The great backyard

I awoke in the middle of the night to an intense storm passing through, one with almost constant lightning (would this be considered an electric storm?) and unusually strong winds. Either the wind or the extremely loud rain battering my bedroom skylight woke me up, but something about the noise and the intensely swaying trees outside my window clued me in that it was a little stronger than what typically rolls through. Turned out my feeling was right; there are trees down all over this morning, and a large percentage of the area was without power for a while, and still may be.

First, the damage:



Luckily for us, the biggest tree that went down was in the woods, affecting only other trees. As for the rest of our little street, large branches came down, but no one seems to have had any serious damage.



I used this turn of events to get outside again, into one of my favorite places on earth: my parents' back yard. After a rain is my favorite time to enjoy it because everything is outrageously lush and green, and it's the sort of back yard where some effort is put into keeping plants at bay, and managing certain areas of particular plants. But it also has a tendency to get wild, and that might be what I love about it the most. So in photographing the downed trees this morning, I decided to make a point to capture just a couple of the things about the natural life here that I love so much.

(Can you tell I'm starting to think about not being here for much longer?) ;)



Someone (ahem, dad) let Porter out of the house again. We had a small standoff, but I eventually caught him and put him back inside.



One of my favorites:




Perhaps because they are easy to take care of, or more likely that they're just awesome, succulents are everywhere here. It's always been this way, but as the years go by, they spread and multiply, and varieties are added to create a sort of mosaic of succulent carpet in some areas, dotted with little potted varieties that are pulled into the house in the winter.




Little ant just escaped my lens. I like to imagine what it must be like to see everything from his perspective. The stone wall would be more like a cave, and Mr. Spider in there somewhere would probably be the equivalent of a grizzly bear. The more I thought about it, the more I like the idea of the stone walls outside being a series of little caverns.




No four-leaf clovers today. :(



And Duncan, of course, joined me for a few moments before wanting to be let back inside the house.





Days to Edinburgh move-in: 31

"The earth laughs in flowers."

I'm just a leeeeeettle obsessed with how much the flowers have just gone bonkers suddenly! It's spring! It's spring! It feels like summer, but my, how it is spring. It was worth the long wait. It seemed to take forever for the trees to turn green, let alone for anything to flower, but with a couple days of good rain followed by sun and summer-like temperatures... the neighborhoods are heavy with unbelievable blossoms. I don't think I've ever noticed them so intense. And our own little lilac bush, never in the sunniest spot, has more flowers on it than I've seen in recent memory.

Just a little obsessed. ;)

All of these were taken around the house. The plant life is simply taking over. I love it! And the quote in the post title is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

On a separate, less lovely note, I was unfortunately not selected for the majorest of the major scholarships for school. Although I'm awaiting the verdict on one last opportunity, I'm pretty set to throw in all my chips and take out loans. It's the way it works, but at least from here on out I can focus on the school-and-travel aspect of things -- visa, airfare, accommodation, etc. -- rather than money, money, money, all the time money. It really is tiresome, and there is so much more to be enjoyed and looked forward to than how much it's all going to cost.

It will be worth it!

Days to Edinburgh move-in: 110

Good morning from High Cliff!

High Cliff State Park is only about nine miles from where I've grown up, but I can count on one hand the times I remember going there. And until yesterday, I hadn't ever walked any of the trails. I went in the morning and had the whole place practically to myself. Spring is finally in full swing.

Red Bird, chief of the Winnebago tribe, overlooking Lake Winnebago.

High Cliff sits on the Niagara Escarpment, hence the bluffs over Lake Winnebago in a predominantly flat part of Wisconsin. It's the same long geological formation of limestone that provides the bluffs for Niagara Falls.