St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

I’ve been to Alaska and Canada twice with John Hall’s Alaska agency, and have been to Dawson City both times. In 2014 during our free time I wandered into the St. Mary’s Catholic Church. These are my photos of that experience.


DSC_8181.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8196.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8184.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8187.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8188.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr (sorry, it’s a little soft)


DSC_8189.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8183.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr


DSC_8190.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr

These are reduced resolution versions – full resolution available by clicking on them, and Descriptions and EXIF, too.

Lincoln Park
Chicago, IL
July 2020

Milkweed by Paul Sager, on Flickr


Milkweeds are a family of perennial, flowering plants, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of these cardenolides, although, as with many such plants, there are species that feed upon them (i.e. leaves) and from them (i.e. nectar). The genus contains over 200 species distributed broadly across Africa, North America, and South America.

Milkweed


American milkweeds are an important nectar source for native bees, wasps, and other nectar-seeking insects. Milkweeds are also the larval food source for monarch butterflies.

Milkweed and visitor


Milkweed is a popular plant among gardeners as it attracts butterflies. Milkweed sap can be very irritating to the skin but is also very dangerous if it gets in your eyes. Many peoples of South America and Africa used arrows poisoned with Milkweed sap to fight and hunt more effectively.

Milkweed and visitor


Milkweed is not grown commercially in large scale, but the plant has had many uses throughout human history. Milkweed can be made edible if properly processed. Native Americans used it for everything from a diarrheic, relief from sore throats, it was chewed for swelling and rashes, new mothers that could not produce milk would drink it, it was used to treat colic, it was used to expel tapeworms, it was used to cure snakebite and for a contraceptive.

Milkweed and visitor


Most animals won’t eat it because of the taste rather than the danger of toxins. Animals usually do not eat milkweed unless good forage is scarce.

In 1818, when Abraham Lincoln was 9 years old, his mother, Nancy Hanks, died of milkweed poisoning. Milkweed poisoning was a little-understood malady caused by a plant called "snakeroot" eaten by cows and transmitted through dairy products and meat. Its human victims died in slow agony.

Milkweed and visitor


Images shown in this post use a Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro, a manual focus lens from the 1980s. Using a Metabones FD to E adapter, the lens was mounted to a Sony a7II mirrorless digital body. Although the Sony body features 5-axis image stabilization, the camera / lens were mounted to a tripod via a ball head. The image files were processed using Lightroom v6 and Topaz DeNoise v6.

Milkweed and visitor


Adult monarchs will only lay eggs on milkweed and the plant is the sole food source for monarch caterpillar larvae. The plant also offers protection: caterpillars ingest a toxic steroid from milkweed that’s distasteful to predators like birds or mice.

Milkweed and visitor


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Hello,
My sister allowed her old Minolta film camera and lenses to go kaput. We live in Wisconsin and she doesn't have air conditioning, which wreaks havoc on lenses during the summer months due to the humidity. Couple that with the fact that she kept it in her basement for 15 years and you have 'stuff' in the lenses. I believe I see mold in there, or whatever happens to glass from years of humidity, dark and neglect. Are they worth salvaging? There is an 80-200 and a few other lenses. I'm thinking there is nothing that can be done for them and was curious about trying to find an adapter mount for the Olympus; however, upon seeing the stuff in the lenses, I figured it wasn't worth the trouble.

Thoughts?