rooting for plants

It's Memorial Day weekend and people everywhere are leaving the confines of their homes to surround themselves with nature and the outdoors. Since I already live surrounded by nature and the outdoors, I decided to spend some time in civilization instead, just to even things out. 

Plus I was getting sick of looking out the front window and seeing random strangers walking directly in front of my house and in my driveway. Can't they see this is a private residence? I can't even open my windows because I can hear them right outside. So I took a break from shaking my fist at those crazy kids on my front lawn and went to run some errands.

This is also the first weekend I start buying mass quantities of sweet tea from places like Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds.

100% beef sweet tea.... You can't even taste the beef!

While I was out, I bought some seeds for my yearly plant murder gardening project.  It doesn't matter what kind of plant it is, it will inevitably die under my care.

Last summer, a friend thought it would be funny and ironic to give a carnivorous plant to a vegetarian. Little did he know that venus fly trap would die within weeks. If anything, I probably fed it TOO MANY flies!

Nevertheless, each year I try again. It's gotta work eventually, right?

Right? 

Soon the rain will wash away any evidence of the impending plant homicide... Planticide?

The weird vase-y one between the two blue planters was given to me by Allison's mom. Once the plant takes root, I'm supposed to turn it upside down and hang it from somewhere... 

 Here's what's in the planters, from smallest to largest (top to bottom of the picture above):

• cilantro/coriander seeds that are several years old. I have low expectations for them, but everyone's gotta have an underdog, right?
• sweet basil, which I bought at the store already growing.
• more/leftover sweet basil plus some other kind of basil seeds that I bought by accident. 
• cucumber seeds. I really want to make my own pickles using cucumbers I grow myself.  

Gardening has a strange place in my mind. I tell myself I hate planting things and put it off for as long as possible each spring. But then once I'm actually outside scooping soil into a planter and doling out seeds, it's nice to feel that literal connection to the earth. Watering and tending to them isn't so bad, either, especially when you see a tiny sprout peeking out of the soil. But then they die and I get angry and hate gardening all over again.

Every year I go through this process and then block it out until the next spring, when the same thing happens all over again. But now I'm writing it down here in this blog, so when it's time to plant something next spring, I can look it up and remember all of this. But of course, I'll probably say to myself, "Self, you were an idiot last year, but this year something is BOUND to grow!"

And so it continues.

chasing waterfalls

On Tuesday I decided that hiking at some nearby waterfalls would be a better use of my time than going to the gym. Even though these waterfalls are only a 25-minute drive away from where I live, I've never taken the time to visit them until now.

Buttermilk Falls in New Jersey is easily accessible with a parking lot right across the street. We were lucky enough to be the only people there; it seems like the kind of place that gets crowded during the summer.

Buttermilk Falls. 

Columbine clinging to a rock at the top of the waterfall.

There are steps leading up to the top of the falls, which were probably built for people who are nine feet tall.

Looking down from the top of Buttermilk Falls.

Next we took a walk to Silver Spray Falls, also known as Hidden Falls. This waterfall is very close to Buttermilk, but if you aren't aware of its existence you might have difficult time finding it because there are no trail blazes.

Several rocks had threads of quartz in them. I liked this one because it  looks like some kind of ancient writing or message. 

The May Apples are blooming!

Even though Buttermilk Falls is taller than Silver Spray Falls, I liked Silver Spray more. It felt like finding some secret place. Plus, I loved all the mossy rocks and logs and greenery.

Silver Spray Falls

...And of course, Allison decided to climb up there to take pictures. I am not nearly as brave.

Lately I've been considering buying a tripod so I don't have to delete 86 blurry pictures for every one clear picture... The only problem is that there are so many options to choose from and I am horrible at making decisions.

Going to these waterfalls made me think about all the places I've never been to within an hour's drive of where I live. It's easy to laze around the house all weekend after an exhausting week of work, but exploring the world can be much more rewarding.

On the other hand, sleeping in is nice, too... not that Hobbes understands that concept.

"If you'd just leave the bag of cat food out, I wouldn't have to wake you up at three a.m. And four a.m. And five a.m."

Sunday Sunshine

Hidden Lake

We left bright and early again this morning. Our first stop was Hidden Lake picnic area.

Fishermen on Hidden Lake

Not so easy to hide.

dewy

"Did I leave the oven on?" -red-winged blackbird

 

"No, really, I can't remember if I turned the stove off or not. Don't wanna burn the nest down."

Buttermilk Falls

Next we went to Buttermilk Falls. Why does it seem like there is at least one Buttermilk Falls in every state?

Buttermilk Falls

Random pink bowtie

McDade Trail

For our last stop, we went to a section of the McDade trail. We parked at the park headquarters, which is apparently closed on Sundays.

No restroom for you!

beaver chew

Dingmans Falls, Eshback Farm, and Tom's Creek

After returning from our Tennessee vacation I hit the ground running with working my three part-time jobs (subbing for two districts and part-timing at PEEC). Today is day six of at least eight days in a row. I've added up my hours between all three jobs, and I've worked 55.25 hours this week. Hopefully one will call me in to substitute teach on Tuesday. If that happens, I'll be working 12 days in a row and by that point my blood stream will consist entirely of coffee.

Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah. Working this weekend hasn't been too stressful because it consists of driving photographers around the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA). Even though I've been to these locations several times before, there is always something new or interesting to notice. The weather was pretty dreary but that didn't stop anyone.

First Stop: Dingmans Falls

We started bright and early at 6:45 a.m. and got to Dingmans Falls around 7:00. The gate was still closed so I parked at the end of the road and everyone loaded up their gear. We walked a mile and a half just to get to the parking lot, stopping to take pictures and rest along the way.

they call me mellow yellow (quite rightly)

fern with raindrops

Eventually we got to the actual trail and slowly made our way towards Dingmans Falls. Along the way we passed a smaller waterfall called Silver Thread.

If you look closely, you can observe wild photographers in their natural habitat.

Silver Thread Falls

I finally figured out how to make the water fuzzy!

This was where my photography stopped because that whole crazy "job" thing got in the way. Once I found out the gate to the road had been opened, I took a leisurely stroll in the rain back out to the van and drove it to the closer parking lot.

Side note: I live in Dingmans Ferry. Today we visited Dingmans Falls. The English teacher and grammar enthusiast in me wants to add a possessive apostrophe into the word "Dingmans" and it drives me crazy not to!

Next Stop: Eshback Farm

For our second stop, we went to Eshback Farm, also known as Nyce Farm or Van Gordon Farm. There are several buildings to take photos of here. I could easily have spent all morning wandering around and peering into the open/missing door-frames and windows.

I am the captain of this 15-passenger van.

I got a little obsessed with this building.

  I don't go into any buildings or structures in the park because it is both illegal and unsafe to do so. Luckily my camera has a nice zooming feature.

flowering dogwood and cherry plum trees 

None of the other red vents have a weather vane with a cow, which makes them de-calf-inated.

columbine

I had barely started taking pictures when it started raining. People also seemed to be getting grumpy, so we headed back early to get coffee and dry off.

Last Stop: Tom's Creek

After lunch we headed to Tom's Creek, which is a picnic area that has a path following a creek.Whose creek is it? It's Tom's Creek. Note that the name of this location has the possessive apostrophe. Pennsylvania, I will never understand you.

This is Tom. He's looking for his best friend, Creek.

"This plant is a great umbrella. Tom, get over here!" -Creek.

Flat millipedes, if you lived in my house I would squish you and then you'd be even flatter. 

Once again it started raining before we had gotten very far, so the lead photographer decided to call it quits for the day.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow!