why was I so reluctant to go to school every day anyway? I guess that needs no answer because I probably wouldn’t have enrolled in the Barnes to learn about plants without some existing connection to North Latches Lane. 

I unwillingly followed the flowing leaf-filled paths back towards the parking lot to get my books for Botany. And before I knew it we had cut open some corms and bulbs and I was back outside. Before driving out of the gates I made my routine stop for the second time that day to look for a fallen female cone from the Cedrus atlantica 'Galuca'. I found two halfsies in different places. I will find a full cone some day. I took the time to walk through the medicinal garden after Cone Search #1 to see what the Larix  kaempferi  (Japanese Larch) might have dropped. I’ve been making candid table arrangements and with Thanksgiving approaching I felt like my diverse Barnes cone collection wouldn’t mind a few new friends. So I turned the corner and …. the bright blue sky!!!!  illuminating the Larix!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! Seriously I had no idea that I tree changing color could be so exciting but the needles were bright yellow and only two weeks earlier Mary was saying “I’m surpised this isn’t even beginning to chance color.” 

So I didn’t even bother to look for what Mary calls “junk” and I call a pine cone despite my uncle’s distaste for the term and I left to go home because I was satisfied and I had to go serve a turkey dinner to 100+ Penn frat kids.

So yes, we got our first snow last night. It was kind of exciting to have the first glimpse of snow actually accumulate and even stick around long enough to see it now (it's about noon). I am kind of overwhelmed with the thought of finding another income source now that there is not much work to be done outside.  I am not sure where or what I will do but I hope whatever it is is good enough that when the weather changes this time next year - pieces have fallen into place a little bit more. I really shouldn't beat myself up too much. 
The snow last night helped me see the effects I was striving for all summer long.... which - by the way - kills me! That in the beautiful summer sun I was thinking: WINTER. All summer long! All summer long all I could think about was winter!!?? What is wrong with me? Well, let's not answer that now. 


The reason I was thinking of winter all summer, is because I wanted to make the garden less depressing come March. For whatever reason I didn't really notice how empty the garden was in the middle of the winter, but in March, bleghhh.. It's warm enough to do stuff outside without being miserable, but too cold to plant or play in the dirt. So ... one of my summer-long tasks was stealing rocks from the other side of the fence to edge the "grass garden." And actually now that I think about it - this was not a summer long project! I think this project started after visiting Int'a garden in West Chester! Which would have meant I worked on it from roughly early September til now.

Having enough rocks was a funny little game to play with myself, borrowing some for another part of the landscape, putting it back, switching around their placement because of varying shapes, etc. Anyway that is the kind of meditative task that I could spend hours playing around in my own little world. So it is only 32°F outside, I guess I could go dig deep for a couple more rocks to fill the gap I noticed last night! 

I'm sitting on the couch in sweatpants and a flannel shirt more or less feeling sorry for myself every other second... but the more I write the more I am shushing that voice. Out of one window I still see leaves on the trees, and behind those trees are leaves on more trees - a beautiful mix of oranges and reds. Those orange and red trees sit on the other side of the paddock which has new horses now. And not that I know a single thing about horses, but these horses are not as calm as Scooby and Aria. (Who I was calling Snickerdoodle and Name of Choice all summer). 

This location is very interesting to me. On the one hand, it says sit  here, stay a while, be comfortable, take your time, enjoy the view. On the other hand the amount of traffic coming and going up and down Goshen  is hard to ignore and I kind of cringe everytime I hear a passing car because I feel like I am supposed to be out in the hustle and bustle bullshit with the rest of them. But like Ehrmann said, "the universe is unfolding as it should," (which I always read as "you are exactly where you are meant to be" and if I ever get a tattoo - it might be those words, because they have helped me be more at peace with myself ever since reading that poem however many years ago.

The other window is home to the Dr. Seuss tree. Which if I noticed correctly in the Barnes Arboretum, is a Hydrangea paniculata 'Grandiflora'. But to me it is just "Dr. Seuss" tree. Last fall without knowing any better I pruned all of the growth and never knew how amazing it looks with its faded colors.  

In reply to Charles Cresson's garden in Swarthmore  ....Ten minutes or less. (I've kind of punished myself on this one. I use timers. Especially in the garden. I have so much to say about Charles' garden but I used  fifty minutes of my allotted hour chopping Crassulaceae for holiday presents instead of writing about Amherst Ave. and myself. No one wants to hear people talk about themselves tho! so.... Will have to edit later) The stink bugs flying around the room sound louder than the dishwasher right now. Continue Reading ...