Last week one of our friends at grad school was surprised to find that an old high school picture had found its way onto the cover of the weekly student news bulletin. In an effort to console him, I brought some of our old wedding photos in to show him that our “old pictures” were more embarrassing than his.

As a result of showing the photos, Mark started to tell some of the stories about our wedding (e.g. day-glo blue icing on the wedding cake). As I listened, it occurred to me that some of the stories were probably not even known by our daughters. How unfortunate! So, to remedy that situation, and to encourage others to “tell the stories” to those around them, here’s one snippet…

When we were engaged, we were living in the inner-city of St. Louis, working with a group that often took homeless people in for emergency housing. Each person working at the organization had a bedroom with a room-mate from the organization team and also some extra beds. Those extra beds were used for the “housing guests.” You never knew who you might have sleeping in the room with you. For a period of time Mark was host to an Native American guy whom we all really enjoyed getting to know. One day he up and left… leaving no note, address, or sign of himself except his boots. We were disappointed that he had left so suddenly, but Mark was glad to inherit his boots. They were a really nice pair of boots, and, hey! we were dirt poor! So they became his trademark shoes. In fact, he wore them at our wedding.

But, the really interesting part of the story is that not long after our friend left, the FBI showed up asking about his whereabouts. Turns out that he was wanted by the FBI for being involved in the 1973 Wounded Knee uprising. Yikes! Nevertheless, undaunted by the shady (and potentially criminal) past of their previous owner, Mark continued to proudly wear those boots. We even had to have them re-soled a few times. Unfortunately, somewhere along the adventure of our life we have lost track of those boots (probably in a garage sale some time ago). But we got to keep the story!

So, in honor of those boots, we share some of our wedding photos with you (for those of you trying to guess… 1977).

I took these photos on May 19, 2010, after a few days of very heavy rain. I was stunned by the intricate design and beauty. The spectacular mass of glistening, glutinous tendrils contrasted sharply in color with the cedar green on that damp morning. But I had no idea what I was looking at. So, I just tried to get some good shots to identify later.

Greg Dodge, the ranger at the NC Museum of Life and Science answered my email query quite quickly (wow, that’s pretty good alliteration for the letter q). He recognized my photo instantly as a Cedar-Apple Rust gall–a fungal disease. He confirmed my hunch that the recent deluge had coaxed the spectacular tendrils out of the gall that had been quietly developing in the branches of the cedar tree for the past year. Cornell University’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic has the best description of the life cycle of Cedar-Apple Rust, but I think I captured some fantastic photos of the telial horns.


A few days later I went back and looked for the Cedar-Apple Rust galls again. By now, the orange telial horns had mostly disappeared (dropping to the ground), and the gall which had been developing during the previous year in anticipation of its final spectacular spring show was clearly visible.

Amazing.

First, not all the excitement is with the animals that move around a lot. This little frog was sitting quietly on the path and was hoping we would ignore it. I only wish I had a macro lens with me to try and get a better shot of his eye. Such interesting patterns!

Second, as we were leaving today, we walked past the barnyard and saw Lightning (the donkey) kicking up quite a storm. Check out these ball handling skillz!!

Peter Parks, Atlanta peronii (gastropod mollusk) (170X)

In honor of pollen, a haiku:

Promiscuous plants
Propelling plumes of pollen
Promised potential

That last line was suggested via by new friend on Twitter, @amfulay… thx! Other suggestions were “Perturbed Proboscis” from @stalwartEd and “Pale Powdery Paint” by @binghypo. Leave your own suggestions in the comments.

I know, I know, some of our friends elsewhere in the world are saying that they have allergies and pollen too, surely our NC event can’t be that bad. Ha! Here are some pictures to show a typical day during pollen season.

The wetlands of the NC Museum of Life and Science had a thick coating of pollen floating on the surface. With a little help from the wind and the ducks, beautiful swirls of pale yellow began to appear on the watery canvas.

Not snow, nor volcanic ash, but pollen deep enough to reveal the paths of those who visited the lemurs.

A neighborhood car with its daily (!) coating of powdery pollen.

After you take a look, tell me about your own office space. What makes it “yours”?

I’m loving my new Panasonic GF1. Hoping to sell a bunch of books and get a macro lens. This shot was taken with the 20mm f1.7 micro four thirds “pancake” lens. Still learning the camera, but having lots of fun. It was worth it to sell my electric violin to purchase this camera.

A movie inspired on numbers, geometry and nature, by Cristóbal Vila. Go to www.etereaestudios.com for more info: theory behind, stills, screenshots, tutorials and workshops.

HT: Jessica Palmer of Bioephemera at ScienceBlogs

Many people think that Powerpoint (or Keynote) presentations assist in communicating ideas and facts. It’s true that visual information that accompanies oral presentations can help — but it has to be done well!

Here’s a youtube video of how NOT to use Powerpoint.

And here’s a slide show that shows how creative visuals can supplement (not compete) with the speaker’s words. Ideas and information will be better retained when this kind of dual presentation is employed.

The creator and presenter of this slide show, Beck Tench, works for the NC Museum of Life and Sciences. Follow her on Twitter at @10ch