Black and White – Page 146 – photography from the Chesapeake Bay watershed by Bill Emory

nature bandaid

the tree of choice — Developers love the crape myrtle. Easy to plant, easy to maintain. Makes me sad. Why the circular sidewalk to nowhere? Why not plant a noble tree? A long lived native species that would create a quarter acre of shade, lower temperatures in the neighborhood, capture rainwater, feed and shelter local fauna. I think nature bandaid is Jim Kunstler’s term.
Places I don’t want to sit.

grocery store news stand

globe — Schadenfreude. Is the Globe a respected print publication?

twilight precession

Rappahannock clouds — Clouds moving in a south-easterly direction above the Rappahannock River toward the Chesapeake Bay

Sciurus carolinensis

squirrel in tupperware — I planted seventy sunflowers, covered the seeds with cayenne pepper, ginger and garlic.
I had a 6 sunflower control group inside a squirrel proof enclosure.
100% of the sunflowers in the enclosure germinated.
In the wild, six out of seventy have survived to date.

Mont

CLS and daughter — Ok, now that Mother’s day is over. Let’s hear it for dads!

October 2008

WaPo — After 44 years I have become a digital subscriber.

day of rest

church in Ohio — STRAIT CREEK ROAD PEEBLES, OH 45660 USA.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren (German: Schwarzenauer Neutäufer “Schwarzenau New Baptists”) that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany.–Wikipedia

Man and a horse, girl and a dog

Gen Lee RIC VA — On Monday, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously approved the creation of a blue ribbon commission that will, among several other objectives, recommend whether the city should remove its Confederate memorials, including the statue of Lee in Lee Park– Daily Progress
(photo from Richmond, Virginia)

Maladera castanea

picking them off by hand — Maladera castanea (the asiatic garden beetle) flies and eats at night.
AGBs belong to the order Coleoptera. The order contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms.
I am having a yearly run in with these insects. They function like a self reproducing electric utility. They top trees, preferentially feeding on new growth at the top of trees: “the terminal leader”.
The AGB is a major drag on my afforestation effort. The establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there hasn’t been forest for centuries is a challenge. All the complexity has been removed, roots, biomass, beneficial fungi, and that has created a zone that is remarkably hostile to young trees, a fragile system.
Complexity is good in natural systems. When people farm, the complex system is removed. The dirt remains, to be used as a media for the desired plant making chemicals to promote growth and chemicals to control insects necessary.

Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces

BRC worksession April 28 — Mayor Signer and Vice-Mayor Bellamy are briefed by City Manager Maurice Jones. April 28th the Charlottesville City Council met in work session to hammer out details of a resolution to be considered May 2 at their regular session setting up a commission.
The resolution is available on the City’s website.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that City Council does hereby authorize the creation of an ad hoc blue ribbon commission on race, memorials and public spaces and tasks the commission with the mission to provide Council with options for telling the full story of Charlottesville’s history of race and for changing the City’s narrative through our public spaces;