We went to the Arboretum today, to hike with some friends (both grown and kids). Got a couple pictures of the flowers.

White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)

Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum

Rhododendron (Rhododendron )

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Dame’s Rocket/Dame’s Violet (Hesperis matronalis)

Saturday we went to Blackwater Falls. It has rained for the better part of two weeks, which is why there was more water than I have ever seen coming over the falls. But those pictures will come later. Here are some of the flowers we saw.

Bluets (Quaker Ladies) Houstonia caerulea

False Solomon’s-seal Smilacina racemosa (I think)

Painted Trillium Trillium undulatum

Moccasin Flower Cypripedium acaule

Golden Ragwort (Senecio aureus) (I think)

Today is Broken Ankle Day.

It’s strange, how one single step could have changed not just my life permanently, but also the lives of others so drastically.

For me, there is the obvious change–I live with regular aches and pains associated with the hardware that remains screwed into my bones.

But it was the other, less obvious changes, that had an even greater impact.

After I returned home from the hospital, it was glaringly obvious that Michael couldn’t take care of me and help Grandmom with her day-to-day things. So on the 16th, she packed some bags and my parents drove her to my aunt’s house, where we figured she’d stay until I was (literally) back on my feet.

Then Grandmom fell and broke her femur, and things changed yet again.

She spent months in rehab, and we were suddenly traveling to the DC area every three to four weeks. We eventually realized that Grandmom wouldn’t be coming back to live with us, and that meant changes for my aunt and uncle, as they arranged their home and lives for her.

I never thought, that Friday evening, as a grabbed my camera and went out to take some pictures of flowers, that my life would change so drastically with a single step.

And that’s what I try to remember today. Not the pain, not missing Grandmom (well, ok, there is that), but the realization that things can change in an instant. We cannot fully control our lives, and we can never take back things once they have happened.

We can only accept them–the good and the bad–and move on, making the best of what we have.

After all, if Grandmom hadn’t been in VA, I’d never have taken my two favorite pictures of her, and my memories of those days.

So, on Broken Ankle Day, I have no regrets, only acceptance.

I love you and miss you Grandmom.

It’s Broken Ankle Day! The day in 2010 when I broke my ankle and life as I knew it changed.

Today’s word is: titanium

It’s Primary Election Day, so after doing our Civic Duty, we headed out to Coopers Rock for a hike.

We hiked the Ridge Trail down to the Mont Chateau trail, hikeed the Mont Chateau trail, and then came back to Rock City via the Rhododendron Trail.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Ridge & Rhododendron
Distance: 4.3 miles
Elevation: 959 feet

At the bottom of the Mont Chateau trail, I went off the path, and clambered along the creek. It was simply gorgeous–the pictures do not do it justice. (All GPS location stats are available if you click through to Flickr.)

It was a gorgeous hike.

Hike Map

Hike Stats:
4.3 miles
2 1/2 hours
959 feet elevation rise

Sunday we (again) hiked the Scott’s Run Trail at Coopers Rock. It was a gorgeous day, and the ground wasn’t nearly as muddy as we were expecting.

Location: Coopers Rock State Forest
Trails: Scott’s Run Trail
Distance: 4.5 miles
Elevation: 758 feet

You’ll notice that I take a lot of pictures of water. There are two reasons for this: first, I love running water, but second, because I continue to appreciate these clean clear streams, something we didn’t always have (and some areas of WV still don’t have). It like noting these positives.

All pictures are tagged with the Geo-coordinates if you click through to Flickr.

Out hike was 4 1/2 miles, and we ascended 758 feet, most of it rocky terrain.

Scott’s Run Trail

Here are the flowers we saw along our hike at Coopers Rock today.

Trillium

Violets

I’m not telling you what this is–you have to guess. But it’s a plant that is far more interesting than most people suspect.

Today’s word is: strawberry

Sunday we hiked the Henry Clay Iron Furnace trail and then from there on the Mont Chateau Trail. Both were, of course, lovely.

Two types of flower pr0n today. A quick peek at my yard, and some flowers I saw on our hike at Coopers Rock.

It was cloudy for the first part of our hike, but there were still tons of flowers.

And here are the pictures taken around the house.

Here’s my herb garden–everything except the chives was planted in the past month.

I was shocked to see this rose bush is coming back. Not only was this a hard winter, but this bush was run over two years in a row, when cars ended up in our yard (and to be honest, I think a couple more times this winter, from cars that were stopped by the snow barrier).

And here is my lavender bed. When we cut everything back, one single plant was coming back from the roots. The others were dead. So I replanted, and managed to find about five different lavender cultivars. How exciting!

Yesterday I was struck by a statement in an interview with the first Sri Lankan to go to Julliard. (Yes, the title of the interview is very wrong.)

It is such a clear–and terribly sad–glimpse of what it’s like to grow up in poverty.

I feel like people always tell me that, oh, it must be – you must feel like your dreams have come true because you’re singing, and you have a beautiful family. It’s all true. But the truth is that I didn’t really dream any of this because, for some people, there are certain things that one cannot dream. You can’t afford certain dreams…
…Because you can’t afford that dream because that’s not an option within your grasp.

When you’re poor, you can’t afford to dream.

And that’s what so many ultra conservatives don’t get. Then you are growing up in poverty, your life is not a road-map with unlimited highways and interstates and back-roads and alleys. Your life has one road–perhaps two–open to you. If you can get an education, then perhaps that road you’re on will branch out later in life, but for many, even that education is beyond their grasp.

This basic inequality is why I am politically liberal. Why I want all children to have as many roads open to them as possible, and I realize it is my responsibility to help make it so.

As projected, we had a lot of cold weather and rain in April, so I ended up reading a lot. Which is perfectly fine with me, though I would have enjoyed more hikes.

Science

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012 (2012) Edited by Dan Ariely and Tim Folger (9/10)

Mystery

Miss Buncle’s Book (1936) D. E. Stevenson (8.5/10)
A Red Herring Without Mustard (2011) Alan Bradley (7/10)
The Golden Egg (2013) Donna Leon (6/10)
The Lighthearted Quest (1956) Ann Bridge (5/10)

Fantasy / YA

The Raven Boys (2012) Maggie Stiefvater
The Dream Thieves (2013) Maggie Stiefvater (9/10)
The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire (2012) Abigail Gibbs (7/10)
Girl of Nightmares (2012) Kendare Blake (5/10)

Audio

The Raven Boys: Audible Version (2012) written by Maggie Stiefvater and narrated by Will Patton (7/10)
Last Watch (/2010) by Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield and narrated by Paul Michael (7/10)

Fantasy

London Falling (2013) Paul Cornell (9/10)
The InCryptid Short Stories: Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (2013/2014) Seanan McGuire (8/10)
The Shambling Guide to New York City (2013) Mur Lafferty (7.5/10)
Black Magic Woman (2008) Justin Gustainis (7/10)
Half-Off Ragnarok (2014) Seanan McGuire (6/10)

The books I especially enjoyed this month were:
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012 (2012) Edited by Dan Ariely and Tim Folger
London Falling (2013) Paul Cornell
The Dream Thieves (2013) Maggie Stiefvater

Apparently, I held no paper books in the entire month of April–everything was audio or eBook. Which is fine, but feels rather odd in retrospect.

Both the audio books were of books I’d read previously (which is my preference, as strange as that may seem). But otherwise I managed to cut back on my re-reads. Not that there’s anything wrong with re-reading a book. I just have so many other books I haven’t read, I start to feel bad for the ignored books.

Lots of fantasy this month, though several of the fantasies were also mysteries. And I finally finished the non-fiction book I’d been reading for months. It was fabulous–far and away the best book I read all month. If you at all like science writing, I highly recommend The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012–I actually, I’ve enjoyed all the ones I’ve read in this lineup.

I’ve swung back to reading more female authors, which has dropped the percent of mail authors down below 50% for the year.

Now that it’s May, theoretically I’ll read fewer books and spend more time outside.

We’ll see.