Category: conservation

Miss Pearce (Has a Friend)
American painter · art · art history · blogging · conservation · fantasy · fashion · fate · French Fashion · history · Humor · Miss Pearce · Outlander · Thomas Sully · Writing

Miss Pearce (Has a Friend)

Amy32 Comments

I mentioned Miss Pearce a few months ago, when she was bequeathed to me along with some other fine art. I have to be honest: I’m only keeping two of the pieces. Miss Pearce and the little girl. I donated the Raphael to Goodwill. And if anyone wants the Renoir, let me know. I’m not a fan of his work because everyone looks like a corpse. I can’t deal with the gray skin tones. I don’t think I need to tell the person who bequeathed me the items what I’m doing with them – after all, this person was my writing mentor, now won’t even read my blog (“Blogs are too personal, and I am not interested in reading self-serving drivel,” or some eye roll-worthy shit like that), and has permanently left the country. But Enough Of That.

Miss Pearce, American, c. 1840

Miss Pearce has her post in the hallway, glancing toward my room evermore. She seems quite mischievous. And her satin dress is silver, which I found out after I scrubbed it down with a gentle cloth. I also cleaned up the gold frame, which is immense and probably worth more than the print.

But who is Miss Pearce? Or – more accurately – who was Miss Pearce?

Some say she was the best friend of the wife of the painter Thomas Sully and was painted around 1840. He was an American painter who lived from 1783 through 1872. Other resources report the painting is American (unknown artist), done around 1840. It’s not difficult to discern the time period of the clothing, but it seems a bit difficult to discern who actually painted her. It seems to be the original is somewhere in Massachusetts, but even that isn’t that definitely known to me. If any of you know more about Miss Pearce and her origins, please leave a comment!

I suppose it will remain a mystery for now. Sometimes a little mystery ads a certain… je ne sais quoi. I like the expression on her face. She is animated and seems to be a tad bored. She has the hint of a smirk and wide eyes, a very light brown shade. Ascertaining her expression is subjective, of course, but we can all agree she’s looking to her left, and something over there has caught her eye. She’s been hanging in my hallway for several months, and frankly, there is nothing of interest anywhere near her, so…I rectified that.

Miss Pearce and her new friend

I will not claim the image she now gazes upon is of the correct time period, but we all know Jamie Fraser is quite familiar with time traveling ladies. He broods in his French finery from Season Two. I think I’ve discussed my affinity for Season Two and its costumes, so I shall not bore you, Dear Reader. I will simply link to my previous blog about it here.

At least now she has something to look at. I pass her by every evening on my way to bed. I wish her a good evening and give her a sideways glance. I’ll have to see if she has an extra twinkle in her eye tonight, now that Monsieur Fraser is next to her. Just as I wish time travel were truly possible, I wish Night at the Museum (Er – Night in Amy’s Hallway?) was also a possibility. I can totally imagine Miss Pearce climbing out of her painting to get a closer look, can’t you? If I hear noises in the hallway, my first guess will be it is Susie playing. If Susie is nowhere in sight, it’s obvious Miss Pearce has hopped out of the painting. Don’t worry, I will check to make sure the painting isn’t blank.

Hmm. This scenario is playing in my mind, turning around, gathering steam and gathering ideas much like an avalanche as it rolls downhill. Maybe Miss Pearce is up for an adventure in a different time and place?

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The Doctor’s Mansion
architecture · art · conservation · finding the muse · history · Old homes · Photography · prose · Writing

The Doctor’s Mansion

Amy5 Comments

Recently, Facebook reminded me of a post I made in 2014. I copied that post and saved the accompanying photo I captured out of the window of my car, and planned on publishing what I wrote and the photograph as a sort of stroll down memory lane. But I realized I didn’t have much of a memory lane to scroll down, so that led me to the Internet. With what I remembered of the house, I did a search and found a Facebook account (credit to Facebook account Abandoned Steve, and photos will be credited to their owners) and a YouTube channel featuring abandoned mansions and properties in Pennsylvania (again, all credit to Abandoned Steve). I found the house which I had always called “My House,” because as a small child, barely able to see above the door and out of the window, and down the long driveway to the terra-cotta roof tiles, I always wanted to live there. And by live there, I mean I wanted to purchase the house when I was a grown-up. My mom told me stories of “The Doctor’s Mansion,” and I had all but forgotten most of the details, which weren’t very many to begin with. I found out today it was called Bella Vista by the surgeon who owned it and helped build it. Yes, a surgeon at a local hospital was also the general contractor on the project. Can you imagine how that went? More on him later. He was quite something, in a good way.

I am still going to post my original Facebook memory about this house, but I am going to post the beginnings of the house before I post the end. I sadly still don’t have too much information, but I am still doing research and if I come up empty-handed, I’ll employ my writer’s mind to add details. Do stay tuned for this post, but please be patient as I still have to do research on the house, and my new job training continues to be my number one priority. And also my number one vehicle to exhaustion.

When that Facebook memory popped up, a small spark that had temporarily been snuffed out by new work obligations, training and an exhausted mind and body, to be quite frank, was lit again. My muse this time is a small child’s long-ago memory that I can bring back to life. I am old enough, my creative mind now developed enough to put the awe I felt into words. I can now hear the parties held at the mansion: live music, clinking glasses and uproarious laughter amid extended family and friends on sixteen acres of a beautiful view.

Mourning Dove Love
animals · birds · conservation · daily prompt · Humor · Love · Nature · Nature photography · Summer

Mourning Dove Love

Amy9 Comments

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

I didn’t want to answer this prompt by saying, “I recycle, reuse and repurpose,” not because I don’t do those things (I do), but because I felt like it would be a common answer. After a bit of deliberation, I found my prompt answer in an unusual spot. It seems the mourning doves felt very comfortable and a bit frisky in the front flower bed this morning.

That got me thinking. I have noticed there are teenaged squirrels in the backyard and teenaged starlings at the birdbath.

Thus, my contribution to sustainability is providing a natural reproductive habitat for birds, rodents, insects, and possibly Toady McToaderson – if he can find his mate one of these nights. Poor Toady.

Mourning Doves feeling the love
Help the Fireflies
animals · beetles · conservation · fireflies · lightning bugs · Nature · Summer

Help the Fireflies

Amy23 Comments

AKA Lightning Bugs, these precious creatures are dwindling in numbers. Pesticide use, along with light pollution – i.e. bright lights alongside of your house, in your yard, and in your neighborhood, as well as more urban area lighting in general are contributing factors in the decline in numbers that we are seeing.

I used to see hundreds of them in my backyard every summer starting in June. Seeing them is a staple of summer. Seeing them is a marker that summer is here. Seeing less of them each year is concerning.

I went on a quest this morning to see if there was an organization or any way that I can contribute to slowing the progression of possible extinction of these beetles – the projection is 20 years and they will be no more. I can’t imagine a world without lightning bugs.

I found an organization that collects scientific data on fireflies, and the best part is that we can all contribute. It’s science and it’s fun!

The organization is called Firefly Atlas, and, well, that’s pretty much what it is.

The Firefly Atlas is a collaborative effort to better understand and conserve the diversity of fireflies in North America. Launched in 2022, the project aims to advance our collective understanding of firefly species’ distributions, phenology, and habitat associations, as well as to identify threats to their populations.

Although the Atlas tracks all species described from the US and Canada, we are currently prioritizing efforts for a subset of 13 threatened and data deficient species found in three focal regions of the US: the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Southwest. These priority regions were chosen based upon having a high number of threatened species (Fig 1) and/or a high number of data deficient species (Fig 2).

Figures 1 and 2. Threatened species (left) are clustered in the Southwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic through Midwest regions of the U.S. In the West, data deficient (DD) species (right) make up a far larger percentage of each state’s firefly fauna than in the East, with the exception of Florida. Figures extracted from State of the Fireflies of the United States and Canada: Distributions, Threats, and Conservation Recommendations.

Figure 1
Figure 2

What Can You DoThrough This Project?

  • Find information about how to survey for 13 focal species;
  • Access survey protocols and species identification materials;
  • Submit observational data, including photos;
  • Identify the fireflies in your photos, with the potential for verification by experts;
  • Download a species checklist for your state or province of interest;
  • Learn more about fireflies, their ecology, and ongoing conservation efforts;
  • Help researchers better understand the distribution of fireflies; and
  • Connect with other researchers, land managers, and community scientists.

Whether you already keep records of firefly observations, work as a conservation professional, or are simply curious to learn more about the fireflies in your area, please consider joining our efforts!

Images and copy from fireflyatlas.org

https://www.fireflyatlas.org/

Please follow this link and if you feel inspired, let the little scientist in you participate. If you are not able to participate, please consider donating to this organization that is collectively trying to save our beloved, luminescent-bootied summer creatures.

Hundreds of fireflies, you would not believe your eyes