We have these nice words for lichen thallus morphology–crustose, squamulose, foliose, fruticose–but lichens are rebels. They like to do their own thing and defy expectations. I am at a loss for how to classify the growth form of this P. peltata. It is umbilicate (meaning it is attached by a central hold fast) and can be monophyllous (made up of one main “leaf”) or lobate (made up of mutliple “leaves”). The thallus is usually plane to concave, and the margins are usually rolled downward away from the center. The upper surface is pale yellow or yellow-green, matte, and cracked. The lower surface is brownish, with bluish-black edges,and can be strongly crack toward the center. Apothecia are abundant, crater-like, and have an orangish disc. The apothecial margin is usually thalline (contains both mycobiont and photobiont), and cracked or crenulate around the disc. P peltata colonizes calcium-rich or siliceous steep rock surfaces in temperate, boreal, and mountain habitats. It has a disjointed range that stretches from S Europe to SW and central Asia, into N Africa, and throughout western North America. Besides being confusing morphologically, this little rebel is chemically variable as well. And on top of that, genetic analysis sorted this lichen into a new clade only 5 years ago. Keep us guessing, little friend. You make the world more interesting that way (and give us scientists something to study).
Broke: Deciding to preemptively hate the latest Austen adaptation because it’s not an identical copy of the book and/or your favorite existing adaptation and shitting on anyone who disagrees with you
Woke: Opening yourself up to new Austen adaptations even though you still think there is one definitive best version
Bespoke: Truly loving every single adaptation and being absolutely thrilled that the classic stories so near and dear to your heart are constantly getting new life and fresh perspectives and knowing that all of these unique adaptations can coexist while enhancing and informing one another and at the very least now you’ll have another love confession scene to add to your list of ‘YouTube videos to cry to’
“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
more often than not it’s following the adventures of the four adorable goofballs from shipwrecked comedy. yesterday for a perk on her individual patreon mk and sean did a livestreamed reading of the play last train to nibroc. it was beautiful and sweet and moving, and at the end i mentioned in the chat that it was my birthday and what a wonderful present they’d given me.
they said some very nice things in response that made me smile. a lot.
I usually have a biggish coffee drink of some kind in the early- to mid-afternoon. If I forget I wake up the following day with a slight caffeine-withdrawal headache. Not proud of that, but it has become a thing.
The version I make most often is iced coffee from the home-brewed pot I made a day or two before. I mix in some sugar (half a teaspoon, maybe, for about 14 ounces of coffee?) then throw in a bunch of ice and finally some half-and-half (if I’m being self-indulgent) or milk and watch it curdle around. I like that part.
tranquil: what’s something you do every day?
The most me-specific thing is probably the daily eBird list. My personal rule is that it must be a “complete”/non-“incidental” list (which is an eBird thing meaning I was actively birding as a focused activity and am listing every bird I was able to identify). My current streak (which dates pretty precisely to when the current obsessive interest kicked in after a lifetime of more-casual birding) is:
Lately (or in the past, when I’ve had a cold or flu or whatever) the list has sometimes just been me standing in my tiny backyard. In those cases my rule is that I have to bird for at least 10 minutes. This morning’s was one of those. After waking up I was in the bathroom doing what one does (sorry; tmi) and out the window saw some distant swallows. One species that I know has recently begun migrating through is Violet-green Swallow, and these looked like they might be those. But the current zeitgeist requires obsessive hand-washing even before excessive birding, and by the time I could get outside with my bins they were gone. But I figured I might as well do my daily list, and just as the mandatory 10 minutes was coming to a close I saw the same or a different flock flying over, and mixed in with the expected Cliff Swallows were a number of Violet-greens, huzzah!
honey: what’s your favourite memory?
Oh wow. There are so many to choose from.
I’m going to pick this one: I’m 4 or 5, in the backyard of the house on Hilton Dr. My grandparents are visiting from back east, and I’m sitting with my grandmother. She points out a mockingbird on the lawn. “When it flies you’ll see white flashes in its wings. You can always tell a mocker by the white flashes in its wings.” And then it does fly, and the flashes are there.
I don’t really remember the bird, or the house. But I remember her smile, and her voice, and the way her hair curled around her head.
the fact that people need to be TOLD to wash their hands has me like 🤢🤢🤢
Okay but like the coronavirus advice isn’t just that you should wash your hands a regular amount, it’s that you should wash your hands as often as possible.
Washing your hands after going to the bathroom, before prepping or eating food, if they’ve got dirty etc is a normal amount. People should be doing that all the time anyway.
The advice atm is on top of that, to wash your hands as soon as you get home, as soon as you get to school/work, if you touch your face, before and after you touch other people, especially if they’re immunocompromised or sick, and after you’ve been in public places, especially crowded places where everyone has been touching the same handrails, door handles, lift buttons etc.
Mentioned this on That Other Platform, but something I hadn’t thought of until a coworker (who has a family member possibly with covid quarantining with them) mentioned it: not just wash your hands all the time and be careful with fomites and try not to touch your face, but if you do need to touch your face (like to brush and floss or whatever), wash your hands before and after. Before to protect you. After to protect everyone else in case you’re carrying the virus and are pre- or asymptomatic.
Until we get testing [white-hot rage about lack of testing deleted] we’re all playing a very particular game together, and we’re all on offense and defense at the same time.
