Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~swiss chard, Out-of-Focus~

~swiss chard~

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My daily 'camera time' is often early evening, before sunset, when I let the dogs outside for a good run.  They're busy - chasing each other, chasing anything, chasing everything - while I usually find something random that I chase with my camera - the edge of a leaf, a color, tiny hairs on the tip of a Salvia hidalgo.  Last year while living in the DC area I purchased a new Nikon - and more recently purchased a new macro lens that has been hard for me to get used to, much less master.   But I'm letting go of the desire to have a perfect image in perfect focus, and instead I'm enjoying the chase, like my dogs always do.

My current chase?  To see how many ways I can photograph swiss chard.  Soon it will be gone (gone = sauteed) and I'll move on to something else.

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The Three Chards

Life with Chard

~wisteria, flattened on asphalt outside of the McClellanville Museum~

 
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World Ocean Day

~grace~

~more roses at the bottom of a glass jar~

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The roses have now been in the glass jar for six days - you can see them at Day 1 here.  The image above was taken on a concrete stepping stone - it's interesting how the roses almost appear as if they are in a rectangle, instead of leaning against the sides of the jar.  And just like people, some roses age better than others.

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My garden handled the cold quite well last night - I don't think we had either a frost or a freeze - it was a bit cloudy last night, and definitely windy - which helped.  So today the fall-blooming salvias are still blooming, and the morning glories are still rambling and the elephant ears are still - huge.

I went ahead today and put a wreath of evergreens over the morning glories.

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~A Falcon Guide, Birding South Carolina:  A Guide to 40 Premier Birding Sites, by Jeff Mollenhauer~

The spouse of the young woman who passed away yesterday published a South Carolina birding book earlier this year.  When I was at Barnes and Noble earlier today, there was one copy on the shelf and I purchased it.  It seemed like a small way to support Jeff today, a very small way - considering the trajedy that has befallen his small family.  The book is great - and includes a number of places for birding that I wasn't familiar with and might add to a mental list of things-to-do.

I went to the store to buy a sympathy card, but I found myself unable to do so.  Instead I got a card of a tree filled with different types of birds.  It seemed more appropriate, better somehow.

Today I couldn't help but think of the line from the U2 song 'Grace':

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

Something good will need to come out of this.  It must.

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My Father had a good appointment with his physician today - and the MRI did not reveal any problems.  He also scored substantially higher on his cognitive tests.  There was much relief at this news, and tonight my Dad is happy and awaiting a weekend of bad weather in Virginia.  He had asked me to send him a 'list' of possible Christmas gifts, and so tonight I sent him a list of something things I needed in the Airstream (a 'griddler' and a toaster), books (Henry Mitchell's gardening books), a few other things (including new Birki gardening clogs - replacing the ones that I said farewell to last summer)...and a 2010 convertible jaguar.  Tonight on the phone I told him that he wouldn't have to wrap the convertible.  He laughed.

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I have ALOT of editing, writing, and reviewing to do.

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I need to compile and post the 2009 Gifts for that Special Microbiologist in your List soon.  Here is the list for 2008.  I think that this post gets more hits than any other on this site - except perhaps for the post written about my visit to Pearl Fryar's garden in Bishopville, South Carolina.  Who knew that so many people were shopping for microbiologists?  That just warms my heart.

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   I need to make my holiday cards.

I have made them every year...for years...until 2006, when I bought these papers/colors that I obviously was at a loss about when I brought them home.  (They are rather horrible, aren't they?).

I'm still at a loss - but want to do something.  I have the envelopes, cards, paints, etc.  Now I just need a VISION.  Here is a look at a card from a past year.

This is my favorite (personal) holiday tradition - something I've been doing since I was in my 20s.  I'm determined to do them again this year - if even they become a card welcoming in the new year (in fact, I might even prefer that).

I'd better get on it then, don't you think?

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On a much lighter note...

 
~Roses at the bottom of a glass jar (on Day I)~

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[I'm still rather enamored with David Perry's Mason Jar Master Class - and so a few days ago collected roses from the garden and placed them on the bottom of a large glass jar.  I'm taking photos everyday of the roses as they age, and I'm moving the jar around some - and taking the photos with the jar on different surfaces.  Some have worked (flagstone), some have definitely not worked (bottom of a bright yellow kayak) and some are interesting though odd (on a bit of ground littered with yellow-orange-red chinese tallow leaves).  And for those of you who are curious, we have not had a frost/freeze as of yet along my little piece of the South Carolina coast.]

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Yesterday I mentioned that the Airstream electricity had 'blown' and this evening an electrician made it by, and things are back 'on' - not perfect, but much improved.  Last night was an interesting night:  after my initial meltdown, and after my frustration subsided, I settled down and built a nice fire outdoors and sat and talked on the phone with a friend from Michigan as the dogs ran around, and then I connected an outdoor extension cord (coming from the falling-down house) to the Airstream and was able to warm the place up a bit, turn-on the computer, and heat up some leftover quiche.  I ended up going to bed early, with a flashlight and a book:  it was warm and quiet and really not so bad afterall.

But tonight it is almost luxurious to have several electricial appliances going at once - the dehumidifier is on, I'm typing away here, and the Vornado is blowing warm air.  It's raining outside - the Airstream is a nice place to be in the rain.

I still have the refrigerator off, and I won't be able to have it running on electricity until a few things are upgraded.  The electrician, who stopped by this evening, is scheduled to return early Thursday morning - and he's going to look at the fusebox and utility pole and propose a plan.  I will be present when he evaluates the electrical system, and I'm hoping to learn a thing or two.

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 ~Another view of roses at the bottom of a glass jar (on Day I)~

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Did you happen to see the link today to a New York Post piece titled 'Cozy-crazy couple makes tight all right in the city's tiniest studio'?

First, let's do the math:  They live in 175-square-foot microstudio.  It's 14.9 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a 3 feet by 9 feet bathroom (okay, so that looks more like 176-square-feet).  My Airstream home is 27 feet long and 8 feet wide ( 216-square-feet).

So my Airstream is larger than their $150,000 microstudio with a view of Upper Manhattan.

Oh, and they also have two cats.

From the article:

The couple wakes up every morning in their queen-size bed, which takes up one-third of the living space.

They then walk five feet toward the tiny kitchen, where they pull out their workout clothes, which are folded neatly in two cabinets above the sink. A third cabinet holds several containers of espresso for their only kitchen appliance, a cappuccino maker.

They turn off their hotplate, and use the space on the counter as a feeding area for their cats, Esmeralda and Beauregard.

"We don't cook," Zaarath said, adding that their fridge never has any food in it. "So when you don't cook, you don't need plates or pots or pans. So we use that space for our clothes."

Okay, so I don't have a queen-sized bed, or a view of Manhattan.  But I do have 46-square-feet on these guys....so there. 

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 ~And yet another view of roses at the bottom of a glass jar (on DayI)~

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The Microbial Lab had a manuscript published this week (you can read the abstract here) and another manuscript was officially accepted.  Another is in the hand's of it's co-authors, and a draft of another manuscript was given to me today by a student.  It really has been a rewarding time, with respect to publications - no doubt about that.

There was a wonderful piece on the CBS evening news last night - I didn't watch it (since I was on a strict rotating electrical appliance schedule, and the TV didn't make the cut) - but was able to watch the piece here...and here's a nice companion article.

 On her view of why some men have trouble with women in science careers (from the video):

"...I'm just not so comfortable bringing her into the group..."   Carol Greider, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University.

Hmmmm.  I have quite a bit to say here, but this is not the place to say it.  Perhaps a better place is around a fire outside of an Airstream (with something stronger than apple cider to drink).

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Have you been following the 'climate change email controversy'?  There's quite a bit, floating around out there, about what happened.  There's much being said - like this...and this / this.  (And remember this?).  My general (and perhaps naive) sense is that this discussion is good - perhaps it will, in time, help people understand a bit more deeply about how science works.  Now that's something I could write about here, that is, if I have electricity and if I lose interest in roses at the bottom of glass jars.

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~roses in the bottom of a glass jar after a rain~

~roses, left outside in a pale blue mason jar after a night of rainfall~

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I like what the glass/water does in/to these images - the magnification and distortion of the roses in the reflection (on the left side of the image) is quite beautiful.  A 'dry' version of the image (from the previous day) can be found here.

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~the bottom left of the above image~

If you click on these images, they will be displayed larger - and you can see the detail in the reflection much better.

(Follow the links found here to David Perry's description of the 'mason jar' technique). 

~drying roses in the bottom of a glass~

~drying roses in the bottom of a recycled blue wine bottle glass~

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I think I'll try and do a series of these over the weekend - with roses, and different jars/glasses/ light sources.  This is fun.

~mason jar camellia~

~mason jar camellia~

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A few weeks ago, David Perry of a Photographers Garden Blog wrote a post titled 'Macro in a Mason Jar' - where he described a rather elegant technique for taking macro shots.  I've been wanting to try it for several weeks now, but just this morning, while the dogs ran (and ran and ran) did I find a bit of time to grab my camera, a camellia, and a mason jar.

As always, David's images were just lovely and he graciously shared his approach with those of us who stopped by to visit.  Earlier this week he updated his mason jar post, with a 'Mason Jar Master Class'  - and I really (really) want to play with this a bit more this weekend.  I'm thinking:  (1) roses, roses petals - that are allowed to dry in the jar over time - and photographing them as they dry; (2)  pine cones, rather, the 'scales' of the cone, and (3)  whatever else I think of when I actually find time to think.  Plus, I can play with different colors/amounts of light surrounding the jar.

So it's kinda like having homework, but fun homework.

(And if you want to see David Perry at his hilarious best, go take a look at this video).