Finally posting photos of my trip to Tennessee
I went and visited Nate and Jessica and helped celebrate Eli's 3rd birthday.
Here's Eli "pruning" a pom-pom:
He is really hilarious. He was going through a naughty phase when I went. His idea of naughty is to very gently lay the chairs down on their backs.
Here are a couple good lines from him:
He showed me a squeaking elephant, and I said "Wow, that's a really annoying toy." He ran away and came back with Fiendishly Giggling Ernie and said "Here's another annoying toy!"
He kept referring to me as "that guy", and, after all the other party guests had left, pointed at me and said "Why is that guy still here?"
OK, those were probably funnier in person. Still, he is hilarious.
And now, many, many pictures follow:
Here is Eli helping Nate replace a door knob. Eli knows much more about carpintery and renovations than many adults, such as myself.
I did not take a picture of Eli's party, which is too bad because there were many awesome things going on, including an inflatable bouncy thing shaped like a lion, a cake with flowers on it, and lots of cute kids. I was busy making pizza and yelling at random kids. BTW, my experiences with making flour tortillas, it turns out, really come in handy for making pizza crust.
Here is a picture of some random cows. They live behind the Dollar General:
The day after Eli's party, we went to a magical place called bluebell island. It is a small protected area behind a chicken plant. YAY! Incidentally, walking back to the car, I found an arrow head. I haven't found an arrow head in years, and I found 2 this spring. I wonder what it means? Also, I showed my arrow head to Tulio and said "Look what I found!" and he said expectantly "A rock?"
Here we are going to bluebell island. Jessica is laughing at me because she knows I hate crossing rivers on logs.
If you don't like photos of wildflowers, save yourself and hit your browser's back button now.
Bluebells!
There are also trilliums.
Red
and green
and lots and lots of bluebells
I like how the buds are pink
inside of bluebells
bluebells and trilliums in perfect harmony.....
And trout lilies. We couldn't find any in bloom, but then I went staggering off through the brush in search of a spot to pee, and found a patch in full bloom.
I cannot remember what this flower is called, and it is driving me nuts! They grow by the river here too.
We didn't know what this one was either, so we took pictures so we could look it up later. I haven't. I wonder if Jessica has?
Bluebell buds are cool and sculptural looking
We also found some white or pale pink trout lilies.
attempted artsy shot of the inside. It didn't come out how I planned for it too. I kinda think it's cool though.
And finally, the coolest thing is that Bluebell Island is supposed to be home to the very rare least trillium. We looked but did not find any. Then, just as we were leaving, the county's foremost least trillium expert (by dint of some deers having pooped least trillium seeds in his yard one year; now he has a jealously protected patch of them) showed up and showed us where one was.
Taking the picture was mildly nerve-wracking. I was convinced there was a whole colony of them that I was crushing under my clumsly feet. Apparently, the main reason they are so rare is mostly because deer find them so toothsome and delicious. That said, there was a lot of evidence of wildflower poaching on the island, but I imagine it was mostly showier flowers that they were after. Exercise caution when buying native plants, OK?
Here's Eli "pruning" a pom-pom:
He is really hilarious. He was going through a naughty phase when I went. His idea of naughty is to very gently lay the chairs down on their backs.
Here are a couple good lines from him:
He showed me a squeaking elephant, and I said "Wow, that's a really annoying toy." He ran away and came back with Fiendishly Giggling Ernie and said "Here's another annoying toy!"
He kept referring to me as "that guy", and, after all the other party guests had left, pointed at me and said "Why is that guy still here?"
OK, those were probably funnier in person. Still, he is hilarious.
And now, many, many pictures follow:
Here is Eli helping Nate replace a door knob. Eli knows much more about carpintery and renovations than many adults, such as myself.
I did not take a picture of Eli's party, which is too bad because there were many awesome things going on, including an inflatable bouncy thing shaped like a lion, a cake with flowers on it, and lots of cute kids. I was busy making pizza and yelling at random kids. BTW, my experiences with making flour tortillas, it turns out, really come in handy for making pizza crust.
Here is a picture of some random cows. They live behind the Dollar General:
The day after Eli's party, we went to a magical place called bluebell island. It is a small protected area behind a chicken plant. YAY! Incidentally, walking back to the car, I found an arrow head. I haven't found an arrow head in years, and I found 2 this spring. I wonder what it means? Also, I showed my arrow head to Tulio and said "Look what I found!" and he said expectantly "A rock?"
Here we are going to bluebell island. Jessica is laughing at me because she knows I hate crossing rivers on logs.
If you don't like photos of wildflowers, save yourself and hit your browser's back button now.
Bluebells!
There are also trilliums.
Red
and green
and lots and lots of bluebells
I like how the buds are pink
inside of bluebells
bluebells and trilliums in perfect harmony.....
And trout lilies. We couldn't find any in bloom, but then I went staggering off through the brush in search of a spot to pee, and found a patch in full bloom.
I cannot remember what this flower is called, and it is driving me nuts! They grow by the river here too.
We didn't know what this one was either, so we took pictures so we could look it up later. I haven't. I wonder if Jessica has?
Bluebell buds are cool and sculptural looking
We also found some white or pale pink trout lilies.
attempted artsy shot of the inside. It didn't come out how I planned for it too. I kinda think it's cool though.
And finally, the coolest thing is that Bluebell Island is supposed to be home to the very rare least trillium. We looked but did not find any. Then, just as we were leaving, the county's foremost least trillium expert (by dint of some deers having pooped least trillium seeds in his yard one year; now he has a jealously protected patch of them) showed up and showed us where one was.
Taking the picture was mildly nerve-wracking. I was convinced there was a whole colony of them that I was crushing under my clumsly feet. Apparently, the main reason they are so rare is mostly because deer find them so toothsome and delicious. That said, there was a lot of evidence of wildflower poaching on the island, but I imagine it was mostly showier flowers that they were after. Exercise caution when buying native plants, OK?