mr. and mrs. pine cone

I've really taken to setting pine cones on outdoor windowsills. Like I said before, it's a surprisingly cheerful sight from indoors. Just when you think I'm an Etsy fanatic (and I am), scouring each shop for upcoming holy-day items, I'm equally pleased by these free decorations that drop on our lawn regularly (Johnny is not the biggest fan of pine needles which suffocate our thirsty grass).

On Saturday night, a whopper thunderstorm rolled through town, lulling us to sleep and sending Milo frantically upstairs to hide under the guest bed. The next morning, once familiar shapes of pine cones were closed up tight, much more conical - hence the name? No longer able to sit upright, the cones had fallen to the ground or reclined on their sides. Johnny and I were perplexed. He walked outside to observe the pine cones still attached to trees. Yup, closed-up cones there, too. Yesterday we often said, "I wonder why pine cones do that? The rain? The cold?"

I'm upstairs again this evening. The sky was golden; now 'tis a soft blue with indigo clouds. The pine tree tops are very easy to see from my chair - the cones are still in odd form. I turned to trusty Google and typed "pine cones shrink in rain?" Here is your nature lesson for today from the North County Times in California, by staff writer Katie Burns:

Q: Why do pine cones open when warm and dry and close when cold and wet?

A: "There are actually male and female pine cones," said Betsy Read, a biology professor at Cal State San Marcos. "The female pine cone is the one we are most familiar with that opens and closes. The opening and closing of the cone is part of the life cycle of the pine."

The male pine cone, which is small and bumpy, produces pollen. Wind-blown pollen falls on a female pine cone on either the same tree or another tree. Over the course of a few years, seeds develop under the scales of the female cone. The female pine cone opens when the seeds are mature and the conditions are right.

"The reason why the pine cones open when it's warm and dry is because that's a more favorable condition for the seed dispersal and germination," Read said.

Wet and cold weather would prevent the seeds, which are often winged, from spreading far enough from the tree to find a place to grow. Seedlings also wouldn't last long in winter rain or snow.

After a pine cone falls from the tree, it can still open and close. The scales open when dry because their outer halves shrink more than their inner halves, and they pull away from the cone. When wet, the scales swell shut.

Male and female pine cones - who knew? If only Annie Dillard would share her spin on pine cones. If you haven't read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, you should. By way of that beautiful book, I learned to look at such things as closed-up pine cones or the covert operations of geckos on our window screens at night. Did I tell y'all about the gecko I recently found inside our kitchen? He was swinging on our open mini blinds, on his tummy. His four tiny feet dangled off the horizontal slat. I pushed the mini blinds a bit and he didn't budge; he just blinked. I think he enjoyed the swing.

I'm afraid this is a very choppy, anticlimactic post, and it's all my fault. We woke this morning to a sleepy outdoor fog, and it took me forever to get movin' and shakin'. I finally did so when the sunshine took over. While feeling ick, I have not exercised enough, and a yeast overgrowth can actually mess with your joints and muscles. Those fun facts + the sun inspired me to try a little yoga and boy, am I out of shape.

I tried to do an "all levels" video, but tomorrow I should be honest with myself and do a "beginner" video. I ignored the New Age mumbo-jumbo, yet as a yogini explained which poses cater to our thyroid, or how proper breathing serves as lotion for our joints, my ears perked up. A friend at Church explained how yoga even massages our organs - so very good for our health. I prayed to God (instead of thanking the sun), stretched, admired the video filmed in Wyoming mountains, and took in my view from upstairs.



Then I surfed the web too long and profound mental notes for a blog post went down the drain. The reason I even bothered blogging was to simply say, I am thankful. I'm ready to celebrate [that] thanksgiving with my husband, parents, two of my aunts, my uncle, and other family. Oh, and take in the Nasher Sculpture Center Kimbell art museum, and coffee with Christine & her Mom before we drive home!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving - feast and be merry! I'm gonna try the Nutty Pumpkin Pie recipe from Dr. Hotze's cookbook: a [ground] cashew, sesame seed, and cinnamon crust (with arrowroot starch and a pinch of salt) filled with organic canned pumpkin, more ground cashews, Sweet-n-Natural, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. I know what you're thinking, but if you were in my yeasty shoes, you might try it.

P.S. ~ I started a new inspiration board. The first and only item tacked up today was this Eloquent Ink card: