The rose is from the little rose bush in my front garden.
From Google Search Labs | AI Overview:
Roses have a long history, with the earliest evidence suggesting their existence dating back 35 million years. Fossil evidence indicates roses were present in North America as early as the Late Eocene period (38 to 33.9 million years ago).
However, their cultivation in gardens, particularly in China, began roughly 5,000 years ago. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, wrote about roses being grown in imperial gardens about 2,525 years ago.
It’s the last Monday of May, and Memorial Day in the United States— the day for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Red poppies from a garden in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle. The red poppy is a nationally recognized symbol, worn to honor and remember all those who have served.
These stamps were on the envelope that landed in my mailbox today, mailed from the suburb of Northwood to the northwest of London.
(The Trump tariffs do not seem to affect my purchases of stamps on Ebay from overseas vendors. These are just envelopes with stamps in, though. I’m not sure what will happen if I order new albums and pages from overseas that come in a proper package).
Clockwise: Merry Christmas Issued Nov. 2, 2004 Perf. 14½x14 | Design: Raymond Briggs | Engraving: De La Rue | No Watermark 2238 BPD1 1st Class | Multicolored | Santa with red suit looking at sunset 25th Anniversary of Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Issued Aug. 12, 1981 Perf. 14 | Pair of stamps with gutter | Design: P. Sharland | Phosphorized paper | Litho. | No Watermark 1163 638 18p Greenish yellow, magenta, pale new blue, black, cobalt & gold | Woman at pottery wheel (“Skills”) Folklore Issued Feb. 6, 1981 Perf. 15×14 | Design: F. Wegner | Phosphorized paper | Litho. | No Watermark 1144 620 18p Dull ultramarine, lemon, lake-brown, bright green, black & gold | Morris dancers ‘A Merry May’ British Wildlife Issued Oct. 5, 1977 Perf. 14×15 | Design: P. Oxenham | ‘All-over’ phosphor | Litho. | No Watermark 1043 522 9p Reddish-brown, grey-black, pale lemon, bright turquoise-blue, bright magenta & gold | Badger (Meles meles) Millennium Stamps— Life and Earth Issued Apr. 4, 2000 Perf. 14¼x14½ | Design: Post office artists | Engraving: De La Rue | No Watermark 1837 BBX 2nd Class | Multicolored | Ecos Nature Park, Ballymena, Northern Ireland [Sources: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1 Volume 1 British Commonwealth 1998, stampword.com]
From capenature.co.za:
One of the Western Cape’s most mysterious mammals, the Boosmansbos long-tailed forest shrew (Myosorex longicaudatus boosmani), has made a reappearance, 46 years after it was last recorded!
The Boosmansbos long-tailed forest shrew (Myosorex longicaudatus boosmani) [Photo by Cliff Dorse, posted on capenature.co.za]Conservationists from CapeNature, Grootvadersbosch Conservancy and Helihack, together with volunteer biologists, were ecstatic at finding one of these tiny mammals on the edge of a pristine forest patch on CapeNature’s Boosmansbos Wilderness Area.
First described in 1979 by scientist Nico Dippenaar, the shrew was recognised as a unique subspecies, geographically isolated from its relatives by the Gouritz Valley. Its limited known range, combined with forest habitat loss and climate change, led to it being listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2016.
Nico Dippenaar, the scientist who first described the shrew in 1979 and recognised it as a unique subspecies, geographically isolated from its relatives by the Gouritz Valley. [Photo from capenature.co.za]Armed with Dippenaar’s habitat descriptions from his published account of the shrew, the team embarked on their fourth attempt in four years to find the shrew. Dippenaar, now retired, wished the group luck and fondly referred to the species as “a bit of a darling”. The survey took place from 3-6 May, with the shrew found on 4 May.
Previous attempts to catch the elusive shrew using standard rodent live traps had been unsuccessful, and it was hoped that a new method – pitfall traps – would be more rewarding. But getting all the necessary gear up to the remote wilderness area, with no vehicle access, was a challenge.
Fortunately for the team, Helihack came to the rescue. This initiative is focused on safeguarding the protected area from invasive alien pines, using helicopters to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. In partnership with CapeNature, Helihack has already made huge strides in addressing this threat to the World Heritage Site. The team were airlifted to a wilderness campsite and then hiked down to set 76 pitfall traps across various habitats.
Each trap was prepared with bedding, shelter, and the occasional earthworm. At first, the traps yielded nothing—but one of the final traps revealed a small mammal with a 6 cm tail, unmistakably the long-lost Boosmansbos long-tailed forest shrew. Weighing just 13.7 grams, it was measured, photographed, and released unharmed into its forest habitat.
Left to right: Dominique Coetzee and Makoma Mpekwane (CapeNature Conservation Officers, GVB), Dr Andrew Turner (CapeNature Restoration Ecologist), Dr Marienne de Villiers (CapeNature Faunal Ecologist), Cliff Dorse (biologist). [Photo from capenature.co.za]This remarkable discovery was made possible by a group of enthusiastic, motivated, and skilled partners working together to achieve a range of biodiversity goals—from conducting surveys to managing invasive alien plants—all in an effort to keep the superb Boosmansbos in a healthy state for all to enjoy. A genetic sample of the shrew will now be analysed to clarify its relationship to lower-altitude relatives, while further research is needed to better understand its life history, behavioural ecology, and the status of its only known population. Intensive surveys of other forest patches may yet reveal more about its distribution. But for now, it’s enough to celebrate that the special shrew of Boosmansbos is still alive and well!
I found these bearded irises on my walk tonight.
Similar-looking ones online are called ‘Stepping Out’, and that may be what this white-and-purple variety is called.
The weather was cool today (55°F / 13°C), with a light rain— just enough to form pearly droplets on plants with large, waxy leaves.
I believe these are redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) leaves.
It made me look up the surface tension* of water again (see table below). Water has the highest surface tension of almost all common liquids. There is mercury of course, that blows all the competition away. On the low end, liquid helium stands alone with virtually no surface tension, and in a state of superfluidity it flows without friction or viscosity.
*Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects to float on a water surface without becoming even partly submerged. [Wikipedia]
The cartoonist is Dave Blazek. [Hint: That is a gnome and a gnu*, sitting at the bar]. *Gnu— a wildebeest, a large antelope native to eastern and southern Africa.
The rhododendron flowers are out here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
The flowers are gorgeous, but in some parts of the world (such as in Ireland) these plants are considered an invasive species that upset the local ecosystems.
Can you spot the Cape gannet (sea bird) that looks a little different from the other seven, in the block of stamps below?
There was a flaw in the printing plate for this sheet of 5c stamps from 1974.
On one of the stamps, some of the gray and blue ink is missing.
From the Second Definitive Issue set of stamps (Birds, Fish and Flowers) for the Republic of South Africa Issued Nov. 11, 1974 Design: Ernst de Jong |Perf. 12½ |Engraving & Photolitho. |Phosphorized paper |No wmk SA Color Catalogue #363 |5c |Multicolored |Cape gannet (Morus capensis)
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