Happy Birthday "Aunt Bennie"

On Saturday afternoon July 23rd friends and relatives gathered to celebtate the 112th birthday of Bernice Madigan, "Aunt Bennie". She grew up in Cheshire, MA and when she graduated from Adams High School, moved to Washington, DC to work for the government as a stenorgrapher, during World War I. She eventually married, and lived in Silver Springs, MD until she returned to her roots and the Emerson family in Cheshire.

It was a wonderful sunny day, for friends, and relatives, from near and far, to visit during the afternoon, and visit Aunt Bennie for her birthday. Many of her friends from Maryland were able to attend. Aunt Bennie is the oldest sentenarian in Massachusetts.

Aunt Bennie moved back "home" to Cheshire and met many new friends. Marion is having a brief visit with her, as have all the visitors during the afternoon. She tries to visit her about once a week, and always enjoys the time with her. She has lots of stories to tell about her experiences over the years. Lots of laughter to share, too. She is an avid reader of books and newspapers, and loves doing puzzles, too.

Before the afternoon celebration was over, the Chief of Police arrived and took Aunt Bennie for a ride around Cheshire Lake. It was her first time in a police crusier, and the Chief made sure everyone new he had a passenger--on the way home, he turned on the siren!

Eric's dog Moose, In Memorium

Moose at Mt. Hood.

Moose was adpted in 2004 while Eric was a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Eric lost Moose this July. Marion and Barre were taking care of Moose when we witnessed that he was under extreme distress breathing. We took him to the Vet. where we received the bad news that he had Cancer. Eric got back to Massachusetts to be with him before he was put down. Moose brought many happy times to Eric as they travelled together throughout Northern United States. Marion and Barre also enjoyed dog-sitting Moose when Eric was away at Yellowstone or the University of Michigan Biological Station.

Moose, Eric, Marion and Barre at Priest River, Idaho. Moose was adoped here from "foster parents"at Priest River, Animal Rescue.

Eric and Moose at Beartooth Pass northeast of Yellowstone National Park.

Moose at Beartooth Pass, elevation almost 13,000 ft.

Moose descending stairs to Ossipee lake looking for chipmunks. This was his favorite passtime at the lake. photo: June 2011.

Moose about three weeks before his death at Ossipee Lake.

Last Months Travels

In mid-June, Barre and Eric were scheduled to co-teach the aquatic plant mini-course at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS). Upon arriving at Oswego, NY to stay with Eric the night before the three of us were to depart for Michigan, we learned that Moose, Eric's dog, had come up limp. So Eric had to stay back in New York to find out what was the problem with Moose. So Barre and Marion headed off to Michigan via Niagara Falls and Ontario.

UMBS is located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, 18 miles south of the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) on Douglas Lake. Barre first visited the station in 1974 when he visited Dr. Edward Voss. The following summer and in 1977, Barre was asked to assist Dr. Robert Haynes with the aquatic plant course. In 1985 Barre returned to teach the aquatic plant course and has returned to teach the aquatic plant mini-course 3 times including this summer. Eric and Paul grew up as a camp-kids. Eric returned as a student and then was a 3-time graduate assistant for Ed Voss and the Boreal Flora course. He then returned for three more summers as graduate assistant for Dr. Claudia Jolls in the Ecology course. During 2009 Eric taught the Flora of Northern Michigan Course. This summer he is again teaching the same course.

UMBS has been in operation since 1909. Students and researchers originally lived in tents, then many metal cabins, which still exist today. They are the favored residents for students. Faculty and researchers enjoy more modern facilities. Research facilites, library, the main lecture hall and eating facilities are top notch. The station is located on Douglas Lake on South Fishtail Bay just east of the town of Pellston. The photo above is Main Street.

This photo is of "Blissville", the metal cabins where the married couples lived. Barre taught 10 students in June. We travelled to the Upper Peninsula (UP) twice, crossing the 5.5 mile Mackinac Bridge (above).

We returned to New York, picked up Moose and headed home to Massachusetts. The week Eric was home with Moose was a blessing in a way. Eric closed on the house he has been renting for two years and headed out to Michigan. He is now a home-owner. Moose was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and was getting along fairly well. The next week Barre headed to Maine and Marion headed to Lake Ossipee. On the way to Steuben, Maine one crosses the new Verona Island Bridge at Bucksport. In the photo above you will notice the old suspension bridge is still standing.

Barre has taught the aquatic plant week-long course frequently since 1992. The Humboldt Research Station at Eagle Hill is sort of a mini-version of UMBS. The station is located on Dyer Bay (above) about one hour east of Acadia National Park and Mt. Desert Island. Barre had a small group of 4 students. They travelled along coastal Maine, north to the Bangor area, and up north to Aroostook County and Presque Isle. collecting aquatic plants. During the week two moose were seen on the Aroostook County trip.

Marion joined Paul, Michelle, and Noel at Ossipee Lake (view above). They were at the lake on a two-week vacation from Texas. Barre joined them over the weekend and we spent the week with the family. We enjoyed the Fourth of July with family, cousins and neighbors next door at cousin Gordon Brown's home. That evening we joined Gordon and family on his pontoon boat on the lake to watch the Ossipee fireworks. Approximately 100 boats were out in the lake to watch them.

Noel with Moose on the beach. Noel particularly enjoyed walking and feeding him. The five of us enjoyed playing the board game "A Ticket To Ride" every day. now back to Adams for a week. Barre's sister Joan arrives at the lake from Placitas, New Mexico next week. We will get the chance to visit with her before returning home for the 112th birthday party of "Aunt Bennie", an aunt to one of Marion's friends. Marion visits her weekly when home.

Barre's trip to the outback

Andre and Barre set out for a two-week collecting trip through the outback of northern Australia in seach of waterlilies as part of an on-going project. The trip took us from Daintree, Qld. on the northeast coast to central Australia as far west as Darwin, Northern Territory and Kakadu National Park. We travelled in Andre's 19 year old Suburu. We headed to Normanton and Burketown to previously collected sites. We had only limited success there due to the floods that had scoured out waterways. We then headed south to Camooweel, Qld via Gregory Downs. We were told that the Gregory Downs road was open but not recommended for cars. We decided to go that way anyway. The above empty road train had stopped for coffee at Gregory Downs. This is the typical length of road trains on rural roads of western Queensland and Northern Territory. The maximum length allowed is 155 meters. Thankfully we did not meet any road trains on the Gregory Downs/Camooweel Road. Off we went down the dirt/rock track, over an extremely rough road. About half way down the road, the car started to sway. We stopped and found that we had two back flat tires. Now the"fun" began. We had only one spare. We were approximately 60 km from any help. We changed the one tire and started limping down the road. Luck was with us. About a km. down the road was a family that had stopped for a toilet break. We asked if they had a compressor with them. They did and helped pump up the tires. They sold us the small compressor and we started off again, stopping twice to change tires. We arrived at Camooweel on Easter Sunday and were lucky enough to get help and buy two tubes for the tires. They had numerous punctures from the rocks.

We stopped to collect waterlilies at the Georgina River in Camoweel and then on to the Northern Territory for the next stop at the James River (above). This is one of the better sites for Nymphaea georginae, one of the species Surrey Jacobs and I named. We found two new sites near the James River. Then we were off down the Highway at 130 km/hr (75 mph). This is the speed limit in the Northern Territory. About 100 kms. from Camooweel, the back right tire blew again. Now all we could hope is that we could make it to civilization to get a new tire.

That night we stopped at Barkly Homestead (above). We arrived around 7:00 pm. We had to change our clock back 1/2 hour to Northern Territory time. This is the only stop from Camooweel to Three Way (jct. of Stuart Highway) just north of Tennent Creek. We inquired at Barkly if they repaired tires. They did not, so in the morning it was off to Tennent Creek. The only problem was it was Anzac Day (Fed. Holiday) and everything was closed. The tire store had a number in case of emergency, so we got help and a new tire for an additional $50. It was then north on the Stuart Highway toward Darwin.

We ended up spending the night at a very nice motel and caravan park in the Town of Mataranka. This is the town where Elsey Station is located. This was made famous as the Cattle Station where the book and movie "We of the Never Never" was written about. That morning there must have been at least 50 wallabies (above) hopping around the pasture.

We then headed off on a side trip to Roper Bar (above) to hopefully relocate some plants seen on previous trips along the road. We did not have any luck. The road is mainly a one-laned paved road that you had to get off on the shoulder when another vehicle approached. The last 30 km. was dirt. On the way back we were pulled over by an unmarked vehicle with flashing blue and red lights, then a second vehicle joined us. We had no idea what was up. They were dressed in tee shirts that said Everlast, USA. This was really strange. They finally identified themselves as drug enforcment officers. They gave Andre a breathalizer test, and took our names. We guessed they were in search of people supplying drugs to the Aboriginal Settlements along the road and at Roper Bar. Our old car was out of place on the road, so we must have be suspicous.

We got back onto the Stuart Highway and headed north to the City of Darwin. We stayed there two nights. We had hoped that Dave Wilson, a friend and plant collector, would be available to join us. Unfortunately, he was busy. We did get out to some known and other new sites in the area. We stopped at Fogg Dam (above), an abandoned rice project to do some collecting. This is now basically a wildlife refuge for many bird species such as the egrets and spoonbills (above). It is also a region with a heavy concentration of crocodiles and water pythons. We saw neither.

The next day we headed east to Kakadu National Park. This is a large park that has extensive wetlands, much dry scrub and a large escarpment known for its large waterfalls. I had to check into the administative offices to get my final collecting permit. We were able to get assistance from the Jim Jim Ranger Station Rangers. They provided boats and accompanied us on our collecting. Kakadu National Park is known for one of the highest concentrations of waterlilies and crocodiles in Australia. We felt particularly safe as one of the rangers had a rifle with them at all times and stood guard as we waded in the water. Fortunately no crocs were seen. Two waterlilies were of interest in the park and may eventually be described. We stayed in the Town of Jabiru. This is mainly a tourist town and the home for many from the Ranger Uranium Mining Company. They have a lease for a portion of the Park. The Park is also the filming site for the movie "Crocodile Dundee".

After Kakadu we then back-tracked to Camooweel and then on to Charter's Towers, Qld. We spent the evening at Julia Creek, Qld. along the way. The next morning we stopped for gas along the way and about 5 km further on we had flat-tire, number 4. In the afternoon we arrived at Powlathanga Station west of Charter's Towers. This is the site where Nymphaea jacobsii (in honor of Surrey Jacobs) was described. I presented the Lawrie's (owners) with a puzzle with a picture of Lake Powlathanga and its waterlilies. I was able to collect seed of N. jacobsii. After our night in Charter's Towers we headed off to Toomba Station to stay with Ernest and and Robin Bassingthwaighte. I had stayed at Toomba with Surrey on two previous collecting trips. They also received a puzzle. As always, they were particularly gracious, taking us out to collection sites providing a room and meals for us for two nights. On the way out of Toomba we saw numerous gray kangaroos (above, picture through windshield). We had one more stop, the Town of Greenvale. Here we previously had found two waterlily populations of what may be a new species. We had no luck here, but did find a population further north.

Overall, the trip was a success.We collected 34 different plants at 21 sites. On the way I got to again see many Australian wildlife including: many wallibies, euro, gray, and red kangaroos, a few snakes including the very toxic taipan (crossing the road), two crocdiles (long distance from a bridge) and many birds including: brolgas, (cranes), jabiru storks, bustards, wedge-tailed eagles, sea eagles, hundreds of kites, numerous parrot species including: sulfur-crested kockatoos, yell0w-tailed black cockatoos, correllas, king parrots, and numerous species of rosellas. The total trip covered approximately 110332 km or 6840 miles.

We will be back home in Adams, Monday night, May 16.

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Brisbane visit

The second day of our visit to Brisbane, Gail and Paddy took us for a ride west to the City of Toowoomba. Barre has been through here a number of times with Surrey on their way north. Barre also was here for 5 days giving a waterlily presentation. We visited the Japanese Garden in the city. The weather cooperated, clearing inland.

The last day we headed southwest to Lamington N.P. We drove up to the high elevation subtropical rainforest throught the large rainforest trees. At the end of the road was O'Reilly's. This is a private ecotourism area on the top of the mountain. We walked through the botanical garden and along the tree-top walk.

There was an area to feed the wild birds. These were priamily Crimsom Rosellas (above), King Parotts, and Scrub Turkeys.

On thw way north we went up onto Tamborine Mt., a beautiful high elevation area with many beautiful homes. The view above was from the launch site for hang-gliders. The weather was beautiful for most of the day with only exception a cloudy period with light showers at the higher elevation of Lamington N.P. Thursday we headed to the airport with Marion going back to Sydney and Barre to Cairns. There he was met by Andre Leu and then to Daintree. Tomorrow Barre and Andre head west on the Waterlily collecting trip.

Arrival in Australia

We arrived Tuesday morning in Sydney, on a sunny morning about 6:20. Five large airplanes from over seas arrived within minutes of each other. Getting suitcases, and then waiting in the customs line took quite a bit of time, and Betty was waiting for us when we finished. We were happy to be "home" in Carlton, and relax for a breakfast with Betty. The day passed with lots of conversation and no need to take a nap! We slept well... Barre went to the Botanic Garden on Wednesday, and Betty and I spent time at home, working on the quilts the Rainbow Conection ladies have in progress.

Saturday morning we flew to Brisbane to visit with Gail and Paddy, who now live near this large city in Queensland. (Barre lived with them when he was in Sydney for 6 months.) They live in a suberb of the city and today, Sunday, we took a boat ride to the city on the Brisbane River. With a stop along the way to visit a park, and tour the gardens, it was a leisurely trip up the river to the city. We did a lot of walking, and saw what was once the City Hall. It is now surrounded by many extremely tall buildings, which have apartments. Lunch and a visit to another large garden to explore the flowers, shrubs, and trees was also interesting. The most unexpected view in the garden was watching some lizards that look very much like iquanas. They are called "water dragons" here.

Return to Adams

This blog is late! We spent 3 1/2 weeks with Eric in Oswego, NY as his taxi drivers while he recovered enough from his ACL knee surgery to drive. We went to four Oswego State Hockey games. Eric was able to join us for the last two games. Lake Ontario never freezes but the ice piles up along the shore (as seen below).

On the last blog we showed the various birds that frequented Eric's feeders. The last week we saw a fox in his yard and two more on the road. Deer started to visit the yard. One afternoon 13 deer were visiting in the back yard. Many of them came within 10 feet of the house.

We arrived home to as much snow on the ground as when we left for New York on the 8th.(Picture below). In the two weeks since we have been home, most of the snow has melted. We got to the University of New Hampshire for the Hockey East league quarterfinals. UNH beat the University of Vermont which got them to the simi-finals at Boston Garden, where they lost to Merrimack College. Now it is on to Manchester, NH where UNH will play Miami of Ohio in the NCAA quarterfinals.

We have been visited by the turkeys in the back yard around the bird feeders. They were not around all winter, but as the snow is melting they have arrived and we enjoy watching their behavior. As many as 16 turkeys have been together. Some of the males are flaring their tails and strutting around. We can finally see the ground. The daffodils are emerging, but guess what? Now that spring is here, the weather forecast for Monday is snow!

Winter in the northeast, Ah for Hawaii!

The month of January was extremely snowy. We "missed" two weeks of it while in Hawaii. Rrturning home, we found that there was about the same amount on the ground as when we left. On February 7 we went out to Oswego, NY to be with Eric while he had ACL surgery on his knee. Eric suffered the initial injury playing indoor soccer in High School. The surgery went well, but the recovery is slow. We have been here for a week and will be here longer helping him out by driving him to work, clearing the driveway and just helping around the house. He will be on crutches for awhile. Below are photos taken in the last two weeks in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York.

View from the front yard after the last snowstorm before leaving for New York. The driveway still has to be cleared.

The backyard with the "buried" greenhouse. At this point there was 28 jnches of snow on the ground. The greenhouse air heating system is not working, so I am relying on the water heating system to keep the temperature up. With the days getting longer and more thaws, the plants should be getting more heat.

This is a typical view of a house in the northern Berkshires showing the problem with ice dams on the roofs and huge icicles. This is a home in North Adams.

This is the Searsburg Road in southern Vermont. This is along the route we regularly take on the way to the University of New Hampshire for hockey games.

This Route 9 in southern Vermont west of Wilmington.

This is the home where Eric lives in Oswego, NY. Eric is presently renting from a former biologist at the college. They have moved to Colorado. Eric is in the process of hoping to buy the house. It is located about 10 minutes to the west of the college, very close to the shore of lake Ontario. The homes on the other side of the road are on the shore of the lake. State University of New York at Oswego (Oswego State) is located immediately on the shore of Lake Ontario in the City of Oswego. Oswego is noted for being in the area subjected to lake effect snow with may whiteouts and heavy snowfall. Four years ago when Eric took his invterview for his job, they had just had 10 feet of snow in one week.

Eric's dog moose in the backyard. Moose is half black Lab and half Australian Cattle Dog. He loves to chase the many squirrels in the yard.

We have enyed watching the birds at the many feeders in the yard. On the left feeder is a Red-bellied Woodpecker and House Finch. On the right feeder is a Cardinal.

Shopping center along the main road in Oswego after another 12 inches of snow overnight.

Snow pile in Walmart parking lot. Since this picture was taken, we had a good thaw with much of the ice melting and the snow settling and melting.

Kauai, the Garden Island

Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge (discussion following Kalalau lookout)

We flew to our last destination, Kauai on January 25 arriving at the Lihue Airport. We were immediately greated by the feral chickens running everywhere. The jungle fowl were originally introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians over 1000 years ago. They have thrived on Kauai due to the absence of the mongoose. which was introduced to control the rats and mice. The chickens are found on the other islands, but in much smaller numbers.

Feral chicken (jungle fowl)

The first day we travelled along the north shore pssing through the Town of Hanalei. Hanalei was made famous in Peter, Paul, and Mary's song "Puff the Magic Dragon". This is one of the most beautiful regions on the island. Taro is a major crop grown in valley (picture below). It is grown as the food source for the starchy food, poi. This region is where most of the movie "South Pacific" was filmed in the late 1950s.

Hanalei taro fields

We then proceeded to the end of the road at Haena Pt. (photo below). This area is a favorite of the tourists. The winter surf is high and the view to the west of the Na Pali coast is magnificient. The Na Pali cliffs are as high as 2000 ft, second to those on the Island of Molokai.

Na Pali coast from Haena Point

The next day we headed south through the Town of Waimea, the landing site of Captain James Cook. We drove north to Kokee State park. This road climbs to an elevation of approximately 4000 ft. with great viewpoints of Waimea Canyon along the way (photo below). Mark Twain called it the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It is the largest Canyon in the Pacific at 3500 feet deep. Tropic birds were seen flying around the Canyon.

Waimea Canyon

We stopped to eat at Kokee State park and were entertained by a large population of chickens. This popultion is considered the only wild population in the Hawaiian Islands. We drove to the end of the road at the Kalalau Valley outlook. The southern outlook (piccture below) was out of the clouds. This is a magnificent view of the largest valley along the Na Pali coast. The upper viewpoint was in the clouds.

Kalalau Valley at the Na Pali coast

On our last day we revisited Kilauaea Point, home of the Kilauaea lighthouse and National Wildloife Refuge (first picture). This site is a great viewpoint for whales and seabirds. Birds seen here were Red-footed Boobies, white tropic birds, and the Laysan albatros. On the first day we had to cut short our visit due to closing time of 4:00pm, but we were able to view three of four humpback whales breaching offshore. These whales would literally "stand" straight out of the water, with at least 1/3 of their body out of the water, before falling over. On our second trip a Fish & Wildlife volunteer showed us through his telescope, the extremely rare monk seal basking on the rocks.

On Kauai we finally saw the Nene, Yea Yea! These rare birds were first seen at the Hanalei Valley and then at Kilauea Point (picture below)

Hawaiian rare goose, the Nene

Along the shore south of Lihue we visited the Spouting Horn at Poipu Beach. At this time of year the waves were causing the spouts to be quite large. We also watched a whale offshore going through quite a performance. We counted it slapping its tail 32 times in a row!

Poipu Beach Spouting Horn

On next stop was a cruise up the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto (photo below). This is an old lava tube with a large overhang with "Boston ferns". This is a favorite site for weddings. The Wailua River was the site where Harrison Ford jumped onto the float plane in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The Fern Grotto was also the site where the "large ball" rolled though the forest in "Raiders"

Fern Grotto

We visited two waterfalls in the Wailua area. The first was Opaekaa Falls at 151 ft. (first picture below) and then Wailua Falls at 173 ft. (second picture below). Wailua Falls was a location in the T.V. show Fantasy Island.

Opakaeaa Falls

Wailua Falls

We flew home the evening of January 23 with a direct flight to Los Angeles, then on to Albany via Chicago. We had a great time on the trip. It was especially nice to spend two weeks with Barre's cousin, Jeff Hall and his wife Linda. Linda added a number of birds to her life list and also took many photographs. We were amazed at the great weather throughout the trip, with wonderful sunny days and only a few brief showers that did not interfere with our plans. The temperature was constantly in the high 70's to low 80's F with cooler weather at the higher elevations on Mt. Haleakala and at Volcanoes National Park. Each of the Islands is entirely different. Oahu is noted for growing pineapple, surfing on the North Shore, Waikiki, and Pearl Harbor. Maui has Mt. Haleakala, the Hana Road, historic Lahaina, and sugarcane. The Big Island, the youngest island, has two active volcanoes, Mouna Loa and Kilauea, snowcapped Mauna Kea, extensive lava flows, and South Point. Kauai is noted for Taro growing, the Na Pali coast, Waimea Canyon, Mt. Waialeale (wettest place on earth), and Kilauea Point. Of the four islands visited, Kauai was the favorite for all of us. Our 50th state is fabulous and friendly!