 |
| Goodbye, old apartment! |
 |
| Moved to a new place! |
 |
| Karen's graduation |
 |
| Memorial day |
 |
| Family Reunion |
 | ||||
| Scottish festival |
 |
| New dog! |
 |
| Another reunion |
 |
| Working in the garden |
 |
| Dave's birthday |
 |
| Hanging out |
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Life in Photos
Landscaping
Moving into a home without a finished yard is both good and bad at once. First of all, you might think it's just a lot of work and hassle. It's just SO much less complicated when everything is already done for you. But then, there's also this excitement that you get from starting with a clean slate. Like opening a fresh notebook--so full of possibilities, with pages ready to be filled with your creative ideas.
So although I'm none too thrilled about looking outside and seeing rocks and dirt and more rocks, I also feel inspired. I gaze out the window and start thinking. "I could plant honeysuckle along the back fence." "That would be a great place for a big vegetable garden." "Someday, I'll put a nice shade tree in that spot." I look out there at that wasteland and see potential.
But for now, I know that there's not a lot that can be done. We've built a temporary fence around a small section of the yard, planted a little raised garden, and grown wildflowers in an area of the yard. Dave dug a firepit just for fun, although I'm scared to use it since we live right next to an open field. And we've done other work, like weeding, around the property. But it is still far from finished.
We moved into a house with a huge yard. HUGE. Like, what the crap am I going to do with all of this space huge. It really is a bit overwhelming. One thing that has helped me decide a starting point, however, is the fact that I do NOT want to maintain an extensive lawn. I enjoy having a verdant grassy area, sure, but if we put in sod all over the property our work to care for it would never end. So I've decided that xeriscaping a good chunk of the property would be the wisest choice. I plan to xeriscape most of the front yard, using desert-friendly plants, rocks, and dirt over the area. In the backyard, I want an area with grass just outside the back door and porch area, but I only want it to extend to a certain point. Then, one of the most exciting ideas: an English country garden with gravel paths, beautiful flowers, benches, etc.
Right now, though, all I can really do is dream about it, and make it happen little by little. I've been told to take it one step at a time, and eventually it will be done. Like that poem by Shel Silverstein about eating the whale, you know? One bite at a time...
And this is one whale of a big yard!
So although I'm none too thrilled about looking outside and seeing rocks and dirt and more rocks, I also feel inspired. I gaze out the window and start thinking. "I could plant honeysuckle along the back fence." "That would be a great place for a big vegetable garden." "Someday, I'll put a nice shade tree in that spot." I look out there at that wasteland and see potential.
But for now, I know that there's not a lot that can be done. We've built a temporary fence around a small section of the yard, planted a little raised garden, and grown wildflowers in an area of the yard. Dave dug a firepit just for fun, although I'm scared to use it since we live right next to an open field. And we've done other work, like weeding, around the property. But it is still far from finished.
 |
| Dirt, rocks, weeds...yay! |
We moved into a house with a huge yard. HUGE. Like, what the crap am I going to do with all of this space huge. It really is a bit overwhelming. One thing that has helped me decide a starting point, however, is the fact that I do NOT want to maintain an extensive lawn. I enjoy having a verdant grassy area, sure, but if we put in sod all over the property our work to care for it would never end. So I've decided that xeriscaping a good chunk of the property would be the wisest choice. I plan to xeriscape most of the front yard, using desert-friendly plants, rocks, and dirt over the area. In the backyard, I want an area with grass just outside the back door and porch area, but I only want it to extend to a certain point. Then, one of the most exciting ideas: an English country garden with gravel paths, beautiful flowers, benches, etc.
 |
| Kind of like this! |
And this is one whale of a big yard!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
end of one road, start of another
I just began my final semester of school, in which I am taking two poetry classes. One is advanced poetry, where I'll be writing. The other is a literature class, so I'll be reading tons of poetry and occasionally writing about it.
I can't believe I've come this far. Yes, it took me a LONG time, much longer than it probably should have. But here I am! After years of balancing family, work, and school, I'm almost done with my education.
It's bizarre to consider that I won't be in school soon. I won't be a student. That may seem like no big thing, but that's how I've identified myself since i was like 6 years old, all the way until now. And soon, I will be entering a new part of my life.
So just what do I intend to do? A lot is still blurry. For an English graduate, it's not 100% clear what you'll do (at least not for me). I don't know for certain where I'll end up and just what I'll be doing, but that's my next step: to find a job where i can use my skills. We will see this spring what's out there.
I know it's taken me a long time to get here, and my journey didn't always have specific direction. Sometimes I wish I could have just KNOWN in the beginning that English was my path, so I could have rushed my way through it and I'd be long done by now. But you know what? It's okay. There are reasons, sometimes, to take the longer road. There are things to learn on the way, and I have learned a LOT.
"If I had known the real way it was,
I would have stopped all the looking around."
But that knowing depends
on the time spent looking!
-Rumi
I can't believe I've come this far. Yes, it took me a LONG time, much longer than it probably should have. But here I am! After years of balancing family, work, and school, I'm almost done with my education.
It's bizarre to consider that I won't be in school soon. I won't be a student. That may seem like no big thing, but that's how I've identified myself since i was like 6 years old, all the way until now. And soon, I will be entering a new part of my life.
So just what do I intend to do? A lot is still blurry. For an English graduate, it's not 100% clear what you'll do (at least not for me). I don't know for certain where I'll end up and just what I'll be doing, but that's my next step: to find a job where i can use my skills. We will see this spring what's out there.
I know it's taken me a long time to get here, and my journey didn't always have specific direction. Sometimes I wish I could have just KNOWN in the beginning that English was my path, so I could have rushed my way through it and I'd be long done by now. But you know what? It's okay. There are reasons, sometimes, to take the longer road. There are things to learn on the way, and I have learned a LOT.
"If I had known the real way it was,
I would have stopped all the looking around."
But that knowing depends
on the time spent looking!
-Rumi
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
