14 June 07
What I did today
The Effects of Oil on Wildlife conference is coming up soon! I was working on the program today. I’ve also been doing some work on cetacean necropsy protocols and have been looking for reference material on where the heart is in relation to the scapula in the California gray whale.
Marine animals are fun to draw because they are so often monochrome, even starkly black and white.
Oh. Speaking of monochrome: today was also the graduate commencement ceremony. I helped out for oh, about an hour or two, then wandered home instead of sweating it out till ten. It was chaotic, hot, and fun.
13 June 07
QSLing
There is a tradition in ham radio to send out a card in confirmation of a contact with another ham, and to expect to receive one in return. This is called a QSL card. A week-and-a-half ago I received one out of the blue from a ham who I had a contact with in Oklahoma City, and this prompted me to put my own into production. The result is at left; the underlying image is a little watercolor I did three years ago looking west over the field next to our house towards the Vaca Mountains.
QSLing is definitely not as popular as it once was, the blame for such being put on the rise of the Internet, the cost of postage, or just the frenzy of modern life. But it’s a great tradition, motivated in part by the need to document contacts for various amateur radio awards. I’m now sending my own card to recent contacts. And just today, I received another QSL card out of the blue, this time from Pennsylvania — I’m all set with one to send in reply.
12 June 07
Artichoke Coda
I cut three at lunchtime for dinner — I’ve lost my fear of cutting the big beauty. I put them in the solar cooker with a little vinegar and by seven this evening they were scrumptious with vinaigrette and some wonderful levain bread Numenius found at the Village Bakery. (For a beautifully written review article on the French and their bread, see this article here.)
I once ate 12 artichokes at a sitting. That seems excessive, even to me. Would I do it again? Go ahead, dare me.
11 June 07
Artichoke Artist
Pica draws the artichoke for her series below.
10 June 07
Cynara: Historical Geography of an Artichoke
I sit and draw
the king of artichokes
I couldn’t eat
for pride—
consumed, now, by aphids
that are
herded by ants.
The mighty fall.
It can still maim, though:
the blood flows.
Flowed:
Al-Andalus,
honey and fruit and
artichokes
(and learning and
all that)—
fallen to greed
and stupid zeal, to
swine-eaters.
We don’t learn much.
I hear whispers
beyond the freeway and freights
of fountains, singing.
Past. Mint tea
and tiles and
lemon trees
that shaded
courtyards.
Gone.
The honeybees die
yet
without a thought
the artichoke
blooms.
9 June 07
Balloons Of Spring
I have yet to figure exactly where these balloons are based, but they seem to launch from near Woodland which is about 12 miles from here on clear, calm early mornings in spring and early summer. I think there are four balloons in their fleet. Usually they drift south. Yesterday they landed nearby, one of them landing in the field directly to the south.
7 June 07
A Second Farmers' Market
I went onto campus for lunch yesterday. It was the last day of the quarter, and the students were engaged in an epic battle involving polystyrene swords, red capes, bunnies, and Haile Selassi signs (well, okay, one: mostly the garb was faux-Roman), by way of letting off steam. One guy seemed quite badly hurt, though, and was being ministered to by EMTs — there were two firetrucks on the scene. By the time I left there were three police cars. Steady, lads…
The other side of the quad was quite different. There has been an attempt to persuade students to eat more fresh food, and a second farmer’s market has been set up since the beginning of May on a Wednesday at lunchtime. (The real, big farmers’ market is three blocks away, also on a Wednesday, which makes you wonder, which I did.)
Small but a great way for people to connect directly with the people who grow their food. I ran into Kelly who helped me plan my native/herb garden, which is now almost unrecognizable: I urged her to stop by and see it sometime. The poppies have just about finished blooming but they’ve been an infusion of orange all spring, nicely offsetting what is primarily a gray garden with purple accents…
I bought three different colors of beets, which we ate tonight in a profusion of herbs from said herb garden, a vinaigrette, kalamata olive bread, farmer’s cheese, and an Australian shiraz.
5 June 07
Rangers Motor On
In what is becoming an annual tradition, we brought Indian takeout to join our friend Donna this evening at a Davis Little League game. Donna’s husband Rick coaches the Davis version of the Texas Rangers. This year’s edition of the Rangers is much improved, and we witnessed a tense playoff game. It was do-or-die for both teams, and the Rangers pulled it out, winning 5-2 in the 6 inning game.
4 June 07
Santa Fe
Well, I’m back. The Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop was all I hoped for and more — a gathering of interesting, interested people. I hang around such types often but it’s been a long time since I found myself with fifty people who were so very curious about everything — from the instructors to the full gamut of freelancers, public information types, journalists, and students (including one undergraduate).
Our time started out at the Santa Fe Institute, a hotbed of interdisciplinary brilliance. We heard (not necessarily understood, you understand) talks by Bette Korber on a vaccine for HIV and Eric Smith on the origin of life and then attempted later on in the day to come up with an article lede for one of them. Our small groups numbered about ten; my group was facilitated by the inimitable Charlie Petit, formerly of the San Francisco Chronicle, now of Knight Science Journalism Tracker.
Santa Fe is a beautiful small city, but I was eager to get into the surrounding countryside. We took a trip to Bandelier National Monument, an archeological site where we ran into the bear I mentioned a couple of days ago.
It was lush and green after a wet spring in New Mexico. Birds were singing. I kept confusing warbling vireos with one of the red finches — Cassin’s at this altitude? (managed to leave my binoculars at home in the rush to get to the airport) — but had no trouble with the abundant and gorgeous violet-green swallows.
Our intrepid reporters climbed in and out of holes by means of ladders while others of us took photos or sketched them doing this.
The final night was spent at the home of one of the instructors, where we got the chance to watch the sun and Venus go down and the moon and Jupiter rise. This is a good state for skygazing.
Finally I spent a night with my cousin in the Jemez mountains, about eight miles above the town of Jemez Springs. She lives very near the Valles Caldera Numenius visited last year. We were able to catch up and go for a couple of hikes. The storm brewing pictured here spawned a couple of tornadoes and I was glad to get out of Albuquerque in a different direction than the storms were heading… 
4 June 07
First Flower
Pica got back from her writing workshop today so I am off watering duties for now. This morning I noticed that one of the guavas is now bearing blossoms! Pica planted these guavas not long before a prolonged hard freeze this winter. We shepherded the guavas through the cold spell by covering them with gardening fleece so it is especially rewarding to see those blossoms now.