First garden!

This past week I began my very first proper vegetable garden. It is very exciting-- I can't wait to put seeds in the ground and look out for the first sprouts. This week I built a compost bin(more like a corral, actually), dug two beds, and today I added lime, fertilizer and compost. This week, I am ready to get some cold-hardy seeds in the ground. I already feel more in tune with the world outdoors, which is waking up to spring-- I hear woodpeckers and chickadees every day, saw the first leaves emerging on our tuliptrees, and felt some raindrops today. I am also thinking more about our household ecology-- how our food scraps will soon nourish the soil, and how we might be able to harvest rainwater.

Garden season

Yesterday I lent a hand to help build a new garden at the Hereford residential college at UVA. This project grew out of my friend Lily's master's thesis work on Jefferson's unrealized plans for a botanic garden at UVA. Lily and her cohort are reviving this intention and beginning with a demonstration garden this spring. We had a productive afternoon under cool skies, and dug 3 1/2 new beds. I hope that the torrential rains today don't wash away all our work!

As the weather warms I look forward to sketching outside again. My new house is near a forested hill, this evening I watched the sun setting and casting golden light on these tulip trees.

wind, water, and ice

On a walk over the weekend at Ragged Mountain Reservoir, we heard a strange sound in the silent winter afternoon, like a bird call, as we walked over the earth dam. Getting closer, we saw that the sound was actually produced by the water in the reservoir lapping against the sheet of ice. A rock thrown on the ice made more good sounds-- these ones like metallic echoes. After awhile, the wind shifted directions and the whole surface of water changed appearance-- now, it was running away from us!

Dashing through Schenley Park

On my recent visit to Pittsburgh, the cold winter had just settled in. At Schenley Park, we needed to run a bit to get warm! We took turns pretending to be a monster, chasing the others. Later, we found some icicles and broke one off to goof around-- it became my fang, Amy's long nail, Aaron's unicorn horn, and a drippy nose!...

friends / twins

I've thought for a long time that it would be fun to photograph friends who dress alike, probably without realizing it-- they have just "rubbed off" on each other. I don't have the guts to photograph strangers, so this one photo will likely complete my project!

Spotted at Razzy Fresh in Pittsburgh: