*gentle hug* I, too, am feeling wrung out. I've basically been nonstop since September... but I should get a break in *check calendar* ... August 😅

From top left to bottom right: a pink, hand sewn heart stuffy with a smile, a machine sewn pouch with drawstring, kumihimo in progress, an art weaving with a variety of materials, and an arm wearing bracelets made in the following way: Kumihimo, crochet, finger weaving, Kumihimo, and finger weaving.

Today was the last day of my summer camp. This week, I taught 14 students about fiber arts: hand sewing, crochet, machine sewing, weaving, and cording techniques.

They all did so well! I'm really proud of them and hope they have a great rest of their summer.

I almost stepped on a little roly-poly out on a walk today 😭 Remember folks, look before you step!

#krita #digitalart #sciart #scientificillustration #nature #invertebrates #invert #isopods #bugsky

a. Sitka bumblebee (Bombus sitkensis): Extremely plump, floofy, and yellow, like a bee that just emerged from a car wash b. Mining bee (Andrena): small, slender, and dark with yellowish highlights; slightly fuzzy c. Yellow-faced bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii): likely a queen + much smaller worker; mostly pitch black with yellow on head and near tail d. Western leafcutting bee (Megachile perhirta): shiny black body outlined in bright yellow fur, carrying a small piece of leaf e. Bicolored striped sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens): iridescent green thorax and zebra-striped abdomen f. Nomad bee (Nomada): tiny, red, wasp-like g. Long-horned bee (Melissodes): sharply striped with copious pollen clinging to fuzzy legs, long antennae h. Mason bee (Osmia): small, shiny bluish-black body i. White-shouldered bumblebee (Bombus appositus): large-ish, fuzzy, pale yellow with subtle stripes

j. Orange-rumped bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus): medium-sized bumblebee with black head, followed by a yellow scarf and prominent coppery-orange rump k. Metallic sweat bee (Lasioglossum (Dialictus)): tiny, shiny, black, dusted with bits of pollen l. Fuzzy-horned bumblebee (Bombus mixtus): fuzzy and pale yellow, with bulbous bare black dot on back, and extra thick antennae m. Striped sweat bee (Agapostemon): Similar to previous Agapostemon, but green is lighter and slightly turquoise n. Oval-headed sweat bee (Lasioglossum ovaliceps): tiny, slightly wasp-like, black head and thorax with thin wasit and reddish abdomen o. Long-horned bee (Melissodes): Neatly striped, greyish black and very pale yellow, almost white; silvery eye, long roving antennae p. Nevada bumblebee (Bombus nevadensis): large bumblebee, mostly black with fuzzy yellow back embedded with an obsidian dot q. Sharptail bee (Coelioxys): small, slender, sharply pointed tail, stark black and white striped abdomen, bumpy grey head and thorax r. California bumblebee (Bombus californicus): super frizzy, mostly black with yellow on head and tail

Today is World Bee Day! 🐝

As a kid, I knew of only 2 types of bees: honey bees & bumblebees. Now I know there are 20,000+ bee species globally, incl ~4K in N. America

I've documented at least 16 distinct native bee species right in my own backyard in Portland, Oregon! Photos below; IDs in Alt Text

"One Hundred Townspeople" is a set of figurines showing people from all walks of life. Japan, Edo period, 1717

#WorldHistory #History

A Great Horned Owl launches out of a hole in a tree. Here wings are above her and one of her fluffy youngsters can be seen behind her in the tree cavity.

A Great Horned Owl leaves her increasingly cramped nest located in the hollow of a tree. #wildlife #birds #owls

Photo of a Peace Rose, with petals of pink edges fading to a creamy yellow inside, making for a pinkish center of unopened petals, all above a background of light and dark green leaves.

#FlowerReport:
Gilroy, California, yesterday.

peace.

.

A small bird with shimmering green feathers and a long, pointed black bill perches on a short branch. Its throat is pale with a hint of yellow, and the background is softly blurred in natural tones.

Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar at @tapirvalley.bsky.social

#birds #nature #costarica

Photo of a Mallard sitting in dried leaves with the sun shining off his bright green head

A boyo taking a rest in the woods, as you do. #birds

This kind of made me cry a little. Everyone get together and put the vulnerable ones in the middle is what we should all be doing right now.

Good choice! 😊

A yellow lab on a snowy trail carrying a giant stick that is as wide as the trail

Branch Manager is thriving with the April snow

Art by • Brian Froud

Branch on ground, thick lichen covering it

Lichen windfall ...

I saw several of these in my travels yesterday! I wondered, while driving, about the differences between heron, crane, and egrets.

blog.nwf.org/2011/03/is-t...

I also saw several cranes 😊

Fried Eggs Worm (Archipheretima middletoni) Fried Eggs Worm in July 2013 by Chien Lee

because some earthworms defy these categories, living in riverbeds or up trees or under bark. Some live in (marine!) beach sand; others just move about in the open without burrowing like dear old Archipheretima middletoni. Another worm fact: this really exists! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

If you don't dial the toe beans do you even have a cat?
#Caturday

A man and his dog in a photo booth, 1943.

Cold Waters 𓆝 ⋆.

I saw a video the other day of an alligator being harassed by a crocodile in Florida.

Gator was definitely the cuter of the two.

Crocodile looked like an absolute dinosaur/ danger Godzilla in comparison.

Which is funny because I wouldn't want to be in the water with -either- of them.

Eurasian Otters (Lutra lutra) handmade black and white illustration with Ink on paper of a pair. Female looking up with two tiny ears in darker shades of grey, furry forehead, two eyes in black, nose and mouth. Long wishkers Male in the foreground with similar features, slightly bigger in size. Background is reeds and blooms; foreground is a smooth stone. Love is an Univeral emotion across all species! Eurasian Otters (Lutra lutra) Title: Eurasian Otters Study! Watercolors on paper 180 GSM scholar A3 sketchpad! 11.7 x 16.5 inches Reference: Carol Bennetto This work got displayed at St.Petersburg in 2022 at a national history museum (International Animalistic Exhibition)!

Love is an Univeral emotion across all species!
Eurasian Otters Pair (Lutra lutra) ink on paper, work got displayed at St. Petersburg at a national history museum.

#art #nature #illustration #sciart #scientificillustration #wildlifeart #traditionalart #endangeredspecies #otters #ink #love #care

A few weeks ago I posted an adult bark roach (Lanxoblatta rudis) and today I'm posting its super flat nymph. The "starry night" look is a teneral stage right after molting and before camouflage pigmentation appears. You can also see the network of tracheal tubes responsible for respiration.

Light stick

orange cat huddled in the snow. he is covered in blood and looks very sad

orange cat now cleaned up, bright eyed and holding a toy carrot

to be loved is to be changed

My photo shows three small baskets woven from esparto grass. They have been radio-carbon dated to the Mesolithic period some 9,500 years ago. Dimensions: Left basket: Height = 10.7 cm; Diameter = 7.2 cm Central basket Height = 9.4 cm, Diameter = 6.5cm Right basket: Height = 13.5 cm; Diameter = 8.6 cm The exceptional preservation of the baskets is due to “The unique conditions for the preservation of organic material in the cave are related to the null humidity resulting from the geological character of the cave. Moreover, a dry wind current is generated by the prevailing climate in the area, and the north-south direction and narrow and deep morphology of the Angosturas gorge channel the wind toward the cave, through the narrow upper entrance. The wind cools as it travels through the cave, increasing in speed; it is cold as it exits through another narrow entrance located in the lower part of the shelter. The lack of prevailing humidity in the area and the circulation of wind in the cave as it cools and dries prevent the proliferation of bacteria, increasing the amount and diversity of preserved perishable material at the site.” Quote from the research article: ‘The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol)’

WOW, these baskets are about 9,500 years old! 🤯

Look like they were made yesterday rather than by hunter-gatherers during the Mesolithic!

Made of esparto grass, they were found inside the Cueva de Los Murciélagos (Cave of bats), Spain.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid 📷 by me

#Archaeology

My kids asked why we made monthly trips to the local bookstore when you could just order books on line. I told them, "You have to support what you want to keep."

Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope: "Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is — we're here on Earth to fart around And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."

Kurt Vonnegut man

For a brief break from the world, please enjoy a tale of two slugs.

#MarineLife #inverts 🧪🦑🐙

Nudibranch Jorunna pantherina (I think!) and not-nudibranch Elysia coodgeensis in a tidepool, about 1cm and 5mm long respectively. And with a few bonus microscopic epifauna video-bombing.