SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2014
lifestyle
F E A T U R E S
Scientists target mess from Christmas tree needles
T
he presents are unwrapped. The children’s
shrieks of delight are just a memory. Now
it’s time for another Yuletide tradition:
cleaning up the needles that are falling off your
Christmas tree. “I’m not particularly worried
about it ... I’ll just sweep it up,” said Lisa SmithHansford of New York, who bought a small tree
at a Manhattan sidewalk stand early this week.
She likes the smell of a real tree, she said, comparing it to comfort food.
your house, says Gary Chastagner of Washington
State University. But even within a given species,
some trees are better than others, he said.
Needle retention is an inherited trait: if a tree
does well, so will the offspring that grow from
the seeds in its cones.
Chastagner is also working with others to identify genetic markers that indicate whether a tree
will resist needle shedding. That would make the
tree-screening process much faster and perhaps
lead to breeding experiments to produce superior trees.
Seeking the champs
At a research station in Puyallup, Washington,
Chastagner works to identify individual trees
that hold onto their needles best. He tests
branches cut early in the fall, which encourages
needle loss because they haven’t experienced
cold weather. He lets them dry out and his team
evaluates them after about 10 days, looking for
branches that do not shed any needles. Needles
start to fall off branches from some trees within
three to five days when the branch is gently
rubbed, even if they aren’t dry and brittle. A poor
performer may lose all of them within a week.
Another global warming worry
Trees that experience warm autumns tend to
have more needle loss later, Chastagner said. So
if global warming leads to warmer falls in the
future, it could be bad news for Christmas trees,
he said. But since his studies focus on tree
branches harvested before cold autumn weather
sets in, they may identify trees that will do well in
a warming world, he said.
Good branch is good sign
If a branch does well, it means the tree has
good genetics for keeping needles. So growers
can seek out seeds from those trees to produce
seedlings for future planting. These progeny
should do well, too. With a federal grant,
Gary Chastagner, a Washington State University plant pathology professor, stands among
trimmed Douglas fir trees suspended in a temperature and humidity-controlled room at a
school research facility in Puyallup, Wash. — AP photos
For now, water that tree
Chastagner emphasizes that homeowners
can minimize needle shedding by keeping their
displayed trees well-supplied with water. In fact,
when he has set up trees for research in early
December and kept them watered, some
species, like noble and Nordmann fir, have gone
even three months with only minimal shedding.
“The potential is phenomenal,” he said. — AP
Needles on a Canaan fir tree hold drops of
water.
But others do mind. Consumers consistently
cite messiness as one of the most common reasons they don’t have a real tree, says the National
Christmas Tree Association. Keeping a tree wellwatered goes a long way toward minimizing the
needle problem. But beyond that, scientists are
trying to find ways to make trees less messy and
keep them fresh through the holidays.
It’s in the genes
Some kinds of trees, like the noble fir or Fraser
fir, are better than others at maintaining moisture and keeping their needles once they’re in
Cuttings from Douglas fir trees are suspended in water.
Trip Tips:
Downton Abbey destinations
for fans of British period drama
Needles cover the floor under a Douglas fir tree.
Subversive or submissive? Hungary
divided over its Cube houses
T
F
ans of the popular British period drama “Downton Abbey” can visit a number of sites depicted in the television
series about life among the upper crust early last century. From wandering around the
Victorian stately home that is the centrepiece of the show to afternoon tea at the
home of the Dowager Countess of
Grantham, visitors can enjoy their own
moments of intrigue and drama at the following Downton Abbey destinations. The
article below is an edited version of a blog
compiled by the travel site GoEuro.co.uk.
Highclere Castle, the setting for
Downton Abbey Undoubtedly the jewel
among the many splendid Downton locations on the list, Highclere Castle in
Newbury, Berkshire is where the series is
set. The castle is the home of the eighth
Earl of Carnarvon and his wife and is open
during the summer months, when the earl
and countess move to a summer cottage,
and on select days during the rest of the
year. Tickets have already sold out for 2015
so visitors need to plan well ahead.
Basildon Park, used for Grantham House
Also located in Berkshire, Basildon Park
is used in the series as the fictional Earl of
Grantham’s London residence, Grantham
House. A Georgian mansion owned by the
National Trust, the house offers Downton
fans a behind-the-scenes video and guided
tours throughout November. Inveraray
Castle Scotland, used as Gleneagle Castle
This beautiful Scottish castle was the setting for the 2012 Christmas episode where
many juicy plot lines were hatched. It is the
family home of the dukes of Argyll and is
the seat of the Clan Campbell. The stunning
castle and grounds, located on the shores
of Loch Fyne, are open to visitors from April
through October and offer an array of activities and events.
London
The Criterion and Rules, two of London’s
oldest restaurants. The Criterion opened in
1873 and remains one of the most luxurious places to dine in the capital. This is
where Lady Edith and Michael Gregson
shared their first kiss and where he laid out
his doomed plans to go to Germany in
order to divorce his mentally ill wife and be
with Edith. Visitors can absorb the decadence and feel the excitement of a secret
lunch date here, or stop in for a cocktail at
the long bar.
Season five also saw Downton characters dining at London’s oldest restaurant,
Rules. Founded in 1798 by Thomas Rule as
an oyster bar just off the market in Covent
Garden, it now serves traditional British
food and has been a dining favourite of the
rich and famous throughout its more than
200-year history.
Surrey and Sussex, England
Byfleet Manor (The Dowager’s House)
and Horsted Keynes Station (Downton Train
Station) Nestled in Byfleet near Surrey,
Byfleet Manor is a private house that is
used as the location for the Dowager
Countess of Grantham’s residence. Most
recently in the Downton universe, the
imperious Dowager, Violet, and Isobel
Crawley have been seen taking tea there
and debating whether Isobel will in fact
marry Lord Merton. The house is private
and not usually open to the public to visit
although it can be booked for private
events and takes private reservations for
afternoon tea.
Horsted Keynes Station, used as
Downton Station Nearby in West Sussex is
Horsted Keynes Station, which is used as
Downton Station in the series. The actual
station of Horsted Keynes is on the Bluebell
Railway, a preserved 11-mile (18-kilometre)
line that uses steam trains. Afternoon tea is
served on some trains on the railway line,
which also hosts Christmas and other
events. Oxfordshire, England Bampton
(Downton Village)
Last but not least is the location for the
village where Downton is set. Downton
Village is fictional and is supposed to be
located in Yorkshire, northern England, but
is actually filmed in Bampton in
Oxfordshire, hundreds of miles to the
south. The village is historic and picturesque, and its easy access to London made
it perfect for filming. Here visitors will find
St. Mary’s church, which can be seen in
many Downton episodes, and the pub
which serves as the Grantham Arms in the
series. — Reuters
hey were a rare sign of individuality during
the grim Communist era. But now
Hungarians are turning their backs on their
gaily-painted “Cube” houses, ashamed of the
simple geometric patterns and trompe-l’oeil
effects that brightened their darkest days. In the
1960s and 1970s the “Kadar Cube”-named after
the all-powerful communist leader of the time
Janos Kadar-transformed the Hungarian countryside. Some 800,000 of these simple 100square-metre (1,080-square-foot) homes still dot
the landscape in the country of 10 million,
including in Kozarmisleny, near the southern city
of Pecs. But what makes some of them stand
out are their unexpectedly cheery and modern
facades, far removed from the dull greyness so
often associated with Communist-era constructions. “The houses were boring, so I thought let’s
figure something out,” said Istvan Pucher, a 72year-old mason who built over 220 cube houses
and individually decorated at least a tenth of
them. Pucher developed his own designs and
patterns, reminiscent of vintage op art (optical
art) and soon it became a trend, with neighbors
wanting different designs.
“People heard of it by word of mouth,” the
cheery, white-haired Pucher told AFP. Supplies
were scarce-Hungary was then part of the Soviet
block-but with the limited tools, colours and
techniques at their disposal, masons created
false box windows and painted trapezoids, triangles and swirls in vibrant colours on these squat
little homes.
At the time, the ornamentation represented a
subversive desire for individuality, even if the
authorities pretended that was not the case.
“Unconsciously with the individual designs people defined themselves against the homogenising efforts of socialism,” said film-maker Jozsef
Szolnoki, who has helped document the very
best examples with his German photographer
wife Katharina Roters.
A past best forgotten
She has travelled around Hungary for 10
years seeking out the most artistic and unusual
cube houses, praising what she described as an
“ornamental phenomenon that has become a
code, a language of its own.” But she is one of
the few to appreciate their beauty. “Why are
they interesting? I don’t see it!” said Aniko, an
elderly woman passing by with her shopping
bags in Ujpetre, one of the many villages boasting decorated cube houses. Before Roters ventured out there was never any real interest in the
designs. “This was a blind spot in Hungary,”
Roters told AFP.
Cube houses are pictured in Ocsard village.
Cars drive in front of new versions of cube houses in Kozarmisleny. — AFP photos
Her husband puts it down to an unspoken said. “The drama is that the houses rewrote the
bargain between the communist leadership and country’s image, yet they remained invisible.”
While there are no definite figures, a few
the people after the 1956 uprising, which was
brutally suppressed by Soviet tanks and fol- thousand decorated cube houses still remain in
lowed by massive reprisals. In exchange for their Hungary. But they are slowly disappearing as
quiet submissiveness, Hungarians were afforded houses are renovated and owners want to erase
higher living standards and more freedom than memories of a depressing past. “They deserve
attention to remind us of that time, when we
in the rest of the eastern bloc.
Now an uncomfortable reminder of this, the worked for simple people who were happy to
colorful houses are at best ignored, at worst have a comfortable new home,” said Pucher.
despised. “There is a lot of psychological sup- Despite the attention, he doesn’t consider himpression in not seeing these buildings,” Szolnoki self an artist. “I just did my job,” he said. — AFP
Former mason Istvan Pucher looks out of the window of his cube house in Kozarmisleny.
Former mason Istvan Pucher, a 72-year-old pensioner shows his creation, a cube house in Kozarmisleny.