Okay… this is the last one I swear, I will get back to geology content!

Here is another post for edible fruits that are native to the eastern US. there are so many, we have so many good edibles but I feel like this covers a lot of the major ones.

Made this chart because I truly could not get it out of my brain, now I am free of it and can enjoy the rest of my weekend!

Plant Native!

Edit: I forgot to include flowering dogwood sorry!

Yesterday, after months of craving matcha, I broke down and make my self indulgent purchase

Because it’s spring break, and tea is one of life’s greatest pleasures

So the next morning I am excitedly making THE NECTAR OF THE GODS… only to see the dingy green color to the water in the first step.

I gaslight myself… no, it just looks dingy because I haven’t added milk yet… it’s ok

I add my splash of milk and to my horror, it turns a ghostly green color, all color disappeared right before my eyes…

It was a bit of a heavy pour… I’ll add more matcha, I know it might clump a little, but I can make it better tomorrow, it’s better than having bland tea…

The color never improves and my eyes, which have been avoiding the packaging since the beginning, begin to examine it.

A trusted brand… with a slightly different look. Perhaps I didn’t look in the beginning because I had known all along… this matcha was… culinary grade.

Absolutely sobbing, a disaster of a Monday, I was so happy thinking about myself writing my proposal and sipping my tea all week.

I know we have a pretty decent group of geologists active on Tumblr, but I don’t know what everyone’s research/work is on.

So I thought it would be fun to do introductions and also satiate my curiosity! (So I would love if people would participate)

Template:

Research? (what you are working on or if you haven’t started research yet, what you are considering)

What got you interested in geology?

Favorite Rock?

Favorite subject you’ve taken so far?

Coolest geologic experience?

Future plans? (Can be loosey goosey of course!)

I can go first! I’m Bird, I actually have 2 accounts, this one which is for whatever is on my mind, and justanotherbirdbraingeology, which is meant for more well thought out posts.

✨My research is on subduction zones, I work on understanding the PTt (Pressure Temperature time) paths of eclogites, as well as studying the fluids that cause metasomatism (element transfer between rocks) within subduction zones.

✨I was always kind of curious about geology vaguely, like I thought it was cool that I could find seashells so far from the ocean, and I thought gemstones were pretty.

✨What really sparked interest was going to Yellowstone for the first time when I was 12, and I found a piece of agate and thought it was so weird looking and so cool. I had no idea what it was and I think not knowing and having to search to learn about it was a driving force of my interest…. But I was still going to be an author, that had been my dreams since I was like 7 or something until I was 17.

What changed my mind? I went to a STEM day and they told me you could travel all the time if you pursue geology. I WAS AN EASY SELL OKAY???? I was from a rural location and I really really wanted to travel.

✨My favorite rock is a blueschist. It should be eclogites, but honestly I feel blueschists are just prettier (don’t tell my advisor)

✨My favorite subject I had ever taken was regional geology, I think it really helped me realize why I liked geology so much, which is its storytelling/detective like opportunities.

✨Coolest experience? I got to do fieldwork in Italy! It was literally so gorgeous, and it wasn’t for my research so it was pretty stress free, I was just a mule. (THE OUTCROPS WERE PRISTINE)

✨I want to stay in academia, I like the detective work… Probably not at an R1 university though. I have heard R2 universities have great work/life balance though.

I am bad at keeping New Year’s resolutions, so I rarely even try to make them. However, recently I realized there was a lot of really cool shit I never saw because I never made an effort to try. So I made a New Year’s resolution to act more like a tourist in places I have become too familiar with (Midlands area, South Carolina and Northwestern PA).

On to the main point, I started thinking hard all the iron bridges that are in the Northwestern PA area. I was always really fond of them and decided to see if I could find anything out about them.

So, I found this website called historicbridges.org, and reading about the bridges was a fun way to spend my evening. I found the writing about the bridges really passionate, and funny at times when they were clearly frustrated.

It was also interesting to know that most of the bridges I barely thought about as a child were mostly built between 1870-1910 and were truly unique historic features!

This morning I woke up wanting to capture some of the designs of some of the either lost or uncared for bridges and made this. I thought they were honestly perfect for knitting colorwork, embroidery, borders for cards, quilting, or honestly anything else.

I cannot take credit for drawing up the more intricate patterns on the left those are sourced from the library of congress website.

The bridges that have the most intricate designs that I featured on this are all from Crawford county. In fact, within Northwest PA, Crawford seemed to be the only county that had these ornate designs on the entrances of some of their bridges. Here is where they are located and how old they are!

Mercer pike bridge: 1888

Miller Station Road: 1887

Wightman Road Bridge: 1897

Mead Avenue Bridge: 1871

Also here is an excerpt from the website that made me cackle:

There are so many comments like this, and while it is sad, it was also very amusing.

I have no idea what to title this, because I feel like I am writing this out as a reminder for myself, and if it reaches some other people, that would make me happy too.

Anyway, here are things that have helped me while being in grad school. But is good for anyone who just has trouble maintaining their schedule

Focus tips (kinda just a flow chart)

1. If you are having issues focusing on just one topic make a list of what needs to be done. Sometimes seeing it written is enough, but sometimes its not.
2. If the list doesn’t work, evaluate what is distracting your mind. Is it something you want to do (art, etc.) or is it something making you anxious (chores)?
3. If it is something you want to do, treat it like a reward like “Okay, I NEED to get this reading done. After that I can watch that youtube video before I start other things.” However, if you notice that you can’t focus still because of thoughts of the other task, sometimes it is best to just watch the video first and then complete the work. This of course works best when the thing you want to do takes less that 2 hours to complete.
4. If it is because of something else you need to get done like chores, list what chores are bothering you the most that need completed and set a timer for 30 minutes to 1 hour based off what needs to be done and complete as many of them as possible. Do not exceed 1 hour doing this, otherwise you will just start to feel anxious about the work you aren’t getting done.
5. If the trouble in your focus is unrelated to an external factor, try to put on a study playlist (try to avoid lyrics in these)
6. If that doesn’t help, try to put on a background video or movie (something you have watched many times before or a livestream that is very slow-paced) If this helps, and you notice increased work, yay, if not, take a 20 minute break and then get back to work with no music or with music.
7. Sometimes, I focus really well on a boring task while snacking on something, but the perfect snack is hard to find. (don’t have to look at it while eating, no dirty fingers, can eat a lot of them, low calorie, etc.) My best go to snacks that are healthy are freeze-dried fruit, and sliced veggies like carrots, cucumbers, radishes, whatever you just have to like them enough that they don’t require dipping them because then obviously you have to look at them then. Of course sometimes you just need the OG snack like goldfish, pretzels, or marshmallows though, and that is ok.
8. SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED A NAP, A GOOD MEAL, TO DRINK SOME WATER, OR TO GO FOR A WALK OUTSIDE WITH NO DISTRACTIONS.

Work tips

1. In the morning you have to reflect on what you feel capable of achieving. What I mean is, if you are waking up in the morning feeling groggy as shit, chances are you are going to be useless reading an academic paper. However, you could probably get a lot of busywork done (whether that is organizing notes, making flashcards, making a graph, etc.) Another time this is most valuable is if you are trying to decide whether you are able to work from home that day or not. Sometimes the days you want to work from home the most are the most important days to go in because you don’t want to ‘work from home’ you just want to be home. YOU HAVE TO BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF WITH THIS.
2. Make your work an aesthetic/ an event. I feel like studyblr does a good job on showing different study aesthetics, but remember that sometimes you just need a change of scenery. Long day and still need to get work done? Read a paper in the bathtub. Is it nice outside but you still want to get work done? Work Picnic. Long winter nights getting you down? Candle. Special hot beverage (apple cider, hot cocoa, a new herbal tea you’ve been dying to try?), freshly cleaned blanket out of the dryer? Work. Want to maintain social circle but you are both busy? Study. Date. If y'all are chatty, set a timer for an hour and get the chats out. then after that open up your laptops and then try to keep the talks about work if you can (admittedly these are good to do on the weekend because then if you only get an hour of work done, its a just a bonus). Don’t be afraid to have fun with your work!
3. You can start work at anytime. I mean it. Even if its 7pm, you’ve laid in bed scrolling tiktok all day and you finally are like “Boy I really should have worked on this today…” Its ok. Just do it now. If you go to bed at 11pm like I do, that is 4 hours of work. Most desk workers can finish all their work in 4 hours. 4 hours of hard work is a full day. And 4 hours of 'I feel like I just need to get something done’ is still a half day
4. Build in a 'Rot day’ if you need it. If you get burnt out by the end of the week, build in a 'rot day’. A rot day is exactly what it sounds like, a day of bare minimum. for example. Lay in bed until you feel like it, don’t talk to anyone if you don’t want to, stay in pjs. It is a zero expectation day. Not everyone needs a full rot 'day’ but the important thing is building in time for literally nothing. This will help you go into the week feeling refreshed. word of caution though: Do not rot both days of the weekend, make sure you are participating in your hobbies (drawing, hiking, new movie/tv show, baking, etc.)

Fuck peppermint and spearmint (not actually), but!

lets replace our peppermint extract desserts with teaberry (American Wintergreen) extract!

give me teaberry mints, teaberry bark, teaberry fudge, etc…

I was buying this for my mom as a surprise to make mints (because we both really love the flavor) only to find it was extremely hard to find, and I got this feeling of just, not wanting to lose this flavor to time because it is regional and not like… industrialize-able.

If you need sources of places to obtain this magical flavor,

LorAnn oils makes an artificial flavor version of this: here

All Star makes an extract that uses artificial and natural flavors: here

And I found this place on etsy that does all natural flavors: here

If you have a known patch of this and you want to make the extract yourself, I will also link a recipe on how to do that here

if you want to try this flavor before committing to buying an extract, I used to buy teaberry gum as a kid. and apparently there are some hard candies you can buy as well!