Oh Fireflies...

As a budding naturalist, I volunteer as much as I can in the field but I also fall back on some other skills from time to time.  Below is a press release I helped write for the Arlington Master Naturalist program that I just graduated from and Long Branch Nature Center about the upcoming Firefly Festival (July 11).  Naturally, I'll be volunteering at the event too.  Can't wait to see it and hope you can make it too!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arlington’s Second Annual Firefly Festival Celebrates Summer’s Natural Night Lights, July 11, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.Enjoy firefly-themed games, crafts, nature walks and a “catch-and-release” hunt
ARLINGTON, Virginia (June 29, 2010) – A favorite childhood memory: Looking across a darkened meadow or across a canopy of trees at night and seeing hundreds of tiny lights flashing, dipping and bobbing – fireflies signaling in the night. Relive these memories and share new ones with your family at Arlington’s second annual Firefly Festival on Sunday, July 11, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. at Fort C.F. Smith Park (2411 N. 24th Street, Arlington, VA 22207).

Sponsored by the Long Branch Nature Center as part of the Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, the Firefly Festival is an opportunity to “celebrate fireflies, spend time with family and friends in a great Arlington setting, and teach people more than they every thought possible about these amazing insects,” says Alonso Abugattas, Acting Director of Long Branch Nature Center. “We all know and love fireflies, or lightning bugs as some people call them, but how often do we really stop and enjoy the show they put on? Our Firefly Festival is a great way to spend time outside with family and friends, and have fun with fireflies.”
Last year’s event included more than 400 festival-goers. This year, attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic to the park and enjoy a wide range of events, including: firefly arts and crafts, bug bingo, flashlight games, storytelling with marshmallows around a campfire, and a glowing trail nature walk. Everyone is encouraged to take place in an old-fashioned firefly hunt (catch-and-release required). And all who attended will be treated to a light show from Arlington’s more than 20 firefly species across the park’s expansive field and tree line.

The festival also boasts a terrific learning opportunity for those wanting to understand more about fireflies. Naturalists will be on hand to explain how to attract fireflies to backyard habitats, and attendees will learn how to maintain their backyards to suit to these and other insects.

Fascinating Firefly Facts

• There are approximately 2,000 firefly species in the world and somewhere between 24 and 36 of those species live in the Washington, DC, area.
• Fireflies light up as part of the mating process, although not all fireflies glow. Those that do emit light are primarily males signaling to attract females, who may or may not accept the invitation.
• One local firefly species – the Femme Fatale or Photuris genus – is predatory. The female will send a false signal to a male of another species to attract him and will then eat him when he arrives to mate.
• Fireflies can glow at all states of development. Some firefly larva, found under rocks and logs, also glow and are sometimes referred to as glowworms.
• The light produced by a firefly is 98% efficient with little heat given off. Scientists are studying this phenomenon to learn how to recreate it in other lighting applications.

Firefly Festival admission is $5 per person or up to $20 per family, and tickets can be purchased at the event. Heavy rain will cancel the event.

Contact: Long Branch Nature Center at 703-228-6535 or visit http://www.arlingtonva.us/calendar/default.aspx#EventDetails_9772.

About the Event’s Sponsors: Long Branch Nature Center is the sponsor of the Firefly Festival and is part of The Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources (PRCR), which promotes wellness and vitality through dynamic programs and attractive public spaces. PRCR’s vision is to ensure that Arlington is a happy and healthy place to live, learn, work and play.

Long Branch Nature Center: http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ParksRecreation/scripts/nature/ParksRecreationScriptsNatureLongbranch.aspx

Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture Resources:

http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ParksRecreation/ParksRecreationMain.aspx


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Two Very Different Transactions

I'm sure I've got more than one pet peeve, but the one that is striking me today has to do with checking out at the grocery store.  Why do cashiers leave one item at the very front of the conveyor belt to block the belt from moving forward while they take multiple items from behind the blocking item?  It just means that the belt won't move and I can't empty my cart in a nice leisurely pace.  Instead, they leave that one stinkin' item forever and then, when they finally ring it up, the conveyor belt moves a few feet quickly and I'm left to scramble to take my stuff out of the basket to get checked out.  Why is this?  Is there a logical reason behind it?  Can somebody tell me?  Do they want to make their line look longer so people won't come in it?  Are they sadists?  Does the belt move too fast and food comes flying at them?  It makes for a stressful checkout, I'll tell you.

On a far more positive note, I was at the bank today and overhead a good conversation.  A woman making a deposit got to talking with her teller and mentioned all of the pain she has in her hips.  The teller started to commiserate, but the woman quickly told her not to feel sorry for her.  Instead she said, "I love life.  And every day I wake up and feel the pain, I know I've got another day to enjoy life.  So as long as there is pain, I'm a happy woman."  Okay, that's a bit dramatic for a conversation with your bank teller, but still, a nice outlook on life.

My Work Here Is Done

After how many posts, it is high time that this blog lives up to its name and I actually comment on the most wonderful of meats, bacon.  Oh, bacon, how I love thee. 

For those who don't know it, I went through a period in my life (about 20 years off and on) where I didn't eat most kinds of meat.  The one meat exempted from this crazy abstinence fad was bacon. Why?  Because bacon is a condiment, not a meat.  Although, if you follow (and who doesn't) the best blog ever - Bacon Today - they will tell you, bacon is meat candy.  I think I'm sold on this concept because candy is so much more fun than condiments. 

And if you start following Bacon Today like you know you should, my work here is done.  On this site, you will learn about bacon-scented candles, colored bacon, how a poll in Canada had that population pick bacon over sex, and so much more.  You'll also read a touching (if not a bit odd) marriage proposal that involved bacon.  If we're one thing, bacon people are true to our passions.

Not surprisingly, I am now hungry for bacon and I find myself in a crazy situation where there is none in the house.  Must sign off now, and head to the store.

Mmm...bacon....

A Paradox

The mimosa tree is perhaps one of the most noxious of non-native, invasive trees in Northern Virginia, yet it's also just gorgeous when it's in bloom.  The flowers are delicate puffs of pink and the leaves look like miniature ferns, but the trees just take over in disturbed areas and knock out our lovely native plants.

Even still, this environmentalist can't help but enjoy the tree. Just wish I could see it in its native habitat and not here.

(photo at left: mimosa flowers on pavement)

A Bit Morbid, but That's Death for You

It's 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 7, 2010.  My father died at 3:14 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2008.  I just returned home from George Washington Medical Center with his remains.  What an odd sensation to be driving in the car with your father's bits and pieces.  He's not there, but he is at the same time.

Why did it take so long to retrieve my father after he died?  My dad donated his body to medical research, a rare and wonderful thing.  To anyone who knew him, this came as no surprise. He was a researcher himself and so is my mother, who will also be donating her body to research.  For those who support research, just be aware that getting closure might take some time because it takes ample time for doctors and researchers to do their work and have the medical students learn anatomy and all that good stuff.  Even still, 2 years, 4 months, and 3 days seems a bit long, if you ask me.

The actual pick up was a bit surreal. It's a gorgeous day here in Washington and the campus was full of kids enjoying the sun and the end of school.  I supposed the day would be darker, blustery even.  But once I found the building, the woman who greeted me and escorted me to the anatomy department couldn't have been nicer.  Sunshine personality all the way. The handoff itself was quite easy.  She handed me a bag with a box in it, I signed a piece of paper, she gave me a photocopy and them she escorted me to the elevator and told me how to get out.  Simple as pie.

What struck me as I waited for the elevator is how right on my dad's decision was.  The hallways at the hospital - at least on this floor - were covered with notices for lectures, research findings, reports and general information about very interesting medical and scientific research.  I couldn't help but say "Way to go, Dad," as I stood and waited. 

One surprise along the way was how heavy the bag and box were.  I had thought it would be lighter, having heard somewhere that our remains are mostly water and so what's really left when they're done is just a few pounds of dust and such. Out of curiousity, I weight the package - 8 pounds.  Shocking, really.  Now the bag and box are safely tucked in a closet until I can arrange for him to be interred at Arlington.  I think the fall will be a nice time for that so hopefully that will work out.

And, if you believe in coincidences, when I arrived home, I did so at the same time as my neighbors - just home from the hospital with their four-day-old baby girl (Piper).  New life and no life meeting in the driveway.  How's that for the cycle of life?

Plastics

My friend Nick and I have been talking a bit lately about why there seems to be such a preponderance of kids with ADHD, autism, Aspergers, pre-mature births, etc. Is it just that we are hearing about it more?  Is it because we're in a relatively affluent part of the world with well-educated parents who get these things identified?  I don't think that can be the whole story (Nick does).

I keep telling him it has to do with pesticides, those crazy little neurotoxins we so willingly spray all over our food.  Mostly, I'm telling him this because he's got his first garden ever and is using pesticides to protect his tomatoes.  Really?  In a home garden?  Isn't the point of growing your own to not have chemicals on them? 

But I digress.  Yes, there are good reasons to kill pests on food and it's what allows us to feed our ever-growing population and that of other countries.  The only problem is that neurotoxins don't just stop working after it kills the bug on your tomato.  It's in your food, and your nervous system is just as good a place to do it's job as a bug's. 

Nick's not buying this argument.  As he points out, we've had bad pesticides for generations and even worse ones if you go back to the 30s, 40s and 50s.  So why just now are we seeing the effects on this generation so heavily?  I keep telling him that once these bad boys get into your system, they are there working on you at the cellular and DNA level and that's the kind of thing that gets passed down through generations, mutating along the way.  Again, Nick's not buying this argument, and insists it's because of hyper-sensitive parents.  I'm not disagreeing fully, but I'm sticking with my side that we're overwhelmed with chemicals far more than prior generations and that could have something to do with it.

An interesting article in The New Yorker about the effect of plastics on us may be supporting my side (which I need in any argument with Nick).  A multi-generational study being done at Columbia of mothers and children is starting to show the effects of exposure to plastics over time in a family line.  And if you think pesticides are hard to wean off of, try going without plastic for a day.  Besides your water bottle, it's in your cosmetics, shampoo, personal care products, wrapped around your food and on and on. 

Now, there are other sides to the story and other research is getting different results, but just anecdotally don't you feel that you're hearing about more and stranger diseases showing up where once they were rare? Is Nick right, that it's only because parents are more vocal?  Or maybe are we killing ourselves in the name of "progress"?