Growing Things

It was a very busy weekend, pictures hopefully to come of my birthday, tubing, and our friends' wedding. I wasn't the one taking pics at any of these occasions (as Alli and I discussed recently, being the photographer really does change your experience of an event) so I may rely on friends to supply proof of the festivities. Anyone willing to share images?

In the meantime, here's a picture of our garden on Sunday, June 29. It's really taking off!An interesting lily growing on the side of our house.
Can anyone tell me what's eating my tomatoes! Slugs, hornworms or what? I haven't been able to locate the perpetrator.
A few of the fruits of my labor. 4 beets, a handful of Amish snapeas and some tasty garlic whistles (scapes).

More Pics from Camping Adventure

For those who are interested in seeing more camping/scenery pics from our trip: http://lissa82.shutterfly.com/action/

Camping Adventures

My dad used to take me and my sister camping when we were kids and he really instilled in me a love of nature. Wherever we have lived, Troy and I have made it a point to find places of beauty in nature in order to help us relax and unwind. Being away from the craziness and demands of daily life allows us to really reconnect with ourselves and with each other.

This past weekend we ventured to West Virginia to the Greenbriar River Trail. We camped at a lovely spot in the Seneca State Forest. Troy assured me we would have a leisurely bike ride and enjoy amazing scenery. At least the latter turned out to be true.


The bike ride just to get to the trail was windy and hilly and even necessitated us fording a river with our bikes. Needless to say, I was not pleased. Troy is hardcore when it comes to these types of things. He even likes getting lost because he thinks it's fun and challenging. If you know my personality, you know that I disagree.We ended up trekking up a river bank with all the gear too.
This photo taken with the new gorillapod Troy got me after we finally reached the trail itself and had a much deserved picnic.

And a beer!

After what seem like any endless trip back to camp, Troy surprised me yet again with his fancy bartending skills. He had pureed raspberry, blueberry and mango for a mojito of sorts that was fabulous and helped ease my aching muscles.

Roughing it!

The next day we took a longer route back so we could check out Lake Moomaw in VA on the way back. It was gorgeous, crisp and clean. Perfect for swimming. We are hoping to get to canoe camp there later in the summer.

All in all, despite the fact that I'm still sore from our 14 mile bike fiasco, it was really a great trip.

Crossing Our Fingers

We still haven't heard if it was the mumps that Troy had. We've been waiting to hear back from Public Health. I am pretty nervous about it because the incubation period is so long that I could be at risk of getting the mumps until mid-July. Let's hope we are in the clear because we have a trip home to MN planned for over the 4th!

Troy is feeling much better. He was so terribly sick that he didn't even have a beer for a whole week! Those of you who know Troy well know that is a feat! ;) He came home on Sunday with a carload of beer (supposedly to last through the summer) so I knew then he was in the clear.

I got a few pics of the garden this weekend. It is growing like crazy now. We are enjoying sugar snap peas and garlic whistles (scapes). A few of my purple beans made it through the pests and are finally growing too.

Here are two pics of how the garden is growing. The first is from May and then second from June. They were taken only maybe 2 weeks apart.

Building a Bridge

When I was in Minnesota I stayed with my friend Courtney who lives outside of Minneapolis. She was kind enough to bring me to the airport which meant driving past the infamous site of the bridge that collapsed late last summer. I snapped a few pictures as we drove by. This interstate is a main artery through the city right near the University of Minnesota. It's still pretty unbelievable to me that the bridge went down without much of a warning, killing and injuring so many people. I just hope something has been learned from this tragedy.

Courts tells me they have been working 24/7 on rebuilding the bridge since the collapse, even despite MN's freezing winter temperatures. It really is pretty incredible the amount of work that goes into making these structures that we take for granted every day.

On the Mend?

Troy is feeling a bit better, though he still is having head and neck aches. He still hasn't had the results of the mumps test back--hopefully by tomorrow or Monday. I've been affectionately referring to him as "Mumpo" and making him lots of smoothies. Big thanks to Steve for lending him some MacGyver DVDs and Sarah for the box of movies as well. They have been helping him get through this long quarantine.

I'm trying not to jinx myself but I'm starting to feel a bit sickly now. I'm feeling very, very tired and have had somewhat of a headache--which is how Troy's sickness started. Let's hope I'm just being a paranoid hypochondriac. I'm hitting the sack early tonight just in case. Cross your fingers that I avoid this awful plague!

Makeshift Eyeshadow

There are some truly lovely gardens on U.Va.'s campus (or "Grounds" as people in the know call it). Today I was on Grounds to interview a cell biologist for work. I chose a route passing by some of the gardens on my way back to the car. I spotted some of my favorite flowers--tiger lilies growing along the wall.

I couldn't resist taking a picture and then emailing it to my sister. These flowers bring back a sweet memory. When we were little, Laura and I used to pull out the stamens of tiger lilies and use the powdery orange stuff on the ends as eyeshadow. Not sure how we got that idea but it's pretty funny to think about now.

Quarantine

Troy was miserably sick all weekend and wasn't getting better so he finally went in to Student Health yesterday and they determined that he might have the mumps. There was an outbreak last fall at U.Va. and apparently the virus must still be going around. They took a blood test but the results take forever to come back so he may be well again before he knows for sure.

Thankfully they gave him some meds to ease his pain and help him sleep. They also gave him a bunch of masks to wear in an attempt to protect me from catching it as it's highly contagious. Supposedly it is unlikely that you will get the mumps if you have been inoculated but that didn't help him. He is officially quarantined in the house until Friday. Poor guy!

Lazy Weekend

I am glad to have a lazy weekend after the graduation festivities and travel. Unfortunately, Troy is really ill with a fever and chills. Poor guy, he finally finished his summer class and still has grading to do before Monday! I got us two movies last night and we just relaxed and watched them. I recommend "Lars and the Real Girl," it's really funny.

I made Troy some tea from fresh mint, lavender and chamomile from the garden and added honey and lemon and we vegged. We finally christened the teapot that I made in my first hand building ceramics class. Here's a pic. It was Troy's idea to use bubble wrap for texture.
This morning I worked for as long as I could in the nearly 100 degree heat, watering and trying to train the peas up some twine I would have liked to take some pictures but I couldn't bear to be outside any longer. I did get a pic of our breakfast which was poached eggs on English muffins and a bed of fresh basil and tomato, drizzled with olive oil, s&p and balsamic vinegar. We had a few peas ready to pick so we ate those too. Yum!
Even Kyma is feeling lazy today. Here's a rare moment of quiet that she somehow allowed me to capture (she usually runs when I go for the camera as she was my main subject when I took a photography course last year).
Well I'll sign off for now. Off to brave the heat so I can go to the store to pick up more NyQuil for Troy and echinacea for me so that hopefully I can ward off this terrible bug!

Mad Scientist

I love Troy because of his creative ideas and his sense of adventure and enthusiasm. But sometimes these attributes takes us a bit farther than I really want to go. Maybe that's why his 6th grade teacher termed him "Edge Man." His tireless dedication to his robots and misc. projects has earned him the designation of "mad scientist" from me and many friends.

Last night we had Dave and Emily over for some food and drink since they are leaving soon for Italy for several weeks (lucky kids!) I tried to keep it low-key since things have been crazy around here with Troy's teaching and my travel. We ordered bbq and I made some sides to go with it.

Troy surprised us all with his drink plans. I thought we would have mojitos and mint juleps (which I consider labor intensive). But Troy had other plans entirely. He had sneakily ordered a whole slew of devices to prepare some sort of molecular gastronomy drinks that he saw in Make Magazine. The idea is to create bubbles with sodium alginate of rum, mint simple syrup and lime juice. I was told the bubbles would all dissolve together on my tongue to create an amazing drink experience. Well, we got an experience all right.

Not surprisingly, Troy didn't mind that the bubbles were more like long, globby, snot noodles. He "drank" his and my drink.I worried about getting a stomach ache but I found out that sodium alginate is found in indigestion tablets. Even so, I think he really needs to perfect his technique before serving it to our friends again!

The Graduate Continued

My little brother Patrick graduated this past weekend. I was happy to be able to go home to witness this and see my family (many of them for the first time since last fall). It was only a 2 night trip but I packed in a lot of fun even besides the graduation festivities, including a visit with my aunt and her kids and a visit with my good friend Courtney.

Patrick got his degree in Public Accounting and already has a good job lined up at Target starting next month. I'm really amazed at how quickly he and many of his friends found jobs. But I guess business is different from sociology, psychology and music in that sense. I certainly found that out the hard way, both in Eugene and in Charlottesville, with job searches that lasted 6 months or more. Hopefully the fact that the new Ph.D.'s in music from U.Va. secured positions at Yale bodes well for Troy.



Here's the family after graduation. The ceremony was a bit long and it was really hot and sunny so I was thankful that Laura bought us all bottles of water and they had sunscreen wipes for sale (a weird but interesting technology--like a wet nap but with sunscreen).

Some other highlights from the trip:

1. Seeing my aunt and not-so-little cousins.
2. Seeing grandma Jean on the rope swing!
3. Dinner at Charlie's restaurant. Not seriously gourmet as I discovered from the "garlic mashed potatoes" that turned out to be potato buds but I was happy to be able to eat walleye and to be with the family, including Grandma Jean.
4. Seeing Patrick in his element, cracking jokes among his 8 roommates.
   
5. Spending time with my siblings.
6. Courtney's bug. And spending time with her.
7. Courtney's pug--Paisley Walk-in-the-Park Thompson. She's getting a little bit long in the tooth but she's a little cuddle bug, unlike Kyma.

Many more pics are here: http://lissa82.shutterfly.com/action - Sorry, I'm getting lazy.

The Graduate

Heres's a picture that sums up the past weekend. My "little" brother graduated from college. We were all so proud! He's pictured here with mom and dad. I made it to MN for only two nights (since I'm saving vacation for later in the summer too) so it was a whirlwind but wonderful trip. Stay tuned, more thoughts and pictures to come...