Garden visitor (gratitude #27)

June 12, 2008

So, I’ve been contemplating doing some landscape work on the backyard. The grass is dying (grubs, I think), the deck is too small for the table and the grill we have on it, and the random plantings (my fault) and the bi-level deck and backyard (inherited from the previous owners) feels like there’s too much [...]

Ann Arbor in Bloom (gratitude #21)

May 5, 2008

It’s the time of year when everything is bursting open - while my tulips have faded, the redbud in the back has finally decided (after several years of skipping flowering and going straight to leaf, just to spite us) that it is, in fact, a redbud. We’re thrilled it has deigned to bloom in our backyard, [...]

Gardening = soil + plants + labor = home + family (gratitude #18)

April 21, 2008

I like plants. I was a plant ecology graduate student. I memorized their names, collected their seeds, learn how botanists classify their variety, and I grew and planted some in field experiments. I have worked as a volunteer to rid a nature preserve of invasive weeds (ongoing, neverending work), and I enjoy playing in my [...]

And the winner is…Spiraea! (gratitude #16)

April 8, 2008

My friend Andy is going to laugh at me. He’s the kind of guy who collects the names of things, so he was a great help when I was in grad school and wondered about the name of, say, any plant, insect, or rock near at hand. We used to work together, and so we’d [...]

Spring is here: first BBQ, compost pickups, crocuses (gratitude #15)

April 6, 2008

We dusted off the grill and had the first BBQ of 2008 last night. Bahamian grilled chicked from the The Barbecue! Bible. Tasty. Not quite weather for dinner outside, but getting there. Almost time to break out the outdoor table from the garage.
I noticed all the neighbors out in their yards yesterday, picking up the [...]

How to buy a usable alarm clock - rebuy the one you have

March 25, 2008

Our alarm clock, the Big Ben Moon Beam clock that we got as a wedding present in October, 2000, no longer snoozes. This is a problem, because at our house we’ve developed a complex system of setting the clock too early, setting the alarm too early, and then waking ourselves up by the mental calculations [...]

Loving this winter sunshine (gratitude, week 8)

February 24, 2008

What a glorious sunshiney day. My semi-elderly cat is soaking up the rays, moving from chair to chair in the dining room as the sliver of sunshine arcs across the room. He’s loving the sunshine too, flipping over now and then to “brown the other side”.

Winter photography class at Matthaei Botanical Garden

January 20, 2008

I very much enjoyed today’s Winter Photography Class at Matthaei. It was taught by Mark O’Brien. We had a little bit of instruction and then all went out and wandered together in the winter woods, playing with exposure, watching our batteries drain exceptionally fast, shivering a bit, and having fun. At the end of the [...]

Grateful for the little things - gratitude week 2, 2008

January 13, 2008

This week, I’m grateful for the little things.

Discovering the google maps “drag to change route” feature that let me ask it to take me to Depot Town via Washtenaw instead of I-94.
Zingerman’s Bread. Every now and then I have this thought “what would I miss if I moved away from Ann Arbor.” The answer is: [...]

Best gift - Silence

December 31, 2007

I completely got away with something this year. I gave my husband something that will actually improve my own sanity and well being.
Dave and I get along, but we have pretty different leisure pursuits. He likes first person shooter, sports, and car racing computer games. He also watches some movies and TV shows I think [...]