Elementary's Yellow Clivia and Yellow Clivia Botanical Illustrations

Summary: Yellow clivia botanical illustrations mix bell-like flowers, clumpy rhizomes, green leaves and red berries for Elementary's Seed Money Jan. 15, 2015.

Clivia miniata citrina, a yellow-flowered variety of Clivia, could be the yellow clivia that clues Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) to the killer of a skirt-chasing botanical genetic engineer in Seed Money (Elementary tv series, season 3 episode 10); Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, Western Cape, southwestern South Africa; Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, 16:16: Axxter99, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Yellow clivia botanical illustrations never aggrieve their admirers with the agonizing aroma of coffee grounds and shredded mackerel for augmenting yellow clivia life cycles in Elementary episode Seed Money Jan. 15, 2015.

Director John Polson and writers Robert Doherty and Brian Rodenbeck bring yellow clivia into the Columbia Broadcasting System's Elementary series episode 58 as third-season episode 10. They correlate the amaryllis relative in the Amaryllidaceae family with a customized coffee grounds and shredded mackerel fertilizer created by a skirt-chaser, Clay Dubrovensky (Salar Ghajar). Only Clay's ex, Courtney Stever (Madison Riley), declares about the herbaceous evergreen, "Clay gave me this. He made it. He grew it. It's a yellow clivia."

Especially Clivia miniata ("Clive's cinnabar-red"), one of the Clivia genus's six species and natural hybrid Clivia x nimbicola ("Clive's x mist-dweller"), elicits yellow clivia botanical illustrations.

Explorer William John Burchell (July 23, 1781-March 23, 1863) and botanist John Bowie (1789?-Feb. 7, 1869) furnished Kew Garden's first clivia specimens in 1815 and 1820.

Lady Charlotte Florentia Clive (Sep. 12, 1787-July 27, 1866), bride of Hugh Percy (April 20, 1785-Feb. 11, 1847), 3rd duke of Northumberland, grew England's first clivia. As governess, she helped head Victoria (May 24, 1819-Jan. 22, 1901) through the Princess years toward Queenship (June 20, 1837-Jan. 22, 1901) of the British Empire. She inherited botanical interests from Lady Henrietta Antonia Herbert (Sep. 3, 1759-June 3, 1830), wife of Edward Clive (March 7, 1754-May 16, 1839), earl of Powis.

The South African and Swaziland native journeyed into yellow clivia botanical illustrations after Kew Garden botanist John Lindley's (Feb. 5, 1799-Nov. 1, 1865) judgments in 1828.

Clivia knows the seven species caulescens ("well-developed above-ground stem"), gardenii, miniata, mirabilis ("miraculous"), nobilis ("noble Clive") for Lady Clive's winter-spring-blooming 7- to 8-year-olds, nimbicola and robusta.

William Hooker (July 6, 1785-Aug. 12, 1865) and Robert Dyer (Sep. 21, 1900-Oct. 26, 1987) respectively labeled fall-blooming gardenii and winter-spring-blooming caulescens in 1855 and 1943. Scientists make the taxonomic citation Clivia miniata (Lindl.) Bosse from Julius Friedrich Wilhelm Bosse (Aug. 12, 1788-Oct. 25, 1864) scientifically mentioning the winter-spring-blooming species in 1859. John Rourke and Brian Murray respectively named the bush and Natal lily genus's flowering six-year-old mirabilis and fall-blooming four- to five-year-old robusta in 2000 and 2004.

Zacharias Hendrik Swanevelder, Jaco T. Truter and Abraham Erasmus van Wyk obtained Clivia x nimbicola, natural hybrid from Clivia caulescens and miniata, winter-spring-blooming four- to five-year-olds.

Yellow clivia botanical illustrations present the forest-undergrowth, low-light native with evergreen 23.62-inch- (60-centimeter-) long, straplike leaves and stalked umbels parasoling into bell-shaped 2.76-inch- (7-centimeter-) long flowers.

Each flower's three petals and three sepals base-fused into tepals above a three-cavity ovary queue six stamens with free-moving anthers and three-part stigma on long filaments. They require four dark, water-free months at 40 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (4.44 to 12.77 degrees Celsius) in North American cold hardiness zones 9a through 11b. They seek composted, gritty, loamy, semi-acidic, semi-neutral, semi-shaded, well-drained soils pH 6-6.9; repotted-transplanted division; seed-sowing at 60.8 to 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit (16 to 21 degrees Celsius).

Yellow clivia botanical illustrations typically treat Clivia miniata var(iety) citrata ("citrus-yellow") even as Clay likeliest teased yellow clivias he "grew" or "made" from cultivars or hybrids.

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) puzzles over the Wutai Pingtung orchid cloned by murdered botanical genetic engineer Clay Dubrovensky, but a yellow clivia ultimately clues him in to skirt chaser's killer in Seed Money (Elementary tv series, season 3, episode 10): Sherlock Holmes Wiki @sherlockholmeswiki, via Facebook Jan. 11, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Clivia miniata citrina, a yellow-flowered variety of Clivia, could be the yellow clivia that clues Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) to the killer of a skirt-chasing botanical genetic engineer in Seed Money (Elementary tv series, season 3 episode 10); Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, Western Cape, southwestern South Africa; Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, 16:16: Axxter99, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clivia_miniata_var._citrina.jpg

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) puzzles over the Wutai Pingtung orchid cloned by murdered botanical genetic engineer Clay Dubrovensky, but a yellow clivia ultimately clues him in to skirt chaser's killer in Seed Money (Elementary tv series, season 3, episode 10): Sherlock Holmes Wiki @sherlockholmeswiki, via Facebook Jan. 11, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/sherlockholmeswiki/photos/a.711525708891391.1073741828.711307918913170/864426196934674/

For further information:

Bosse, J.F.W. (Julius Friedrich Wilhelm). 1859. "2. Clivia mineata Bosse." Vollständiges Handbuch der Blumengärtnerei, third edition (dritte sehr vermehrte und verbesserte auflage), erster band (first vol.) - Enleitung. Abelia-Dysophylla: 768. Hannover, Germany: Hahn'sche Hofbuchhandlung (Hahn).
Available via MDZ (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum Digitale Bibliothek) Digitale Sammlungen @ http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10301156_00788.html

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London England: George Newsnes Ltd., 1892.
Available via Project Gutenberg @ http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1661?msg=welcome_stranger

Hooker, Sir William Jackson. 1856. "Clivia gardeni." Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. XII, third series (vol. LXXXII of whole series): Tab. 4895. London, England: Lovell Reeve.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/438321

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 December 2014. “Elementary's Nutmeg Concoction and Nutmeg Botanical Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/elementarys-nutmeg-concoction-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 November 2014. “Elementary's Bird in Blue-Throated Macaw Natural History Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/11/elementarys-bird-in-blue-throated-macaw.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 October 2014. “Bearded Dragon Natural History Illustrations: Not Elementary's Nemesis.” Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/bearded-dragon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 May 2014. “Ficus Benjamina Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's Stunted Tree.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/ficus-benjamina-botanical-illustrations.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2014. “Dimetrodon Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dimetrodon.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/dimetrodon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2014. “Nanotyrannus Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dead Clade Walking.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/nanotyrannus-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2013. “Fruit in Osage Orange Botanical Illustrations and Elementary Series.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/fruit-in-osage-orange-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2013. “George Stubbs Painting The Godolphin Arabian and Elementary's Nutmeg.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/george-stubbs-painting-godolphin.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Darley Arabian and Elementary's Studhorse.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-darley-arabian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Byerley Turk and Elementary's Thoroughbreds.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-byerley-turk-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 August 2013. “Turner Fighting Temeraire Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/turner-fighting-temeraire-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 June 2013. “Paul Gauguin Painting Tahitian Women on the Beach in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2013. “Rubens Painting The Incredulity of St Thomas in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/rubens-painting-incredulity-of-st.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 May 2013. “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Painting Rousse in Elementary Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-painting.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 May 2013. “The Bruegel Painted Parable in the Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-bruegel-painted-parable-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2013. “Osmia Avosetta Natural History Illustrations for Elementary's Bee.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/osmia-avosetta-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2013. “Russian Tortoise Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Clyde Jan. 31, 2013.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-tortoise-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2013. “Costliest, World-Most Expensive Chopard Watch: 201 Carats at $25 Million.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/costliest-world-most-expensive-chopard.html

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Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2013. “Claude Monet Painting Nympheas 1918 in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/claude-monet-painting-nympheas-1918-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2013. “Paul Cézanne Still Life Painting Fruit in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/paul-cezanne-still-life-painting-fruit.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 December 2012. “Paul Signac Painting Women at the Well in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/paul-signac-painting-women-at-well-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 December 2012. “The Van Gogh Pietà Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-van-gogh-pieta-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2012. “Edward Hopper Painting Western Motel in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/edward-hopper-painting-western-motel-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 September 2012. "Are Lesser Clovers Sherlock's Lucky Shamrocks on Elementary's Pilot?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-lesser-clovers-sherlocks-lucky.html

Murray, B.G. (Brian G.); Y. (Yidong) Ran; P.J. (Peter James) De Lange; K.R.W. (Keith R.W.) Hammett; J.T. (Jaco T.) Truter; and Z.H. (Zacharias Hendrik) Swanevelder. November 2004. "A New Species of Clivia (Amaryllidaceae) Endemic to the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, South Africa." Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 146, issue 3 (November 2004): 369-374. Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
Available @ https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article/146/3/369/2420515

Phillips, E.P. (Edwin Percy), ed. 1943. "Clivia caulescens." Flowering Plants of South Africa: A Magazine Containing Hand-Coloured Figures with Descriptions of the Flowering Plants Indigenous to South Africa, vol. XXIII: Plate 891. Ashford, Kent, South East England: L. Reeve & Co. Ltd.; Pretoria, South Africa: J.L. Van Schaik Ltd.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/floweringplantso23epph
Available via Plant Illustrations @ http://www.plantillustrations.org/illustration.php?id_illustration=284604&SID=0&mobile=0&size=1

Rourke, J.P. (John P.). September 2002. "Clivia mirabilis (Amaryllidaceae: Haemantheae) A New Species from Northern Cape, South Africa." Bothalia, vol. 32, no. 1 (11 September 2002): 1-7. Pretoria, South Africa: Botanical Research Institute, Dept. of Agricultural Technical Services.
Available @ https://abcjournal.org/index.php/ABC/article/viewFile/455/398

"Seed Money." Elementary: The Third Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Jan. 15, 2015.

Sherlock Holmes Wiki @sherlockholmeswiki. 11 January 2015. "Added a New Photo." Facebook. Jan. 11, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/sherlockholmeswiki/photos/a.711525708891391.1073741828.711307918913170/864426196934674/

Swanevelder, Z.H. (Zacharias Hendrik); J.T. (Jaco T.) Truter; and A.E. (Abraham Erasmus) van Wyk. August 2006. "Amaryllidaceae: A Natural Hybrid in the Genus Clivia." Bothalia, vol. 36, no. 1 (20 August 2006):77-80. Pretoria, South Africa: Botanical Research Institute, Dept. of Agricultural Technical Services.
Available @ https://abcjournal.org/index.php/abc/article/view/344/287

Why I Wear Dark Colors, Bright Colors, Anything But White Colors Year Round

Summary: My year-round go-to colors are bright colors or dark colors, anything but white.

fracturing white-colored apparel: Seeing Sounds: Chris Halderman, CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Reluctantly, I am abandoning the recurring fashion trend of favoring all-white or predominately white in some accessories, clothing and shoes. White has the advantage of being friendly to many colors. It nevertheless has limitations that come out all too loudly with cameras, mirrors, windows and weather.

From my Dutch grandmother, I recall hearing about the classic fashion rule of white-colored casual and dress wear from May’s Memorial Day to September’s Labor Day. I nevertheless remember also her explaining her 100 percent success rate in producing perfect crocheted, knitted, sewn or woven clothing articles for family members. Success simply requires a willingness to adjust or break fashion statements -- traditional or trendy -- that have individual exceptions and limitations despite current or general mass appeal.

The color white corners the market, what with baptisms, confirmations, and marriages. It also is the traditional color for bereavement and funerals in some African, Asian and European cultures. It regularly tends to be promoted as a fashion season's color.

White regularly appears to dominate fashion seasons in the 20th and 21st centuries. All-white footwear frequently can be found in spring and summer fashion house releases, mail order catalogues and store window displays. It cannot be too surprising that white maintains classic, fair weather niches.

It nevertheless can be great fun to break with traditional white accessories, clothing, and shoes, June through August. That is exactly what I aim to do throughout every new year. Budgets, image, time and weather all have roles to play in this decision to maximize bright colors and dark colors and to minimize white wardrobes.

Additional expenses and work are no fun during nice weather. They become downright unpopular during weather that is supposed to be pleasant, but actually is not. It in fact is weather that makes me confront my self-image and decide that white is not good for my self-esteem, not now or in the foreseeable future.

It all begins with the feet. All-white heels, moccasins, sandals and sneakers convey crisp brightness, except during spring and summer storms. Each cloudy, windy outburst drenches, soils and stains my footwear, frocks, longer coats, purses, skirts, slacks and socks.

Do I regret letting go of white accessories, clothes and shoes? No, white gives my feet bigger, wider looks. Also, my budget is not being blown by a never-ending series of buying stain-removers and replacing weather-damaged items. Besides, all-white earrings and tops still retain their places alongside my replacement colors of anything recurring that involves bright colors, dark colors, any color that is not white!

window display of dark- and bright-colored fashions, Prada Store, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Clark County, southern Nevada; Wednesday, April 23, 2008: relux., CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

fracturing white-colored apparel: Seeing Sounds: Chris Halderman, CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/halderman/4184306977

window display of dark- and bright-colored fashions, Prada Store, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Clark County, southern Nevada; Wednesday, April 23, 2008: relux., CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/chadwho1ders/2514399424

Changing Speedy Wheels for Speedy Heels: Walking Away From a Bad Habit

Summary: Speedy wheels change into speedy heels as the healthy habit of walking as much as possible replaces the bad habit of driving everywhere.

Walk more, drive less; "Country Road in Virginia," Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, 15:12:51, image along Wilson Road, Vernon Mills, Fauquier County, Northern Virginia, Washington metropolitan area: John McTarnaghan (jmctee), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Foot power continues to help me break a bad habit. Viewing cars as fulfilling all transportation needs is my worst health-related decision. No longer making that mistake results in a happier, healthier me.

Speedy wheels go way back with me. I recall as a child quickly graduating from tricycles to bicycles. I remember switching their recreational roles with jogs and strolls and transportation roles with family drives.

Things nevertheless become problematic with putting my driver’s license into practice. Problems go back to high school graduation’s leading into relocation to a university town in the next state. A college campus tends to be spread out, with languages and sciences forming triangular points of distances to be accessed sometimes by skateboards and oftentimes by car.

With graduation and work, all things professional and recreational generally continue to be defined by cars. This is particularly true if one is not a taxi-riding person. The constant stops and starts of a bus make me nauseous. Subways seem claustrophobic. Trains never surface where I need them to be.

As an adult, I do not have memories of any reliance upon walking as alternative transportation. Foot power in my life history traditionally gets relegated to recreational purposes with family and friends, in the evenings and on weekends. It nevertheless represents a transportation option with pre-2015 gas price climbing to $3.00-plus a gallon.

Speedy wheels still claim cherished niches in my life even though car power no longer holds monopoly status in getting me to and from life’s roadside attractions. I still make the 30- to 45-minute drive to the main library. I now park on unrestricted neighborhood streets with unrestricted parking. From the library, I switch from driving 5 minutes to walking 15 minutes to view the downtown art museum’s latest displays and permanent exhibitions and to visit the French bakery.

Springtime and summertime usually conjure up two contradictory images of motorized impacts on health and lifestyle. Speedy wheels do not make me fat or flabby even though car power -- without the workouts intrinsic to speedy heels -- builds no muscles or stamina for gardens and lawns. Foot power contrastingly translates into endurance in health and savings in automobile gas, mileage and repairs.

To and from points A and B, I factor a stop at the park four miles from home. I get out and walk a mile. Speedy heels indeed have their place as health boosters, recreational aids and transportation choices in every healthy lifestyle.

A variety of landscapes may be encountered during a walk in a park; footbridge, Golden Gate Park, northwestern edge of San Francisco, Northern California; Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011: John Martinez Pavliga, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Walk more, drive less; "Country Road in Virginia," Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, 15:12:51, image along Wilson Road, Vernon Mills, Fauquier County, Northern Virginia, Washington metropolitan area: John McTarnaghan (jmctee), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmctee/2001999832/

A variety of landscapes may be encountered during a walk in a park; footbridge, Golden Gate Park, northwestern edge of San Francisco, Northern California; Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011: John Martinez Pavliga, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualsugar/6291641781/

Osha Root, Raiz del Cochino: Healing Herb Bag Powder in Bless Me Ultima

Summary: Osha root (Lingusticum porteri), known in Spanish as raíz del cochino, is valued as a healing herb bag powder in Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya.

perennial herb oshá (Ligusticum porteri) with quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) behind and thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) in front; Monday, July 11, 2011, 08:10: JerryFriedman, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Beloved herb of bears, Mexicans and Southwestern Americans

La curandera (the healer) in Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima appreciates wildlife. Oshá root belongs at the top of Ultima's list. It carries such common names in English as bear medicine, bear root, cough root, Indian root, Indian parsley, licorice lovage, love-root, mountain carrot, mountain ginseng, pig-root, wild lovage and wild parsley and in Spanish as raíz del cochino (root of the pig).

Taxonomists describe it as Ligusticum (Ligurian [lovage]) porteri (of [botanist Thomas Conrad] Porter [Jan. 22, 1822-April 27, 1901]).

Whatever the name, Ultima's root exists at altitudes of 4,900 to 11,500 feet (1,493.52 to 3,505.2 meters). It favors aspen-ringed (Populus) meadows, fir (Abies) and spruce (Picea) forests and oak (Quercus) and pine (Pinus) woodlands. It grows in Mexico and, in the United States of America, in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Non-poisonous look-alike of poison hemlock, smell-alike of celery

Ultima's root harbors no poisons. It is differentiated from poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) by celery-like spiciness, chocolate-brown, wrinkled root skins, hairy root crowns and water-logged intolerance.

Apiaceae (carrot-, celery-, parsley-like) family hollow stems join with fibrous, inner, yellow-white root tissues and main stems full of dark-edged, fern-like, light-centered leaflets 0.19 to 1.58 inches (5 to 40 millimeters) wide to manage, when 2 to 3 feet (0.61 to 0.91 meters) high, oblong, red, ribbed fruits 0.19 to 0.32 inches (5 to 8 millimeters) long and large, red-tinted basal leaf attachments to root crowns; and 0.08- to 0.19-inch (2- to 5-millimeter) white or yellow flowers in 4-inch (10.16-centimeter) clusters on 3- to 6-foot (0.91- to 1.83-meter) stalks June to October.

Resistant to cultivation outside native meadows, ravines, woods

Experts know that Ultima's root favors overwintering as autumn-gathered seeds sown in cold frames or greenhouses; planting as seedlings in individual springtime pots for summer transplanting in sun-filled, well-drained soils; and propagating as spring-divided cuttings.

Beneficial, pollinating halictid bees (Halictidae family) like Ultima's root, which nevertheless is hermaphroditically self-fertile. Plant-lovers likewise mention the convenience of drought and frost tolerance, hardiness to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius) and seed-fall at plant bases.

Non-experts and specialists notice problems when Ultima's pest-free root grows outside native habitats.

Environmental sustainability obligates Ultima's root to supply carbohydrates to specific mycorrhizal fungi in exchange for assistance in processing phosphates and zinc and in resisting contamination and pathogens.

Many gardeners therefore prefer to purchase, not grow, Ultima's root.

Welcome as food, medicine, rain-bringers, pest repellents, phyto-remediators

Nobody traditionally questions Ultima's root blue-dying edibles and non-edibles; ending nicotine dependencies; freshening air; repelling pests such as cutworms, insects, snakes; and treating brown recluse spider bites and scorpion stings. Healers reference its efficaciously channeling such active ingredients as camphor, ferulic acid, glycosides, lactone, phytosterols, saponins and terpenes.

They specify its relief to aches, colds, coughs, fevers, indigestion, inflammations and rheumatism; asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and tuberculosis; bruises, cuts, sinus/skin infections and ulcers; diarrhea; and hangovers.

Ultima's root takes medicinal form as capsules, tablets and tea-pills; extracts, loose-leaf teas and tinctures; and powders and poultices.

Non-medicinal uses utilize Ultima's root fresh to add cucumber-like flavoring to salads and soups and to season beans, chilis and meats.

Not surprisingly, Mexicans and southwestern Americans really value Ultima's multi-tasking root!

Ligusticum porteri's leaves, Winsor Trail, Santa Fe National Forest, near Santa Fe, north central New Mexico; Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008, 11:17: Jerry Friedman, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Oshá (Ligusticum porteri) in between quaking aspen and thimbleberry, San Cristobal Canyon, Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Study Area, Taos County, north central New Mexico; Monday, July 11, 2011, 08:10: Jerry Friedman, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ligusticum_porteri_habitus.jpg

Ligusticum porteri's leaves, Winsor Trail, Santa Fe National Forest, near Santa Fe, north central New Mexico; Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008, 11:17: Jerry Friedman, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ligusticum_porteri_leaves1.jpg

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. "Film Review of Bless Me Ultima: The Ultimate Movie Version of the Novel by Rudolfo Anaya." Wizzley > Entertainment & Media > Movies > Drama. Jan. 13, 2015.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/film-review-of-bless-me-ultima-the-ultimate-movie-version-of-the-novel-by-rudolfo-anaya/

Rare Sierra Nevada Red Fox Caught on Camera in Yosemite National Park in 2015

Summary: A rare Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) trips motion-sensitive cameras in Yosemite National Park in December 2014 and January 2015.

Sierra Nevada red fox in Yosemite on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, at 2:54 p.m.; day's temperature 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minues 0.5 degrees Celsius): NPS, Public Domain, via Yosemite Park News

The rare Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) unknowingly posed on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, and again on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, for remote motion-sensitive cameras deployed in Yosemite National Park's back country by the park's carnivore crew.

The exciting detection was discovered during a five-day back country reconnaissance by National Park Service wildlife biologists. The images comprise the first confirmed sighting of the rare North American mammal in almost a century in Yosemite, the spectacular wilderness sprawling for 747,956 acres (almost 1,200 square miles or 3,026.87 square kilometers) across central eastern California.

Until the fox's sighting in Yosemite in January 2015, the nearest detection occurred north of Yosemite in the Sonora Pass, the second-highest highway pass, at an elevation of 9,624 feet (2,933 meters), in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. A small population of Sierra Nevada red foxes, discovered by the U.S. Forest Service in 2010, is being monitored there by a consortium of biologists from California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and University of California-Davis (UCD).

Other small populations presently are confirmed as inhabiting Crater Lake in south central Oregon; Lassen Peak in Northern California's Shasta Cascade region; and Mount Hood in northern Oregon's Cascade Volcanic Arc.

Rare Sierra Nevada red fox on Sunday, Sep. 12, 2010, 19:32: U.S. Department of Agriculture, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sierra Nevada red fox also is commonly known as the High Sierra fox because of its limited geographical range, restricted to elevations over 4,500 feet (1,371.6 meters). The New World native, one of 10 North American subspecies of red fox, has a historical range in alpine and subalpine habitats, from the southern Cascade Mountains of California and Oregon southward to the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.

American ethnographer and naturalist Clinton Hart Merriam (Dec. 5, 1855-March 19, 1942), who was one of the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society in 1888, is credited with the official description of the Sierra Nevada red fox. Merriam made his description in 1900 from a specimen collected in Whitney Meadows, at 9,500 feet (2,895.6 meters), on Mount Whitney, the highest summit, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 meters), in the Sierra Nevada.

A crepuscular (twilight) and nocturnal predator, the Sierra Nevada red fox favors an opportunistic diet that is omnivorous -- although preferentially carnivorous -- according to seasonal food availability. Small mammals, such as ground squirrels (Spermophilus), mice (Peromyscus), and voles (Microtus), are favored prey. Birds, such as mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) and hairy woodpeckers (Picoides villosus), as well as mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) carrion and pinemat manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis) berries, represent food sources in the scarce seasons of autumn, winter, and spring.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the ever-dwindling population of Sierra Nevada red foxes is estimated to range from less than 20 to no more than 50. On April 27, 2011, the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, and founded in 1989 for the protection of endangered species, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for endangerment designation for the Sierra Nevada red fox under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. On Dec. 30, 2011, the USFWS announced commencement of a status review as part of the lengthy process entailed in determining species endangerment.

The appearance of the Sierra Nevada red fox in Yosemite National Park, captured via a motion-sensitive camera, gives hope that the tranquil grandeur of the High Sierra may serve as a viable shelter for saving this small, soft-furred fox from extinction.

Sierra Nevada red fox on a path; credit USFWS; Friday, Dec. 30, 2011: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Sierra Nevada red fox in Yosemite on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, at 2:54 p.m.; day's temperature 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minues 0.5 degrees Celsius): NPS, Public Domain, via Yosemite Park News @ http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/rare-sierra-nevada-red-fox-spotted-in-yosemite-national-park.htm

Rare Sierra Nevada red fox on Sunday, Sep. 12, 2010, 19:32: U.S. Department of Agriculture, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Redfox_-_Flickr_-_USDAgov.jpg; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/6191910949/; Full permission to use anytime with credit, Courtesy of the USDA, via The Center for Biological Diversity @ https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/sierra-nevada-red-fox-population-gains-endangered-species-act-protection-2021-08-02/

Sierra Nevada red fox on a path; credit USFWS; Friday, Dec. 30, 2011: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfws_pacificsw/6602098681/

For further information:

Center for Biological Diversity. Petition to List Sierra Nevada Red Fox (Vulpus vulpus necator) as a Threatened or Endangered species and to Designate Critical Habitat Concurrent with Listing. April 27, 2011.
Available at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Sierra_Nevada_red_fox/pdfs/SNRF_PETITION.pdf

Laws, John Muir. Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. San Francisco CA: California Academy of Sciences; Berkeley CA: Heyday Books, 2007.

Living A Full and Happy Life Without Cable

Summary: A cable-free lifestyle is a healthy alternative to couch potato entertainment and shows the ease in living a full and happy life without cable.

tangle of cables for cable TV, Dhaka, central Bangladesh: Mumpuni, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Economics and time are the reasons why I persist in my commitment to a cable-free lifestyle. Alternative sources of entertainment and recreation consolidate my decision and strengthen my resolve. There may be some programming that I miss, but not enough to go back at this point or in the near future.

My decision to question expenses and re-think budgets dates back to 2012. It finds initial inspiration in that year's rising gas prices. Despite falling gas prices three years later, my cost-cutting resolve gets bolstered by the lawn needing mowing more than once weekly because of fall, spring, and summer rains soaking the ground and strengthening grassy growth three-fourths of the year. My car likewise tends to get driven far afield daily since I live in a rural county that just has three main roads from which two-lane country roads meander.

In determining where to cut yearly costs, I always cast nervous eyes at the television. Ever since my teen years, I generally connect doing floor exercises, jumping rope and using treadmills with watching DVDs, programs or videos. That ironic link between not being a couch potato and yet not missing out on current programming is a habit that merges adolescence into adulthood. It therefore provides a comforting sense of continuity and well-being through juggling activity and recreation, entertainment and exercise.

Sentimentality nevertheless cannot prevail in the grown-up world of money coming in and money going out. Three years later, I still feel that watching cable is not the most cost-effective way of fitting in exercising and having something to show for my time. In 2015, I still hold to the conclusion that I really enjoy only HGTV programs.

That epiphany actuates the realization of another deep truth: Blu-ray, DVDs and video do not require cable! Additionally, news also comes from computers, daily newspapers, radios and word-of-mouth information networks. The final straw that breaks the cable-watcher's schedule emerges with the second deep truth: I prefer walking along park trails and side roads to using treadmills!

With the New Year's third anniversary of life without cable, I discover that my new-found preference is equally popular with cable-free and cable-full family and friends. Cable-free hours indeed get us all together over backgammon, cards, charades, chess, Monopoly, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit and with beloved musical instruments and scores. My life without cable therefore strengthens us all, through romping, star-gazing and strolling activities outdoors and solidarity-building entertainment indoors.

Outdoor strollers encounter nature's beauty, such as Virginia bluebells on Washington DC's Theodore Roosevelt Island, the national memorial maintained in the Potomac River by the National Park Service (NPS); "Mertensia virginica, Roosevelt Island, 4/16/13": Fritz Flohr Reynolds, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

tangle of cables for cable TV, Dhaka, central Bangladesh: Mumpuni, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cable_TV's_cables_in_Dhaka.jpg

Outdoor strollers encounter nature's beauty, such as Virginia bluebells on Washington DC's Theodore Roosevelt Island, the national memorial maintained in the Potomac River by the National Park Service (NPS); "Mertensia virginica, Roosevelt Island, 4/16/13": Fritz Flohr Reynolds, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzflohrreynolds/8655607237/

Why A Performance by Carles Benavent and Paco De Lucia Is My Favorite Concert

Summary: A coffeehouse performance by Carles Benavent and Paco De Lucia rates as my favorite concert.

guitar closeup: Andy Melton (trekkyandy), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

A performance by Carles Benavent and Paco de Lucía is my favorite concert experience. It shares favorite status with other performances separately, together, with others. It nevertheless stands out for bringing together in one experience what I cherish about concert-going.

This particular concert holds a special place in my life. It is a case of a counter argument to the French proverb La perfection n'est pas de ce monde (Perfection is not [an attainable part] of this world). The concert reminds me of the impact of achievement and personality on audiences and venues.

The setting was conducive to favorable reactions. The concert was held in a coffeehouse. The menu was excellent. The lighting was not too bright, not too intimate. The chairs were comfortable for the several hundred attendees. The performers were within arm's reach of the nearest tables, the closest one being where I was seated!

Carles Benavent works his magic, Málaga, Andalusia, southern Spain; Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, 20:23:30: Antonio (montuno), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Carles and Paco did not have extensive sound systems. It basically was a case of two guitarists -- one a renowned classical and flamenco guitarist, the other a world-famous jazz guitarist -- and two guitars. The music therefore would reach the last row of tables only if the audience controlled conversations and movements.

Neither the performers nor the venue's staff cautioned anyone about reactions during the performance. Carles and Paco preceded each piece with explanations about the composition's status in the classical, flamenco, jazz, pop and rock music world as well as its significance for them personally and professionally. There was a non-intrusively low level of barely audible conversations during Carles's and Paco's commentaries. There was nothing other than appreciative, respectful, stunned silence during the performances.

It can be typical of Carles's and Paco's concerts -- separately, together, with others -- that the crowd interacts with what the performers say. It also is typical of Carles's and Paco's performances -- separately, together, with others -- that the crowd is amazed, impressed and stunned into silence. Three reasons for the varying reaction levels may stem from the music pieces as well as the performers' personalities and techniques.

Audiences usually have their minds made up about classical and modern music. They may be less adamant about and familiar with flamenco. They therefore may switch reacting to commentary with scrutinizing technique.

Carles and Paco inspire co-performers and crowds with their engaging, generous personalities and expert, pioneering techniques. Time and again, they prove that the personal and the technical work together no matter what the size of the crowd or the venue.

Paco de Lucía feels his extraordinary music, Málaga, Andalusia, southern Spain; Sunday, Sep. 23, 2007, 00:08:03: Antonio (montuno), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

guitar closeup: Andy Melton (trekkyandy), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/trekkyandy/160220258

Carles Benavent works his magic, Málaga, Andalusia, southern Spain; Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, 20:23:30: Antonio (montuno), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/53556902@N00/1408866986

Paco de Lucía feels his extraordinary music, Málaga, Andalusia, southern Spain; Sunday, Sep. 23, 2007, 00:08:03: Antonio (montuno), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/53556902@N00/1427845747

Why I Cannot Help But Enjoy Going to Music Festivals

Summary: Music festivals, especially Milwaukee's popular Irish Fest, are an enjoyable form of entertainment.

my favorite music festival; Irish dancers at Irish Fest 2011, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, southeastern Wisconsin; Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011: Third Coast Daily, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Convenience, fun, informality, nature, novelty, tradition and variety are reasons why I like music festivals. The offerings, setting and time span ensure that nothing gets in the way of my liking the current festival. They guarantee my showing up at each gathering every year thereafter.

Music festivals are not organized in a vacuum. Organizers consider convenience of access by the greatest number of attendees. They contact area hotel, restaurant and store managers. They look into parking arrangements and public transportation. Festival attendees generally need not worry about lodging, parking and shopping woes.

Organizers also arrange for onsite booths to sell drinks, foods and souvenirs. I can be confident and spontaneous to, on and from the festival grounds. I can catch the most performances and have the most fun with the most family and friends.

The atmosphere feels comfortably informal even though music festivals require predictability and structure. Checking out the crowd's and the performers' choices in accessories, clothing and footwear always generates great learning fun. But, of course, listening and moving to great music with family and friends provide the most fun of all!

There appears to be no limit to the fun of a music festival. Two of the reasons for this exhilarating sense of limitless fun are the festival's setting and structure. The festival is held out in the open. In the case of my favorite music festival -- Irish Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- everything happens on the city's attractively landscaped downtown lake front. There is beauty, comfort, excitement and romance in absorbing live music, buying charming mementos and consuming delicious drinks and food while near breezy Lake Michigan, on cultivated greenery and under stars twinkling from clear night skies.

A festival never can stray too far from predictable activities and time slots. But each year's schedule emphasizes keeping audiences from becoming bored or dissatisfied with what happens around and on the stage. That precisely is one of the reasons why organizers mix fresh, rising sounds in new, unexpected styles alongside established, popular voices in expected, tried-and-true ways. That mix makes for the encouragement of novelty and support for tradition from which unforgettable performances and performers are born.

Security cushions life while variety spices it up. That I find both in all the companionable, expected, hassle-free, informal, unexpected fun of a couple of days out in the open air is why I so like music festivals!

Irish Fest 2005, Henry Maier Festival Park, southeastern edge of downtown Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, southeastern Wisconsin; Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005: Sutton Kinter IV, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

my favorite music festival; Irish dancers at Irish Fest 2011, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, southeastern Wisconsin; Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011: Third Coast Daily, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/50951130@N03/6067313690

Irish Fest 2005, Henry Maier Festival Park, southeastern edge of downtown Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, southeastern Wisconsin; Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005: Sutton Kinter IV, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenryMaierFestivalPark_MidGate.jpg