Africa Bound

In this foto, Tess is moments away from walking into a new life adventure....a trip to Uganda for a high school service project of building a small school in a little village on the other side of the world.

For 24 hours, I watched the website that showed a cartoon plane as it flew across the Atlantic Ocean toward Brussels, then across the Mediterranean Sea toward North Africa, then finally southeast across this big continent called Africa heading for Entebbe Airport.

Once the plane landed, I was relieved, but no word from her in 24 hours left me feeling a bit anxious. Finally...last night around 11 pm she called. What a relief to hear her voice. She had just gotten up (they are 8 hours ahead) and wanted to check in. She sounded happy and rested and was looking forward to heading out to the building site. When we answered the phone, we both asked where she was. It sounded like she was calling from next door. Hard to believe someone could be so far away and yet so close in communication. Had a very nice sleep being able to tell her "I love you" before I snuggled down.

June Garden

laying out the pavers to expand the front bed

the new old wheelbarrow

first day of bloom for these old roses
staging area for a ga-jillion hosta to go in the front bed
the hops plant climbing up to the trellis
the veggie garden...everything is up



and finally, Mom's old yellow rose bush....this is the very first bloom since she passed away.

Listen!

Yale student Kevin Olusola pushing the limits of a cello, and taking the music it makes up a totally new path. He bows, plucks and strums his cello, while accompanying it with beatbox, a hip-top derived use of voice as percussive/musical instrument. The music is so integral, it seems like the two sounds are really one. Then you realize that Olusola is the instrument.

tap on this artist's name, then the youtube button and give a listen....

Gardenmother

I have become obsessed. Now that the coursework for my bachelor/masters degrees in landscape architecture is finished, I have become a maniac in the garden. It has been four very long years since I have really worked in this space I call my garden. Spring is always the most welcome of the seasons for the work that needs to be done. I have a new set of eyes, so I am tweaking here and there...continually envisioning how it could and will be. The veggie garden is in, the peonies are moved from an all-too-shady spot in the wayback to a new bed dug especially for them. Last year I figured out that I have way too much lawn, as does everyone, so I brought out the brick edging about 4-5 feet and now have more square footage to plant. The shady beds are filling up with hosta, and the sunny areas are taking on daylilies, peonies, lambs ear, and iris. This is just in the back garden!

The other day I read an article in our local paper about one of my profs who convinced an entire neighborhood to install rain gardens to catch and convey roof and pavement run-off so the stormwater infiltrates into the ground rather than dumping into the storm sewer and College Creek. I have a downspout that empties my roof runoff onto the neighbor's drive, so I decided to change that. Today I talked to Mr. Berg, our postal carrier. He cuts through our property along a path that intersects where I want this rain garden located. I laid out the curve of the new bed that has moved his path to the south approximately 20 feet. He says "no sweat"; he looks forward to seeing the new rain garden. He just wanted assurance that he would know when he could no longer walk his usual path. I told him when there are plants in the middle of his path, he should take the new route.

So now I am pulling up brick edging that was laid 20 years ago. Can it really be that long since I planned this entry bed in front of our new home on Friley Road? As I was toiling away this past Memorial Day weekend, it dawned on me that this was the same garden bed that I was digging in the day my son hurled the name "gardenmother" at me. He was all of 3 1/2 years old and he was hungry. After the second attempt to get my attention to come into the house to make his PB&J sandwich, he cried out, "you, you, gardenmother!"

So for the last 21 days I have been working on my return to being gardenmother. The world can go to hell in a handbasket when I am in the garden. Early mornings are my favorite time in the garden... with a cup of coffee, my slippers, nightgown, and sweater. I am happy to report that despite four years of training in the field of landscape architecture, I am still, and will always be, the gardenmother.

PICK 'EM UP TRUCK

GardenFriends

From the House Out

This passage is taken from Richardson Wright's Another Gardener's Bed-Book @1933.

Gardens should be made from the house out. Assume the attitude of Sister Anne and gaze out windows, sit on terraces and porches, linger in doorways and from these vantage-points visualize the garden that is to be. Follow this practice and the garden will be a more satisfactory revelation of your tastes than if you make it from the property line in. Gardens made from the house out offer the same penetrating confidence as people who look you straight in the eye.

I have been doing a lot of this type of gardening lately with all the rain these past few days. I stand at the rain-streaked window and dream. I walk out to the garage and survey the garden from the doorway thru the raindrops. Then I walk upstairs to the window at my drafting table and take in the bird's eye view to "visualize the garden that is to be." It is a surefire way to save a lot of time, money, and at my age, backbreaking work!

DONE!

It is official. I am done! I just now submitted my last required assignment online for the coursework portion for my BLA/MLA (bachelor and masters in landscape architecture). No doubt, I still have a mountain to climb with finishing up my thesis, but that will come along. My major prof gave me permission to lay off for a while and go garden. I need a break to get my head back in the game if I am going to do this in a way that is fulfilling for me.

So, I am feeling pretty grand right now. It's a little bittersweet, tho. I've shed a few tears this past week when I started cleaning out my grad studio space. I even experienced an anxiety attack when I thought about the loss of this structure in my life for the last 4 years when I had to be somewhere AND with completed assignments!

Mostly, I have been sad thinking about the dispersal of all the kiddies with whom I have come to share close and wonderful friendships and who will be spinning off from the College of Design to conquer their worlds. They have accepted and included me in all their antics and foibles. I love them dearly. This past semester I have made a conscious effort to be present for their reviews. Yesterday was the last of the last. It ran from 10 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. I am not complaining. It was great to watch them spin their stories about the amazing places they and their team mates had created through models and renderings. These designs flowed from their fingertips through the keyboard and into the software which fed the printers that spewed out these incredible, large-format images of places that exist only in the mind's eye. Wow! Truly mind-boggling. Plus there was champagne and Peanut M&Ms, so the day was actually fun.

What happens next? As I stated earlier, my prof gave me permission to dig in the dirt for a couple of weeks. Then Tess will be off to Uganda. Her father and I will take her to the airport to see her off on the trip of a lifetime....one month in Africa as part of a high school adventure. Her brother was also a junior on the 2005 team that kicked-off this project of building schools, so this is a nice conclusion for Tess' junior year. A close family friend will be the doc traveling with this group, so we will breathe easier knowing Dr. Brown is watching over our collective brood.

Tomorrow I am hosting the semi-annual SSLA BBQ (that is the ISU student chapter of our professional organization) and we will party. These 5th year students are my people; I have spent most of my classes and studios with this group throughout my 4-year journey. The weatherman has promised balmy temps and a clear sky, so I am looking forward to this last bash in the garden.

Then I will dig. I have a veggie garden that needs attending to now that we are into May. This year I am planting beets and potatoes. And garlic. I used to grow garlic, but somehow things got away from me the Fall of 2007. I will see if I can get some cloves going; maybe get some springtime scapes yet this season. I also want to plant carrots and greens.

I vow also to attack the lawn. Literally. Last year I pulled all the brick edging out 4 feet to extend perennials beds and reduce the amount of lawn to mow. I need to do that in the front garden as well and also add to some areas in the way-back garden. That will involve hauling brick, which is labor intensive, so it will give my mind some much needed exercise in those other lobes.

I also found an index card in my pile the other night when I was looking for some sketches to hand in with my construction assignment. It listed some designed landscapes to see B4ID (B4 I die), so perhaps another road trip while Tess is gone to Uganda.

I have dreamed of this day for a very, very long time. Looking back, I can now see that it has driven some major decisions over the last 30 years of my life. Who know where the road will take me. I'm not worried. Things always work out for a reason and I believe in my heart that all things will work out for me.