by Loti | Jul 17, 2013 | Flowers, Food, United States
Savannah, GA. A cool plant that you can eat (according to most websites although a few sites caution against ingesting it), keeps rodents and deer away from your landscaping, repels ticks and mosquitos, and will protect you from vampires. Why doesn’t everyone have one, I wonder? In South Africa, they are even planted around houses to keep out the deadly mamba snake (if you remember the skulls and crossbones snake rating used at the Serpentarium in Wilmington, the mamba gets 5 skulls indicating the most dangerous of all snakes). And as an added benefit, they attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Way cool. Society garlic, a perennial from South Africa, has a garlicky odor and taste with a pretty lavender flower that can decorate any salad or plate of food. The leaves can be eaten in place of chives and they are easy to grow. While they are not tolerant of really cold weather, this particular plant has thrived in Savannah, GA which gets pretty chilly. So what is not to love? Especially the vampire part. And why do vampires stay away from garlic? Well apparently vampires have an increased sense of smell so the odor of garlic keeps them at bay. Works for...
by Loti | Jul 9, 2013 | Africa, Australia, Easter Island, Fiji, Indonesia, Panama, Portugal, Time, Travel
Palm Beach, FL. Having just committed to a 3 week trip around the world beginning in Oct, I now find I need yellow fever shots, extra pages added to my passport, country visas. Yikes! We start in Florida traveling west to Panama, then Easter Island, Fiji, Australia, Bali, India, Kenya, Portugal and then back to Boston. So how do I keep up with the changing time zones? How many time zones even exist in the world and what is a zone? Well, there are 40 time zones according to one website (37 according to another). With a time zone referring to the Earth’s surface loosely divided by 15 degrees of longitude (not even sure what that means) there are 24 standard zones (see map) with another 16 zones that use 30-45 minute increments after the hour. The U.S. actually has 9 time zones (yep 9, including Alaska, Hawaii and Samoa). Ok, really? Yet, China has only one time zone for the entire country and then throw in daylight savings time. And how about outer space? The common practice is to use the time zone of the launch site. Wow, this is way too complicated. I am just glad I start and end in the same zone, 40 zones later (or is it 37?). >...
by Loti | Jul 3, 2013 | Animals, United States
Palm Beach, FL. I wasn’t sure what this was when Gibbs, my Havenese, and I came across it on the beach until a friend pointed out it was a homeless hermit crab. Homeless? If I had only known, I would have tried to find it a new home/shell. Hermit crabs are decopod crustaceans which simply means they have 10 legs (deca is Greek for 10) who live in shells made and abandoned by other animals. As the crab grows, it must find a new, bigger shell. And sometimes there is intense competition for new shells. Crabs will sometimes gang up on a crab who is perceived to have a better shell (gee that sounds like human behavior) but they also form queues in what is known as a vacancy chain. When a bigger shell becomes available, hermit crabs will line up from largest to smallest. The biggest crab takes the new shell and then they each swap shells for the newly vacated one until they all have new shells. Kinda like musical chairs, but more civilized! And hermit crabs make wonderful pets according to an ad on Petco’s website which describes them as lively and cute. I wouldn’t go so far as cute, but you need to really like your hermit crab since they live 20 + years if properly cared for. Ah, if I had only known. Gibbs might have a new playmate!...
by Loti | Jun 28, 2013 | Art, Flowers, France, Landscapes
France. One of the most famous bridges ever painted. The Japanese bridge (I haven’t been able to figure out why it is considered Japanese) is in Monet’s gardens in Giverny, 80 kilometers west of Paris. A sight to behold. Claude Monet, one of the key painters in The Impressionist movement, was also a master gardener and horticulturist. His greatest passion became his gardens and he was quoted as saying his greatest masterpiece was also his gardens. During his last 20 years (he died at 86), he painted a series of paintings depicting the bridge and the water lilies surrounding it. His painting entitled Le bassin aux nympheas (a water lily) sold in 2008 for $80.4 million putting it in the top 20 highest priced paintings ever. To stand on the bridge, under wisteria actually planted by Monet, and look out at the water lilies is an amazing experience. Here’s to life and gardening!...
by Loti | Jun 25, 2013 | Animals, Australia, Endangered Species, Tasmania
Boston, MA. A stuffed Tasmanian Tiger seen at The Harvard Museum is something to behold. With stripes on its back and the features of a large dog or wolf, it was the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial (distinguished by the young being carried in a pouch).And one of only 2 marsupials where both sexes had a pouch. The last known tiger died in 1936 from neglect at The Hobart Zoo in Tasmania less than 2 months after it was declared a protected species. Hunted to extinction in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea by European settlers, it is one of the most fabled, mystical animals of this century. But since it’s declared extinction, there have been thousands of unconfirmed sightings. In 1983, Ted Turner offered a $100,000 reward for proof of the continued existence of a tiger and as recently as 2005, an Australian magazine offered a million dollars for proof. Movies have been made including The Hunter starring Willem Dafoe, and numerous books have been written about the tiger. Even talk about cloning preserved DNA adds to the legend. So you never know. Extinct or not? Either way, a fascinating animal. Photo by Corrie Woods ...
