Hello friends!

I've been slow on the postin' because it's sad not to have pictures... but since I am just about to talk your ear off about plants anyway, I decided I'd just add photos of them. It is a good time for flowerin' trees around these parts. When I walk around the neighborhood I work in I can find (all in bloom, mind you) Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa):

Which I've noticed smells like cherry cough syrup (the Empress Tree flowers, that is). You can find this tree on the corner of Harrison and 17th, as well as in the arboretum when you leave the visitor's center area and walk toward the docks etc. It is just on your left after you cross the road (way before you get to the bridge that smells like goat cheese).

On my walks I also see flowering buckeye and horse chestnut trees (Aesculus sp.) There is a good one on the corner of 17th and Aloha, as well as a bunch of 'em along 18th between Thomas and Madison. The buckeye tree is of course the Ohio state tree, and reminds me that I'll be seein' the familia again soon (within their native range--Shelby County).

Bub and Linda stopped by Seattle this weekend on their way home from their honeymoon. Eli, the ol' SENS housemate (and future housemate next year) is also out here he's doing an SCA internship out on Vashon Island. We all went canoeing in the Arboretum and were surrounded by the fairy-tale like cottonwood fluff along with these wild yellow irises. It was a delight! It reminded me of Peter Mayer's line from his song "The Play":

"When I try to grasp the simple fact of this existence And think of all the fantasies and fairytales and wishes None strike me as more unlikely or magnificent than this is "... how funny it is we were all out here in this far corner of the country, from which none of us hail. If you're in the Seattle area, I recommend a canoe trip in the arb here's the link: http://depts.washington.edu/ima/IMA_wac.php#wac

Also on the Capitol Hill walks I find one beautiful blooming Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Which is the tallest tree in the Eastern decidious forest and the state tree of Kentucky (and Indiana, I believe). This fine tree is located on the corner of 16th and Aloha, and it is a Seattle Heritage tree.

So, this musician Peter Mayer is friends with David Wilcox and produces equally touching/cheesy folk music. I, of course, love it!

Here's his website:

http://www.petermayer.net/

Another song of Peter Mayer's that has been very much on my heart in recent times is "Coming Home" (for obvious reason!):

When trees are turning

Chimney smoke is curling

Fallen leaves are swirling

I’ll be coming home

When geese are wending

Apple branches bending

When the summer’s ending

I’ll be coming home

When Autumn’s first frost

Glistens on the corn stalks

The bales of hay and sweet squash

I’ll be coming home

And hill and meadow

Are crimson, rust and yellow

When the fruits of August mellow

I’ll be coming home

CHORUS: And rest will greet me

Love will receive me

And joy, like a deep red wine

Fill my heart

I have been trodding

The furrowed fields of summer

Footsteps heavy under

The seeds I’ve come to sow

When some have sprouted

And I have hoped and doubted

And every bushel’s counted

I’ll be coming home

CHORUS

Nights will be cold then

Foxes in their holes then

Skies awaiting snow when

I’ll be coming home

When hearths are burning

Tables set with sterling

I will be returning

*****

...and I suppose I should probably explain that a bit, just in case I haven't chatted to you recently. I'm about 98% sure I'll take the Berea AmeriCorps position of Energy Empowerment in Appalachia. I'm just waiting to hear back what my insurance premiums will be (I'm staying on the same plan)... if I can afford them, it will be a done deal! Along those lines of Berea dreamin' Eli, Alix and I will be rentin' a house formerly rented by Nathan and Martina. It has a back yard (and garden!), a front carport--which will serve well as a front porch, and three bedrooms. We're going to hang a sign that we are not giving tours (after three years in the SENS house... it is perhaps about time). Cool random news-Eli was interviewed by Sierra Club for an article about demonstration homes to come out in a fall issue of their magazine. Just for the heck of it, I found old pictures of Eli and Alix (aka: Ba, Ba-child)... Alix:

And below is Eli, pointing toward our house... well actually, just pointing... but let us pretend...

So, that is the update these days... I'll be in Seattle for a little more than two months before I head on home to the bluegrass (with a quick stop in O-hi-a). Oh yeah, I guess there's one other thing... it's pretty funny actually... so last year about this time I was laid up on crutches after the half marathon because of a stress fracture. Well, this year I do not disappoint... turns out in a bike accident a while ago I fractured my shin bone (woopsy-doodle!)... The bone has since healed up just fine (said the x-ray folks) but there is some tissue damage and a smidge of pain after things like African or Contra dancing. Fret not my friends--it will only hold me back from a few backpackin' trips and nothing more. Ha!

Oh, and of course there is a garden update to share: The nasturtium is going off like crazy, as are the tators. We're doing a potato tire stack to save space and use those tires we've been collecting (from sources we will not reveal). A more detailed description can be found at http://www.43things.com/things/view/1072020/grow-potatoes-in-a-tire-potato-stack ...but the gist of it is this--plant seed tators (tators cut to divide the sprouting eyes and then allowed to dry out for a week or so to prevent rotting after they are planted) in a tire. When their sprouts grow to 8 inches add another tire and fill with dirt/compost. Keep doing this until the sprouts go to flower, at which point they'll need less water and are about to ready to harvest.

We've now got 9 or 10 mators planted (assorted varieties). I planted one of the mators in an old crock-pot found by the road. I rigged up a wicking system using old medical tubing from work and the technique I learned from Marcus, Carolyn, and Haley (when I visited their ecovillage in Australia).

We've got a few tires of salad mix. We're getting one salad a week, big enough to feed the whole house of seven.

Our mint for tea tire is doing well. Our one little chard plant is as bright as it is happy. Our basil is alright, but the leaves look like they want sun just about as bad as the rest of us (and who can blame them?).

I think that's everything as far as the garden goes... more to come.

...and last but not least the grateful list:

-water (surprise!)

-music (FYI-musical potluck/jam session at Sula house this Friday night!)

-visitors (please give a shout out if you are in the area)

-plants, especially flowering ones

-canoeing

-gardens

-sleep

-silent time

-A Course in Miracles and Eckhart Tolle

-all who have shared their heart with me and those yet to share

-this moment.