June 2026: Global Concerns vs. Local Joys

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Trumpet Vine full blooms, southeast shore of our lake, June 14

Global Concerns vs. Local Joys
Garden Update: Brilliant Flowers and First Fruits
Climate Log: European Heat Dome, Water Crises, and Wind Advances in the West
The June 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: Berries, New Wildflowers, and Animal Surprises

Red-winged Blackbird male on the north shore of the lake, June 15

Global Concerns vs. Local Joys

Blue Morph butterflies at the NovaWild zoo habitat, June 12

I could be, as I usually am, obsessing about the latest lies and dangerous blunders coming out of this White House. But June in Northern Virginia, where we are privileged to live, provides too much  exquisite splendor from the plants and animals to ignore. So, this month I’d prefer to enjoy–and share–their beautiful gifts. One of the highlights: on June 12, Jean and I visited a local treasure, a child-focused zoo where visitors can feed the exotic animals from around the world and even drive very, very slowly on a sort-of “safari” through the grounds.

And, as you’ll see in the next section and in this month’s photo/video gallery, we also spent  many happy hours in our small patch in the community garden and, of course, walking  and studying  the flora and fauna along our little lake in our home community.

View of our lake toward downtown, with Red Maple, Elderberry, and Riverbank Grape in foreground, June 14

A Zoo in Northern Virginia? Yes.

We’ve visited NOVAWild twice in the past 3 months, once, on Easter weekend, with 2 of our grandchildren, and learned a lot and had great fun on both visits. This 30-acre animal park was reopened in 2023, after poor financial management and animal care had given a bad name to its several predecessors all the way back to 1975. Now accredited by the Zoological Association of America and  the American Humane Society, the new NOVAWild features a range of built habitats, with plenty of room for the animals in indoor and outdoor enclosures, plus a drive-through “safari” route, along which passengers in cars can feed the animals  nutritious kibbled pellets, available for purchase. Here are a few photos and videos from our “safari” day visit.

Red-legged Seriema in enclosure, NOVAWild, June 12

2 Llamas beside our car

Brown-striped Butterfly in enclosed walk-in environment

American Bison and Watusi

Baby Fallow Deer

Fallow Deer eat beside our stopped car

Two-toed Sloth in enclosure

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Coreopsis blooms, Zinnia buds, and green Tomatoes in our garden, June 20

Garden Update: Brilliant Flowers and First Fruits

Mint, Tarragon blooms, Jalapenó plant, Marigolds in garden, June 22

The plants in our small garden plot (15′ by 15′) have now been in for two months, and we have seen both the first fruits and the glorious colors. With the garden divided pretty equally between flowers and veggies/herbs, the garden’s colors even dominate some of the veggies this time of year, when, of course, flowers come before the fruits.

Northeast display: Coreopsis to Dillflower to Blueberries to Coneflower to Tomatoes to Marigolds, June 24

Clockwise from top right: Crookneck Squash blooms to Hibiscus to Calibrochoa to Dahlia to Mum, Southwest corner, June 20

First Zucchini blossoms, June 4

Orange blooms on Nasturtium herb in our garden, May 31

First bloom of Zinnias with Coreopsis blooms, June 24

Cabbage Leaf Butterfly on Mum plant beside Peony,, June 11

First Fruits

Some of our first fruits of the new crop: 2 Zucchini, Jalapenó, Cherry Tomatoes, Dill, Strawberry, Blackberries, June 26

The Zucchini came first, in the first week of June. Then Blackberries, Strawberries, Dill, and Jalapenó next, then our first  Green Pepper, and then the Cherry Tomatoes, of which we have 4 varieties, with the Husky Cherry Red the most precocious. Right now, we have over 100 green Tomatoes on the vines, plus 4 pepper plants, hot and mild, just beginning to fruit. With at least three months left in the growing season, we have high hopes for more beauties of several kinds.

And the Herbs? The Dill, the Basil, the Mint, the Nasturtium, the Tarragon, the perennial Rosemary, and the prolific Oregano, which the Bumblebees love, are all going strong. We’re hoping the gentle rain keeps coming and the heat doesn’t get too intense (100+ forecast for the first weekend in July)…

Three Bumblebees move from flower to flower on the fast-spreading Oregano, June 24

Snapdragons, Petunias, Calibrochoa, Crookneck Squash blooms, June 24

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 A bit of happy climate news: Transmission lines for SunZia Wind Project now online from New Mexico to California (Esri Blog photo, 2024). See below.

Climate Log: European Heat Dome, Water Crises, and Wind Advances in the West

Try as I might to keep the news happy in this month’s blog, much of the world seems to be setting heat records (I was going to write “burning up,” but that might be too extreme, except in the places that are burning) including in Europe and the US–with wildfires in Utah and Colorado, and even the forecast for 100+ temps in early July here in Northern Virginia and all across the Eastern US.

No, not the US: this wildfire is in usually chilly, watery Edinburgh, Scotland this week (BBC photo), where the heat dome is having its way

Dinah Voyles Pulver and Doyle Rice of USA Today summarize the US and European heat waves nicely (actually pretty scarily) on June 27 in their article “Blockbuster Heat Wave Isn’t Normal Summer Heat.”  Here’s the US map they include:

USA Today forecast map of coming heat waves across US

The part of the US the map doesn’t show has been so hot and drought-ravaged  for so long now that I guess they feel they don’t need to show it. The writer who has been covering that ongoing disaster the most fully is Ian James of the Los Angeles Times, whose latest piece is on the drying up headwaters of the Colorado River in that state. Check out on YouTube the LA Times documentary Colorado River in Crisis for a great overview of this decades long disaster and the ongoing drought in the West.

LA Times headline, June 25

Two fields, one irrigated, one fallowed because of drought, near Granby, Colorado (LA Times, June 25)

Happy climate news? Yes

San Diego Water Sale to AZ, Nevada. Amid all this unhappy climate news, there are a couple of bright spots. One is that the city of San Diego’s desalinization facilities have worked so well since 2015 that not only can the city meets its citizens’ water needs, but it has enough water to sell to Nevada and Arizona to help meet a part of their water shortages (Scott Dance, New York Times, June 6: Arizona, Nevada Agree to Trade for Desalinated Pacific Coast Water)

SunZia: Western Wind Project Goes Fully Online. The article by Hayley Smith of the LA Times, June 19, summarizes the history of and expectations for the huge SunZia wind project in New Mexico, which has been under construction for several years: “Massive Wind Project Is Online: Largest Such US Effort Benefits California, Others.” Not only is this project now online, but Smith notes other large wind projects underway and online in states such as Texas (which has the most), Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois. The other truly massive wind projects under construction, she notes, are in Wyoming: the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre projects.

This map of the SunZia Wind Project in New Mexico (Pattern Energy photo) gives an idea of the truly massive scale of the project across the center of the state. In the photo of transmission lines, above cacti and over mountains, at the head of this section of the blog, you’ll note  part of the environmental impact, which has been contested and negotiated throughout the life of the project.

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Green Heron in Red Cedar and Japanese Honeysuckle, northwest shore of lake, June 22

The June 2026 Photo/Video Gallery

Featuring  Wild Blackberries, new wildflowers, and our resilient, sometimes surprising, animal citizens

Chipmunk watches, southeast side, June 8

Eastern Kingbird , sometime visitor, perches atop dead Willow Oak, east bank, June 22

American Robin looks up to the Eastern Kingbird in the Willow Oak, June 22

Bumblebee feeds on Swamp Milkweed, north shore, June 22

Grey Catbird, in shadows, perches on rail by the southeast path, June 22

Pensive Cardinal female in Red Cedar, south bank, June 14

Wild Blackberries, ripe and ripening, along the north end path, June 22

Blue Heron dives to catch fish as Geese attend, east shore, June 8

Rare sighting: Blue Heron swallows just-caught fish, as nearby Geese do own feeding, June 8

Tall Mullein heading toward full bloom, south shore, June 15

Lone Rock Dove atop power tower, west of lake, June 7

Thickly-clustered ripening Wild Blackberries, east bank, June 8

Red-winged Blackbird male in unaccustomed spot, searching under rocks along the north shore, June 15

Multi-headed Swamp Milkweed, with Bumblebee on bottom edge, north shore, June 22

Lone Mallard male scans lake, south shore, June 8

Lone Mallard female on same south shore, evening, June 27

Red-winged Blackbird female in Willow Oak, east bank, June 14

Grackle preens in willow oak, east bank, morning, June 7

Strangely, lone Red-bellied Cooter walks away from water and into grass, June 7

Large flock of Canada Geese, including the now fully-fledged babies, in the northeast corner of the lake, June 7

Young Pokeberry bush along the northeast shore, June 22

Daisy Fleabane, Carrot Plant, ripening Blackberries along the north bank, June 14

Cottontail, still by the southeast path, June 7

Brown Thrasher amid ripening Blackberries, east shore, June 14

Two Cormorants atop dead Oak, east bank, then one flies off, June 14

And on to July, with hopes for more surprises and treasures…

May 2026: Celebrating Family and History on the Road

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Canada Geese family swims in mid lake near the fountain, on a warm sunny May 5

5 Canada Geese babies, now a month old, and parents feed in grass on the southeast side of the lake, sunny May 31

In this month’s blog:

Celebrating Family and History on the Road
Garden Update: One Month of New Growth
Climate Log: Extremes of Heat, Drought, and Rain
The May 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: Virginia, Georgia, Maryland

Restored farm buildings and Bur Oak at New Echota Cherokee State Park, Georgia, May 22

Celebrating Family and History on the Road

Road’s eye view of the 15-mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel on our return trip, May 27

To celebrate our eldest granddaughter’s graduation from high school, we took a road trip to Georgia to be with her and her family for three days. On the way, we visited a naturally beautiful place I hadn’t seen for six decades and Jean had never seen, plus two very different places we never had visited, but which are important in American history for different reasons.

The week-long trip, May 21-28, also immersed us in an extreme weather event that typifies our changing climate, as this month’s Climate Log briefly describes.

Three places we visited on our way to Georgia:

1. Virginia’s Natural Bridge State Park (May 21)

The million-year-old limestone arch 200 feet above Cedar Creek at the Natural Bridge State Park (VA), May 21

I first visited this park as a child on one of my parents’ yearly road trips each summer, these trips nurturing what has become my love of both history and in-country travel, loves that Jean and I share.  Though the limestone arch created by a million years of flow by tiny Cedar Creek is dramatically memorable, and though the park in not far off the well-beaten path of Interstate 81, the park is not visited as much now as it was a century ago, and so it’s a wonderfully quiet place for a walk on its trails and for conversation with its local staff of rural Virginians  dedicated to natural conservation and preservation. Here are a few pics and vids from our walk on the trail through the gorge  built over eons by the quiet creek.

Panorama of the natural bridge and woods around Cedar Creek, May 21

“Saving the Pollinators” plaque at Natural Bridge State Park, May 21

Black Swallowtail on Whiteflower Leafcup at Natural Bridge State Park, May 21

Eastern Phoebe at Natural Bridge State Park, May 21

Cedar Creek Falls at the end of the 1-mile trail in Natural Bridge State Park, May 21

2. Tennessee and Georgia’s Chickamauga Battlefield (May 22)

Artist’s rendering of Chickamauga battlefield, September 1863

Just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and across the border into Georgia, Chickamauga Battlefield, named for the creek that still runs through this hallowed and deeply scarred land, commemorates in its hundreds of plaques and monuments several horrific battles in 1863 between the Union and Confederate armies.  Like the Antietam (MD) Battlefield that we visit almost annually  (see the August 2024 entry, for example), the natural beauty and quiet of the parks today never fails to stir our hearts with mourning for the horrific losses of thousands of lives in these now serene places. The film at the Visitors Center about the battles at Chickamauga  is startingly horrible/effective at portraying just how brutal human hatred and injustice are at destroying love and lives.

Hundreds of monuments and plaques from the 1890s onward commemorate the 1863 battles in Chickamauga and Chattanooga (photo September 22)

This restored building from the Brotherton family farm at Chickamauga. The family’s 4 cattle who survived the battle provided milk for wounded soldiers (photo, September 22)

3. Georgia’s New Echota Cherokee State Park (May 22)

The Trail of Tears marker at the New Echota Cherokee State Park. As capital of the Cherokee nation beginning in 1825, New Echota survived only 13 years before all Cherokee were forced to walk or ride across the South to what is now Oklahoma, with 4000 of the 12000 persons dying along the torturous way. (Photo May 22)

Cherokee people tried in many ways to adapt to white settlers’ ways, such as through homes, like this simple one, which they built at New Echota. But homes and lands were steadily stolen by settlers and the Cherokee people eventually imprisoned then banished. (Photo May 22)

If the many monuments at Chickamauga demonstrate how present the conflict of the US Civil War still is for most Americans, the small and almost unknown Georgia park devoted to the erasure of one people’s Native American history demonstrates how five centuries of that steady erasure  of Native cultures and people have gone on with way too little attention. Still, the several restored farm buildings, a tiny garden, and the dignified Visitors Center at New Echota exert a quiet pressure and dedicated attention that keeps the  flame of recognition of Native strength and suffering alive. In planning our road trip, Jean noticed New Echota on one of our maps, and it immediately became for us a place we had to visit.

The Cherokee community continues to venerate New Echota, as through this current thriving garden in the Park devoted to the traditional “3 sisters” crops: corn, beans, and squash. (Photo May 22)

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Jean’s multicolored Snapdragons, both returning and new plants, May 29

Garden Update: One Month of New Growth and Care

Our 225 sq. ft. plot in the community gardens, viewed toward north. with several other garden plots beyond, May 29

After the sudden April freeze in mid-month that wiped out a few of our plantings, our plants from April 25 onward have grown from seeds and seedlings to steadily maturing beings  that have grown leafier and taller by the day.

Colorful Bloomers

Transplanted Hibiscus, May 29

The flowers in about 60% of the garden feature

(1) returning varieties: hearty Snapdragons, Dianthus, Buttercups,  Sawtooth Blackberry, and Wild Blue Aster, as well as

(2) newly-planted seedlings of Peonies, Petunias, Snapdragons, Calibrachoa, and Blue-eyed Grass, plus a 2-foot high transplanted Hibiscus rooting and thriving in the clay soil 18 inches below the surface.

Blue-eyed Grass, new planting, now 3 weeks in, May 29

(3) Growing slowly from sown seed are Marigolds and Zinnias, both of which succeeded last year.

(4) Among the “volunteers” in our soil are fast-spreading Blue Speedwell (AKA Ground Ivy), whose green leaves and tiny blue flowers (which Bumblebees love) will take over everything, if we let it (so we pull out the new Speedwell every few days).

(5) Other new “volunteers” this year are a yellow Coreopsis, an early-flowering Chive, and at least two Common Violets, which have yet to flower.

Calibrochoa, new planting 3 weeks in, May 29

Veggies and Fruits

Husky Cherry Red tomato: first green fruit, May 31

Tomatoes: 5 seedlings this year–Husky Cherry Red, Sweet Millions (2), and Sweet 100 (2). Now in just a month, all 5 have grown to over 2 feet tall, so are already in cages, and with two plants already producing a few green fruit

Mild and Hot Peppers (4 seedlings): Mild Yellow or Orange (3) and Jalapēno

Squash: Crookneck (4), already in bloom and with tiny fruit, and Zucchini, spreading already to a yard wide, but no fruit as yet

Strawberry: first green fruit and blooms, May 31

Strawberry: 2 shiny new plants, with several white blooms

Blueberry: the two small bushes planted last year have returned, and with tiny fruit on one, but these bushes have not yet flourished or expanded–they are works in progress

Zucchini, Mint, Tarragon, mild and hot Peppers,, Strawberries, Rosemary, Basil, Oregano, Nasturtium, Crookneck Squash, May 29

Herbs

New plants: Italian Basil, Tarragon, Dill, Nasturtium, all healthy and growing

Returners: Chives, Oregano (really spreading), Mint (spreading)

Prognosis for the entire plot: From April 25 to May 20, the weather was mostly dry, with no more than 1.5 inches of rain, plus what we added with hand watering, so plants were rooting but growing slowly above surface, except for the returners, almost all of whom had expanded significantly.

Then the rain. On the day we left for our trip, May 21, the heavy rains began across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US, with close to 3 inches of rain on our plot for the week. Since we’d been gone, we couldn’t monitor progress and we feared that a few of the plants might founder in the deluge.  But no worries. When we got back on the 28th, everything had grown at least a little, all were healthy, and some, like the Zucchini and Tomatoes, had at least doubled in size. The colorful bloomers were magnificent.

So at this point we have high hopes. We’re looking forward to more Bees, Bumble Bees, and Butterflies, and to a steady, but not overwhelming rainfall.  Fingers crossed.

Aster, Tomatoes, Hibiscus, Buttercups, Petunias, Dianthus, Coreopsis, Blue-eyed Grass, Oregano, Coneflower, Dill, May 29

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Europe heat map, setting records, May 30 (United Nations photo)

Climate Log: Extremes of Heat, Drought, and Rain

A few items from the many possible stories this May, with links:

1. Record-setting heat waves across Europe

Associate Press: “Think It’s Hot Now? The Next Five Years Will Smash Records, UN Says”

Scientists blame the intensifying melting of the polar ice caps for the massive heat dome covering Europe from the Arctic nations to the Mediterranean (see map above). All of these changes to the environment are the result, scientists agree, of the burning of fossil fuels intensifying the portion of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere.  Fortunately, if there is any good news here, it’s that Europe’s rapidly growing transition to solar power is bringing down the cost of energy for cooling.  But the turn to renewables like wind and solar will need to intensify further if the heat records are not to continue being set.

2.  Corpus Christi, Texas, facing a water emergency.

3. Massive Fish Kill in Atlanta River Caused by Drought, Intense Rains, Flows of Pollutants and Sewage into the Chattahoochee

Just two days before we arrived in Georgia for the graduation celebration for our granddaughter, torrential rains in the drought-plagued region overwhelmed the pollution control system and sent into the river that flows around Atlanta the toxic mix of multiple pollutants and sewage that had built up during the drought. One result was the death of thousands of fish. Another was the threat of ongoing damage to the water system as these extremes of drought and flood will continue as long as fossil fuel companies retain their dominance in energy generation in the US.

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Three Honeybees feed on Oakleaf Hydrangea blossoms east of the lake

The May 2026 Photo/Video Gallery

Because of our travels during the last week of the month, this May’s gallery presents photo art from our local lake refuge and from the sites we visited in Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland.

Snowy Egret–first sighting here!–by the lakeshore, sunny May 28 (Photo by Pat Welch)

Double-crested Cormorant scans from branch on dead Oak, east bank, sunny May 29

Our first Yellow Tiger Swallowtail of the year alights amid Poison Ivy on the east bank, May 29

Green Heron, first of the year, on log in southeast cove on a warm, sunny afternoon, May 5

Cardinal male chirps and flits on south bank of lake, windy, sunny May 7

Swale, reeds, and plant array in refuge we visited in Easton, MD, May 28

Female House Finch perches by playground slide, east side of our lake, sunny afternoon, May 29

View of swale through Persimmon tree, refuge in Easton, MD, May 28

American Robin struts on street in Historic Downtown of Petersburg, VA, May 26

Red-winged Blackbird chirps atop Silver Maple in refuge in Easton, MD, May 28

We passed farmsteads like this one on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, near Accomac, May 27

Cherokee Capital plaque outside Visitor Center, New Echota State Park, Georgia, May 22

New Strawberry plant, 3 weeks in, garden plot, May 28

Tufted Titmouse atop dead Willow Oak, east bank of our lake, May 8

Snapping Turtle, stem to stern, lurks near the northeast shore of the lake, sunny, warm May 5

Common Grackle takes wing from Red Maple in refuge, Easton, MD, May 28

Uncommon Vesper Sparrow in shadow in Porcelainberry vines north shore of our lake, sunny May 7

Savannah Sparrow in dead Willow Oak, east bank, warm May 5

Rare Purple Finch in dead Willow Oak, east bank, windy May 7

Mockingbird atop Red Cedar, northwest corner of lake, cool May 14

And on to June, in hopes of further creative and beautiful adventures…

Red-eared Cottontail about to enter the wonderland of reeds along our north end path, sunny May 29

April 2026: Turning to the Garden for Mental Health

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Double-crested Cormorants–four at a time!–scan from atop the two dead Oaks, east bank, after sunrise, on a cool April 6

In this month’s blog:

When “the World Is Too Much with Us”: The Garden as Mental Health
Springing Early in the Garden
Climate Log: As Drought and Fires Set Records, Oil Giants Seek Lawsuit Immunity
The April 2026 Photo/Video Gallery

Brand new Canada Goose babies feed by the path at the south end of the lake, then Mom appears in the video, on a cool, cloudy April 26

When “the World Is Too Much with Us”: the Garden as Mental Health

Amur Honeysuckle in profusion on the east shore of the lake, April 18

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

I sometimes think of this 1802 poem by William Wordsworth, when I get overwhelmed by all the worries of this awful time in our nation’s history, when our democracy seems to be collapsing from the lies, cruelty, greed, and war-making by our supposed leaders.

So, to get a bit of solace, I turn to the gardens I have in my life.

I turn my focus to the plants and animals who surround lucky me and who seem to have figured out how to survive and even thrive, while not utterly destroying their fellow creatures as we humans do.

View of the lake and lakeshores toward the nearby city, with spring colors of the trees and a mating pair of Canada Geese, April 3

My gardens are two, and both are physical, mental, and indeed inspiring.

One garden is the small lake and surrounding land that includes the community in which we reside. This is a garden I walk through daily and which I cultivate by trying to leave it alone. I gain comfort by trying to observe respectfully its rhythms and inhabitants. My camera helps me see closely and capture images that ease–and inspire–my mind, but which leaves these inhabitants to do their life-generating work.

Grey Catbird, recently arriving here, calls and mimics amid the Arrowwood Viburnum beside the southeast cove of the lake, cool morning, April 25

The other garden I turn to is  the one where my wife and I dig into the soil in order to plant flowers and veggies. This small plot, only 225 square feet, we deliberately disturb–in typical human fashion–so that we might use its mineral and organic resources to grow what we want to grow. From one perspective, digging a garden is an act of selfish violence, because if we left it alone, it would produce what it wants to with the assistance of rain and sun and wind and visiting insects and birds. The undisturbed soil is home to the little seeds and sinewy rhizomes that stay quietly alive under the surface.

Sweet William, Blue Speedwell, Wild Blackberry–among the plants in our garden plot that greeted us after winter and as spring began, April 19

Oh, we know what that undisturbed garden would look like, because it partially greets us after a winter of icy cold that keep us indoors. Its colorful profusion of little plants like Yellow Dandelions, Blue Speedwell, green Ground Ivy, Pink Henbit, and Daisy Fleabane shows how hard the soil has been working all winter. If we left it alone, it would do more amazing things–just as our lakeside garden does–but we humans just want too much to get our hands dirty and use that soil to produce stuff that we can eat and tickle our senses with.

So before we start digging, we say to the soil and the wind and the clouds,

“Please let us use just a little bit of your bounty to make room for other plants that we want to give life to. We promise to use just a little land and then to let you take over again when the winter returns. Is that OK?”

A benign violence? Yes, I hope. Our indigenous forebears on this land knew better than we do how to use what actual Nature produced to keep those humans alive, too, but most of us have lost that knowledge. And so the best that we can do is to use just a little of the soil to grow the plants we’re more comfortable with–tomatoes, peppers, culinary herbs, potatoes, corn, and so forth–and let the native plants grow in the rest. One thing we promise not to do is turn these little garden plots into the one-crop (AKA “monoculture”) plantations that dominate way too much of the country.

We also promise the soil not to poison it with the chemicals, like glyphosate, which kill most of the plants that want to share the soil with the crops that large farmers and many homeowners favor on their land. As a result, our garden includes both the plants we’ve planted and the many hardy species that “volunteer” in the garden. We’ve found that there’s usually room for both kinds.

Our garden plot, with mulch and some new plants, looking northeast across the garden community, April 24

When it comes right down to it, a great way for both of us to ease our minds in these troubled times is to get down on our knees, dig holes in the ground, and plant little seeds and seedlings, then water those plants, watch them from day to day, and marvel at what these little beings turn into as April turns into May and then on to September.  We are grateful that every little bit of this mental solace goes a long way, and we get it each time we visit either of our gardens.

Yellow Rocket wildflowers have sprung up in a suddenly warm April by the outlet pond of our lake below the dam, April 18

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Springing Too Early in the Garden?

With our garden plot cleared and mulched for spring planting, we were ready to take a chance and plant early, April 12

Well, it happened again. But can you blame us?

Yes, the garden managers pleaded with us gardeners not to plant before May 1: “the ground won’t be warm enough.”  But, then, the thermometer kept going up and up after April 10, until it reached the low 90s! Can you believe it? It had been so cold and rock-hard snowy in February that we’d begun to get stir-crazy. Then March kept teasing us with off-and-on warm and cooler days, mostly warmer, so surely, once we got into the 80s, then the 90s in early April–the 90s!–of course winter was past, right?

So pretty much everyone in our garden community had been out in March to begin spiffing up their raised beds and building their soil base, and to put into the huge compost piles beyond the fences all the old garden waste from last year. We were all champing at the bit to get started planting. But still most of us held back out of caution–“wait until May 1!”

But not all of us. A few of our neighbors were getting an early start on the planting. And of course, we two transplanted Californians, as accustomed as we still were to year-round gardening, decided to flout the May 1 rule.

So, on April 11, with the temp already in the 80s, we were among lots of other gardeners in our town at Home Depot, where we bought a few bags of soil, some Snapdragons, 4 Cherry Tomato plants, 1 Zucchini, 1 Basil, 2 Mild Peppers, and 2 Strawberries–and immediately drove off to put these beauties in the ground.

Husky Cherry Red Tomato, newly in ground April 12–before frost 8 days later

With low temps in the 40s, what could go wrong? But as the week wore on, the forecast showed lows in the mid 30s, then on the 20th, hour by hour the temp lowered–until it registered 27 F (what?!) at 6 AM on the 21st. With trepidation, I drove over to the garden later that morning, and, sure enough, there lay the 4 tomatoes, the basil, the 2 mild peppers, and the zucchini–their stems deflated, their leaves shriveled, their greenness turning brown. Of the new plantings, only the 2 Strawberries and the Snapdragons, as expected  of these hardy types, were frisky.

Frozen Tomato seedling beside the healthy volunteer Chives, cold morning, April 21, after frost

Of course, the Blue Speedwell, the Pink Henbit, and the Yellow Dandelions were bright as ever, mocking me with their lively weediness.

But never say die! Out came the shriveled ones and into the compost pile they went. By the 24th, they had been replaced, and we added several more that we couldn’t resist, like a Jalapenó Pepper and Peonies. So, with all forecasts now well above freezing beyond May 1,  almost all the gardeners are now out and planting.  We all have our eager fingers crossed.

Sweet Millions Tomato, seemingly thriving with new yellow flowers, April 20, just before the frost

Four new Tomato plantings, plus returning Chives plant, April 24

New and returning Snapdragons, new Petunias, and new Peony, April 24

Newly planted Marigold seedbed and perennial New England Blue Aster, April 16. The Marigolds will peek through in May.

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How drought intensity in US has advanced since February (US Drought Monitor and Washington Post video, April 29)

Climate Log: 

Droughts, Temps, and Wildfires Set Records; Fossil Fuel Cartel Seeks Immunity; Supreme Court’s Anti-Climate Agenda Revealed

This month’s climate log is just a series of headlines and photos, with links or references to the articles that go into detail. Suffice it to say that these are the sorts of things happening right now–or in the recent past in the case of the Supreme Court’s secret memos–that would receive attention and new laws if the US had an Administration, Congress, and Supreme Court focused on the people of the US and the health of the world we live in rather than on ensuring mega-billionaires’ bottom lines. They are also the sorts of outrages that inspire me to seek solace in gardens and make me so grateful that we still have that opportunity.

Worst spring drought on record grips US, fueling wildfires and water worries

CNN, by Chris Dolce, Meteorologist, April 23

Evacuation instructions amid Florida wildfires (CBS Jacksonville, April 21)

“The EPA’s Lost Science” (Lisa Friedman, New York Times, April 28)

National Geographic (April 8), Laura Parker:

The Supreme Court’s Secret Docket: the 2016 Memos (New York Times, Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak, April 18):

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Canada Goose mating pair have just landed in the lake, April 18

April 2026 Photo/Video Gallery

The new Canada Goose babies arrive and wildflowers spring forth around the lake. Birdsong concerts are a daily event.

Red-winged Blackbird calls in Red Maple on the southeast bank, warm morning, April 16

White-throated Sparrow in Katsura tree, east bank, April 18

Canada Geese, adults and 6 babies, enter the northwest corner of the lake to begin their swim, April 26

Swamp Milkweed (Monarchs love them) and Japanese Honeysuckle on the east bank, April 25

Three cormorants atop dead Oak, east bank, as Blue Heron watches from below and another flies over the tree.  Rare sighting of all these birds of prey together, April 26

Morning Dove walks into grass, east side; meets mate; both look toward lake; warm April 19

Male Mallard alone on the deck, west shore, April 22

Perennial Rosemary, newly planted Strawberry, returning Oregano, and volunteer Ground Ivy in our garden plot, windy April 20. These all survive the frost.

Mourning Dove on ground, south of lake, cool, rainy afternoon, April 29

Dogwood in bloom with white Azaleas beside the gazebo, west bank, April 17

Rare Black House Sparrow in Green Ash, east bank,warm April 16

Song Sparrow relaxes in Poison Ivy (not toxic to them) along the south end, on a cool, cloudy April 26

Red-winged Blackbird perches in Red Maple, southeast bank, warm April 16

Toward downtown, view of the mirror lake in spring glory, with Red Cedar in foreground, warm morning, April 18

Blue Heron in flight across the lake on a warm Earth Day afternoon, April 22

White Berkeley Sedge and Bulbous Buttercups come back on the denuded hillside below the dam, warm morning, April 17

Chipping Sparrow on east side path, cool, rainy afternoon, April 29

Sawtooth Blackberry in bloom on the east shore, on a warm Earth Day, April 22

European Starling, in mid call, on the dead Willow Oak on the east bank, warm morning, April 16

Canada Geese, 3 adults, 5 babies, investigate a flower garden in our community, April 18

An Impressionist rendering of White-crowned Sparrow on the east side path on a warm afternoon, April 22

On a denuded hillside, northwest corner, Colonial Bentgrass grows back, April 25

Canada Geese families: 4 adults, 6 babies, beside lake on west side path, in the rain, April 29

And on to the mad, mysterious, magnificent month of May, with blooms in whatever garden is yours…

Cardinal male on branch in Amur Honeysuckle, west shore, cool, cloudy April 25

March 2026: Making “E Pluribus Unum” Matter

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Grey Squirrel munches on an acorn while relaxing on an Oak branch on the southwest bank, then sees me with my nosy camera, during March 12’s gorgeous, fleeting snowfall

In this month’s blog:

Neighboring: Making “E Pluribus Unum” Matter
Garden Update: After “Snowcrete,” Marching toward Spring
Climate Log: Scorching the Earth and Robbing US Citizens
The March 2026 Photo/Video Gallery
Another Room in the Gallery: One Morning’s Walk Around the Lake

Neighbors: Mallard Mating Pair and 5 Red-Bellied Cooters share the same log, southeast shore, balmy March 10

Neighboring: Making “E Pluribus Unum” Matter

Minnesota native and famed journalist Thomas Friedman explores in this essay how Minnesotans fought back against violent ICE incursions by helping their multi-ethnic neighbors carry our their lives and keep their shared economic community strong during the depths of January winter.  The article is well worth reading for how  it demonstrates Americans giving meaning to the US motto “e pluribus unum” (“out of many one”) that adorns the Great Seal of the United States.  The peaceful, valiant stand by Minnesotans against the Trump regime’s efforts to divide Americans against one another shows what the motto really means: treating  all members of our highly diverse country as our “neighbors,” all together in building this great nation despite incessant efforts by some powerful people to divide us through manufactured fear and lies.

All Creatures Our Neighbors

The spirit of this blog, month to month,  extends the idea of “neighboring” to include not only the diverse multi-ethnic, multi-lingual human community in which we live here in Northern Virginia, but also the countless other creatures–plants and animals of all sizes and skill sets–who inhabit with us. Writer Robin Wall Kimmerer indeed uses the term “more than human” to describe the lives of these our fellow creatures, to do justice to all the talents and strengths that they possess–that far surpass what we humans, in our prideful ignorance, can do, though we consider our human selves to be superior to our fellow creatures.

A third House Sparrow lands beside two others on Greenbrier vines along the southeast shore of the lake, cold morning, March 17

When I watch a House Sparrow fly forty miles an hour into a dense cloud of leaves, then stop fully in a silent instant, then speak in a range of pitches to neighbors, then take off again as part of a perfectly coordinated group, all I can do is marvel in respect. In comparison, it’s all I can do to stay balanced on my painfully slow two legs and maybe, if I’m lucky, snap a photo of one of these birds  before they zoom away.

One of the many first blooms of the year on Oakleaf Hydrangea, east of the lake, cold morning, March 17

When I hunker indoors when it’s cold outside, but then spy the first new blossoms of the year on the Oakleaf Hydrangea outside in the wind, I marvel at how this plant–and all plants–can thrive in harsh conditions that make us humans hide. This little, quiet, infinitely complex flower demonstrates what no human has ever managed to achieve–the miracle of turning sunlight into totally efficient energy (AKA photosynthesis).  Such delicacy, beauty, and strength that I should never take for granted, but almost always do.

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5 of our 6 Broccoli plants, in ground since October,  present flowering heads despite a tough winter, March 11

Garden Update: After “Snowcrete,” Marching toward Spring

On a balmy March 20, Song Sparrow calls and preens on the high fence surrounding our garden community. Such exaltation from a creature so small!

When to plant? Last year at this time, as you might recall, I complained in the blog about the sudden cold snap on March 9 that killed off our Tomato and Peppers seedlings.  A warm early March had fooled me into hoping that real spring had arrived. But that mistake convinced me that the balmy Marches I’d loved in California would not be repeated here in Virginia.  Instead, when we community gardeners gathered for our annual planning meeting on February 21, the staff cautioned us to wait until May 1 to put our veggies and flower seeds in the ground! Up until that point, the ground is still too cold to sustain the little annuals who’ll love the summer sun. It’ll be all I can do to wait until May 1.

But Fall veggies are an exception.  For those of us who can’t keep our hands out of the soil, there are some veggies that do thrive in Fall and Winter in this climate, and many more plants that comfortably lie dormant underground and sprout again when it warms up. Beets, Radishes, Onions, Kale, and Garlic are among those that can be safely planted late in the year.  One of my neighbor gardeners has a full bed of Kale now green and dense after the awful “snowcrete” February.  (See last month’s blog for the grim details.)

Just after the “snowcrete” has melted, this sturdy Broccoli plant has survived, but no head yet appearing, February 19. See the next photo for an update!

My Fall favorites for this garden plot are Broccoli and Cauliflower.  We planted both in Fall 2024, and the mild winter helped both produce edible fruit, so we tried again in Fall 2025. The 12 plants (6 of each) were coming along fine through December and into January, multiplying and expanding  their green leaves. But when the 7 inches of snow hit on January 25 and turned solid for the next 3 weeks of below freezing temps, we thought that the plants would not survive.

Well, the Caulifower didn’t. But 5 of the 6 Broccoli did pull through, with some damage, and now in late March there are multiple flowering heads slowly expanding.

Broccoli plant survives February “snowcrete” and is now producing multiple heads, March 24

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Climate Log: Scorching the Earth and Robbing US Citizens

The orange dots represent locales in the US West that have set high temp records for March (CNN Weather, March 24)

While the greatly unpopular US President cheers the thousands of his bombs that have destroyed large portions of drought-ravaged Iran, and while the US media cover every one of the President’s incessant words, he never spends even one of those words on the high temperature records that are being set here in the US (see photo above).

The band of wildfires, some having consumed more than a million acres, stretching from Montana three thousand miles across to Florida, March 24, with more in the forecast (Washington Post )

Hundred of wildfires. Nor does he give even one smidge of his attention to the massive wildfires that are scorching a huge band of this country from Montana across the Plains and all the way to the President’s beloved Florida. Of course, he’d never acknowledge these disasters because he denies that they exist and denies that they will proliferate because of the fossil-fuel-caused climate change that he also claims does not exist.

Firefighters try to stem this wildfire in Flat Rock, North Carolina, one of hundreds of fires now burning across the US, March 24 (Washibgton Post photo)

Is anyone helping the people of those drought-stricken and fire-plagued states?

While the President goes to Congress to ask for another 200 billion dollars to finance even more attacks on that scorched, drought-ravaged nation halfway around the world, not one dollar is being asked for re-funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency  (FEMA) or the federal Forest Service,  who used to help the beleaguered states in times of disaster when Joe Biden, both Bushes, Obama, Clinton,  Reagan, and all the other Presidents actually cared about the people of the US.

LA  (shown above) is one of many places in the West and Plains states with record-setting March temps. The international science collaborative World Weather Attribution explains, March 25

Prices and Profits. And because the President’s adventure in Iran has closed off much of the world’s access to his favorite “drink,” oil, prices of oil and gas around the world–including the US–have gone up like one of his rockets. So everyone in the US who still drives those millions of cars that are stuck using gasoline is paying higher prices than they’ve seen in years, with no cap in sight.

Who profits? Though he claims that he feels bad for US drivers, the President likes the price-spikes just fine, because the higher the price of gas, the more profit he and his billionaire friends who run the big oil companies just rake into their pockets. So does his good friend Vladimir Putin, who, thanks to the President’s lifting of sanctions, no longer has any limits placed on how much Russian oil he can sell. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

Which Drivers  Don’t Feel the Price Shocks? EV drivers and, to a lesser extent, Hybrid drivers don’t feel the price spikes like the gas-only drivers do.  But note how clever the President is: he’s made sure that the US is the only Western country that doesn’t help the clean EV market grow, so too few Americans can even buy EVs.  As a result, the gas price spikes hit way more people in the US than they do in Europe, where clean EVs are the most popular new cars bought.  Not only is Europe (and increasingly South America) buying EVs in record numbers, but China’s company BYD, who makes the cheapest EVs, has now surpassed Tesla as the most successful EV company.

The Han model from Chinese automaker BYD, designed for the potential US market, March 2026. BYD’s motto is “Cools the Earth 1 degree C,” its business mission

Don’t forget the cost of tariffs. Too bad for us that the Trump tariffs on clean Chinese vehicles are so high (100%) that  they can’t be sold in the US (Canada, with much lower tariffs–just 6.1%– has contracted with China to import BYD autos).  So the Trump tariffs are just another way that the President stiffs US drivers of gas cars, isolates the US in an expanding EV world, and insures the revenue flow to himself and his buddies from the ballooning prices of his favorite fuel.

How Trump counts on ignorance. And as long as Trump keeps silent on the heat records and wildfires in his own nation, he’s counting on most people to not make the connection between  gas emissions and the rapidly deteriorating environment. So the people, the land, and all creatures  just suffer more.

Extreme drought over 3/4 of the President’s adopted state, March 24–but mum’s the word

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Our Cherry trees in the community sprang into bloom from a few warm days this week, March 24

View toward north with Cherry Laurel in snowfall, March 12

The March 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: From Snow Beauty to Denuded Hills to Spring Blooms

This month saw both a brief, gorgeous snow shower and enough balmy days to bring out the blossoms on all our flowering trees. It also brought a shocking denuding of some of our precious hills by the power companies (oil and gas) with whose pipelines our plants and animals share our space around the lake. We hope the grasses and wildflowers will grow back soon. We’ll be watching.

Lest we forget, our community shares space with electric towers and gas and oil pipelines. On March 23, crews denuded hills west and north of the lake. In 2025, no mowing occurred and the growth of grasses and wildflowers brought in more pollinators than we’d seen before.

Eastern Bluebird crowns the Columbia Gas pipeline marker northwest of the lake, March 19

Newly denuded hillside above the Columbia Gas substation north of the dam, March 23

Northeast woods coming into bloom on a warm March 21

View to south end park in snowfall, March 12

Downy Woodpecker climbs Katsura tree east of the lake, warm March 23

Downy Woodpecker stabs for seeds from a feeder on the southeast side of the community, warm March 21

Chipping Sparrow in sapling on the north shore of the lake, March 21

Blooming Red Maple on west shore covered with snow, March 12

Cardinal male perches in Tulip tree in shadows along the west bank, March 21

American Robin alert on the east path on a warm March 19

Snow-covered Evening Primrose, northeast shore, March 12

Canada Goose mating pair swim along the northwest shore on a warm March 19

 

White-throated Sparrow juvenile high in Sycamore south end of lake, warm March 7

Cardinal male calls from the Tulip tree on the west bank, on a breezy March 21

White-crowned Sparrow, uncommon here, calls amid Greenbrier along the southeast shore during brief snow squall, March 2

Cardinal female high in Serviceberry southeast side of lake, March 21

Song Sparrow calls from Grapevines along the northwest shore on a cold, windy March 1

Eight Red-bellied Cooters crowd on to the log on the north shore of the lake, March 23

Turkey Vulture in silhouette high over lake, warm March 7

Red-winged Blackbird high in Oak, south end of lake, warm March 7

Mourning Dove atop Chestnut Oak south of lake, misty, warm March 6

Mallard mating pair feeds near nest as Red-winged Blackbird calls, southeast cove, March 7

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Another Room in the Gallery: One Morning’s Walk Around the Lake

On March 28, at 9 AM, I took my usual camera walk around the lake. On this breezy, sunny morn, I had such good luck finding shots of the new blooms and a few other colorful neighbors, that I wanted to include them in the blog. I took 28 shots and saved 9, about my usual percentage. I hope you enjoy them.

Trees in pastel bloom, north of the dam, sunny, breezy March 28

Spring blooms, northeast woods and lake, March 28

Song Sparrow atop Bradford Pear, northeast path, March 28

View toward downtown, with willow and red maples, March 28

Heavenly Bamboo, by the gazebo, west bank, March 28

Dark-eyed Junco in blooming Serviceberry, southeast side, March 28

Male Cardinal browsing in the ground cover, west bank, March 28

Canada Goose mating pair enjoy the quiet lake, southwest shore, March 28

Bradford Pear and 3 different Redbuds, far west of lake, March 28

And one more, from the next day, March 29: first of 2 cormorants in the lake, the first we’ve seen here in 3 months. I couldn’t resist adding this one!

And on to April, with hopes for better news for all of us neighbors in the nation and the world…

February 2026: Some “Wonders” of This Winter

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Our 2nd Bald Eagle in four months: Caught in mid-call atop a power tower 200 yards north of our lake on a cloudy February 15

Our Stay-Cozy Kitchen: Our Take on a Mexican Specialty
The February Photo/Video Gallery:  Scenes from Our “Great Backyard Bird Count” and Winter Wonderland

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The fountain pool in the middle of our small lake surrounded by ice, very cold February 13

So Much to Wonder this Winter

One of our ubiquitous House Sparrows makes a colorful fashion statement beside the frozen lake, February 13

Chris:  This has been a “wonder”-ful February. But not in a predictably wintry way. Let’s count a few of the strange happenings  we’re wondering about.

1. Snowcrete. Here, in our tiny mid-Atlantic sliver of the U.S., we’ve been treated to a frozen phenomenon we’d not encountered before. It’s called “snowcrete,”  On January 25, 5-7 inches of snow fell here in Northern Virginia, and the snow was immediately covered by an inch or so of ice.  For the next two weeks, the temps stayed below freezing, so not only didn’t the snow melt, but it had somehow mixed so thoroughly with the ice that it was like concrete–impossible to shovel. It looked like beautifully polished marble and was just as durable. Schools were closed for more than a week, and many vehicles were not extricated for three.

Three weeks after the snow/ice of Jan. 25, and after 3 days of higher temps, a narrow path was finally shovel-able through the snowcrete along the top of the dam, February 13

2. Bomb Cyclone in the Northeast   Snowcrete is one wonder, but the “Bomb Cyclone” still dumping snow from Philadelphia to Maine is in another category, because it’s not exhausted yet. As much as 38 inches of snow in Rhode Island. And here’s a shot sent to us on February 23 by our relatives on an evening in usually hoppin’ Brooklyn:

3.  High Temps, No Snow, and Wildfires in the Plains. In a parallel universe that is also part of the U.S., high temp records and drought records are being set in the Mountain West and the Plains states. As of February 20, at least 12 wildfires have been burning in the region, and there’s been no snow over close to half of the U.S. (See the Climate Log of the blog for more on the drought.)

The Ranger Road wildfire near Tyrone, Oklahoma, has burned almost 300,000 acres close to where the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado meet, February 17 (CNN photo)

The wildfires in the Plains States set another record for February, affecting states from Texas to Colorado to Oklahoma to Kansas to New Mexico, with no relief in sight as the drought and “red flag’ warnings continue.

4. Another Wonder: Where is the President?  In what may be another parallel universe, the current President, who ran on the promise of “America First” instead of involvement in foreign entanglements, continues to ignore  the ongoing economic and environmental suffering of American citizens. These two weeks, he gave his attention to

  • (1) threatening a military invasion of Iran and
  • (2) creating a so-called “Board of Peace,” to which dictators from around the world have been invited to join if each pays a $1 billion dollar entrance fee. The purpose of this Board of Peace is… anyone’s guess, though the President’s collecting those entrance fees might just be the real purpose.

To be fair, some of this President’s attention is going to issues affecting US citizens. Here’s one:

  • He instructed his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this month to kill the last remaining environmental protection.

Called the “endangerment finding,” this rule requires the agency to seek out, investigate, and address any event or practice–such as air and water pollution by chemicals and nano-plastics–that “endangers the health and safety of Americans”  (Lisa Friedman, “Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change,”  New York Times, February 12). Now that the President has killed this last environmental guardrail, it’s not likely, for example, that those millions of citizens suffering from those wildfires and long-term droughts will be getting any federal help or even investigation of the causes.

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Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, near Salt Lake City,  Utah, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held and where the 2034 Games are scheduled. Just .1 inch of snow fell this January (Matthew Hamon photo)

“In just 25 years, dozens of places will be too warm to host the Winter Olympics”–Laura Paddison, CNN, February 10

“While record snowfall and single-digit temperatures pummel much of the United States, an extreme snow drought and unusually warm weather are keeping skiers off the mountains, snowmobilers off the trails and water out of the rivers across much of the West.” (Jim Robbins, New York Times, February 2)

During our years in California, one issue that stayed in the news was the steady decline in the water levels in the Colorado River, which feeds seven Western states and part of northern Mexico. A vicious combination of

  • rising temps,
  • falling rain levels,
  • decreasing snowpack,  and
  • over-pumping of groundwater for agriculture

was making the water future ever more dire. One “solution”–taking many square miles of land out of cultivation –was having only marginal effect.

But while we in California (the largest user of Colorado River water) were focused on what we might do to improve the situation, we paid little attention to how drought was getting more and more serious in the upper basin states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico (see map below):

You may note that severe and extreme droughts are ongoing in most of the US–even in the East, where the current snowstorms are grabbing the headlines. But this wintry weather just obscures–for the moment–the fact that the climate trend almost everywhere is both warmer and much drier (see Florida, for example, on the map).

Future of the Winter Games? Strangely, attention on drought in the U.S. West this month is mostly because of the worldwide phenomenon of the Winter Olympics, which just concluded in the Italian Alps. If they were paying attention, TV viewers could see the sharp contrast between the snow-covered skiing and cross-country courses and the largely snowless mountains beyond.  Commentators did not focus on the fact that the “snow” on the courses was mostly manufactured (like the ice in the arenas), but the athletes knew.  Some of them, like U.S. Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins (photo below),  spoke up in her blog about what the conditions would mean for the future of U.S. and international ski events, with the next scheduled Winter Olympics  in France (2030) and in the U.S. (Utah) in 2034:

I’ve traveled all over the world on the World Cup circuit and I’ve seen the effects of climate change everywhere. Mountain towns that used to thrive on ski tourism are struggling through Decembers with no natural snow. Ski shop owners are extremely worried about the declining snowsports economy and the impact that it will have on their jobs. Most of the time these days our race courses are just dirty ribbons of man-made snow cut through brown grass. You can’t even think about hosting a World Cup race without having snow-making capabilities. Think about that for a second. You can’t host a winter sporting event…without fake snow. (Protect Our Winters. org–Jessie Diggins, With a Medal in My Pocket)

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Jean’s Baked Chicken in Mole right from the oven

Our Stay-Cozy-Winter Kitchen: Jean’s Take on Mexican “Mo-le”

Jean:  We weren’t planning to travel to Mexico or revisit California right now, but I felt the need in this snowy winter to make a quintessentially Mexican dish.  Not tacos or tamales, but mole (pronounced moe-lay).  We had it once at Rick Bayless’s restaurant in Chicago, Topolobampo.  See the website here:  https://topolochicago.com/topolo-menus/bienvenidos-a-oaxaca/

I started my own attempt, however, with a combination of relatively simple versions I saw online, like this one, https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213733/chicken-mole/, or this one:
Then I discovered that Rick has posted tutorials for various types of his mole.  See:
The beauty of mole is that you can make it your way.  For example, right now I don’t have the classic dried Mexican peppers that I collected when we lived in California, so I added some canned chipotle peppers I happened to have.  That gave my sauce a more reddish hue and plenty of spice.  I added more spices and herbs from my pantry as well, including cumin and Mexican oregano.
For the nutty and seedy elements, you can add a little almond butter, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and/or fennel seeds.
I like to improvise with any products that come from south of the border and are compatible with the other flavors.  Along with chicken broth and canned tomatoes, I threw in some coffee.  Why not?  Taste it as you go along.  Have fun with it!
Here is the finished dish accompanied by my own corn-bread pudding. We loved it and fortunately have enough for more cold-weather meals.

Serving of Jean’s Baked Chicken Mole and Her Corn-Bread Pudding

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One of our typical birds in the Great Backyard Bird Count is the American Goldfinch, seen here in our Serviceberry tree just after our latest snowfall, February 23

The February 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: The Annual “Great Backyard Bird Count” and Scenes of the Season

Chris: This month’s gallery features snowy winter scenes and some of the many tough critters, like the Goldfinch (above), who make it through the sub-freezing times of the real winter we had this February. This year’s Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb. 13-16) saw, as of February 19,

  • 1,590,167 submissions (through Merlin and eBird apps)
  • 1 million people participated around the world
  • 186,839 Macaulay Library photos, sounds, and videos
  • 8,119 bird species identified, and
  • 435 community birding events

The bird pics you see here are among those I submitted in my own list. Further submissions by participants will be accepted through March 1.

Male Cardinal munches seeds at a neighbor’s feeder, southeast of lake, cloudy, cool February 21

Panorama toward north in snow, with Cherry Laurel in foreground, February 23

Deep within this Chinese Holly hides Red-winged Blackbird, very early this year and one of three triangulating their distinctive calls on the southeast bank of the lakeside, February 27

Savannah Sparrow, uncommon visitor, atop the fence near our garden plot, warm February 26

House Finch male in Slippery Elm, southeast shore, cloudy, cool. February 16

Pair of Mourning Doves in Red Maple, southeast bank, rainy February 15

Surprising pair: Eastern Bluebird and Song Sparrow atop fence surrounding our garden plot, warm February 26

Male Cardinal calls melodiously in Red Maple, southeast side, warm February 25

Gazebo on west shore with “snow bloom” azaleas, February 23

Mockingbird preens in Persimmom on the southeast shore in the rain, February 20

American Robin about to take flight from Sycamore near our garden plot, warm February 26

Downy Woodpecker hammers Sycamore above the inlet stream, rainy February 15

Visiting Cedar Waxwing perches in a Sycamore in the southeast cove, on a cloudy, cool February 16

On the fence by our ice-bound garden plot, Song Sparrow calls, February 19

Animal tracks on path in woods through new snow east of the lake, February 23

Pair of Hooded Mergansers, rare visitors here, stop briefly at our lake on their way north, snowy February 23

European Starling pair in Slippery Elm, east side, warm February 21

Large flock of migrating Cedar Waxwings rests briefly atop a Red Maple, southeast shore, February 20

Red-shouldered Hawk in an early-budding Tulip tree decorated by new snow, east of lake, February 23

Our garden plot was covered in “snowcrete” for 3 weeks, but friends like this Bluebird stayed vigilant, February 19

Rock Doves converse atop power tower west of the lake, February 25

Canada Goose rests on one leg in mid lake, warm February 21

Mating pair of Mallards at the their nest by the inlet stream of the southwest cove, February 16

Blue Jay chorus (cacophony?) in Scarlet Oak, southeast of lake, February 3

Mallard pair resting on the fountain base in mid-lake, February 21

At nearby Claude Moore County Park, American Robin feeds in the grass by a snowbank, February 14

Dark-eyed Junco in Serviceberry, southeast side, February 15

Pine Warbler, uncommon visitor here, in Katsura tree, south of lake, very cold February 13

Fish Crow on roof in community, February 15

On February 28, the last day of the month and the warmest day so far this year, 4 Red-Bellied Cooters–our first turtles of the year–scrum together along the west shore

View of the western shore of our lake after our most recent snowfall, February 23

And on to Marvelous March, with hopes for more wonders…

January 2026: Imagining a “Native Place”

/ Chris Thaiss / 1 Comment

Cooper’s Hawk, on branch of dead Willow Oak, east shore of lake, preens and scans area as a Fish Crow calls, cold morning, January 6

In this month’s blog:

Imagining a Native Place
Climate Log: Judges Order End to Trump Ban on Wind Farms
Climate Log 2: Drought amid the Cold–Reaching “Water Bankruptcy”
Climate Followup Note: Save Our Signs Project
The January 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: First Snowfall and Bitter Cold

National Museum of the American Indian: Veterans’ Marsh with US Capitol in center background, January 17

“Imagining a Native Place”: the NMAI Keeps the Vision Alive

Chris: I drove into Washington, DC, on the 17th to visit the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), my first visit to the District since the takeover of the Nation’s Capital months earlier by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and by National Guard troops from several states. I had been worried that the Museum, which I love to visit at least annually, had had its exhibits censored under President Trump’s order to revise the Smithsonian museums’ decades-long focus on the histories of all the peoples of the United State. The Presidential order would replace this actual history with a white history version, which, in the case of the NMAI, would minimize or even eliminate the viewpoints of native peoples about the tortures and lies they’d suffered over centuries by European invaders and their descendants.

So I was happily surprised to discover

  • no obvious presence where I drove on this cold and rainy Saturday of either the masked ICE agents or the National Guard or even any DC police
  • wonderfully displayed exhibits at the NMAI of actual Native peoples’ history, including descriptions of the broken treaties, and vivid examples of the amazing resilience and creativity of native nations on this continent in the face of the evil treatment they withstood for 5 centuries
  • and a large, diverse crowd at the Museum of eager visitors of all ages despite the winter weather.

Unbound: The Narrative Art of the Plains

Lauren Good Day, contemporary artist (born 1987): painting of women in ceremonial dress, ledger art, NMAI

On the day I visited, the premier exhibit was “Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plains,” a retrospective all the way up to the present of art works inspired by native peoples over centuries in North America to record in pictures the major events year upon year in their regions. These paintings were done on cloth and hides for generations. The painting below, done in 2012, commemorates this kind of work.

David Dragonfly (2012): “War Deeds,” painted on elkhide, commemorating the life of his great grandfather, Little Calf, Blackfeet chief 

In the 19th century, as animal herds in the Plains were decimated and peoples were forced on to reservations, artists carried on these traditions using paper repurposed from accounts ledgers used by their captors. Contemporary artists like Lauren Good Day (born 1987), whose rendering of women in ceremonial dress is shown above, continue to use ledger paper in honor of their forebears.

Children’s Narrative Art Day at the NMAI

My visit also coincided with a special event for visiting children, based on the Narrative Art exhibit. Children and their parents were told about the narrative tradition, and then the children were provided paper, crayons, colored pencils, and other tools to make their own drawings to record important events in their lives, following in the native narrative tradition.

Children’s art day at the NMAI, as part of the Narrative Art of the Plains exhibit, January 17

The National Museum of the American Indian, with the Native Veterans’ Memorial Wetland in the foreground, January 17

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Climate Log: Judges Order End to Trump Ban on Wind Farms

Wind turbine staging area in Portsmouth, VA (from Brad Plumer article, New York Times),January 16

In last month’s blog, we noted that the Trump administration had “paused” several wind farms under construction off the Atlantic Coast, claiming “national security concerns.” Over the past week, as reported by Brad Plumer in the New York Times, federal judges had reinstated all these wind farms, the judiciary having found the “national security” claims by the administration groundless. The latest to be reinstated is the wind farm close to completion off the Virginia coast, with potential to meet the power needs of 600,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth. Close to 70% completed, this wind farm will be one of the facilities that contribute to new Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger’s plan to lower energy costs for Virginians, as well as to lessen Virginia’s dependency on fossil fuels.

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Climate Log 2: U.S. and Worldwide Droughts Bring the Earth Closer to “Water Bankruptcy”

US Drought Monitor, January 15 (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu): more than 3/4 of the nation, from coast to coast, is “abnormally dry,”  with half the nation in drought, from “moderate” to “severe” to “extreme” to “exceptional”

We usually think of drought as occurring only in hot weather, but drought in much of the US and across the Earth is not bound by the seasons. We also know that as the planet steadily warms through fossil-fuel-caused climate change, water in its usable forms of glacier melt and rain over the land is steadily decreasing, while water vapor in the heated air and rain over the oceans are increasing–forms that land-bound creatures such as ourselves–and land-based animals and plants–cannot easily use.

At Hoover Dam in Nevada, water level in the Colorado River has fallen by two thirds in the last three decades (CNN, Kevin Carter photo, March 2025)

Here in Northern Virginia,  where news media and weather services do not report rain totals weekly, monthly, or even by the year, people do not know that we have received barely 2 inches of rain over the past three months. According to the map above, NoVA is in “severe drought.” But do we ever hear about that?

In our former home state of California, in contrast, where people are highly-conscious of water totals because of a generally drier climate, the yearly and seasonal totals are published every day, and so Californians know when drought conditions exist and plan accordingly.

According to CNN (Laura Paddison, January 20), a new study published in the journal Water Resources and reported first by United Nations University introduces the term “water bankruptcy”–much more serious than a “water crisis”–to characterize the steady fall in the world’s available water over the most recent decades:

“The statistics in the report are stark: more than 50% of the planet’s large lakes have lost water since 1990, 70% of major aquifers are in long-term decline, an area of wetlands almost the size of the European Union has been erased over the past 50 years, and glaciers have shrunk 30% since 1970. Even in places where water systems are less strained, pollution is reducing the amount available for drinking.

“Many regions are living beyond their hydrological means” and it’s impossible now to return to conditions that used to exist, Madani said.

“It brings human consequences: nearly 4 billion people face water scarcity for at least one month every year.”

One striking example is Iran, where the deadly demonstrations against the rulers have been largely caused by the extreme lack of water across the entire nation.

Photo and headline above from from The Guardian, January 21

So the next question, without a doubt, is what can be done? The first answer has to be: Acknowledge the problem and tell people the truth. Here in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC: jurisdictions and media should stop pretending that there is no problem. Keep people informed.

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Climate Followup Note: The Save Our Signs Project

Last month’s blog highlighted the Data Rescue Project  to save federal data erased by the Trump admin from the websites of many federal agencies, with particular focus on the admin‘s eliminating scientific data on climate.  One part of the Rescue Project is to save photos of signage, now being removed from National Parks and other places served by the National Park Service. Photos of endangered signs are needed, so that these vital visuals are not forgotten.

See the following article by Jake Spring in the Washington Post (Jan. 27) that describes signs that have already been removed at many National Parks across the country. Such desecration!

Washington Post photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzales

What’s an endangered sign? For example, removed signs include the signage about slavery at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and about sea level rise damaging Fort Sumter in South Carolina. If you see a sign that you think is in danger, take a snapshot and upload it to the Save Our Signs Project at http://www.saveoursigns.org .

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A Mallard pair swim toward one another at the north end of our lake, meet, and head off to the south, January 17

The January 2026 Photo/Video Gallery: Lakeside Citizens in Cold, Snow, and Resilience

Our first substantial snow of the year–and the deepest cold weather–came on January 25, as part of Winter Storm Fern, which blanketed over half of the U.S. with snow or ice or freezing rain (or all three). Our temps fell to near 0 degrees F in the days that  followed. As the storm hit us, I was out on the morning of the 25th to see who was stirring. You can’t keep a good bird down, especially when a few humans had their feeders full!

This month’s gallery captures some of that action, plus a range of pics and vids from earlier in the month.

Panorama from the southeast cove to the west shore in snowfall, very cold January 25

Mourning Dove–first sighting in 2 months–in Serviceberry, southeast side, cold, snowy January 25

Dark-eyed Junco, closeup, in snow by feeder, very cold January 25

Plump Goldfinch, closeup, in Serviceberry, southeast side, in snowfall, January 25

Two colorful male House Finches, in Serviceberry, snowy January 25

Two male House Finches and two Goldfinches at one of the feeders, southeast side, by Chinese Holly, January 25

Fountain in the lake in the steady snowfall of icy January 25

Gazebo and dock, west shore, in the snow of January 25

Three Goldfinches flit in the Serviceberry near the feeders, January 15

Scaup–a rare visitor here–and one of our male Mallards converse in mid lake, January 18

Panorama from the southeast cove across to the west shore in a brief snowfall, January 17

Grey Squirrel munches in shadows in Chinese Holly, southeast side of lake, cold January 18

Plump Mockingbird perches in Cottonwood and Bittersweet, east shore, January 17

Yellow-rumped Warbler in Red Maple, southeast bank, very cold January 5

12 Canada Geese on log and across the southeast cove, January 17

In a rare video because they hide so well, Tufted Titmouse calls from atop Red Maple, east shore, cold morning, December 31

Blue Heron, not seen for two months, scans along the east shore, misty cold January 17

Reeds and Canary Grass by the outlet pond in the marsh north of lake dam, January 13

Blue Heron returns to the lake on a sunny January 13, scans and preens along the west shore, as Geese honk farther down the lake

Some of our resident Rock Doves atop the power tower west of the lake, misty warm January 7

Rarely visiting Pine Warbler with berry in mouth, in Red Cedar on the southeast shore, cold evening, January 2

On a visit to the historic town of Occoquan, VA,  on January 4, we saw this Double-crested Cormorant in the Occoquan River, a major tributary of the Potomac

On the same visit, we spotted this Iceland Gull in the Occoquan River.

And on to the last week in January and then into February, with hopes for more adventures and flights of imagination…

Panorama toward downtown with massive flock of Canada Geese, very cold January 5

December 2025: Holiday Gifts for the Environment

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment
Jean’s amazing photo of a Red-Shouldered Hawk flying toward her from a Maple southeast of the lake, on a very cold morning, December 7. This visitor, who had been pestered by a few of our enraged resident crows, flew past her and landed in a nearby tree.

In this month’s blog:

Climate Log: Holiday Gifts to the Environment–and to Us Humans!
Climate Log 2: The “Unstoppable Worldwide Rise of Renewables”
Garden Update: Fresh in the Freezer
Presents through Presence: Visiting with Family
The December 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: Gifts from our Lakeside Community
Pair of House Finches, Female and Male, at Southeast side feeder, December 14

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Parks, wetlands, and light rail: three features of the plans in Toronto for redevelopment of an outdated airport (see below)

Climate Log: Holiday Gifts to the Environment–and to Us Humans!

The current U.S. federal administration (now a year old) keeps doubling down on the fossil fuels that are steadily killing us. But Americans across the country are inventing ways to make or remake our fragile environment to be more resilient. Below, we link to 3 of these many gifts to us. We also note a 4th gift, from our friends in Canada, who have large plans to repurpose developed land to achieve life-friendly goals of health, beauty, and love for all creatures.

Gifts One and Two: “Fifty States, Fifty Fixes”–We’ve cited in past entries a few of the many climate-friendly projects from this ongoing NY Times series, and here are two more, both from so-called “red states” (which, as polls keep showing, are picking up more tints of blue).

“South Dakota Ranchers Burning the Prairie to Save It” (New York Times photo) December 11 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/climate/prescribed-burns-wildfire-south-dakota.html

In South Dakota, an organization of cattle ranchers is teaching others how to use Native American methods of “controlled burns” to remove invasive species, such as the Eastern Red Cedar, so that native grasses and their pollinators can return.

“Not All Drilling in Texas Is About Oil” (New York Times photo, December 11  http://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/climate/not-all-drilling-in-texas-is-about-oil.html

As new companies in Texas are demonstrating, the many skills needed to dig for oil and gas are being adapted to make the state a hub of innovation in the production of clean geothermal power.

Gift Three: Big Plans in Toronto to Make an Outdated Airport an Environmental Miracle

Toronto Downsville airport to be redeveloped as housing and parks, current view (CNN photo), Dec. 11  https://edition.cnn.com/travel/toronto-downsview-airport-yzd-c2e-spc

CNN’s “Inside the Abandoned Airport Being Transformed into a $30 Billion Sustainable City” (by Nell Lewis, December 11) describes in glowing detail the history of this early airport and Toronto’s ambitious plans to redevelop the land over 30 years into one of the largest and most innovative sustainable sites in North America.  

Toronto plan for former airport: sustainably-designed high rises and pedestrian mall as two of its features (CNN photo), added Dec. 11 

 Gift Four: The Data Rescue Project  https://www.datarescueproject.org/

One recent successful data rescue project, Dec. 16

Even as the EPA and other branches of the current administration race to hide vital information from scientists, from the economic and financial communities, and from the entire voting population, the Data Rescue Project (among other similar organizations) is working tirelessly to save information and make it available to us. While this rescue effort began during the first Trump administration, when scientific research data, especially about climate change, began disappearing, the erasure has ramped up exponentially this year across all government departments. So the Data Rescue Project has also intensified.

The specific data saving initiative pictured above, regarding erasure of the GIS (Geographic Information System) in September and October, is reported on by Frank Donnelly, Head of the GIS and Data Services of the Brown University Library. The saved data are available at https://www.datalumos.org. Of course, even more rescuers are needed by the Data Rescue Project.

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Comparative growth of solar and wind vs. other forms of energy worldwide since 2000 (Science, 12/19/25)

Climate Log 2: The Best Gift to Us and the Environment?  The “Unstoppable Rise of Renewables” Worldwide

Solar Farm in Wisconsin (Getty Images)

Once we in the U.S. look beyond the choking fog of fossil-fuel hype in the current administration, we can see that the best gift to the worldwide environment is the phenomenal growth of solar (and wind) power since 2000. In its lead article this week, “Good Morning, Sunshine,” the journal Science announced its “Breakthrough of the Year”: the “seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy.”

Led by China’s truly astonishing build-out, an example being steadily adopted by nations around the world, solar and wind energy are far out-stripping fossil fuels in installation since 2000. Why? Because of solar and wind’s cost effectiveness and clean simplicity. Indeed, says Science, “Wind and solar have become the cheapest energy in much of the world.”

Of China’s dominance in these new technologies, Science writes:

“China’s solar power generation grew more than 20-fold over the past decade, and its solar and wind farms now have enough capacity to power the entire United States.”

Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that the current U.S. administration–given its marriage to 19th century forms of enegy–has done its utmost to prohibit new solar and wind projects in this nation. Just this week (Dec. 22) the President “paused” 5 wind projects off the East Coast, 3 of these already under construction. The five would have reduced power costs for millions of people, provided clean energy, and created 10,000 jobs:

“Trump Halts Five Wind Farms Off the East Coast”

“The decision imperils billions of dollars of investments,” as Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman reported in the New York Times.

Too bad that we the people don’t have a say about such capricious, harmful decisions. Nevertheless, Americans will keep on trying to make the environment cleaner, greener, and more healthy in ways that this blog and the free press will celebrate.

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First snowfall of the new winter: looking across the lake to the west side gazebo, December 5

Garden Update: Fresh in the Freezer

In the midst of many days of freezing temps, our garden community, except for some hearty plants, has quieted, too. Some birdsong persists, but even that is muted on a cold, cold morning, December 13 

Our November garden update gloried in the rapid growth of the six broccoli and six cauliflower we’d planted in October. Since the calendar turned to December, however, we’ve experienced an inch of snow on the 5th and almost two weeks of freezing temps, getting as low as 16 on a couple days.  Fed by a polar vortex which has kept much of North America in the deep freeze since late November, our weather is much colder now than at any time over the 3.5 years since we’ve been back from California. 

Broccoli plant still holding on to its green suppleness despite the cold, December 18

So it’s fun to visit the frosty garden every few days to see how the plants above ground are doing. We know, of course, that underground nature is taking its course, and, almost before we know it, it’ll be driving toward spring and shoots will poke through the soil: species that we will take joy in identifying, some of which people may call weeds, but which we will enjoy watching grow into their curious individuality.

Snapdragons, planted in October, acting all green and sprightly, as if it weren’t winter around them, December 18.

Rosemary, a perennial, green as ever, and just as pungently fragrant as in August, December 18

Swiss Chard, wilting in the frost but still with some of its orange vigor, December 7

Garden panorama toward Northeast, with our plot in foreground, cold morning, December 7

Blue Jay in Green Ash in the woods beside our community garden, cold morning, December 7

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Visiting family members before Potomac River vista at Mt. Vernon, sunny, windy December 29

Presents Through Presence: The Gift of Family

In the season of giving, there is no greater gift for us than the opportunity to be with members of our far-flung family, who have traveled to Northern Virginia from Georgia and California to share meals, conversation, ideas, and lots of laughter. We are joyful, of course, to revel anew in how the younger ones have grown in learning and wisdom, and how their parents’ strengths have surpassed ours when we were their age.

And what is true of our visiting family is equally true of the family who live near us, and who welcome us into their homes. And it is also true of those family who live far away and whom we visit this holiday season via phone, text, email, or video. Is it not amazing how their wisdom, care, humor, and love come through to us regardless of the media? Truly blessed and fortunate are we.

Family welcome us into their home on Christmas Day for food, games, and conversation.

Our visiting family share the holiday spirit at Mt. Vernon with George, Martha, and their kids, December 29

Even Lulu, the family Yorkie, shares in the festivities on Christmas Day

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Across the ice-covered lake to the fountain, our community, and on to downtown, December 14

The December 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: Snow, Ice, and the Serendipity of Wild Life

Almost every trip around our lake presents surprises, like the Hawks, the Bluebird, the White-Throated Sparrow, and the Northern Flicker pictured this month, or the Bald Eagle and the friendly White-Tailed Deer I wrote about last month. Their allowing us to see them–they are so good at hiding!–is a real gift. I like to think that they feel somewhat safe in our presence, despite the risks they run by being visible. I hope that safety is not just our illusion.

Cooper’s Hawk alights in Laurel, southeast side, sunny afternoon, December 20 (photo by Pat Welch)

White-throated Sparrow among Blackberry canes, northeast corner of lake, at sunrise, December 21

Eastern Bluebird on dead Willow Oak, east bank, at sunrise, December 21

 

Northern Flicker–a rarely visiting type of woodpecker–perches in a Red Maple in the north end woods on a crisp morning, December 22

Male Cardinal perches, chirps, and munches in Sweet Cherry tree, southeast bank, crisp 

December 22

House Sparrow rests in Oriental Bittersweet vines along the north shore of the lake, December 22

American Goldfinch and House Finch perch in a budding Tulip Tree, north of dam, cloudy December 23

Playground on the Northeast bank, snowy December 14

Song Sparrow on dead Willow Oak, east shore of lake, December 16

Panorama of the frozen lake toward the dock and the northeast corner, December 13

Large flock of Canada Geese in a corner of the east shore, looking to north, Dec. 14

Mockingbird perches in Red Maple along the southeast path, sunny, cold December 16

Winterberry bush glows above the inlet stream by the bridge, southeast corner, snowy December 14

Song Sparrow in Japanese Honeysuckle, southwest shore, calls to fellow across the lake on a sunny December 16

Five Rock Doves bask in the morning sun atop the power tower west of the lake, December 16

American Goldfinch in winter feathers perches in Bradford Pear along the northeast path, December 16

From the gazebo across the lake, I scan goose by goose the line spread out along the southeast cove, December 14

Acrobatic Yellow-Rumped Warbler feeds on Poison Ivy berries in the southeast cove, December 1

Turkey Vulture scans from high above the lake on a misty December 9

Tufted Titmouse hides in Maple on the west side just after sunrise, December 7

Mallard pairs stay warm along the southeast shore on a very cold morning, December 9

Mallard pair flies north toward woods from southeast cove, then west into trees, cold morning, December 9

House Finch male in Downy Serviceberry, southeast side, December 9

Grey Squirrel with mouthful of leaves walks along branch of Red Maple, southeast path, snowy December 5

First snowfall of the winter: five Mallards swim along the east shore as flakes fall, December 5

European Starling lit by sunrise along the southeast shore, December 7

80 Rock Doves–a record?–atop the power tower west of the lake on the very cold December 9

And so we move into the last week of this challenging 2025, as always with hope for a Happy New Year…

November 2025: “Call to Earth Day” and Ways to Thank Wildlife

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Bald Eagle–a rare sighting here!–scans our community from atop the power tower west of the lake, bright morning, November 3

Two Rock Doves, the usual inhabitants of the top of the power tower, claim their space–and keep their distance–from the visiting Bald Eagle, crisp morning, November 3

In this month’s blog:

“Call to Earth Day”–Saying Thanks to Wildlife by “Guarding Our Green Space”

Climate Log: Just the Most Recent Outrages from Washington
Climate Log 2: California Act Saves Water, Wildlife, and the Eastern Sierra
Garden Update: Winter Is Coming, but Growth Continues
Our November Kitchen: Thanksgiving, with a Difference
The November 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: Surprises

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Children in the Czech Republic turn trash into art (CNN Photo, Nov. 6)

Call to Earth Day 2026: Preserving and Increasing Our Precious Green Space

Chris: While more anti-environment outrages occur in the secret halls of US power, we focus this month on celebrating the fifth annual Call to Earth Day (http:// cnn.com/calltoearthday) sponsored by CNN, program donors, and life-affirming thinkers and doers from around the world. “Yes, we can!” say these  dedicated children and adults, whose ideas and hard work help inspire nations to protect and save all of us, our fellow creatures, and our land, air, and water.

From Kenya, to Nigeria, to Hong Kong, to England, to the Czech Republic, and, yes, to places around the US, CNN reported on life-building and nature-saving projects that give us hope for a greener, less poisonous world. In so many of these places, children–assisted by dedicated adults–are leading the way.

In California this fall, one such event, the 2nd annual Green New Leaders Summit, was held in San Bernardino: https://socalren.org/futuregreenleaders , with workshops for hundreds of middle school students on energy systems, wildlife, career pathways, and other topics in green technologies and environmental protection.

Three attendees at the Green New Leaders Summit in San Bernardino in November try out some of the energy apparatus.

Here in Virginia, the best recent news for “guarding our green space” is the election, by an emphatic margin, of Democrats Abigail Spanberger (Governor), Ghazala Hashmi (Lieutenant Governor), Jay Jones (Attorney General), and 13 new House of Delegates members on November 4. Although it remains to be seen what the new state administration can and will do to advance such green issues as energy efficiency and pollution reduction, part of Spanberger’s mandate is to reduce the cost of power for Virginia citizens, which certainly can be accomplished through more solar and wind. When we moved here from California 3 years ago, we were dismayed to see how few homes had solar panels, when we knew from our own experience how much we saved through our panels (for example, we paid 0 dollars for power every summer after installation in 2017 in comparison to $300 per month in the brutal summers before we went solar).

At the very least, Spanberger will be another thorn in the side against the Trump administration’s ongoing rollbacks of endangered species protections and its rollbacks of clean air and water protections (see the next section). Her promises to improve public education will no doubt include greater emphasis on science, including environmental science, which the Trump administration has deliberately weakened and defunded out of his deference to the fossil fuel cartel’s campaign for public ignorance.

Looking toward downtown across our lake, October 17. Our tiny, precious refuge in a bustling city

Meanwhile, we anticipate that our pro-green political leaders here in our community in Northern Virginia will continue to fund our parks, trails, and public gardens for the benefit of our splendidly diverse population, and encourage both public transportation and our driving of EVs and hybrids. We also hope they’d join the state government in advocating for more rooftop solar.

The AI Monster. Still, by far the largest environmental issue facing our state and region is the explosion in the past 3 years of data centers for generative artificial intelligence. Indeed, our region of the state has the largest concentration of these data centers in the entire world! 

Two new data centers for AI processing, out of already over 200 such centers in Northern Virginia, November 6

The number one question for our leaders in the coming years is how the state and region, already in drought conditions, will handle the prodigious use of water to cool the machinery, as well as the burden on the electrical grid and on land use. Just before we took this photo, we had to drive on a makeshift gravel road almost impassable because of new ditches for the thick cables leading from the centers.

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Climate Log: Just the Most Recent Climate Disasters Coming out of Washington

US map of how home insurance rates have skyrocketed in various states, November 20

  1. Home insurance skyrockets in tandem with climate-change denial

The map above (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2025)) shows that those states who have suffered the most from the extreme heat and intense storms as a result of human-caused climate change now also suffer from extreme rises in home insurance rates. Florida and Louisiana have the nation’s highest rates by far, but those Plains states hardest hit by record hail storms suffer almost as much. These are also states whose leaders most emphatically deny climate science.

       2. “This law helped save the bald eagle. Trump officials want to weaken it.”

Our visiting Bald Eagle, threatened by new Trump order, scans our lake from perch on the power tower, November 3

“Trump Plan to Rollback Protections of Endangered Species, including the Bald Eagle” (Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, Nov. 20)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/11/19/trump-endangered-species-act/?utm_campaign=wp_post_local&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F45d8021%2F691f030b1d64392bc2d69296%2F62cf3bc956064350197e865a%2F39%2F86%2F691f030b1d64392bc2d69296

As the article describes, rolling back protections of endangered species follows the Trump administration’s mission of opening millions more acres in the US to drilling, mining, and commercial “development” (AKA environmental destruction), a topic also covered in last month’s blog in relation to the Arctic National Refuge.

          3. Trump administration opens 85% of all US wetlands to “developers”

An intermittently-filled side channel of the Potomac River along the Potomac National Trail in Ashburn, Virginia, Nov. 17

Maxine Joselow of the New York Times (“E.P.A. Rule Would Drastically Curb Protections for Wetlands,” Nov. 17) describes the ruling this week that would put into jeopardy 85% of all US wetlands–prime sources of drinking water for millions of voters and their families, as well as habitat for countless species that depend on these waters. The new rule will allow “developers” and landowners to use as they wish 55 million acres of “intermittent” streams, ponds, and marshlands that had been protected– until a disastrous Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that was based on ignorance of how water and land interact on an annual basis. As this blog described in April, “To Save All Life, Don’t ‘Drain the Swamp,'” the wetlands, ponds, mires, bogs, swamps, and marshes of the world are responsible for creating much of the world’s fresh water and for nurturing all species. But ignorant, willful, greedy humans just see wetlands as “wasted,” “messy” land that they would damage by draining and disruption for other purposes.

The marshy outlet pool of our lake, below the north end dam, with a Cattail festival, August 27

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Climate Log 2: California Act Saves Water, Wildlife, and the Eastern Sierra

Mono Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, long depleted by its use as a source of drinking water for Los Angeles (California Parks photo, Nov. 22)

In a massive victory for environmentalists and for the environment of California east of the Sierra, the city and county of Los Angeles is constructing a water recycling facility in Van Nuys that will meet the water needs of 500,000 residents. Even more important, using the recycled water for drinking will at long last enable Los Angeles to stop drawing water from Mono Lake and the Sierra streams feeding it–some 250 miles from LA. For well over a century, LA’s use of this imported water has sparked enmity, sometimes violent, with inland California residents. Even worse, it has made Mono Lake almost dry and destroyed habitat for many species.

Drinking water will come from this recycling facility being built in Van Nuys, CA (photo Eric Thayer, LA Times, Oct. 31

Ian James’s article in the LA Times (“Los Angeles Will Nearly Double Recycled Water for 500,000 Residents,” October 31) recounts the troubled history. But his main emphasis is on what this move means for the even larger possible use of recycled water for drinking. For 20 years, the safety of recycled water for drinking has been debated, and this move is the first in the West to follow through in a massive way on the water science that guarantees this safety. As the Western US becomes ever hotter and drier through climate change, successful recycling will help mitigate at least one of the fears that the ongoing drought and over-pumping of well water have intensified throughout the region. 

Still, unless governments can agree to shift to renewable forms of energy and away from the burning of fossil fuels, even recycling plans as large as this one will be just a drop in the bucket. 

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Honeybee on the White and Yellow Snapdragons in our garden plot, November 8

Garden Update: Winter Is Coming, But Growth Goes On

Swiss Chard and Oregano stay green and lush despite a few freezing nights, November 20

High temps now are mostly in the forties to low fifties, and we’ve had four freezing nights as low as 27. But the two veggies we’ve planted–6 Broccoli and 6 Cauliflower–plus the Snapgragons, Mums, and Asters we put in last month are hearty and green, with the Snappies still blooming. The surprises among the summer holdovers are 4 of our Swiss Chards and the Oregano, while we knew that the Rosemary would stay lush.  Our most beautiful October performer, the Wild Blue Aster, has now lost its blooms, but is still thriving.

Rosemary and Swiss Chard, November 20

Our 6 Broccoli and 6 Cauliflower have handled the freezing nights well and continue swelling and developing toward producing heads, November 20

Our Wild Blue Aster may no longer be in spectacular blue bloom, but it has turned on its deep red leaves for winter, November 25

And here is a cluster of ripe red raspberries on the bush in our former neighbor’s now untended plot. We’ve been invited to pluck these and we can’t resist, November 25

What will come? Forecasters are predicting a freeze (25-29 degrees) for Thanksgiving weekend because of a strong polar vortex, but no snow in the forecast as yet. Will the plants keep thriving? We have had about an inch of rain in the past 2 weeks, so that’s a good sign. We’ll keep checking our garden plot in the community gardens every few days, because we just can’t stay away.

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Our November Kitchen: Thanksgiving, of course, with a Difference

Jean’s Spicy Veggie Curry on the stove

Jean: This Thanksgiving season, we’re thankful to have a number of occasions to get together with family and friends. The traditional turkey, stuffing, and potatoes will be part of one of these meals, but our community of many cultures also gives us opportunities to indulge our varied palates and cooking styles.

Have I mentioned that curry is probably my favorite flavor and dish?  At least on the savory side.  Tiramisu is my favorite sweet, but that’s for another day. 

I think I first learned to make curry from my Japanese mother-in-law in the 1970s.  Japanese curry is based on Indian, and it is mellower than types I didn’t try until later, like Thai curry.  I love making curry because it can be a vegetarian dish for when you feel like or need that, or it can be a very good meat dish, particularly with chicken. For protein in your vegetarian version, tofu is great!
 
Furthermore, curry is the kind of dish I like best to make; you can throw in all sorts of things from your vegetable drawer, your pantry, your garden, or the “leftover” shelf in your refrigerator. 
 
My mother-in-law started with a simple base of chopped onions, potatoes, and carrots. For a little sweetness, she would also add some chopped apple. 
 
However, I like to add more Indian ingredients as well, like butternut squash, cauliflower, eggplant, spinach, chard, lentils, and/or chickpeas.  Sweet or hot peppers add color and flavor as well.
 
Also for color, you might want to add in green peas or edamame as an alternative to spinach.
 
The order in which you add all of these, as well as the cooking time, depends on the ingredient, but half an hour in total should take care of most of these.
 
For spices, I love to play with all those warm “c” spices in my spice cabinet–cardamon, cinnamon, coriander, and cumin.  You can use a premixed curry spice, or try the Japanese curry paste I learned to use early on.  If you choose the paste, you just need to dissolve it first in hot water or broth so it does not clump onto the vegetables.  Add as much spicy broth as needed to cover all the veg.  
 
 
Optional add-ins include either coconut milk or diced tomatoes to dilute and cool the spicy sauce as desired.  (My Japanese version does not use either of those, so suit your own tastes.)

PS. Curry is obviously nutritious as well as delicious, given the number of vegetables and legumes you can include. Once you get your family hooked on the flavors, you may be able to slide in vegetables they wouldn’t eat otherwise. The “C” spices mentioned above have various health benefits. Turmeric, another of my favorites, adds yellow color and anti-inflammatory properties.

Eat more curry! 

A serving of Jean’s Spicy Veggie Curry

 
Here are two more of Jean’s November treats:
 

Jean’s Jumbo Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, with Pumpkin Butter Icing

Jean’s Blueberry Muffins, with Jumbo Blueberries

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One of our ubiquitous House Sparrows chatters with us and friends along the north shore, November 21

The November 2025 Photo-Video Gallery: Communing with Our Neighbors in Our Green Space

Chris: Surprises always happen as we walk around our little lake, but several were especially memorable this month. The Bald Eagle I saw on the power tower west of the lake on Nov. 6 was a first for me here, as was the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker pictured just below. On the 20th, I got one of my biggest surprises in the 3 years we’ve lived here, when I turned from watching the lake’s northeast shore and was startled by a young White-Tail Deer watching me–from no more than 10 feet away! Remarkably patient and inquisitive, this new friend moved slowly away, but kept eyes on me while munching on leaves and “hiding” visibly in the saplings and reeds. Three videos captured the conversation, two of which I show here.  Though deer are always present in the nearby woods, I only see one every few months or so, and never before so close. How thankful I am for these moments when I can mutually treasure our green space with one or more of these neighbors.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker–a rare visitor here on Nov. 21–perches on Willow Oak, southeast shore of the lake. A new study in Experimental Biology (Nov. 2025) shows how these woodpecking birds put full-body power into every strike, about 13 per second.

Talk about woodpeckers: here’s a large pileated one in the woods next to our garden plot, cloudy November 25

From ten feet away, White-Tail Deer watches me, then walks into cover, as a siren wails from the highway, cloudy morning, November 21

From 20 feet away, the deer continues to watch me, and feeds a bit, then watches some more, as I zoom in for a closer view. A siren blares from the highway, machinery grates in the community, and geese honk from the lake. Typical sounds. Cloudy November 21

Heavenly Bamboo were prominent at our home in Northern California, and we’re happy to see them here, too, by the gazebo on the west shore of the lake, Nov. 20

An uncommon Slate-Colored Junco stops for a moment on the path at the Northwest corner of the lake, November 21

Tiny Ruby-Crowned Kinglet rests in shadows on the Willow Oak, Southeast shore, November 20

All summer the hillside down to the outlet stream below the dam was left unmowed, and the wildflowers and faunal inhabitants exulted. Now it has been mowed, revealing the signs for the petro line that runs below the surface, and the solar-powered gas substation near the outlet stream. Our Green Space shares its home. Note also the busy highway to the left, from which come the car and truck sounds and the sirens that are a steady chorus in our refuge. November 20

Cardinal male stops to rest in the North end woods, November 21

Eastern Bluebird scans atop Maple in the North end woods, cloudy November 21

Song Sparrow feeds along the gravel path on the hillside below the dam, as cars sound from the highway, November 21

Yellow-Rumped Warbler in shadows amid branches along the Southeast bank, November 20

I capture a Common Raven in battle with American Crow above the treetops in the North woods, November 21

Burning Bush along the West shore, cloudy November 20

60 Rock Doves in their accustomed perch atop the power tower, November 21. No Bald Eagles around!

Sun through leaves on the West shore, sunny morning, November 3

Mockingbird scans from Catalpa along the East shore, November 3

Canada Goose pair on the dock along the West shore, November 20

Late fall colors: Looking southwest on the lake with Geese and fountain, morning, November 3

Salt Marsh Goldenrod, Northwest corner of the lake, cloudy November 21

 

Grey Squirrel amid leaves, southeast path, sunny November 23

 

Too cold for turtles? Not for these 3 Red-Bellied Cooters on a log at the North shore, sunny November 23

 

Here they are! The first Mallard pair of the new breeding season, Southeast cove, sunny November 23

Happy Thanksgiving! Hopes for the last week in November and a celebratory December…

October 2025: “Just So Darned Beautiful”

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Statuesque pose of this Double-crested Cormorant where Sugarland Run enters the Potomac, September 23

In this month’s blog:

The Shenandoah During the Shutdown: Fall Colors as Heartfelt Respite
Climate Log: More Wilderness Taken for Fossil Fuel Extraction, But…
Our Garden: Summer Success Turns to Fall Hopes
The October 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: Birds, Wildflowers, and More Colorful Travelpics

Surprise at Algonkian Park: Eastern Rat Snake emerges from den at mouth of Sugarland Run, September 23 (See more pics from this park in this month’s Gallery) 

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Skyline Drive morning mist: Ridges toward the south in the Shenandoah National Park, October 15

“So Darned Beautiful!” The Shenandoah in the Shutdown: Fall Colors as Health and Inspiration

As the news out of Washington became more and more alarmingly bizarre, quite a few of us, it seems, took to the road this month to immerse ourselves in the annual festival of the trees: the sun-painted  purples, reds, oranges, and golds of the autumn leaves. In the midst of the federal government shutdown–in which some of our relatives and neighbors were furloughed (and feared being fired)–we expected that the officially-closed Shenandoah National Park, just 70 miles west of us, might be off limits, or at least sparsely visited.  Imagine our surprise when, at 8:30 AM on October 15, we discovered that the 31 twisty miles of the northern final stretch of the Skyline Drive were liberally peppered with visitors as hungry as we were for the exquisite scenery and valley vistas. As one of the other visitors we met exclaimed, “It’s just so darned beautiful!”

As Red Sumac waves in the foreground, we scan the western ridges toward the Shenandoah Valley and the Alleghenies beyond, early morning, October 15

As we drive, we come upon tree after colorful tree in sunlight and mist, October 15

The wind sings in the rushes, as the sun washes the nearby ridges, the Shenandoah River valley below, and the far Alleghenies, October 15

The Drive moves from deep shadows to sudden bursts of color as we go north, October 15

To our surprise, even the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, near the northern end of the Drive in Front Royal, was open–staffed during the shutdown by unpaid volunteers from the regional Friends of the National Parks. The Center was packed by visitors asking for information and buying the books on history and nature science that we had been worried would no longer be available from this federal location, just as agency websites and federal climate records have been scrubbed since this Administration took office in January.

Bright colors in this nearby ridge as we look north along the Drive, October 15


Early morning mist shrouds the canopy as we drive, October 15


Red Sumac and Maples in foreground; ridge upon misty ridge beyond as we look south in the Park, October 15

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Proposed road would penetrate Gates of the Arctic (J Marshall, New York Times, Oct. 6)

Climate Log: As Most of the World Moves Toward a Greener Future, US Feds Double Down on Fossil Fuel Extraction

On October 23, as the New York Times reported, the Trump administration has now opened portions of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. An earlier Times article (Joselow and Friedman, Oct. 6) described a second approved project (pictured above) that would build 200 miles of roads through lands and across fragile rivers to more undeveloped sites.

 Those for and against. The plans for this latest incursion into protected lands, which environmental and Native-American organizations say would “significantly and irrevocably” damage land, air, water, and wildlife, as well as Native communities, were halted by the Biden administration for those reasons. But now these incursions have the full-throated  support of the Trump regime. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in fact proclaimed that these approved projects embody both “drill, baby, drill,” and “mine, baby, mine,” as the White House wants companies who lease the lands to explore for a wide range of minerals that might be used in the competition with China for energy, military, and industrial dominance. 

But will anybody want the leases? One irony of the project is that it is not clear if any fossil fuel companies plan to buy the leases to drill for oil and gas in the region. Millions of acres of earlier-approved leases have gone unsold, because of the prohibitive costs of development and the intense, widespread opposition to the environmental destruction. Potential lenders to the companies have the same cold feet. 

And what if the future is green (or at least non fossil)? It’s also not clear if oil-and-gas drilling have the same attraction across the rest of the world that they have to Trump, Burgum, and their disciples. Also on October 23, an article by Claire Brown in the Times asked if there might be “A U.S. Nuclear Renaissance?” While she noted the 2 nuclear power projects in development in the US (Including the one in Georgia pictured above), she described the 13 now under construction in China–and the 33 (!) already approved for future construction there. China, it seems, and the nations that share its goals for renewable energy are much further ahead of the US than we’d already suspected.

And all this nuclear activity is occurring in addition to the thousands of solar and wind projects in operation and development throughout the rest of the world. 

Bottom line? Here, where we’ve been prohibited by the President and the fossil fuel cartel from even mentioning “climate change,” and where scientists are de-funded, universities are punished, and agency personnel are fired and their records disappeared, it’s easy for us Statesers to believe that all cars are petroguzzlers, all the higher-and-higher-priced utilities run on gas, and EVs and heat pumps were a momentary California dream now gone for good.  But not so! There is hope, and it may just require us to stay strong–and learn as much as we can from our friends in the sane world.

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Prolific Wild Blue Aster is the star of our garden plot between the summer and our hopeful autumn, October 24

Our Garden: Summer Success Turns to Fall Hopes

Eastern Bluebird scans the garden plots from the high fence, noon, sunny October 24

October is the month of transition for our little Northern Virginia garden plot.  On October 5, we harvested our last veggies:

Final summer harvest of green and red tomatoes and spicy burrito peppers, October 5

On October 6, we celebrated with a tomato-y, pepper-y Mexican “3 sisters” stew:

And that night saw, fittingly, the October harvest moon over the lake:

In the garden itself, we devoted the first week of October to digging and hoeing out, plant by plant, the exhausted tomato vines, pepper plants, chard, and herbs, plus the now-faded marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and other flowers no longer in bloom. We also pulled up or hoed out a good portion of the “weeds,” like Blue Speedwell and Crabgrass, that had thrived all spring and summer. We did all this in prep for the fall season–including for whatever we decided to plant for that abbreviated time before winter.

Our garden association had chosen November 15 as the water shut-off date, but until then we could water our new plants as needed. There were also the piles of mulch and compost we could shovel on to our ground to help with prep for fall and for the overwintering yet to come.

The New Plants

Fall plantings phase one, flowers in southwest corner: Magenta Mums, Purple Asters, Snapdragons, Vinca. We put these in October 13–with mulch

 

Fall plantings, phase 2, northwest corner: 6 Broccoli seedlings (left) and 6 Cauliflower (right), which we put in October 13, with mulch

At the local Home Depot, we’d decided on some fall favorites for our flower section and for our veggy section, the varieties listed with the photos above. We’d be planting only the west half of the garden and letting the east half lie fallow, perhaps with the mulch for enriching.  From the flowers photo, above, you might notice that a few plants are carryovers from the summer–3 Swiss Chard and one very healthy Rosemary, a perennial. We’ll see how they do as the cold comes.

As for the Broccoli and the Cauliflower, we tried them with some success last fall in our earlier small plot–so let’s see how they do this year. It all depends on how quickly the cold intensifies.

Oh, and the brilliant Wild Blue Aster plant in the center row? This magnificent Virginia Native did almost nothing all summer–but for the last month it has been its own fireworks display. We’ll keep track.

As you can see, we are having a ball experimenting and growing. You might say our garden plot is our own special Ball-room. And we didn’t have to destroy anything to build it.

Eastern Bluebird scans the garden as a Blue Jay calls, October 24

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Fall colors in the woods northeast of our lake, morning, October 20

The October 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: More Birds, Wildflowers, and Autumn Travelpics

Besides our trip to the Shenandoah National Park, we also went to the local Algonkian Potomac River Park in late September and enjoyed more colorful sights in the Potomac watershed in rural Maryland and Virginia early in the final week of October.

And, of course, our own little lake offers us too many marvelous fall color and floral/faunal gems to ignore.  In fact, with the return of a substantial rain on October 30, more birds returned to the lake at the very end of the month–and we are able to show some of these species to you in this entry.

Michaelmas Daisies and Late Boneset, south end of our lake, October 20

Mockingbird on branch, north end path by our lake, October 20

Atop Maryland’s South Mountain, morning, October 23

Eastern Wood Pewee, in Paw Paw tree, Algonkian Regional Park by Potomac, morning, September 23

Magnificent Zebra Swallowtail on White Snakeroot, Algonkian Regional Park, September 23

In its den near the mouth of Sugarland Run in Algonkian Park, we spy the Eastern Rat Snake before it emerges, September 23

Downy Woodpecker on Black Cherry trunk, Algonkian Regional Park, September 23

Double-crested Cormorant preens on the boundary rock where Sugarland Run enters the Potomac, Algonkian Regional Park, morning, September 23

Acadian Flycatcher on branch, Algonkian Regional Park, September 23

Bumblebee and Honeybee on tiny Grass-leaved Goldenrod on ground, Algonkian Regional Park, September 23

Aphrodite Fritillary on Wingstem leaf on ground, Algonkian Regional Park, September 23

Chipping Sparrow hunts seeds on ground at our feet, Algonkian Park, September 23

European Starling brightly lit by morning sun atop Dead Oak, east bank of lake, October 20

Evening Primrose, Late Boneset, and Burning Bush by south end of lake, October 20

Blue Mistflower thicket along southwest shore of the lake, October 20

Grey Catbird moves through dry grass, north end path by our lake, October 20

Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain, along I-70, October 23

 

Pumpkins and Mums display, Luckett’s (VA) farm market, October 23

 

Fall colors, Breaux Vineyards, Hillsboro, VA, October 21

 

Farm along Rte. 211, Washington, VA, east of Skyline Drive, early morning, October 15

 

Swamp Milkweed, silken seeds ready to fly, south end of lake, October 11

 

House Sparrow closeup, edge of balcony east of lake, Oct. 11

 

Six Canada Geese in flight past fountain, south end of lake, October 11

Seven Canada Geese swim in the east lake, as Crickets sing, October 11

Rarely seen Savannah Sparrow feeds happily in the dry grass below the dam, early AM, October 25

 

Teazel and Boneset in field below dam with view of full color north woods, October 25

Song sparrow chirps within a Silken Dogwood on the southeast shore of the lake, as a Blue Jay calls, early AM, October 25

West path canopy of colors, in the early morning sun, October 25

 

Mist rises and leaves glow: the outlet pool below the dam, early morning, October 25

 

Panorama toward downtown with full colors along the lake, morning, October 25

 

Mist rises in the lake, as full colors glow in the north woods, early morning, October 25

 

Dark-eyed Junco–first sighting of the fall–feeding in the field below the dam, early AM, October 25

 

Pine Warbler–our first sighting here!–amid Greenbriar on the southeast shore on a cloudy morning after rain, October 30

 

Three Rock Doves on the stanchion west of the lake, cloudy morning, October 30

 

Blue Jay above the inlet stream on a cloudy morning after rain, October 30

 

American Goldfinch, winter colors, in Red Maple, north end path, morning, October 26

 

Grey Squirrel munches amid acorn cluster, on the southeast path, morning, October 26

 

Yellow-Rumped Warbler in Red Maple, southeast bank, morning, October 26

 

Cardinal female in Tulip Tree, north end woods, morning, October 26

Great Blue Heron stands atop dead Oak on the east bank and scans the domain, early AM, October 25

And so we move toward November, the month of Thanksgiving, with so much already to be thankful–and hopeful–for…

September 2025: The Rewards of Paying Attention

/ Chris Thaiss / Leave a comment

Late-season Monarch feeds amid Bearded Beggarticks west of our lake and near the highway, breezy morning, September 20. One of the great joys of walking around our lake are the surprises that I’m privileged to encounter, like this Monarch, the hidden Asters in the next photo, and the gorgeous new wildflowers that keep popping out month to month.

In this month’s blog:

Surprises of Paying Attention, Camera in Hand
Treasures of the Late-Season Garden
Climate Log: A Slow and Steady Worldwide Drying
The September 2025 Gallery: Wildflowers and Persistent Pollinators

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I spied these New England Asters deep within the field of wildflowers north of the dam, September 20

Surprises of Paying Attention, Camera in Hand

In “How to Count Butterflies” (New York Times, Sept. 15), the eloquent gardener Margaret Renkl writes:

God knows, our government doesn’t care about the health and safety of butterflies or any other species, including our own. For now, at least, it’s up to us to care. And the first step toward caring, as is so often the case in conservation, is getting to know our wild neighbors.

Paying attention is the first step in caring. Renkl observes closely the butterflies in her Tennessee garden, and her watching leads her to learn how to take the next step in caring: putting into her garden the plants that each species needs to feed its larvae–like the milkweeds the monarchs need:

Swamp Milkweed with Bumblebee, east bank of our lake, noon, July 4. Milkweeds are prominent on our lakeside

…or the showy, perfumy Japanese Honeysuckle that I’ve learned is a favorite food of the Zabulon Skippers, one of the tiny butterflies that grace our lakeside and our garden plot.

Late-season Japanese Honeysuckle entwining on the east bank of our lake, September 20

Mating pair of gold-brown Zabulon Skippers flutter on a fading Zinnia in our garden plot, September 19

Fortunately for me, so many of the resilient plants that populate our lakeside or that grow wild in our garden plot provide homes and food for the butterflies, birds, and bees. Even wild plants such as the tough, prolific Crabgrass that we pull as weeds, do necessary work for the pollinators, as I learn from the online sources curated by professional entomologists and citizen scientists. For example:

48 Common Brown Butterflies in The U.S. (with Pictures)

It takes a hard-working community of observers and professionals to help any of us really pay attention. I need to take the time to read as well as watch closely and often. Otherwise,  I’d persist in my ignorant destruction of essential plants. Fortunately, that persistent crabgrass finds plenty of room to grow among the colorful plants we cherish, like the marigolds and coneflowers.

Our “volunteer” Coneflower plant, in full bloom and with more buds coming, morning, July 23. “Weeds,” such as Crabgrass, grow amid flowers, and there’s plenty of room for all.

My trusted assistant–my camera.

If we don’t pay attention–the first step toward caring–it’s not likely that we’ll go on to the next steps. To help me pay attention, I take along my trusty camera, who allows me–actually forces me–to slow down my walk and try to do the careful work of

  • finding,
  • focusing, and
  • staying steady

My camera is an astounding tool, with its zoom lens, its automatic adjustments for light and color, and its versatility for still shots and videos. But it won’t choose its own shots–that’s my job, because I can’t grow and really pay attention if my mind is not intimately engaged in watching and choosing. Likewise, after my walks and picture-taking, I use the Apple editing tools to look even more closely at what my camera has captured, and to try to clarify even further what I’ve observed and to highlight details–particularly aspects I’d missed–to make my paying attention deeper. Even a single shot can offer ongoing opportunities to see more and more in a single scene, often well after the photo was taken. So paying attention is not a single act, but an ongoing adventure.

One of our Great Blue Herons, preening atop the dam structure at the north end of our lake, on a warm September 14. Their movements–and their stillness–are always fascinating to me, and the videos help me keep learning about them..

This photog among the other walkers.

The other walkers who go around the lake pay attention to different things which are important to them, which may not be the flora and fauna they pass. I’d say all our community humans use the path to exercise in the open air, but what we do on our walks varies greatly. Many use the path to walk their dogs, and so I meet many canine species that way. The dogs always pay attention to what they see, hear, and smell. Another group of walkers are exercising their babies, toddlers, or older young children.  I like to observe the interactions between the kids and their adults, and I’m happy to see how often the kids look around and even point at what they are passing.

Beggarticks, our most brilliant September flowers, and a Bumblebee wave in the breeze in the southeast cove, as a Fish Crow, Wren, and Crickets call, morning, September 13

Less satisfying for me are the 50% of strollers who are carrying on phone conversations, either with business colleagues, potential clients, or family and friends. Many of these folks look at the ground and often have pained expressions. Some of these conversations are sufficiently loud to scare away birds, and I must admit that these talker/walkers annoy me.

I almost never see another walker with a camera, nor a person who has actually stopped to look closely at a plant. This I can’t understand, because the lakeside is so fascinating, at least to me. But to each their own.

I’ll even get the occasional question about my picture taking, the most common question being “Taken any interesting pictures today?”  l always say yes, but if I say what I’ve seen, and if it’s not a big raptor or an exotic species, most  just frown and walk on. But every once in a while, someone wants to talk about the birds and the other animals we see. and that’s always a joy.

I’d love to talk about the Red-Bellied Cooters, who, like this one on September 13, take the sun on the rocks and logs in the lake whenever the temps get to 60 or so.

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Treasures of the Late-Season Garden

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly feeds on a Pink Zinnia in our garden, September 19

So September is moving inexorably into Autumn, and our garden plot moves into its next stage of fascinating life. We’ve had only one day of soaking rain in the past two months, but the frequent rains we had this summer set up the plot of veggies, herbs, and flowers for rich success. Our 4 tomato plants miraculously still keep producing, one pepper plant is still putting out new green beauties, and some of the flowers–like the vinca, marigolds, dahlias, and zinnias–either flourish or have kept some of their blooms.

Best of all, the steady warmth this month (highs into the 80s some days) has kept the Bumblebees and Butterflies still visiting, hovering, fluttering, and feeding.

Sweet Millions tomatoes, 2 plants, just keep on giving us ripe gems, September 16

Bumblebee on Marigold cluster, morning, September 19

Cluster of Red and Pink Zinnias, with a tiny visiting Crossline Skipper, September 19

Magenta Dahlia with display of White Vinca, September 19

Aphrodite Fritillary Butterfly feeds on Yellow Orange Marigolds, September 19

American Goldfinch perches among the Tomatoes in our community garden, September 16

Look for more photos/videos of our September garden in the Gallery (below). When all our plants will fade, and the pollinators move on into their next stages, is still in the future. Meanwhile, we enjoy.

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Climate Log: A Slow and Steady Worldwide Drying

  • “Areas experiencing drying increased by twice the size of California annually, creating ‘mega-drying’ regions across the Northern Hemisphere.” Science Advances, September 2025

The title: “Humanity Is Rapidly Depleting Water, and Much of the World is Getting Drier,” almost says it all. The article in this month’s Los Angeles Times (September 3) by Ian James and Sean Greene summarizes a new study in Sciences Advances based on 22 years of satellite data.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-09-03/global-drying-groundwater-depletion

The US and Canada are among the five countries (including Russia, Iran, and India) across the world losing fresh water fastest, as well as becoming rapidly drier. This is not news for this blog, which regularly shows data on the intensifying US drought from the US Drought Monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu ), but the data from 22 years shows the worldwide phenomenon.

The principal cause of the loss of fresh water is the over-pumping of groundwater (68% of the loss) from the world’s diminishing aquifers, mostly for agriculture, to make up for the overall loss of rainfall on the land.  As the world steadily warms through the burning of fossil fuels, the melting of the world’s glaciers and of the polar ice sheets sends water into the atmosphere and therefore increases rainfall over the oceans, which both decreases the amount of usable fresh water and contributes to the sea level rise that is endangering coasts and islands around the world. The world’s aquifers, which took millions of years to grow underground, have been depleted at an astonishing rate over the past few decades–as anyone who lives in farming areas around the US knows.

A second recent article, from the New York Times (Sept. 18), targets another devastating effect of global warming and intensifying drought: the great increase in wildfires and their intensity in the US. In our years in Northern California, we followed–and were affected by–the annual wildfires in the state. The closest we came to the fires themselves was in 2020, when the Lightning Complex fires came within eight miles of our home, the sky was orange, and ash from the smoke covered our plants (see the August 2020 blog entry). But even more distant blazes sent smoke our way, sometimes for days, and we had friends and relatives whose closeness to other fires affected us as well.

But while California always gets the lion’s share of attention about US fires, the map above shows that more than half of the continental US now suffers from wildfires and damage from their smoke. In the past year, states as far east as New York and Florida have seen wildfires–a trend that will no doubt continue. Just 2 years ago, the wildfires in the northern territories of Canada sent smoke into our area, and the Great Lakes states see and breathe smoke from the Canadian fires every year now.

Wildfire on New York/New Jersey border, as this blog reported in November 2024

The article specifically concerns the increasing health affects, including increases in lung diseases and cancer, of these burgeoning fires. Unfortunately for all of us, the current federal Administration not only ignores but has steadily cut funding to help treat these worsening effects. The rollbacks

  • to environmental protections,
  • to emergency disaster funding,
  • to forest protection, and
  • to covered health care

will make the effects of this spreading menace more and more deadly–unless and until these damaging policies are turned around.

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The September 2025 Photo/Video Gallery: Wildflowers and Persistent Pollinators

More samples of the gifts we receive each day from the citizens of our local environment. We just have to pay a bit of attention, be thankful, and do what we can to help repair our endangered world.

Large Bumblebee on tiny Zinnia, lake community, September 14

Mockingbird moves in Red Cedar in breeze, north end path beside our lake, morning, September 20

Common Cocklebur, Porcelainberry, Late Boneset, and Goldenrod along the northeast shore, morning, September 20

70 Rock Doves on the stanchion west of the lake, morning, September 20

Tiny Sachem Butterfly in Purple Teazel below the lake, September 13

The outlet stream below the dam burbles through Goldenrod and Arrowvine, September 20

Cattails, Purple Teazel, and Cutleaf Teazel by the outlet pond below the dam, September 13

Double-crested Cormorant in mid lake near the west shore, morning, September 13

Since we moved back to Virginia in 2022, this is the first time that the field below the dam has been left unmowed all spring and summer, leaving it to the pollinators to thrive. Here, Goldenrod, Cutleaf Teazel, Silver Maple, and Late Boneset provide food and homes, evening, September 13

European Starling calls from atop a Red Cedar on the east shore of our lake, on a breezy morning, September 20

View down the lake toward downtown, with Goldenrod and Late Boneset in the foreground, September 20

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly dances on a Pink Zinnia, warm morning, September 19

Northeast corner of our lake, with Late Boneset, Horseweed, and Porcelainberry, Cocklebur, evening, September 8

A flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds stopped by the community garden in mid migration, and I happily took this picture of a pair, September 3

Aphrodite Fritillary Butterfly amid Marigold display, morning, September 19

Mockingbird moulting on community garden fence, warm morning, September 3

Outlet pool of our lake, with a Cattail festival, August 27

 

Male Cardinal hides in shadows in Bradford Pear, beside the outlet pool of our lake, September 13

Two Zabulon Skippers dance on a faded Zinnia in our garden, September 19

Three Bumblebees on Boneset blooms along the northeast shore of the lake, September 13

Two Bumblebees feed on Orange Marigolds, sunny morning, September 19

Two House Sparrows in shadows at bird feeder, east side of lake, September 13

Panorama of tiny Skipper Butterflies and Black Swallowtail feeding on Zinnias as a Bluejay calls, September 19

With a week of September still left, welcome to Fall, with hopes for an October of good surprises…