The Wild Life and Times of a Botanical Geek

I wanted to write a longer post, but I'm kinda buzzing and stressed out right now, so I'm just gonna do a quick message. Maybe I'll expand later.

1.) I have finished my stint in the horticulture department. I think I learned a lot, and it was definitely worthwhile, but I'm glad it's over. No more working in the heat for now! <3

2.) Instead, I'll be playing in the heat! Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna be down in Florida visiting relatives. I'll be there until the 8th of August. Kenaz, my trusty laptop, will be accompanying me, so I'll be online, but it'll be inconsistent. So if you see me online and need me for something, grab me then, for I can't guarantee when I'll be on next. ^_^;

I've been way way busy lately. Tons of stuff has been going on, and I've got a huge list of things to do, and it's been hectic enough that I haven't been able to say much about it. Heck, I even was a goob and didn't get around to updating Avobaby this week. I need to do that tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, since there's lots of stuff, I guess I'll just do the highlights. Bullet Time!

--IT'S SPRING! I know, old news, yes, but I mean it's really, *really* spring. All the plants in the yard are coming up, and it's making me positively euphoric. It's not just a case of "Oh yay, they survived the winter!", but it's also "Oh yay, I wonder how big they'll get this year and hey it's time to go and buy more plants to put in the yard and look lungwort and hosta and indigo and peonies and SQUEE!!".

--Probably the biggest bit of excitement on this front is that we have BLUEBELLS. I love bluebells, and when we saw some at our local garden center whilst picking out plants, I wasn't fazed by the fact that they were actually rather sad and weepy-looking, and in fact looked rather dead. My parents pointed this out to me, and that it appeared we were, in fact, buying dead plants. However, I was not to be dissuaded, because BLUEBELLS. So, we got the one that looked the least sad, and planted it. Of course, it crashed, and I figured that we had to chalk it up to the ravages of war in the garden, which made me sad. However, several days ago, I started to see life appearing in the spot where we planted it. At first I thought I was mis-remembering where we put it, and thought it was a hosta, but the leaf shape was all wrong. Then I thought it was a weed, but I decided to wait and see before pulling it up, just in case. Then a couple days ago, it's started putting out flowers. They're still in buds, but they're plentiful enough and the leaves have developed enough that I'm convinced that the bluebells have resurrected themselves. I consider this to be my biggest garden victory to date. It also means we can buy more bluebells.

--I seriously need to post an update about Avobaby and Friends. Tons of stuff is going on.

--Finally, FINALLY, after three months, my family finally had another get-together. This makes me very happy, because I miss people, and was glad to see them. My aunt brought over a box o' history to show my brother and father (the history buffs). Apparently her father was in WWII, and had made a scrapbook from his experiences. The scrapbook, however, is disintegrating, so she's going to go about having the items in it preserved. Before that, though, she wanted to show what she had to them, since they would get a kick out of it. It was pretty neat, from the two-day passes to the USO program to the pictures of her father and his buddies hamming it up for the camera to the cartoon done by one of his friends as an editorial statement on their commanding officer to the copy of the Stars and Stripes with the huge "NAZIS QUIT" headline taking up half the front page. I'm realizing I have more of my father in me than I thought, because I was pulled in by the whole thing too. Maybe that's why I'm into archival-type things, like the herbarium and the like. It is, after all, a blending of botany and history.

--Thanks to a source known as Eien-chan's Brother Who is Kind Enough to Let Me Borrow His Copy, I've started watching Firefly. All I have to say about it thus far is 'Ooooh...'. It's gotten hold of me from the plastic dinosaur battle onwards. It's also the first sci-fi series I've seen that respects the rule that there's no sound in space. That deserves a nod. Anyway, this looks like it's gonna be fun.

--I really need to get back onto studying for the GRE. I wonder if there's a good way to get in a couple GRE words or something a day.

--Lush has brought back Fairy Jasmine bath bombs. I must get some.