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Here and There…Now and Then |
Toronto Team, Sandwich Run
Earlier today we made about 120 bag lunches with sandwiches, fruit, and juice. In the early evening we joined a team from New Jersey to pass them out to people on the street. This was done along with Joe from an organization called Project 417. Joe has been working with homeless people in Toronto for about 30 years. We were also thrilled to have Stephanie join us this evening, making our team whole again.
Toronto Team at St. Felix
On each day in Toronto, we were at the St. Felix Centre from about 8:30 to 12:45. We prepared and then served lunch to between 90 and 100 people. This is the team (although you can’t quite see Jessie). It was the best youth mission team I’ve ever been on a trip with.
Toronto at Night
I arrived in Toronto at about 5:00 PM today with ten youth and two other parents from church. We’ll be spending the week working in a soup kitchen for about four hours each day and then at various sites in the afternoons.
Rocklands Farm Produce
Purple and orange eggplant, potatoes, a cucumber, various peppers, zucchini and yellow squash, assorted tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, green and purple basil, and a leek — most of my vegetable share from Rocklands Farm this morning. Now, doesn’t that look good?
Mushroom
I came across this huge mushroom in Margaret’s yard this evening and thought it was cool. There were a half dozen of them but this one was a huge cup with the gills on the outside. The others looked more like portobellos.
Thistle Flower
Anyone good at identifying thistles? There are hundreds of them and many of them look much like this. Anyway, as much as I don’t like thistles in the garden, they sure have pretty flowers.
Auto Bulbs
We picked up our van from Eddie this afternoon and I took this picture of light bulbs at the shop.
Great Golden Digger Wasp
I keep thinking I’m done with wasps and bees and then I find a new one (there are thousands, after all). This, I’m pretty sure, is a great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus). This isn’t the best picture I took in terms of identifying the wasp but I really like this head-on view.
The Abell Building
I went up to Baltimore to take some pictures for Iris today. I can’t share those with you but I took this one of the Abell Building near the medical school. The Romanesque revival building was originally built in the 1870’s by Arunah Abell, the founder of the Baltimore Sun newspaper. It has recently been renovated and is an apartment building.
Sweat Bee
I know some of you are probably getting tired of wasps but I this is one of the nicer wasp pictures I’ve gotten, so, here you go with another one. UPDATE: Identified as Halictus parallelus, a sweat bee.
If I get an identification for it I’ll change the label but for now, it’s a wasp of some kind. I spent about a half hour at the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) in the back yard today. The sun was pretty hot so by the time I came in I was wilting. The insects didn’t mind and were really out in huge numbers.
Lissie
We picked up our weekly share of vegetables at Rocklands Farm this morning and enjoyed a visit with the folks there, including Lissie, Anna’s sister, who posed for me with a small basket of produce.
Eat Mor Chikin
Dorothy dressed in a cow costume today and earned a free meal at the Germantown Chik-Fil-A. She also got to visit Lyla, which is at least as big a treat. Oh, and thank you, Megan for the use of the cow suit.
Potter Wasp
There were lots of insects enjoying Cathy’s mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) today, including this potter wasp. I’ve narrowed it down to the genus Euodynerus of which there are 19 local species. Beyond that, I need better pictures and different views.
There is a good key to the genus here: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/bmc_05/key_euodynerus.html. I also found a good Hymenoptera glossary here: http://www.diapriid.org/projects/32/public/ontology/.
WCA Volleyball
Dorothy wanted to go watch some of her friends play volleyball this evening and I decided I’d take my camera. I got a few good pictures but I think I have a lot to learn about photographing this sport. Anyway, this is Alexia on WCA’s summer league team.
Spined Micrathena
This is one wicked looking spider. It is a Spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilis) and I came across her in the woods next to my office. Her web is about eight inches across and about three feet off the ground. With the number of bugs flying around, I suspect she eats well.
Happy 235, U.S.A.
Days mixed with sorrow and joy are all too common, it seems. We did end the day with a bang, however, enjoying the fireworks from the 355 bridge over the railroad tracks in Gaithersburg with Rick, Melissa, Katie, and Maggie. A good view and a short half block walk from their house. Happy birthday to the good, old U.S. of A.
Picnic Lunch
We had a picnic after church today to say farewell to the Bill and Kristine who are moving to Ohio. I’ll post a separate gallery with a bunch of pictures but this was my favorite from today.
Bumble Bee on Sunflower
We were out at Rocklands Farm to pick up our weekly share of produce and I enjoyed photographing crops. There are sunflowers growing in various places, mostly not yet fully in bloom. These, however, were beautiful. They are only about foot and a half tall but four or five inches across. The bumble bees (and many others) really seem to be happy about them. (Bombus griseocollis)
Catching Fireflies
We enjoyed a pleasant dusk catching fireflies in the yard today. The joys of summer. Kind of hard to photograph, though. Here’s one on Dorothy’s thumb. She thought it interesting that little girls that don’t normally associate closely with insects have no problem catching fireflies. Somehow they are different.
Honey Bee on Wild Onion
I’ll end the first six months of Project 365 with a honey bee (Apis mellifera), busily visiting the flowers on a wild onion in the empty lot next to my office.
