Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~a dog day~

Echinacea 'Sunrise'

~~~~~

Today was a hot one. 

Maybe the hottest day of the summer thus far - (I don't have any data to support this, other than the 'hey, man, it's hot out here' that I said outloud at some point during the day).

It was one of those dog days of summer - and tomorrow will be the same, or so they say.

~~~~~

Working on a manuscript.  Dealing with mortgage stuff.  Met with a craftsman - a wood guy - about cabinets and mantels (He suggested a simple piece of walnut for one of the mantels).  Got the fountain, finally - it's on order at least.  It's a two-tiered round one, not large, not small - just right.  Finally getting around to dealing with my 2007 taxes (since Mom passed away on 15 April - I just didn't pay much attention to them at the time).  Rebudgeting a grant.  Trying to get the gardens cleaned up before an appraisal on the property is scheduled. 

~~~~~

Sort of freaking out. 

~an area of low pressure~

It was a long, but good day.  Mostly.

I'm tired...and I'm so glad that it is Friday.  (And there's a tropical depression forming just south of us, off the Georgia coast.  As long as it remains just a depression, the rains - and a rainy Saturday - would be welcomed). 

Things really do need to slow down.  An area of low pressure sounds...nice.

~thursday evening~

Tonight a few outer bands of a storm system (one that that is currently lingering off the coast of Jacksonville) passed through the treetops at my place.

All day the wind and sky had that tropical feel - winds pushing through. accompanied by those beautiful fast-moving clouds - clouds that were bringing with them yet another charming companion - sporadic rain showers.

By tomorrow, the showers should be more prevalent.

A rainy day, with a fine wind - a gale force wind perhaps - would be welcomed here.

Now back to the manuscript.

Clerodendrum ugandense

I'm tired.

~~~~~

Maybe it's from jumping five feet in the air last night when I spotted a copperhead at a birdbath under the live oaks.

Maybe it's because the lab is working up until the last minute preparing their presentations for the ICRS meeting next week. 

Or maybe it's because my grass needs mowing badly, and I need to do that sometime within the next two days.  Just the thought of that makes me...tired.

Hmmm...it could be exhaustion from the emotional roller coaster of family members (including myself) following my Mother's passing (and honestly, I have trouble with the word 'passing'...and when I type 'death' it sounds so -- dark).

There's even the possibility that Stanley's post-anesthesia wobbliness (after a dental cleaning) is contagious, making me want to curl up on my bed in a ball, turning my nose up at dinner, and going to sleep.

Then there's the first quote from a builder to review for my (new) house - that I received this morning in a meeting with my architherapist.  (I had almost forgotten that this silly house would have to be paid for).   

~~~~~

I just realized that the list of reasons why I might be tired could become quite long, and leave all of you who have even read this far bored to tears.  My apologies! 

~cacao~

The colors in this Echinacea flower head, shown here after the flower petals are long gone - is truly quite remarkable (even in this not-quite-in-focus-covered-with-spider-webs image).

~~~~~ 

I'm back in Charleston. 

~~~~~

I'm tired, I'm swamped - with a full work email INBOX and a crazy week ahead - and a meeting that most of the lab will attend next week.

~~~~~

But there is hope on the horizon.  The genome of Theobroma cacao is being sequenced.  Finally...the genomicists are getting to the important stuff.   

~lemon juice~

I've been in Virginia, just another quick trip to help my Father out a bit.  He has new patio furniture - and so I decided, spur of the moment, to clean and seal his deck.  That was a job (what was I thinking?).

~~~~~

This is my second trip home since my Mother passed away.  The house is changing:  Friday evening, when I opened the refrigerator, there were no fresh lemons or lemon juice to be found.  It's the little things that make you stop in your tracks, it's the little things that loudly shout in your ear YOUR MOTHER IS GONE.  So, this trip, it was lemon juice that stopped me cold and caught me off-guard at the refrigerator door.

~~~~~

The garden is okay (although suffering from benign neglect) - the burgundy bee balm is beautiful against the blue-flowering salvia, and the butterfly bushes and zinnias are blooming - the southern magnolias are blooming like crazy, their flowers nothing short of a festive insect jamboree.  I tried to weed as much as I could, and got quite a bit done - but it is dry here, and Dad doesn't water the flower beds, it's as if he has blinders on when it comes to them.  It is hard to see it neglected, after years of images of my Mother standing at each bed, hose in hand, watering faithfully.  In the morning, before I leave with The Stan and The Dan - I'll probably dig up some of the daylilies on the edges of the garden, they've been shaded out for a few years now, and won't be missed.  I can't bear to see them neglected.

~~~~~

My Father's vegetable garden's are beatiful though - corn, beans, squash, tomatoes and peppers are indeed his thing.  This is just one of three raised beds - the other is filled with roma tomatoes and bell peppers - tomatoes and peppers that will be preserved later in the summer.  This garden has been wonderful therapy for my Father - at first he wasn't going to plant one this year, but he went ahead, and it has been a good thing - although I can only imagine how in the early morning, when he walks out there to check on it, how much he must miss his wife and partner.

~~~~~

As for The Dan's first trip to Virginia, let's just say that the best way to describe her is as a seasoned marathon runner, addicted to Red Bull, and HIGH ON LIFE.  Thank goodness she is very cute and sweet when she's exhausted.  And yes, she has the pheasant pelt with her.       

~catching it~

Busy day.

Lots to think about.

The lab is preparing for five presentations - for a meeting that is about 10 days away.

And there are manuscripts in progress - data in need of some resolution, words to come around to ('climate metagenomics') and a list so long of things 'to-do' that one sits at their computer at 10 pm...wondering whether it is all possible.  Where to start?

Slow down for a minute.  Take one thing at a time (if that's possible).  It's all waiting to be done.  It's not running off somewhere.  You can catch it if it does.

The Dan and The Pheasant

~~~~~

Well, The Dan's two ducks are now pelts (treasured pelts, but pelts nonetheless) - and on Thursday I thought that The Dan might be ready for a pheasant.

I meant to watch out for the pheasant's best interest, but obviously I didn't do such a good job of it.

There is now a third treasured pelt in The Dan's Pelt Collection.

~~~~~

 

~~~~~

~barnlessness~

I need a barn.

You know - an 'out-building' or something.  Not a new thing, or one of those kits - but a barn with rusty hinges and weathered wood.

Yesterday, while wandering the place where my Dad's family has held it's annual family reunion since 1917 - I realized how much I miss having a barn.

The place I rented in Michigan while I was in graduate school had one large barn on the 100-acre property, as well as a smaller barn, a place for sheep to stay warm during the winter months.  I loved those barns.

I am now living a barnless life.  That seems ashame.

~a difficult return~

Tomorrow I will return to Virginia for the first time since my Mother's death.

~~~~~

This morning, while wandering Whole Foods for a few minutes (before the arrival of my architherapist for our usual Thursday morning meeting), I found myself looking for a few treats that I could take my Mom - something I have been doing for the past year.  I was standing in front of the roasted almonds when I remembered that I didn't need to do that.  Those fleeting moments when you forget (and then abruptly remember) are painful, and remind me that there are few good (or healthy) shortcuts that help one through the grieving process.

Instead -- I will take with me three and a half pounds of fresh jumbo shrimp on ice, caught in McClellanville Creek this morning.  My Dad and I will steam them tomorrow night, and we will share them with some family friends that have been so supportive during this very difficult year.  We will sit on the back deck of my parents home, enjoying the new deck furniture that arrived earlier in the week - we'll sit and overlook a garden that is every inch a reminder of my Mother.

On Saturday evening my Father and I will enjoy a dinner out with THE COUSINS, and on Sunday we'll attend the annual reunion of my Father's side of the family.  A reunion that he told me last weekend has been held at the same place - the 'homestead' - since the early 1900s (do I remember correctly - was it since 1917?  I need to ask again). 

~~~~~ 

And of course I will search for more rocks (in a land filled with them).  I now have a bed of ferns and coral bells filled with Virginia quartz - rocks of all shapes and sizes - rocks that look a bit odd in my southern coastal garden, but to me makes it feel more like home.