Happy Birthday, Dan! by rhoing

Happy Birthday, Dan!

My plant systematics expert and a friend made in the last three years. Our paths crossed and we became friends as a result of my commitment to 365. Today was a milestone birthday for Dan and he generously invited Clare and me to the party at his home.

Clare is out of town, but I represented us and had a great time meeting more people I otherwise probably would not have met.

So the history goes like this.
» First I photographed lots of butterflies.
» Then I wanted to learn about the bugs in our back yard garden.
» When I paused repeatedly to photograph the insects in an outdoor campus garden, I learned about the Plant Biology Greenhouse. (Thank you, Karen.) That is where I met Dan.

He has been über-patient with my silly, lay-person and botanically-ignorant questions and the hundreds and hundreds of photos I have left for him in our shared Dropbox folder. Many of them have more artistic value than diagnostic value, but he often manages to come up with an ID, even on some I don't expect to be ID'ed — he's a diagnostic wizard!

I now have an Excel file with over 1,450 records of photographs with date, location and ID (if possible) thanks to Dan! I know there were more photos I submitted to him for identification because I sent him links to many of my 365 posts for after-the-fact ID'ing.

My 365 posts taken at, or inside, the greenhouse:
» the first, http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-11-27
» yesterday's was #240
» all of them, http://365project.org/tags/siuc-greenhouse

Over the course of the past three years, I have been pleased to contribute to PhytoImages — http://phytoimages.siu.edu — an offshoot of PlantSystematics.org, http://www.plantsystematics.org/
Indeed, it's part of my motivation in the Greenhouse to find something, or photograph something in a way, that isn't currently represented in PhytoImages.

Most of my current contributions to PhytoImages,
» http://phytoimages.siu.edu/cgi-bin/dol/dol_owner.pl?owner=T.M.%20Mitchell
Eight stragglers are here, Dan,
» http://phytoimages.siu.edu/cgi-bin/dol/dol_owner.pl?owner=Thomas%20Mitchell
Any chance of getting Thomas changed to T.M. so they're all together? ;)

So Happy Birthday, Dan! Thank you for being my tutor and my friend!

1 year ago (“Chairs”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2015-02-20
2 years ago (“Cotton Lavender”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2014-02-20
3 years ago (“More ‘pattern-and-texture’”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-02-20
4 years ago (“Necklace on dresser”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-02-20
5 years ago (“Let there be light!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-02-20

[ IMG_9113S12x9G :: f/3.2 :: 1/60" :: ISO-200 :: 60mm :: bounced flash ]
A beautiful portrait and narrative!
February 27th, 2016  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.