Bobbing sailboats, moored for the night, in a natural harbor on Madison’s Lake Mendota. The last vestiges of the sun before it disappears beyond the horizon gives the water a shimmery appeal. Summer evenings can be a bit of heaven when there’s an easy breeze off the lake and time enough to relax and appreciate the end of a good day.
Celebrating Fourth of July at the Farmers Market
Does cheese sell better at the Fourth of July Farmers’ Market if it’s promoted by a flag draped cow?
And does popcorn sell better if it’s red, white and blue in honor of the Fourth of July?
Well, I know cookies sell better when they are decorated as American flags in the traditional red, white, and blue. I saw the proof in lots of hands and mouths, and not only little tykes.
Floating Flowers
I’ve been more than a little pre-occupied with an extended visit from family, but all my company is leaving tomorrow. Tonight, while they are busy packing, I’m finally getting back to my camera and my computer. I missed my photography, definitely a habit by now, so I don’t think it will take me long to get back in the groove.
This photo is from one of my favorite places, the Olbrich Botanical Garden in Madison. I love to visit this place in every season of the year, but I think summer is hard to beat. There are flowers blooming along every path, but green is still the predominate color. Lawns, bushes, and trees are all lusciously green, evidence of the more than adequate rainfall we have had this spring.
I needed an ID on this flowering shrub, though I only photographed a few white flowers, and those seemingly floating in space. The bush is only 3 to 4 feet in height, full of clusters of tiny flowers and these flat petaled flowers. Uphilldowndale came in with the identification while I slept, dreaming of the ‘nameless’ flowers.
Thanks, UHDD!
BTW, she has an awesome story and photo of a dairy bull on her newest post–an animal I should be well familiar with living in Wisconsin, but am not. Dairy herds usually use artificial insemination. Seemingly an easier alternative? Yuk!
I will give a nod to the organic dairy farmers in the area who keep more to traditional methods!
Siberian Tiger, Critically Endangered Species, at Vilas Park Zoo
This is the newest animal on exhibit at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, and he is an awesome, handsome animal. Cyber is a 9 year old Amur Tiger, also known as a Siberian Tiger. His species of big cats is the largest in size, and one of the most critically endangered. Fully mature, he will stretch nearly 14 feet in length and weigh about 650 pounds. There are only 450 Amur Tigers left in the world – 300 in the wild and 150 in zoos. Their habitat is so fragile, there is fear that there will be no tigers–no tigers of any species–left in the wild in just a couple of years.
The Siberian tiger differs in appearance from the Bengal tiger by its thicker mane which wraps around its neck and part of its head. Considering its habitat is mostly in eastern Russia (Siberia), the tigers can probably use the extra cuff for warmth.
A recently as 80 years ago, there were 8 known sub-species of tigers. However in the 20th Century, 3 of the 8 species became extinct. The Siberian tiger is considered “critically” endangered – the most serious of the endangered categories, though a breeding program in international zoos based in China, Europe and North America appears to be fairly successful.
The 5 remaining sub-species of tigers, from most common to least common/most endangered, are the Bengal (India, Bangladesh, Nepal), the Indochinese (Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam), the Malayan (Malay Peninsula), the Sumatran (Indonesian island of Sumatra), the Siberian (eastern Siberia), and also the South China Tiger (South China) which will almost certainly soon be extinct. There are fewer than 60 of the South China Tigers, all in captivity, from a gene pool of only 6 tigers, which is not enough to save the species. There has only been one sighting of this tiger in the wild since 1983.