Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~driving south~

~view from a taxi while heading towards Arlington (from DC) via the Roosevelt Bridge~

Tomorrow I drive south, with the dogs in tow, for my first one week visit home since I began this temporary position in the northern Virginia area.  I left my garden on 6 August, and although its had visits by a friend, the grass will be in desperate need of mowing (which also means the snakes will have to be chased away), vines will need to be reprimanded, and I'll discover what in my garden is sturdy enough to survive two and half months of neglect (with one of those months being August in the south).  It looks like it's going to be a mostly warm and sunny week - and when I return to Virginia, we will be at the peak for fall color - and the weather will be turning much colder.

I spent today a block or so off of DuPont Circle for a retreat with colleagues - we met in a beautiful building, and at lunch enjoyed a yummy lebanese meal.  It's nice being out - away from the 12-story building where my office is.  Washington DC is definitely a beautiful city.

But salt air is definitely calling me.  Salt air and live oaks and my own chaotic garden.  I've missed it.

~Hydrangea paniculata 'PeeGee'~

~~~~~

There's a big one of these in my front yard here in Virginia - and the blooms have been hanging on forever... well, at least since I moved here in early August.

I'm experiencing garden withdrawal.  I do have a lawn to mow here (oh joy... I don't mind mowing, I just don't really think lawns are good things).  I have some mint, oregano, and chives.  I even saw a hummingbird yesterday on some of the flowers I planted in the front right after I moved in.

But I have gone to see the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.  And work is challenging and the environment is a good one.  interesting stuff.  I'm busy.

But what I really want is a day spent in the salt air, in my own garden - which I'll get to do in less than two weeks, when I go there for my first visit since relocating here for the temporary position.  Yay!  My garden will be a disaster, and I'm sure that there will be some big disappoints (aka plant deaths)... and snakes might have decided to take over since the Pointer Sisters haven't been around.  But still.  I can't wait.