It could be the bouquet of lovely stargazer lilies, or an Easter lily, or the clump of day lilies in your yard. If your cat eats part of the plant, or brushes against it, then cleans itself, it could die .

One of my neighbors had open-heart surgery recently, so a stop at Marie Callender’s was in order. I needed a little something too, and was either going to have a slice of strawberry pie, or buy a whole one to take home.

In the display case was a pie topped with many dollops of swirled cream and cherries. The counter person said it was the featured banana pie. Not everyone likes bananas, and I didn’t know my neighbor’s tastes, so I opted for the apple. Then I learned they were sold out of strawberry.

There wasn’t time to make ice cream after errands, but tomorrow is another day.

For dessert tonight, I am having the rest of my dinner salad. I feel virtuous, but deprived.

photo by Louis Lafontaine

At the playful interface to his site , you can guess which key to tap first, but a good starting point is ‘A’, which goes to the archives. There, if you click on ‘Lumki’, you will see an intriguing panorama of Maxime at work. Then you’re on your own to explore his mechanical sound sculpture.

If you grow your own scallions, the red onion sets sold in the fall will add fresh colors to your food. If you are lazy, and don’t get around to using them for a long time, they sit in the garden, and put up interesting seed heads. If it ever stops raining, I’ll go out and take some pictures.

The bad news is, the rain is coming down in buckets. And here I had a late afternoon walk planned.

The good news being the ice cream freezer bowl has been chilling for almost half the prescribed time. Sometime this evening, I will make some vanilla ice cream.

Now, we’re getting hail.

The soundtrack from Sneakers, a gift from the boys, featuring Branford Marsalis.

Also got a Flickr pro account - thanks, guys! I shall stalk the insects and birds to my heart’s content.

Magnetite in termites, birds, sea turtles, lobsters, and bacteria, and humans.

Some birds have learned to adapt to human technology, and use roadways to find their way home.

It is not known yet if they know about Google maps, but these birds are nothing if not flexible.

To navigate, a bird must juggle many things, including knowledge of the position of the sun, the stars, the earth’s magnetic field, the infrasound of wind , and the prevailing weather. Add a genetic predisposition and a prodigious memory, and you have a small-brained animal with an extraordinary capability.

The puzzle of birds that disappeared in the fall, and returned in the spring.

When a sailor navigates without instruments , he must rely on the stars, the sun, the clouds, the ocean waves, the wind, and training from someone who can tell the pattern of waves at night by simply lying down in the boat.

Like migratory birds, monarch butterflies navigate with the help of polarized sunlight. Researchers find a circadian clock in their brains that allows the monarch to endure its arduous migration route.

The 2004 winners and their comments, from the Natural Museum of History, UK.

Microbiologists find that gut bacteria may be dictating why some people get fat and others don’t.

When you hear the little voice going, ‘Krispy Kreme, Krispy Kreme,’ you’re not psychotic - it’s the bacteria talking.

Wait, that parsnip swirl looks mighty good. Make it a double with red cabbage, in a cup with sprinkles.

Vegetable ice cream tricks kids into eating what’s good for them. (Site loads slowly.)

The possibility that the so-called ‘curse’ of Egyptian mummies may have something to do with the large number of pathogens found in a sealed tomb. Plus the opposing viewpoint.