The Ten Year Gardening Project

I started working on the borders at this house in the summer of 1998, even before Trevor and I got married. They were in desperate need of attention. I wish I had some "before" photos but you'll have to trust me on this one.
Over the years, I've moved plants around and just when I think I've got it the way I want it someone offers me more plants or I buy more plants or I just make a new bed, which then needs to be filled in.
It's looking pretty good and with the addition of the 5 tubs of day lilies I got from Sarah & Andrew (still need more), I might, maybe, possibly be finished? How can that be???

From top to bottom: lilies of the valley; hosta, daffodils, and violets at the bottom of the ancient lilac; the pink and purple garden of iris, violets and flox; spider wort around the sign post; the new bed which contains: iris (2 varieties) and 3 different bleeding hearts, false indigo, evening primrose, daisies, bee balm and a rock cairn that I built; before and after pictures of the day lilies bed; and the corner bed that I started with 10 years ago and contains, daffodils, red Asiatic lilies, a pink rose bush, a yellow rose bush, purple iris, yellow moonbeam, a few other things (I can't remember what they are) and lots and lots of violets.

Ask and you shall receive (it works!)

Just yesterday I was thinking I need more perennials for my gardens. I've spent several hours this week weeding, digging up plants and rearranging the borders. I do this on a regular basis, just ask Trevor. I'll decide that something would look better in a different area and dig it up and then plant it in another spot.

Last fall I had Jason do some rearranging for me because my back was still recovering from falling last May. He moved 2 irises and 3 bleeding hearts to a new bed that I'd been preparing for a few years. Now it's coming up and looking great but the spot where all of these came from is EMPTY! And we can't have that. I was just thinking that what I really need was for someone to want to give me some free plants. I'd even come and dig them up if I needed to. Well, that opportunity has arisen! When we were on a hike with Trevor's cousin, Andrew and his wife, Sarah, and their young son, George, this morning I mentioned to Sarah that I'd been doing a lot of gardening recently. After talking a bit she mentioned that they've been having people come over and dig up plants from their yard that they want to turn to grass. So, in a little bit, I'm grabbing my shovel, gloves and containers and driving to Amherst for free day lilies, iris, etc.

I think I'll try this method on finding the perfect job.

Highlights from the North Shore trip

I had a whirlwind trip to the North Shore on Friday. First, I stopped in at my alma mater, Salem State College, and visited with my old profs in the geology department, Jim Cullen and Lindley Hanson. It was great to see them and reminisce about the "old days". Jim was my academic advisor and professor in 4 courses plus a senior year independent study (which included a one-week intensive course in field oceanography in the Bahamas... oh, how I love geology...), Lindley was my professor in Coastal Geology which was awesome because we got to go to the beach once a week! I chose Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA (again, oh, how I love geology...). Now, I'm sure you're wondering what one does when they go to the beach once a week for a geology class but it was tough. We had to go once a week, regardless of the weather. Fortunately for us, it was perfect every time. We had to do beach profiles, and take sand samples, and measure the current (which is impossible if it's a "pocket beach" which Singing Beach is), and all of this is more challenging if your field partner has been smoking something all afternoon. And then put it all together in a 25 page paper with graphs, diagrams, photographs. But that was then...

After visiting the old profs, I had lunch with my old pal, Jocelyn who is just finishing up at Salem State College after a 10 year hiatus. She's very excited to be graduating in May. I'm very proud of her. We had a fun time gossiping about old friends and getting caught up.

Once we went our separate ways I took a little tour of the North Shore. I drove through Marblehead and stopped at Crowninshield Beach. Then drove to Beverly and stopped at the Dane Street Beach. Finally, I drove to Beverly Farms and stopped at West Beach. Once I got there I realized I should have just headed right there but how does one know these things? West Beach is beautiful. I love it there. I took some pictures and then realized I was a little late for getting to Heather's house (she's 2 minutes by car from the beach). I quickly headed to my car and drove to their house. We had a lovely dinner (salmon, fresh green bean, rice, lots of wine) and chatted, chatted, chatted.

The next morning I got up at a ridiculous hour and drove to Salem State College and met the current group of geology students to go on a field trip of the CT Valley. Jocelyn rode with me in my car and the rest of the group rode in a van and an SUV. We drove down to Berlin, CT and spent a good 2 hours looking at an amazing outcrop of the East Berlin Formation. As usual, it was on the side of an on-ramp to a highway so there was the usual litter and dead animals to watch out for. And because it was a geology field trip we all had to be careful when crossing the HIGHWAY to see the rest of the outcrop on the other side of the on-ramp. These are the things you don't want your mother to know that you do as a geology student. Fortunately, we didn't have to cross the really busy part of the highway to look at the contact between the Hampton Basalt and the East Berlin Formation (phew!) because we could see it on the side that we were on.

I ditched them in Rocky Hill, CT after visiting Dinosaur State Park. (been there, done that) and headed home. It was really great to look at the rocks close up. We saw some really cool sedimentary structures (mud cracks, ripple marks, cross-bedding, slumping). And we saw red sandstone, gray mudrocks, black shale, dolomite and basalt. It was great! And dino tracks, of course! Oh, how I love geology...

Signs of Spring in the Happy Valley

You know that spring has officially arrived in the Happy Valley when you see 4x4's that are completely (even the windshield) covered with dried-up, caked-on MUD.

This was a new phenomenon to me when I first moved here almost 10 years ago. Back when I was working at Northampton High School, I would regularly see vehicles in the parking lot that were completely covered in mud in the spring. Just within the past few weeks I started to see those mud-plastered vehicles, presumably belonging to a new generation, but I suppose it's possible it's the same guys. It was only 5 years ago that I left NHS.

Kind of makes me want to sing a little tune...

Springtime for rednecks...

I must be really bored...

Yes, I must be really bored because on Friday I'm going to drive to Salem, MA and have lunch an old college friend who dropped out when I was a student 10 years ago and is just finishing up. (I'm really proud of her!) I'm staying at my friend Heather's in Beverly Farms on Friday night and (this is the part where I'm really bored) on Saturday morning I'm getting up at the crack of dawn and driving to Salem State College from Beverly (it really only takes 20 minutes) to be there at 6AM and go on a field trip to the CT Valley! Basically, I'm driving there to only drive back here the next morning but I'll make good use of my visit to Salem State College and catch up with my old profs. This is a field trip that I never had the opportunity to go on in 1996 when I was a student at SSC studying geology and taking Sedimentation & Stratigraphy (we shortened it to "Sed & Strat"), because we simply never went. We had a great field trip to Plum Island but no CT Valley field trip. There's some really cool rocks here in the CT Valley. I'm really excited! (I'm such a geek, did you know that about me?)

Mermaid Ivy

Here's my niece, Ivy, as a mermaid. She just spent a week in Florida with her mom and grandparents. I was a bit jealous. I'm sure she had a wonderful time.

I just adore Ivy. She's 4 1/2. She'll be 5 in July. We always have a great time together.

Except for that one time when I was trying to comb her hair out...

She'd been with my brother, Pete, in Vermont for a week and little dreads were starting to form. I knew her mom wouldn't appreciate getting her daughter back as a Rastafarian so I attempted to comb it out. Her mom had sent along a spray-in hair de-tangler which works pretty well, if you can get Ivy to sit still long enough.

I worked in sections around her head, spraying in the de-tangler and then combing it out. She'd last about 3 minutes (if that) and need to get up for something. Each time I'd have to ask her to come back and sit down. Sometimes, it was to get a doll. Other times it was to move a loaf of bread. And then move the same loaf of bread again. Halfway through she got up and got me a glass of water! I continued to comb out the dreads and when she got up one last time I told her I was finished. She said, "you didn't finish." I said, "you kept getting up." She went whining to Pete, who witnessed the whole thing, "Papa, she wouldn't even give me a chance."

More photos from Talcott Mountain

Here's a few more photos from our trip to CT. Columnar Basalt, CT 's largest tree (a sycamore), Farmington River, Heublein Tower at the top of Talcott Mountain, and Trevor in front of the sycamore tree for scale.

A Really Nice Hike and a Menu Suggestion

On Tuesday it was a lovely spring day and so we decided to take the day off! We drove to CT where there's no snow on the ground. We had lunch at Pinchot Sycamore tree - which is the largest tree in CT! It's an amazing tree! I'll post some photos and you'll be amazed too.

After lunch we drove to Talcott Mountain and had a really nice hour-long hike up the mountain to Heublien Tower which was built in 1913 as someone's summer home. Part of the trail is along a ridge and there's nothing I love more when hiking than to hike along a ridge in the sunshine. There were amazing views to the west and a nice view of an oxbow of the Farmington River. We could even see the huge sycamore tree from up there! (It's that big.)

We hung out at the top and had a snack then headed down on the Metacomet trail. This was even better than the trail up! More hiking along a ridge. The Metacomet trail went off in a direction that felt wrong so we stayed on the wood road and made our way back through some rather wet spots but it was well worth it. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get down. All in all it was a great afternoon and I'm looking forward to the next adventure.

The video is of a vernal pond with lots of vocal frogs. (and a little humor)

Gunn Brook Falls and some really cool rocks

Trevor & I took our housemate, Rowan (age 9), to a couple of waterfalls this afternoon. Spring is the ideal time to visit waterfalls. This one is in Sunderland, MA. It's called Gunn Brook Falls. We visited it a couple of years ago in September and it was just a trickle. Today it was really flowing.
The geologist in me really likes it there because it's where I can see contact between the Mt. Toby Conglomerate and the Turners Falls Sandstone (drool). It's awesome. I have to fight the urge to start the geo-speak with the 9 year-old. Lithified? HUH? Cement? HUH? Alluvial fan? HUH? Contact?
Instead, I say things like, "sure, that could be a fossil" and "yes, that's granite" and "it's quartz". (Not likely but if you want to believe that you go right ahead. I'm not going to ruin your afternoon.)
When we were done at Gunn Falls we drove over to Roaring Brook Falls in Leverett. The path was snow and small pond-covered. The sun was setting behind Mt. Toby so the light wasn't very good for photos so no photos of Roaring Brook Falls today. I'll have to get there before noon for good photos. Again, another opportunity to drool over the Mt. Toby Conglomerate. (I'm such a nerd!)

Shopping Tips

Here's some tips for clothes shopping at the Salvation Army:

1. Be careful not to buy the items that you donated a few months ago. You'll be attracted to the item because you like the color or style but look at it carefully. There's a reason you donated the item. For example, your friend told you it looked "like a towel" on you.
   
2. Don't buy items with bleach spots on them. If you're like me, you probably have several of those at home.
   
3. Just because you can zip it doesn't mean it fits. This applies to pants as well as hoodies.
   
4. Go ahead and buy the $1.99 tank top that only fits just OK. At least you didn't pay $14.50 for it at Old Navy.
   
5. Inspect all items carefully and try everything on. All sales are final!
   

Another Waterfall video

Enders Falls, Enders State Forest, Granby, CT. Falls #1.

Pedestrian Errands

We did all of our downtown errands on foot today. In an effort to get exercise and reduce our carbon footprint we drove to downtown Northampton and parked on Gothic Street in on of the 10 hour metered spots and walked up to Main Street and then headed west to the Forbes Library on West Street. Along our way we ran into Jim DuBois and his girlfriend, Phoebe, who were also doing errands on foot. Jim lives downtown on West Street and doesn't own a car so doing errands on foot is totally normal for him. We chatted with them and compared errands. Us: library, bank, post office, health food store, comic store. Them: bank, post office, stationary store.

We headed to the library where we ran into Tim "the deaf guy" (that's what we call him, I really don't know his name). When we were finished at the library we headed back to the truck on Gothic Street to drop off the big bag of movies, music and books before heading to the bank and then down Main Street to the Post Office and across the street to Modern Myths (Trevor) and Lamson Goodnow (me). Once we had our stash of comic books and kitchen stuff we headed back up Main Street to Thornes Market and went to Cornucopia for bread, fruit, tofu, snacks and treats. Along the way Trevor remembered that he needed to go to the hardware store for something and since he prefers Florence Hardware (not on our way home) over Foster-Farrar (on our way home) we increased our carbon footprint. Better luck next time.

It was fun anyway. We were downtown for about 2 hours and got everything done and got some exercise!

Waterfall with sound

Here's Ender Falls #4 with sound. The Connecticut Waterfalls website has pictures and sound of all of the waterfalls. We've listened to a few but they all sound the same to us and we think they might have just turned on the shower and held the MP3 player in the shower and pressed "record". So instead I decided to shoot short videos of the waterfalls. Seems more authentic.

Enders Falls and MacLean Game Reservation, CT

Trevor & I took the day off today (it's easy when you're unemployed and self-employed). We drove to Granby, CT - about an hour from our house - and went to Enders Falls at Enders State Forest. We've learned that the time of year to visit water falls is Spring not Fall. This may seem obvious to some but we've learned the hard way that all you're likely to find at some waterfalls in September is just a trickle. It's usually a great hike but if you were really counting on seeing a spectacular waterfall, you're out of luck. Anyway, we've been checking out the CT waterfalls website and decided to visit this one in Enders State Forest. According to the website it has 6 waterfalls. We're not sure how they're counting but we counted 8. It was pretty spectacular.

The B&W photo is water fall #6 (I think) where we found a sunny spot in the sun and had a great lunch. It was wonderful.

After we were done there, we drove to MacLean Game Reservation, also in Granby. We picked a 2 mile loop trail and it was great! Since the visit to the waterfall was mostly just standing around and looking it was nice to actually walk and stretch our legs. We came across the little cabin and I decided to try being an artist, again.

It was a great day. I'm looking forward to our next adventure. Maybe another waterfall!