Blog-azic

Lots of things are coming up in the garden: sunflowers (I've planted 3-4 varieties, some ornamental and some with edible seeds), summer squash, pumpkin, zucchini, beans, peas. I planted even more last weekend, and with luck those will come up. One of my roommates put plant starts in some of the areas I seeded unaware that I had done so. Still, there was very little growth, I imagine, from the seeds after only a few days, and so I feel that many will still come up. I've gotten a few perennials seeded as well: lavendar, flax, daisy, black-eyed susan, chamomile, and of particular delight to me, baby's breath (the small white flowers often paired with roses). In addition to all of that, I've spent many an hour this past month digging up plants growing wild and transplanting them into our backyard. Of note: goldenseal, waterleaf, cohash, violet, jack-in-the-pulpit, blood root, spicebush (this is a tree-ish shrub that I hope can establish itself), daisy, buttercup, geranium,

A few weeks ago, I found some delightful jingle bells on the back porch. They made a surprisingly clear and piercing jingle, that was still so soft and delicate that when you heard them you couldn't help but imagine a sweet summer breeze, or the pitter-patter of tiny feet angels' feet dancing on your ceiling. I strung the bells onto a bit of dogbane I'd twisted at home during the Christmas break, and then carried that string of bells in my pocket for about the next week. About me was a haze of silver music, little tinkly notes, and I couldn't help but imagine that everyone thought to themselves that I was somehow very pleasant and soothing, that they could not put their finger on exactly what it was, but it's almost as if they heard bells when I was around. Perhaps it was all that jingling raucous that put the "spring" in all the plants around town (below, an excerpt from an email to my sister): Ooooh. Sandstorms? That does sound exciting. I imagine runnin

"all's well here. work is going great. we did some very adorable art projects last week - all themed with animals in polar regions. a narwhal coloring page, penguin suits, a tiger mask. no, not a mis-type. there exists a polar tiger. the amur (or siberian) tiger is the largest of all tigers, and inhabits the far east of asia (russia, mongolia, china). it is in appearance very similar to it's warm-weather cousins, excepting that it can be much larger (up to 10 feet, i think). the amur tiger is an endangered species. from what i read, it is concentrated into two regional populations. in one, the tigers number about 450. in the other, less than 50. reasons for the tiger's tenuous hold onto survival all trace back to man. however, in captivity the tigers numbers are high (it being bred as early as the 1950s). in addition, the captive population shows a greater genetic diversity than the wild population. this seeming incongruence likely results from a population decline in

And so, here we are again. I behind a glowing screen, madly typing. You on the other side reading with interest: "The boy returns, eh? And why the long pause? And from whence come thou?" Hmm... where to begin? Well, I've been in Athens, you know, since the last post nearly one year ago. At that time I was busy searching for work, and eventually I found some, and it came unexpectedly from an old friend, a Ms. Ashley A. whom shared the ACME Co-op from the fall of 2006 until the summer of 2007. It was at a party across town when we met in the cold winter of 2008, and she related her occupation at a day care. "Actually, they are hiring right now, if you're looking." So, in the span of a week, I was set to begin working Ashley and Kim in the Toddler Room at Stages Early Learning Center . And, I've been there ever since. Minus a short break in the summer, where I visited Ashland, NC for a Gathering and spent many long days gathering elder flower and brewing i