Richmond (7/29/2014)

During my lunch-time walk through Richmond city center I had a new spring in my step.  It was in the high 70s or low 80s; which is amazing for the end of July.  I was at home yesterday, out of commission, when the news came about two momentous events in the city.

 

For one, Virginia's rule on same sex marriage was overturned.  Secondly, the trial of our new ex governor and his wife had started.

 

Considering the marriage ban, I am happy to see that one repealed.  I really have a big issue in policing what goes on at home or denying people the right to get married.  Yes, you can see all the arguments on television, but having committed gay friends, I can not understand why we deny them the chance to get married.  Both partners from one couple who are close friends needed an operation in the past few years. Everything went fine, but I just can't imagine if something went wrong.  Interestingly, a talking head on TV was telling us that it was against the will of the majority Virginians.  This is such a fluent issue (thanks to programs on television including HGTV) that I am not sure if that guy was correct.

 

On the governor and his wife, the jury will decide whether they were just stupid, greedy or corrupt.  I have no opinion.  During my life I have lived in countries with corruption and it is interesting.  In Uganda I was able to bribe soldiers on a road block with one or two cigarettes.  In Yemen, it took four beers to buy off a soldier at a road block who discovered all the illegal alcoholic beverages we bought on the black market and were smuggling home. I'm sure that bigger bribes were paid, but we operated on a much lower level.

 

What the governor did will be decided on by a jury, but one thing is for sure:  Yesterday was a new beginning of politics I our state.  Things will never be the same again!  This photo of the state Capitol and the cranes behind it symbolizes this new beginning for me; building on a new and better future.

 

Crozet (7/24/2014)

The past week I was traveling again, and I got as far west as Roanoke and Daleville (see also this and this post).  It is a two-day class and it really depends on who your fellow teachers are on what you do the evening in between.  A few weeks ago my fellow teacher was an outdoorsy person and a trail runner, so after class I went for a hike while she went running (she's 30 years younger, so I was not even going to pretend to want to keep up with her).  This past time the first thing my fellow teacher said when the day was over and even before all the students were gone was: "where can we find a good beer?"  Thank goodness, Daleville has a restaurant called the "Tap House" which is where we hung out for a while.

In other words there was little opportunity to explore and take pictures.  So on my way home I had this internal debate of where to stop for dinner; and eventually my craving for a good pizza won.  I still think that Crozet Pizza in Crozet is probably one of the best pizza joints in all of Virginia.  Crozet is located just west of Charlottesville and is home to some really good pizza and good beers.  I had a wonderful meal there.  The town of Crozet is just a nice place to visit, and it is a nice distraction form the monotony and insanity of driving the interstate highways.

In all, it was a successful week of teaching stormwater in western Virginia.  The most exciting thing was so see so many old friends and students from previous classes.  It made me feel at home and just in a very ice comfortable atmosphere.  In addition, I got one of the nicest compliments in a while when one of the students told me that everyone in his office still talks about me and the classes that they took from me.  All very positive and among the best classes they ever had, which makes me feel it is worth it; the travel, the staying in motels, the exhaustion, and loosing my voice so now and then.

Queen of the night (7/20/2014)

A fairly suggestive name here for a cactus that might not look that appealing.  Actually a friend who had dinner at our place on day thought it would lash out and strangle him.  A lady at the yacht club told us she thought it was so ugly she let it die outside in the frost.  When the flower bud came out, friends actually posted a video from “Little shop of horrors” on my Facebook page.

All in good humor, and all were amazed when the flower opened last night.  The night blooming cereus, queen of the night, lady of the night, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, or whatever you like to call it is not the most beautiful plant, but when it blooms at night, it is absolutely stunning.  We were amazed to see a flower bud on our plant a few weeks ago.  In the past few years it always bloomed in spring, but let the truth be known, we kind of neglected it and I think we did not water it for four weeks or so.  The flower started opening around 7 o’clock and by 9 it was fully opened and filling the house up with this wonderful perfume.  The flower is only open one night and then falls off.

I knew the plant from Curacao where I grew up.  People cultivated this plant at home and the word epiphyllum reminds me that this plant is probably an epiphyte which are plants that need support and grow on other plants and over there they grew along tree trunks.  Famous epiphytes of course are some of the orchids.  I remember so well that everyone on the island was excited when they bloomed.  It often occurred that they all bloomed on the same time and people would be calling around asking their friends how many blooms they had that night. 

This is only the third time we have had this particular plant bloom in the 14 so years we had it, but it sure is an event to remember.  Below are three photos, one was taken around 6 in the evening the other at full bloom (at full bloom the flower was 9 inches or 22 cm across).  Enjoy, sorry I could not capture the smell.

 

 

 

 

Cup Plant (7/16/2014)

Our daughter bought this plant for us at a native plant sale in our area, and we had no idea what it was.  I am a botanist by training and have done a lot of wetland work in the past.  This definitively shows I have been away from playing with plants way too long; but after getting my plant identification books out, it was not difficult to identify this plant as a “cup plant” or Silphium perfoliatum. 

Cup plant is quite an interesting plant.  The plant’s leaves connect and form a cup around the stem which holds water that is used by birds and insects.  This of course makes me wonder about mosquitoes, but as my favorite quote of the week goes: “It is what it is.”  The web teaches me that the plant was used for human food (the young leaves seem to be ok, when cooked).  Furthermore, parts of the plant were used for medicinal purposes by some of the Indian tribes.  It appears to be able to treat everything from chest pain to asthma to liver disease to excessive menstruation.  Cup plant is high in various compounds that may have value as medicine.

Interestingly, the plant I studied for my Ph.D. research (broom snakeweed or Guiterrezia sarothrea) had some of the same medicinal properties.  I once read that the Native Americans used broom snakeweed (which has some of the same compounds as cup plants) for birth control (it causes abortions in livestock).

Plants hold a lot of secrets.  They have compounds and combination of compounds that can cure a person’s ailments or kill them.  They produce compounds that prevent other plants from growing nearby (also known as allelopathy or what I call chemical warfare between plants).  I have always had an interest in allelopathy and the field of ethnobotany.  As a Ph.D. student, I spent a week at Stanford discussing the intricacies of who owns certain plants and the chemicals in them.  The question was if a pharmaceutical company can patent a chemical in a plant that only grows in one country, or if they would need to pay royalty.  The same is the case if they found a medicinal use by studying a native tribe; would they have to pay royalty to the tribe from medicine they develop as a result of that study?  It is a fascinating subject and fun to think about it again. 

Anyway, it is also important to realize that when plants become rare, or go extinct we might lose some very important properties that we have not yet discovered.

Seaford (7/12/2014)

Friday and Saturday were the days for a “supermoon”, or the closest a full moon comes to the earth that year.  So naturally we had our evening coffee on the boat this Saturday evening play some music and gaze at the horizon for the moon.  Truthfully, it was spectacular but nothing you can capture with your measly cell phone camera with only has a digital zoom.  But of course I forgot my hotshot camera.

There were others at the marina, drinking beer/water and enjoying in conversation.  A few had ventured out to see it come up over the bay.  Moreover, I heard (after the fact) that there was actually a moonlight (sail) race that night as well.  Sailboat owners are an active bunch, and it is fun to be part of them. 

I really think sailboat owners represent a fairly good cross section of the population.  Yes, sailboats can be expensive; in particular new ones, but the members in our club range from conservative to liberal.  They needle each other so now and then, but the one thing they have in common is their love for being on the water.   Although, some of the guys openly admit that it is nice to be out of the house for a bit on the weekends to work on the boat.  Another thing in common is the love of nature; sailing in a sewage lagoon is no fun, and most if not all are committed to keeping the Bay clean.  This is very much like people from organizations like Ducks Unlimited.  Yes they are all duck hunters, but without good wetlands there would not be any ducks, so they are a driving force in wetland protection.

I think this all comes to show that persons with great differences in conviction and belief can work together to further a good cause.  While we live in a pluralistic society, it feels more and more like we live in a polarized society.  I sense a loss of civility, compassion, and empathy, whether it is in international politics and strife, or our national politics.  I find this very disturbing, and I’m not sure what I, as an individual, can do about it, except for trying to practice empathy myself and writing this blog.

Anyway, this is my rendition of a wonderful evening of watching the supermoon and thinking about things I see and learned this Sunday in the church I attend. 

Yorktown (7/10/2014)

I am on the wetland board of our county, and had a board meeting last night.  Being in Yorktown 15 minutes early I took a very brief walk in the downtown (down village) area, and shot this photograph.  It was not as crowded as I expected for a Thursday evening, there is usually an event called "Shagging on Riverwalk", but that was cancelled because of the rain.

Being on the wetland board is interesting.  We are one of the steps that any construction activity that is near the water need to go through for a permit.  It is always interesting and ranges from bulkheads, to riprap and all these other things.  Yesterday we dealt with one permit for the repair of a bulkhead and actually a violation.  I really feel good about these meeting.  We are not against development on or near the water, but we are protective of the environment and for sensible and environmentally sound development.  Yes there is always politics but as a board member you need to go through these things without a personal agenda.  I honestly try to leave that at home; although it seems that the board's decisions are often interpreted as motivated by politics and personal ideology.  York County is very political and it is amazing to be on the periphery of it all.

I guess this picture might be symbolic after what I just wrote.  No this is not a loose canon; it has been tight down with a chain!  It is located downtown, a great place to walk, with some reasonably good restaurants.  But you can see, it was quiet last night.

p.s. I entered this photo in a challenge ... I actually shot is for that purpose but waited if I could find a better one, so it's a bit late.

Fairfax (7/7/2014)

From the annals of the wacky.  When visiting all these exotic spaces in this great state of Virginia, I try to eat at local restaurants and avoid the chains.  Not that I have anything against particular chains (if you need me I can probably be found at the local Starbucks, and while traveling, Panera is a likely lunch stop); but why not experience the local cuisine. 

This week in Fairfax I had a chance to do just that and ate at a local Indian restaurant called the Bombay Bistro.  While I am usually a lamb vindaloo fanatic, I decided to go for something different and when for the tandori rockfish.  I took this photo after I took care of the poor animal (I'll be entering this fish into a photo challenge that I love to participate with).  The meal tasted great, the service was good, it was an overall very pleasant experience. 

We were teaching a stormwater class in Fairfax and the other days I spent with the team in more chain like restaurants, but then I am a bit more adventurous.  We had a good time, watching Germany win against Brazil and my team (Holland) loose against Argentina on the big screen.  Oh well.

Poquoson (7/6/2014)

This 4th of July weekend was absolutely nice.  Saturday we went swimming from the sail boat, and Sunday we went Kayaking in the Poquoson River.  We went with a group of friends; 19 kayaks and we paddled from a friends home to another friend for a BBQ and swimming in their pool.  After this we returned by Kayak to the point we started.  The total paddle was 3 hours and it was just delightful to be on the water.

Kayaks are actually very stable, and the only time when I ever kind of went over was when I was trying to get out.  It is a great upper body workout and since you stabilize yourself with your legs and core, it is a very good exercise.

Our area is a great place to kayak and canoe.  There are many public boat launches where we can put in and explore the shore line and small creeks.  We have seen gorgeous swamps, plants, and birds.  At various times we floated next to rays and turtles, absolutely delightful.  The photos below is one I took during our trip and one that my wife took of me that same day.

Claxton Creek (7/5/2014)

I generally tend to stay away from posting pictures of my family, but it being the 4^th of July weekend, I feel more brazen (I guess).  The picture below was taken on the 5^th.  We decided to motor out to Claxton Creek, hang a tarp over the boom of our sailboat, put the boarding ladder down, throw in the floating seat and just spend an afternoon swimming, floating and trying to clean the hull a bit.  It was great weather (which it usually is after the passing of a hurricane), and it simply was a lot of fun; very relaxing. 

Claxton Creek is fairly secluded and sheltered from the waves off the Bay.  We anchored in water that was approximately 6 feet deep.  We have seen jelly fish in the creek (but not this time) and dolphins.  There are a few crab pots and there is an abandoned (partially submerged) sailboat in the creek, for someone to salvage, although I think it has been there a while and it would be too much work to fix up.  I am really wondering if the motor in the boat still has fuel and oil in it and what the impacts would be when they finally deteriorate that much and rupture.  Oh well.

In the background of the photograph you see the SeafordScallop Company at the entrance to Back Creek which leads to the marina we are members of.  Just a nice relaxing weekend; I am ready to go back out there and teach people about stormwater management.

Seaford (7/3/2014)

The day before Independence Day (July 4) was spent securing the boat for the onslaught of hurricane Arthur.  We were still not sure what would be happening and what the exact course would be, so better safe than sorry.  I spent the day putting in double mooring lines and cutting a Plexiglas hatch cover to keep the water out of the cabin.  Plexiglas is pretty brittle, but to my surprise, also easily repaired or glued with the use of some acetone.  Amazingly easy.  I took this photo during my work on the boat, yesterday.

A quick update, the boat came through alright and the hatch worked like a charm.  Albeit, I screwed up with the mooring lines and the boat must have hit the piling some during the night.  There were enough bumpers that that was ok and maybe we'll be sailing tomorrow!  Hurricane Arthur was kind to our region, I've seen little or no damage, and the winds were not that strong this time around.  Hopefully this was it for this summer.

Yorktown (6/18/2011)

Yes you have not gone back in time, but I have.  I am reacting to a photo challenge I saw on the one of the photo blogs I follow.  They asked for pictures with squares, angles and triangles.  Now it happened that we are working on a photo book for a specific year.  We are using blurb, and slowly working on year books for our family.  We've got so many photographs that we figured we might as well put the good ones in a book.  Working on the 2011 book I found one of my favorite pictures of June 2011 that shows all the things that the challenge was looking for and then some.  Even the bikini bottom of this (unknown to me) lady has triangles in it.  I'm sorry but I love this picture.  It also fit in to the theme of this blog, pictures from the area I live and from my travels throughout the state and general area.  But yes it is a look through my photo archives.
Summers in Yorktown are amazing.  We have a fun beach, close-by restaurants and even a dock, where you can park your boat (to go eat).  During the summer it can get really busy during the weekend, and we tend to stay away from it at that time, maybe with the exception of the farmer's market on Saturday morning.  Just in summary, this is a good place to live.

Roanoke (7/1/2014)

I went for a walk after teaching today in Daleville in the Roanoke area.  My fellow teacher had identified Carvings Cove Natural Reserve as a great place to go for a run, and since my knees don't allow running I went for a 2 mile walk.  I took this picture at the end of my walk.  It was good weather, low 90s and somewhat cloudy.

Teaching was fun, i taught the module on why it is important to think about stormwater, and I could talk about my ideas on urban sprawl, and the perrils of it.  Just great to be able to teach my students environmental stewardship.  I was able to bring in the Bedouins of North Yemen, deforestation in Nepal (I worked in both countries in the 1980s), and urban planning in Holland.  After that going out into the woods was fun.  You really appreciate being out there.