4 posts tagged “botanical garden”
Who do you tell your secrets to?
Or, if we're feeling grammatically correct, to whom do I tell my secrets? As much as I love you, dear Internet, not to you. But hey, I don't paint secrets on billboards (which are not nearly so easily searchable as content on the World Wide Web), either.
Luckily, there are lots of things I am happy to share, things that aren't quite secrets, but you still probably didn't know before. For example, last night I dreamed that someone was splashing though a pond turning neon tetras into turtles with a sort of magic crayon. This was after I dreamed that one of my cousins was acting as kind of a seeing eye person and helping a blind girl to ski, but although it was winter at the top of the slope, by the bottom it had become summer in all its muggy, mosquito-ridden glory. Would you believe that waking up puzzled is not entirely unusual for me?
I'm going to blame this set of crazy dreams on the action-packed couple of days M and I have had this week, owing to a visit from our twin nine-year-old nieces. Their Summer Vacation Ultra-Energy coupled with bonus Giggle Factor is as fun as it is exhausting. I'm still trying to process all our adventures: braving the chilly beach, amassing prize tickets at the arcade, playing a lot of Wii, marveling at butterflies at the botanical garden, paper footballing at various and sundry meals, chasing the cats around trying to put paper hats on their heads, chasing M around trying to put a paper hat on his head, peering into a battleship's nooks and crannies, running amok at a science museum...
I'm flat worn out! Somebody asked me at the CAP meeting last night if I was feeling all right (a question which always makes me wonder how much of a mess I look), but he understood immediately upon hearing that we'd just had a whirlwind visit from a set of nine-year-old girls.
It was a blast, though, and I can't wait to see 'em again.
...I'm told that April showers bring them. Actually, this post hasn't much to do with flowers at all, but I couldn't come up with a better idea for this month's catch-up. If I stretch the metaphor, I suppose I could say that personal firsts have been sprouting like spring blossoms in the past few weeks, and heralding my own growth and bloomi--what, too much? Yeah, okay. Moving on.
I turned twenty-five a couple weeks ago, thus making me older than I've ever been (but now I'm even older). It tickles me to refer to myself as one quarter century old. All in all, I think I'm happy to be closer to thirty than to my teens.
M was able to take some leave for the week leading up to my birthday, so we piled a couple of irate kitties into the car and drove up to the DC area to spend some time with our families and get reacquainted with our old stomping grounds. Valentine, as is her wont, was completely miserable and got carsick on the way up and back, but Vera comported herself much more admirably than she had in the past. We'll turn these cats into travelin' Navy felines yet.
Another first for the week: getting a professional manicure. My mother-in-law invited me to come along with her and my sister-in-law to get our nails done, an indulgence hitherto absent from my experience. I found the exercise a little strange, but by no means unpleasantly so--I'd do it again for a special occasion. My father-in-law joked that it was my first step to becoming high maintenance. I was sure I was going to chip the polish within the first day, but I was pleasantly surprised when it lasted a full week before I destroyed it. Not bad at all, considering my next first that week...
...shooting a gun for the first time! I had wanted to for a very long time, especially since Dad took Mom to the range without me a few years ago. This long-standing void in my life skills repertoire was finally remedied when M and I accompanied Mom and Dad to the range one fine day after a stroll through Meadowlark Gardens and lunch al fresco at Clyde's. The dichotomy of my newly-manicured, shiny pink nails and the black Walther P22 in my hand was not lost on me. I did not distinguish myself as a fabulous shot, but I think I at least hit somewhere on the target every time. My husband (who wears ribbons on his uniform for qualifying "expert" on pistol and rifle) impressed the heck out of me with his shooting. I had a great time, and we might look into getting some more local range time.
I became the sister of a college graduate for the first time a couple days later. Turning twenty-five didn't make me feel old, but watching my baby brother walk across the stage and pick up his [blank piece of paper rolled up to look like a] diploma... well, that was a little surreal. Granted, he did bang it out in just three years, but still! Old big sister or not, I am extremely proud of him and his accomplishments.
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All right, I am going to feel like a big liar unless I actually put some May flowers in this post. Here are a few more from our venture to the botanical garden last weekend.
Show us your favorite spring bloom.
Ooh, that's a toughie. It's a toss-up between honeysuckle...
I should note that the above photos were made possible by the slick new camera my parents gave me for my birthday last week. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
