These are a few

Along with 25-cent day-old bagels from a local coffee roaster and a worker-owned and operated bicycle shop, the other thing I really, really like about Nashville is the monthly Tennessee flea market. I've mentioned it here before, but last weekend two of my roommates and I had a few hours to spend at the biggest version of the whole year.

It was ginormous, overwhelming, and completely recommended. We didn't end up buying very much stuff but had a great time people-watchin' and stuff-seein'.  And C. got a lot of attention for her Mason jar of coffee: "What's that, moonshine?" "Little early for moonshine, dontcha think?" (I guess that expectation is what makes this the South.)

Shofuso

So, I got to visit a new place in Philadelphia today:  Shofuso, a Japanese house. We walked around in our socks (or paper slippers) and enjoyed learning about the Japanese traditional styles of architecture, gardening, tea and more. Definitely check it out if you have not already; it's worth it.

The aforementioned paper slippers

Not a fountain, but a really nice water feature.

Ommmmmmmm Ommmmmmmmm

Looks so pleasant, doesn't it?

This is painted onto the paper room divider doors and was inspired by a waterfall.

So, that's it for now. I'm still playing with the camera and having fun - I just discovered that the computer here in the house has Photoshop on it, score!

Old friends and fire

So, when Sharon was back in Philadelphia (which was amazing) we found out that a few of our old co-workers from Haiti were going to be in town for a training. So, we borrowed D&C's car and made our way down to South Philadelphia and hung out at the airport waiting for our old work pals and after only a few minutes they emerged, and here they are:



That's Meleck the office administrator, Margot (not sure what her current position is), Nahomie an environmental educator and Frantzo an environmental educator. Me, of course, arborist intern and Sharon, graduate student at Vanderbilt. A fine looking bunch.

On to somewhat exciting and scary events, take a look at what happened a few blocks over from the house last night.



What?!!! Ya I know, crazy fire......I couldn't stop taking photos:

And with my new found camera skills, I just kept taking more and more:

and then I got worried it may go out before I take the perfect photo, so I took more:



and then I realized that thing is not going out soon, so I then leisurely sat around on the roof looking for amazing fire photos:


and then I got the perfect photo:



Well, maybe not, but it was a good ending to the story 'eh?

Developing an eye.

So I've been taking advantage of free classes at the Arboretum, and right now I'm in the midst of a 6-session photo class. It's meant for beginners who have digital cameras who want to take a little more control over the photos they take and stop relying on the automatic settings.

I finally feel like I'm getting an eye for how to look at something and know the steps to take to get the photo of it to where I want it to be. It took a while, honestly. Yesterday we had an opportunity to walk around with the instructor and take photos at the arb, and it was nice to have time devoted to taking photos.

Anyhow, here are some of my (beginner) shots. None were taken with the auto setting, and despite a few people telling me where the "good shot" was I did my own thing and took my own photos. So, here are some that are interesting to me. Enjoy.

All of these were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Field learnin'

My roommate/schoolmate Marie and I decided to take a break from the books this weekend to attend a fiber-and-natural dye workshop at Sulphur Creek Farm organized by Ask Apparel, one of two natural dye houses in the U.S. The weather was clear and warm and the workshop was filled with amazing women. We had just as much fun sitting around and talking as we did learning how to do make beautiful things with indigo and kudzu.

The workshop followed the indigo dye process from the plants in the field through a fresh vat of ready-to-go dye, and we also harvested kudzu and learned how to turn it into a fibrous thread. (We didn't get to work as much with the kudzu because the plants harvested in preparation for the course weren't quite usable, so we got the gist of it but not as much hands-on experience.)

Rows of indigo, ready to harvest:

This vat had about 120 pounds of plants soaking in it:

Creating usable dye involves adding an alkaline substance and agitating to add oxygen. Look at how blue it was!

A sample was decanted so we could see how quickly the dye sediment was settling:

Because this process will create a dye that can be caked and saved for later, we made a fresh vat with soda ash to use for the weekend:

Indigo dyeing requires oxidation, which means fabric isn't immersed but is instead dipped and aired until the color reaches the desired shade:

Kudzu is another wonder plant that can be eaten (it's high in protein), used to create herbal medications, and of course turned into a fiber. It is best harvested at certain times of year, and goes through a process of soaking and drying and resoaking to remove the outer skin and make the vine pliable:

Did you know it's illegal to work with kudzu in Pennsylvania? Apparently the State Dept. of Agriculture is super-worried about aiding and abetting kudzu's northward migration. (I know this because the gals teaching this part of the program had come all the way from Philadelphia and have a really terrific project going there.)

Success.

Sigh. It's hard to go back to the books after a weekend like that, but there's a ton of work to be done before I go to Philadelphia on Wednesday for a much-anticipated long weekend (!).

I was just riding along and...

I saw this:

Which may not seem so bad, but there is a creek which is normally 10 feet away and down a five foot bank...hmmmmmm, ride on, bikes are great because no one is ever there to stop you from dangerous situations like when you are in a car.....so:

The trail gets totally covered with water, I mean really!, look at that, no trail!, just water and really wet grass....scary...and no cops...

This raging river is normally pleasant enough that people go swimming in it in the summer when they are hot, not now, this is crazy river time! all sort of stuff floating down the creek, trees, trash, everything.....then just when you thought it couldn't get any worse:

A fire...I know, what?! And like 12 trucks were there and everyone was watching one guy spray this thing down....woohoo tax dollars! Then all hell broke loose and...

A tree fell down across the path, but I'm used to that, so no big deal, then back on macadam, where all is right with the world and....



that's all jacked up too! Man, what a morning, so this is about 50 feet from the entrance, sigh, so I go back around, up a big hill in a private side gate and through the arboretum, then back down where I need to traverse 30 or so feet of 18" high water, Alphonse is a real trooper, so I sent him in head first and we got through it okay. Pretty exciting, love riding my bike, always an adventure.

Can a more exciting commute happen? Bring it winter! I did miss out on taking a photo of a car that tried to drive through that last flooded road, stuck and washed across the road. Amazing. Snow. Ice. I'm ready.

I hope.