Photo of the week 1/25

The wonderfully fragrant citrus, pummelo was the subject for my shots this week. This fruit’s  green outer skin and fleshy pink sections made for some great photos. Enjoy!

Pummelo skin

Pummelo sections

 

A new favorite pancake!

 

I have always enjoyed a nice cup of the average joe, Yoplait  yogurt but lately I’ve been more adventurous and decided to try Greek yogurt. The word on the street is that its really healthy for you!  I decided to try some of the Chobani brand Greek vanilla yogurt and realized it was a bit more sour than what I liked. Fortunately I realized on the side of the yogurt container was a very appetizing recipe for Greek yogurt pancakes. So I gave the recipe to my personal chef (my husband) and Saturday morning I enjoyed a moderate stack of pancakes with butter and syrup. Simply delicious! Here’s the recipe below. Be sure to check out more Greek yogurt recipes at:  www.chobanikitchen.com/recipes

 

What’s outside your window?

So once again I find myself excited to see the various birds feeding outside my window. This morning the lovely Titmouse showed off its dusty blue, white and peach colors. Luckily I had my camera nearby. Here’s my best shot of my feathered friend.

Tufted Titmouse

Photo of the week 1/12

What a cold and chilly day in Murray! However, as I peered out my kitchen window I could see my feathered friends foraging for food. I thought this would be a perfect photo opportunity. Here is my favorite shot. Enjoy!

House Finch at Feeder

Canon Rebel T3

At the top of my Christmas list this year was a DSLR camera. I’ve been trying to save a little here and there because these robust picture takers don’t come cheap.  I’m very grateful to my family who helped chip in so that I was able to get a nice DSLR with two lenses and a camera bag and memory card for under $1,000.

Now, I have the option for automatic settings or manual and I have already noticed a great deal of  improvement to take photos in  low light settings. So no more complaints about the functionality of my camera!

I now plan on putting my good old Fuji point-and-shoot into retirement. Hopefully in the weeks to come you will see more regular entries for photo of the week. Here are some of the first images I took on my new Canon T3 rebel. Enjoy!

A very curious tale

Told from an autistic child’s point of view this bestselling novel by Mark Haddon, the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, tells of the mysteries surrounding the death of the neighbor’s poodle, Wellington.

Christopher Boone a young autistic child is a mathematical genius, who detest the color yellow and at the touch of a finger throws a temper tantrum.

Brilliantly written, Haddon captures the heart and mind of young Christopher demonstrating his struggles, strengths and personal successes. On his quest to find Wellington’s murderer he learns of another hidden secret that sends him on a physical, mental and emotional journey to find safety and rebuild trust.

There are a few diagrammatic line drawings interspersed amongst the text to further demonstrate Christopher’s tale. Overall a very captivating, quick read.

I would highly recommend adding this to your reading list!

2011 WordPress reviews

The WordPress.com stats helper  prepared a 2011 annual report for this Artemisia tridentata. Check out this blog’s productivity for the year!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Merry Christmas 2011

Just wanted to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

BIO 630

Since the fall semester has finished I thought I would share a few interesting tid bits from my animal ecology class. Both inside and outside the classroom we dove into the amazing world of animals and how they interact in their respective terrestrial or aquatic environments.

Did you know?

Wood peckers have barbed tongues that wrap around their skulls.

Missouri Conservationist, March 2007

Red squirrels are nest predators. They sometimes eat bird eggs.

newshugs.wordpress.com

Dragonfly larvae are aquatic until they metamorphose into an adult dragonflies. They are cannibalistic, as we found  out in our predation experiments.

6legs2many.wordpress.com

One way ecologists mark salamanders (for mark & recapture studies) is by trimming off one of the digits on the limbs of the larval salamanders. It is common for young salamanders to loose digits while fighting with other larvae. These studies are done to estimate population size.

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com

Capturing the Moon

Yep I’m back! The fall semester is over, now its time to catch up on blogging, cleaning and free reading.

Today I came across this series of photographs on Espai Terra’s wall on facebook. I loved the silhouettes, and the various ways in which the person in the image interacted with the moon. I thought I would share them with you. Enjoy!