RenoVous

  Fairy circles may refer to rings of mushrooms in the forest, or circular patches of desert land barren of plants.  They've been documented in the Namib Desert as well as Western Australia. Recently, a team of researchers found hundreds of more sites, in Sahel, Western Sahara, the Horn of Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, and Central Australia. Discovering that these are more common than previously thought, allowed the team to "globally understand the factors affecting their distribution." It was previously suggested that harvester termite nests play a role in this, and while they can, it has more to do with the conditions: in soil with low nitrogen content, in areas with an average rainfall of less than 8 inches per year. Vegetation production in these formations was greater and more stable than in regions without them.

  Gigante dell'Appennino Created by Giambologna in the 1500's, on the grounds of the Villa di Pratolino, in Tuscany, Italy. Within the giant there are chambers and caves, on the bottom floor is a fountain dedicated to the Greek goddess, Thetis.   The Awakening Created by J. Seward Johnson, is home in Washington D.C at the National Harbor. Danish artist Thomas Dambo has been using scrap wood to create giants throughout the forests of Copenhagen. He has since expanded the project into the Pacific Northwest. As well as Wulong, China. In Colorado, this amazing piece had to be relocated (and rebuilt differently) due to resident complaints of the increase in foot traffic.

  You know we prefer a road trip, but we've flown a time or two. I'd have to say NYC was probably our most touristy trip. In fact, we were spotted immediately as tourists, as soon as we stepped into Times Square.  We were offered comedy tickets, which was something I very much wanted to do, and we thought we got a good deal.  Turns out, you can talk those guys down to a dollar a ticket.  :-P In these regards, "tourism" and "tourist" tend to get negative connotations. We heard, in the aftermath of fires in Maui, that tourism played a big part in the drought of the island.  But now we hear businesses asking when tourists will return.  Certain stores in certain cities, especially, rely on the visitors to make ends meet. In Reno, there are a few places that largely cater to the Burning Man attendees.  Even some of the grocery stores plan on it to boost their numbers every year.  This year was the last of the Air Races, and there have already been some...

  Real name, John Chapman.  Born on this day in 1774. He became an American legend while he was still alive, as a nurseryman and conservationist. Johnny started an apprenticeship as an orchardist, inspiring his love of apples.  By 1800, he had his own orchard in Licking River, Ohio.  Once he decided to spread out, he started planting nurseries instead of orchards.  He would build fences around them and leave them in the care of neighbors, returning every year or two to tend the trees. In 1817, the Church of New Jerusalem spoke of a missionary who traveled around sowing apple seeds. He introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario - as well as some northern counties of West Virginia. A last remnant in Savannah, Ohio. We were recently gifted some homemade apple sauce from a friend's tree. Yum.

  Lily James Suki Waterhouse Dwayne Wade (and Gabrielle Union) Halle Bailey Alessandra Ambrosio Nicola Coughlan Salma Hayek 7 is all I can really pull for....

 Do you....believe? UFO researcher Jaime Maussan sure does, but others are more skeptical. A forensic doctor with the Mexican navy claims, after X-ray and CT scans, that it is a complete organic being - with eggs inside. But a NASA scientist is asking why the data is not being made available for examination by the public. It should also be noted that Maussan presented an "alien" in 2015 as well, which turned out to be the remains of a human child who had undergone cranial deformation.  In 2018, he found what was determined to be a dog mummy, though the head had been carved with the snout and teeth removed. From an anthropological standpoint, that's worth wondering about. Especially because another article reveals that early humans would return to burial caves to manipulate human remains.  They found evidence of a skull cup in southern Spain, as well as other bones modified into tools. "Such cultural elements may vary, but the proximity of and interaction with the phy...

  We had a little friend in our camp, a lodgepole chipmunk.  They live throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range and prefer an open-canopy pine habitat. They'll eat seeds, of course, and fungi, as well as berries. Their habit of burying seeds aids in reforestation.  Litters of 5 are born in June, and they hibernate from October/November to March/April. During this time, periods of dormancy last about 5-6 days, with short arousals to eat some stored food.  They are working to accumulate fat in the fall. I can definitely confirm we heard the "chucking" noise.

 

  Found this big boy on a walk through the forest we were camping in - if my research is correct, it is an amanita aprica, which grows in a mycorrhizal association with Doulgas fir and pines. Mycorrhizae are a symbiotic relationship between plant roots and fungi. These ones are harder to identify. A search regarding mushrooms on tree bark with moss did not return any clear results.  They could be puffballs. I came across a local foraging expert and cookbook author, Hank Shaw. Hunt Gather Cook And he recommends  this  pocket guide. Shaw states that foraging is a matter of time, not difficulty, but of course one must be cautious as well.  "You start with a very few edible mushrooms you are looking for, and you expand your knowledge bit by bit."  For the fall, he suggests keeping an eye out for porcinis. Podcast: Get into Mushroom Hunting

  Selena Gomez Gabrielle Union Olivia Wilde Jessica Chastain Shakira Anya Taylor-Joy Julia Garner Yara Shahidi Katie Holmes Alan Cumming

  Some winners are: Alternative For Good Group/Choreography Song of the Summer Collaboration Shakira also won the Video Vanguard Award. Best of the Year This will be an open thread for the rest of the week.  Hubby and I are going camping tomorrow for our anniversary. 15, baby!

  And a beautiful backyard. Did you spot the hummingbird moth?