Happy Spring!

These are blossoms on my dad's peach tree.

Autumn

Maybe my autumn resolution can be to stop neglecting this blog! We'll see...

Wisconsin road trip photos and a note about Facebook

Last week, Mama and Daddy and I had the opportunity to take a roadtrip up north to visit relatives. We managed to see almost everyone, which was really nice, and to my delight there was plenty of snow. Daddy was less thrilled, because of the very cold temperatures and the fact that he was doing most of the driving in the difficult conditions. (Thank you, Daddy!) These thumbnail photos will click you through to the larger version, but if you just want to browse the whole mess on Flickr it's here (first four pages or so).

Edgerton train station & an old tobacco warehouse; the old Janesville Oasis giant cow statue (with giant bucket!)




We were able to visit Grammy in her nursing home a few times. It seemed pretty nice. (Though, sad to say, based on my childhood experiences, all a nursing home has to do to impress me is not smell bad.) It is or used to be a Catholic establishment.




The Rock River out Grandma S's backyard; young evergreens in the front.




One night, we drove up to Uncle Dan and Aunt Bobbie's and got to see their new house, have a lovely meal, and then in the morning I got up before dawn to take pictures of the snowy landscape. I got to see the light and snow going from black to dark blue to gray and finally the sun broke through the clouds over the farm valley.














This is sunset at Uncle Harv and Aunt Claire's, where we had a wonderful gathering with Daddy's side of the family. The night before, we'd had a blue moon, the second full moon in a calendar month.




Typical Illinois farm scene. Corn stubble, silos... FLAT.




Windblown ripples on snow; frost on the car's sunroof.




By the time we made it to Missouri, we thought the snow was gone, but we didn't count on four inches falling on our hotel in Springfield! The roads were pretty sloppy (but pretty!) all the way through northwestern Arkansas.



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Family members encouraged Mama and me to sign up on Facebook because it's an easy way to share photos and personal news/randomness. I've gotten Mama all set up, she has scads of contacts already, but I'm apprehensive for myself. I know I don't have to spend a lot of time on it if I don't want to, but the general idea of social networking seems scary to a shy person. I don't think I want to be searchable to everyone in the world who knows my name, or knows someone who knows me! If anyone has ideas on how to work around the feeling (or fact) of techno-social overexposure, I'd love to hear them. :)

Earth Day

Hostas on a rainy Saturday at the zoo

(Goodness, I don't remember making the card that large! Sorry.)

Speaking of the earth... I like trees. :) I have a lot of pots on my balcony, and anytime one of them is "invaded" by a volunteer tree seedling, I try to surrender the pot and let the tree grow. (Okay, not for sweetgums. But everything else.) I'm currently raising two willows, four longleaf pines, and two oak trees, and I've planted one young oak and gave another to Andy and Charlie to plant. I hope to plant a lot more! I've been thinking about it recently because of all the beautiful old trees Mena lost in the tornado. I spoke with a Forest Service worker last weekend, and after offering me 200 mulberry saplings on the spot (sadly, I couldn't take them) he told me they're making arrangements to get some trees over to Mena, either for this planting season (which ends in a week) or next year's. The Forest Service will give away trees by the hundreds, the problem is arranging the labor and space to put them in the ground. I could personally plant five or ten at a time, but not 200.

Feels like it's been spring here for awhile, but officially...

These are pear trees on campus. I took the picture over a week ago; now the petals are drifting on the sidewalks like confetti.