevlar vest they can strap on to stop bullets. Everything can adapt to a point, but humans are unstoppable unless we stop ourselves.

Suppose you put bacteria into test tubes where their usual sugar source is in short supply, but an alternative one — which they can’t consume at all — is abundant. (If you put them with just this alternative source, they would all die of starvation at once.) Then, you can watch how long it takes for the bacteria to evolve so they can digest the alternative. The answer, in one famous case, was more than 31,000 generations! Which just goes to show: just because a particular trait would be useful does not mean that it will soon evolve.

To me, all this is a bit sobering. If most organisms have to wait 31,000 generations to evolve a useful new trait — they will probably go extinct first. Worse, many natural populations are shrinking fast, further reducing their evolutionary potential. In short, we can expect that — if the environment continues to change as rapidly as it is at the moment — many creatures will fail to meet their evolve-by dates.

Sobering thought indeed.

25th November – St. Catherine’s Day – when planting is guaranteed to be successful.

I had been saving the planting of my Magnolia grandiflora until today and plan to have a St. Catherine’s Day plant for every year we are here. Last year, our first autumn in France, I planted a couple of fruiting Cherry trees on the eastern garden boundary and the Magnolia is now settling in halfway between the two. The stocky plant has a couple of flower buds waiting to open and makes a nice evergreen punctuation point on that side of the garden.

Magnolia grandiflora planted on St. Catherine's Day

There are no beds over there at the moment – I had been leaving that side uncultivated to allow access for the builders when our log cabin goes up. The planting hole was therefore dug out of an area hastily cleared for the purpose and is still surrounded by weeds in this neglected section. It’s had a good feed and plenty of water and I shall be talking to it on a daily basis; and with St. Catherine on my side, how can I go wrong?

This planting is also part of my preparations for winter which, despite all the mild weather, must be just around the corner.