I had no idea the view from the far end was so nice.

I did know about the view in the other direction.

Except for the acres of parking lot, of course.

Thank you, Thora! You’ve pointed me toward any number of resources I never would have found on my own.

And now, I’m off to the library to pick up an obscure reference.

And it quite looks like a canyon, too, at least in spots.

You’ll be utterly unsurprised to hear that most of my photographic efforts have gone toward pictures of plants and fungi. But this last trip we saw more interesting animals.

This is a raggedy Red Admiral. We saw several, but they were mostly uninterested in sitting for a portrait.

The first snake zipped away too fast for a photo, but this one obliged, at least by zipping to somewhere I could get a clear shot.

I’m pretty sure that’s a Northern Water Snake. Which would only make sense.

I learned something interesting while I was looking up Pennsylvania snakes: all our poisonous snakes have slitted pupils like a cat, while all our nonvenomous snakes have round pupils.

Round. Neat.

I’ve seen these millipedes every time I’ve been to Spring Creek Canyon this year, from late March onward.

I think they must be Apheloria virginiensis, a common forest dweller. They can be yellow instead of orange like the specimen in the Wikipedia link. These millipedes exude cyanide from their skin: I’m glad I didn’t pick any up.

Poisonous millipedes: I wonder if their pupils are round or slitted? (Actually, insects don’t have pupils.)

I have to admit, those are rather nice. But I’m afraid after a winter in a tree it’s not all that artistic. If I take regular photos of the nest melting into my flowerbed does that count?

It looked like that October and hung on all winter, progressively raggedier, peeling around the edges, but still attached to the maple.

It was during the wet and windy snowstorm, I think, but I didn’t notice the carcass right away. Now it’s slowly turning into pulp in my front flowerbed.

This is a problem.

Flowers are blooming.

And the trees are in full leaf.

Some places got a lot more snow, and associated power outages. We haven’t had a big snowstorm since October. When, yes, the leaves were on the trees.

I got off lightly: the NWS was originally predicting 4-8 inches, but we got maybe one, and though it’s been snowing on and off all day nothing has accumulated.

The problem with calling it global warming, well, “global warming” is that it isn’t exactly. Changing the composition of gases in the atmosphere traps more solar radiation, which can manifest as warmer temperatures, but also increases the amount of energy in the system.

More energy means changed global circulation patterns, in both the atmosphere and the oceans. Weather patterns will change, in some cases dramatically. In one extreme scenario, the Gulf Stream current could stop, resulting in dramatically colder temperatures in the northeastern United States and especially in northwestern Europe.

More immediately, the increased energy in the global system means more frequent and more intense storms. Tornados anyone?

Increased energy will disrupt established climate patterns in new and unusual ways: 80F in March and snow in late April could become the new normal, exceptfor the years when it snows in March and is 90F in April.

A lot of places will become warmer, especially Arctic and Antarctic regions, and places that are very dry now, like the Southwestern United States. Rainfall patterns will change: wetter or drier, and at different times of year.

I think, though, that the chaos will be the biggest problem.

And I’ve just re-opened the store. I really hated to close it in the first place, but there was no way I could do all my work and run a business. Fortunately I can do that when necessary, and I hope that it isn’t necessary again. If you’re one of my customers, thanks for your patience. I updated the international shipping set-up. It doesn’t look like I broke anything, but if you have trouble do let me know.

It’s raining, finally. I don’t know if it will be enough to avert the drought we’re heading toward, but it will certainly help. I think I might need to go snuggle the cat and read a book.

I was going to make bread today, to go with Janiece’s lovely jam, but I didn’t get to it. Biscuits might be just the thing, though. (How good is her jam? Well, she switched to wide-mouth jars after I complained about her narrow ones because I couldn’t get my tongue in far enough to lick up the last drops. It’s good.)

Are you getting a tax refund? Let me help you spend it. These two new books look lovely.

Textiles and Textile Production in Europe: From Prehistory to 400AD is published by us in association with the Centre for Textile Research. In archaeology, the study of textiles is often relegated to the marginalised zone of specialist and specialised subject and lack of dialogue between textile researchers and scholars in other fields means that as a resource, textiles are not used to their full potential or integrated into the overall interpretation of a particular site or broader aspects of human activity; this major new survey aims to redress this. Twenty-three chapters collect and systematise essential information on textiles and textile production from sixteen European countries, resulting in an up-to-date and detailed sourcebook and an easily accessible overview of the development of European textile technology and economy from prehistory to AD 400. Extensively illustrated, with over 200 colour illustrations, maps, chronologies and index, this will be an essential sourcebook not just for textile researchers but also the wider archaeological community.

The single volume Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1450 is a unique work that intends to bring together in 582 signed articles the latest research from across the range of disciplines which contribute to our knowledge of medieval dress and textiles. There has been a long-standing interest in the subject, which has recently manifested itself in a flowering of research and publications, including activities by the editors of the Encyclopaedia: the foundation of DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics and Fashion) as an umbrella organization for the presentation of papers at the major medieval congresses in Kalamazoo and Leeds (Netherton and Owen-Crocker); the establishment of the annual journal Medieval Clothing and Textiles (Netherton and Owen-Crocker); the Manchester Medieval Textiles Project (Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker); and the AHRC Lexis of Cloth and Clothing Project (Owen-Crocker and Sylvester).

Not feeling so wealthy? Maney Publishing has made the last three years of the Journal of Field Archaeology free to read online until 15 May.

The Society for Medieval Archaeology has made the first fifty issues of Medieval Archaeology accessible online in celebration of their fifieth anniversary.

Hotel Sheep

(Yes, I know.)

Though I’m pretty sure that mowing the lawn, as I did Friday, wasn’t on the schedule for another few weeks. And the dandelions blooming already? Ridiculous!

They’re not the only things blooming. I thought it was May flowers, but not this year.

More.