Squirrels dining al fresco!

The squirrels at Lehigh eat well.

I took this photo on the way to a meeting, who wouldn’t want a photo of a squirrel with a french fry?  A colleague informed me that this same squirrel basically lives in the trash can (or near it), which is right outside the EWFM Library. I now see him dining out of this trash can all the time. Super cute.

Keeping Hope alive: a philodendron story

  When I came to Lehigh in 1998 there was a sad, sprawling, frankly ugly plant under the stairwell by the printers. With almost no natural light and soil that always looked bone-dry,  it produced dinner plate-sized leaves on leggy, light-seeking stems.  I suppose it was watered sometime — maybe I did once or twice.  As you might have guessed it’s a philodendron — specifically a   Philodendron bipinnatifidum ‘Hope.’ And the cultivar ‘Hope’ could not be more apt as it’s pretty much what this plant lived on for twenty years.

Finally, this spring, it looked like ‘Hope’ was finally throwing in the towel. Its leaves started to yellow at the edges, and now it was not just unsightly — it was sickly. I overheard someone talking about removing it.

I felt suddenly, weirdly protective. In advance of its death-by-dumpster, I took a cutting of three leaves and part of a woody bulb and planted it in a spare pot. Its prospects seemed dim. Two of the big leaves yellowed and I removed them, waiting for the third and last leaf to follow suit. I watered and fertilized and moved it closer to the window.

A week or so ago, it sprouted two new leaves!  Now I’m looking for a larger pot to anchor it and hopefully do it justice. Jes doin’ my part to keep Hope alive ;-). 

“My award-winning photo”

I never thought the phrase “my award-winning photo” would be applied to me. I’m a cellphone, point and shoot kind of girl. Through the miracle of technology and the natural beauty we’re surrounded with here at Lehigh, I managed to take a random shot that merited honorable mention at the  Bethlehem Backyards for Wildlife Nature Photo Contest –– see their Facebook  page for some wonderful winning photos, including my own favorite, the turtles on a log by Greg Crenko.

Bethlehem Backyards for Wildlife

Nature Photo Contest