I haven't played with watercolor pencil since I was a teen. Saw this set on clearance a few months ago, finally got around to using it.

#art

That explains why some of my flytraps have been mysteriously failing. Found this bugger when I cleaned out my camera, I was taking reference photos for a sketch. Just dug up the plant again to see if I could catch him, the whole section of the root and the culprit are gone. Little cutie got his snack, I guess.

#nature #gardening

Frosty dandelion from this morning's walk.
#nature

It's odd how much peace I've gained in my life from my family kicking me out when I was 19 over religion. Peace from what I learned by carrying everything I owned on my back for a year and a half. How I learned I could stick to my ideals, have the worst thing happen, and be just fine, eventually

I think it's weird how all of Trump rose and is falling with little talk of Milgram buzzing around. Like all of the Qanon and whatnot, people mindlessly following, why are we not hearing more of Milgram thrown around, given his infamous studies were motivated on whether Nazi Germany could happen in America, seems prime for discussion of Jan 6th? Did I miss a good article or two?

Have been watching Unbreakable lately, decided to throw out the voice of Lillian as I told the youngest and dogs to knock it off, they responded way better than usual. Cronehood, bring it on.

When sketching from botanical samples, it works best if one takes reference photos while the sample is fresh, even if the sample is in a pot or a jar of water to prevent wilting. This is doubly true when the plants in question are capable of rapid movement, and might stubbornly shut their mouths overnight, refusing to reopen them for days.

My grocery store Nepenthes (which only had "bug eating plant" on the label with zero mention of species) will be telling me who it is, soon. I've never owned this family before, I don't even know if the color might fade a little like a Sarracenia does as it swells, so it still could be a spotty type, or if it will continue to deepen. No spoilers please! I am enjoying the suspense and won't even try to identify it until the pitchers open.

#carnivorousplants #nepenthes #houseplants #gardening

This has got to be the matrix and the architect is high.

I made a microscope video for my kid :). She's 6, it's about life in a drop of water and shows a bladderwort trap. It's on Youtube, I embedded it in my blog to not use bandwith and space for it here.

https://tippitiwichet.com/2022/12/13/a-pond-water-video-for-my-baby-girl/

#microscope #nature #science #kids #carnivorousplants #bladderwort

Today I got cover glass and indented slides, making it MUCH easier to focus my highest magnification, I'm thrilled :). Apparently, if you try to use another slide as a cover slide, it's too thick to focus through, and otherwise I kept crashing into my subject. The first image is a composite of the best shots I could get of the structure of sphagnum moss. The second is from today, I can even finally clearly see chloroplasts!

#microscope #microscopy #botany #nature

Trying to figure out how to talk to certain people, can anyone shed any light on how people become both convinced that the majority rules (and the needs of others aren't being oppressed, it's just not being addressed), but at the same time they are being oppressed by a majority into silence by cancel culture, though they are supposedly a member of the majority?