Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~air layering camellias~

 

It makes me smile to think that someone who has rented this place (in northern Virginia) in the past started air layering the large camellia at the front corner of the house.  There are three branches being propagated, and I haven't checked them yet - but am thinking about doing so before I head back to South Carolina for a week in October.  If roots have formed, then I'll take them with me and ask my favorite camellia grower to care for them while I'm in Virginia. 

The American Camellia Society describe the process of air layering camellias here.

I'm curious about what camellias I have in my yard here - there are several, and they are decent sized for being this far north.  They've probably been here for a good long while.  They're definitely japonicas, and if I had to guess, they are older varieties - not the more recent cold hardy introductions.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were all the same variety.

I'm glad they're in my yard here.

GPS-Love

 

This week I purchased a Garmin GPS - and can I just say that it will probably be the best purchase I make while living in northern Virginia?  I purchased it through Amazon, and it was delivered yesterday - and this evening I used it for the first time, when I headed to a small italian restaurant in Arlington, Il Radicchio, to meet a cousin and her husband's family for dinner.  The place was only about 7 miles from my house - but as it so happened, today was 'Clarendon Day' so Clarendon was partially closed for the ocassion - and this whole GPS 'recalculating' thing is just the best.

My new GPS makes me think that I might actually be able to get around up here, and that's a good thing.

~contrasting images~

~a field of sunflowers in Hampstead, MD~

~~~~~

Unfortunately I didn't come across these sunflowers myself while wandering rural Maryland - but instead this is an image that my college roommate took with her iPhone and sent to me.  She is a horticulturalist, and travels quite a bit, networking with growers.  Now that I'm living in northern Virginia for a bit, I'm in her territory so she used my place as 'base camp' for Sunday and Monday night.  It was alot of fun having her visit - and last night we enjoyed one of Washingtonian Magazine's "100 Cheap Eats" - a restaurant called Guajillo Grill where we had yummy chicken enchiladas with an even yummier mole.

I keep thinking that I'll take some pics of my new work world and post them - but it's so different (my office is on the sixth floor of a 12-story building) that I'm not finding a place to even start (this, compared to a coastal estuarine research reserve).  I'm busy - and my days are quite intense - overall I'd say the change has been good (as change often is) although I'm definitely homesick for my garden and salt air.  My first visit back to coastal South Carolina will be around mid-October, and I'll be able to stay for a full week.  I can't wait.

But until then, I have challenging work, and manuscripts from the lab that are rolling along (this week:  proofs, an acceptance pending minor revisions, and a draft of a new manuscript) - yes, you might say that I now have two jobs now, two homes.  Oh, and not to forget:  a paycheck.  I have that now too.

 

~looking into Guajillo Grill~

~a tree, and running from bad mojo...~

~Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport White Oak~

(see links to past images of this oak here)

~~~~~

Now that I'm residing in the northern Virginia area - I take a new route to and from my Dad's home when I visit.  This was my first visit back since I moved - and I realized that I would miss my ritualistic stop to photograph the old white oak as I left town and headed south.  So on Sunday, after I went with Dad to church and we were headed home, I stopped to take a quick photo of the tree while Dad waited in the car.  He wanted to see the image - so last night I went it to him, and evidently he talked about the tree for quite awhile to his caretaker.

I returned to my new rental home to find that I didn't have hot water - and oblivious to the concept of gas hot water heaters (which is ironic, considering my shower yurt back in South Carolina - something that I need to post about soon).  However, at work today, someone asked me if it was a gas heater - and of course I thought duh.  The basement flooding must have put out the pilot light.  So now the pilot light is once again burning, and the water is heating up - and I will happily take a hot shower later this evening.

Earthquakes.  Tropical storms. Floods.

No!  I refuse to believe that bad mojo is following me.

(And quit shaking your head).

Started week three of the job today.

Time flies.

I'm glad that I remembered to photograph the tree.

~Dad's 78th~

~abandoned chicken farm, Greene County, Virginia~

~~~~~

I drove down to my Father's this morning - a short, two-hour drive through beautiful countryside - and I must say that it was a relief to visit him without spending 8 hours, most of which was on I-95.  I left the basement of my rental home with about an inch or more of water - down from the 8 inches that accumulated as a result of the remanants of Lee.  They're saying we had 10-12 inches of rain, and I'd believe it - it felt like it would never stop.  For the past few days there was a narrow band of rain running almost straight through the DC area and Philadelphia - heading north.  So, now I can add flooding to 'earthquake, tropical storm' as my list of hazards since I relocated to the DC area.  Oh yeah, 'terror threat' too.  Can't forget that one.

After I realized that the basement was flooding, I called around - and already every place I called was out of sump pumps.  So after I arrived at Dad's today, and after his healthcare person left - he and I took off and had lunch at a new little italian place, and then stopped by a Lowe's nearby and I purchased a small sump pump.  When I go back tomorrow I'll try and get the rest of the water out, that is - what hasn't drained out.  There is a drain in the basement floor - but if I had to guess, the pipes are long deteriorated, and nothing will drain out until the soil starts to dry out a bit.  Fortunately I didn't have much downstairs - I had my salvaged longleaf pine up pretty high (the bottom board did get wet), and some of the boxes I was saving got wet - plus, I couldn't get to the washer/dryer - hopefully they'll be fine (they came with the house, and thankfully weren't mine).

My experience in Lowe's with my Dad was interesting.  It was probably one of the first times when I was out with him, that I was pretty sure that people we encountered were aware that I was taking someone out shopping who had dementia.  Everyone was quite kind - but often looked at me and smiled a knowing smile - a smile that translated into 'I understand'.  We were heading towards the checkout lanes, only 10 or so feet away, and he would stop whomever walked by and ask them where the checkout lanes were.  He would sometimes be looking straight at them.  I will say that dementia or no - he is as friendly as ever, perhaps even more friendly.  He talked to just about everyone in the store.

Now we're home - and I just got layers for a yellow cake out of the oven.  This week is Dad's birthday, so I'm making him a birthday cake that we will take to his brother's tomorrow for lunch.  It'll be an early celebration - but I'm glad that I could be here to do this.  I was thinking today about last year at this time - when I stayed with Dad for almost two weeks - and I made him a different cake (a more elaborate one) for his birthday.  While I'm in the kitchen, he is watching westerns on TV, often ones he's seen a dozen or more times already, but each time they are new to him.

When we were driving back from the Lowe's today, we went a back road and I couldn't resist stopping and taking a photo with my Blackberry camera of this abandoned chicken farm.  I put the flashers on and jumped out really quickly.  When I got back in the car, my Dad said that he bet I couldn't remember the last time I went somewhere without taking a photo of something.  He was right.

~~~~~