[NOTE: Saturday's ride will be on Monday. Scroll down two posts for details.]
Glass Black-Eyed Susans, Harvard Museum of Natural History
29 August 2014
This morning we met Chris, my college roommate, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I wanted to see the glass flowers made by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. Years ago we'd seen their glass invertebrates, some of which were also on display.
Taking pictures wasn't easy because the glass was under glass. At the start, we weren't sure if there were real specimens mixed in with the glass ones. It took a few minutes to figure out that everything was glass, from the life-sized plants to enlargements of the intricate flower parts.
White oak:
Mountain laurel:
Coffee!
Goldenrod:
NJ native black-eyed Susans:
Sea slugs (not Hill Slugs):
Portuguese Man-o-War:
These are not glass beetles. They are real beetles:
Real bees:
Jack found a stuffed moose among the mammals, so Chris and I had fun photographing him with it. You'll have to visit him on Facebook to see it.
We left Jack to go back to his research fellowship work at the Harvard University library. Chris and I always find Ethiopian food when we're together. We started this when we were in college and have no intention of stopping.
Then we met Jack's college roommate, Andrew, at the Taza chocolate factory in Somerville. It's the only chocolate Chris will eat. It's different; they don't use cocoa butter. The chocolate is gritty, but not in a bad way. It takes a few seconds to get used to, the same way the first sip of a really strong, well-brewed cup of coffee is jarring if one is used to watered-down crap.
I was the annoying tourist: I had to correct the guide when he said that the "caffeine" in chocolate acts differently from the caffeine in coffee. The "caffeine' in chocolate isn't caffeine. It's theobromine. They're similar compounds, but they're not the same. After the tour I explained to him the role of complex organic compounds (think caffeine, theobromine, and nicotine) in plants as herbivory deterrents. It just so happens that these compounds are addictive to us, and, as a result, the plants have thrived under our cultivation.
When describing the route the beans take from Central America to Somerville, the guide mentioned that they go through "America's Warehouse: New Jersey." I let that one slide. It's sort of true.
After the tour was over, when I got talking to the guide again, I said, "Where I live, America's Warehouse, we have a lot of small coffee roasters."
"Where's that?" he asked, confused.
"Y'know, New Jersey. America's warehouse. Like you said."
He turned his head away, embarrassed.
All three of us left with bags full of chocolate.
We went back to the B&B, hung out on the deck with Jack, and spent half an hour picking restaurants for dinner and tomorrow's brunch. It used to take us this long in college too, not because we can't make up our minds, but because we easily distract ourselves from the main conversation.
As we parted for the night, I reminded them that next year we'll have known each other for 30 years.
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