Garden - 2010 Aug

Garden 2010 Aug, a set on Flickr.

...and then we cut down the bushes.

We didn't know what would go there, so it was kinda bear for a LONG time!

Garden - 2010 July

Garden 2010 July, a set on Flickr.

The first year of the garden with no actions taken... this was the watching year.

Garden - The Beginning

Garden, a set on Flickr.

Here is a series of photos of the garden as it was when we bought the house.

Capturing the Progress - On Gardening

I am so bad at journaling the progress of my garden. I take pictures, I make notes, but I never put it all together in a way that I can go back and see what happened the year before.

I took a photo of this flower to show my mom. It is such and amazing color! The leaves are very light, and the blue flower against the leaves makes it look like an optical illusion.
I don't want to forget about this flower!

Most of the photos I have of the garden are digital, and I think the journal never emerges because I plan to print them, and then don't.
So... I just decided I'm going to put blogger to work!

Stay tuned for my garden!!

Peony Watch Day 1

My New Neighbor has an aversion to buses, because they give snakes a place to hide. As a result, she slaughters any greenage that may be considered a "bush".

In this photo is an amazing white peony. The first year I lived here it had one flower, the next year two. I am so excited to see what happens this year because it is bushier than usual.

However, given the phobias of New Neighbor, it's days are numbered.

We are going on Peony Watch to see if it will even be allowed to live to bloom.

If she cuts it down, I'm going over there to ask her if I can replant her offending "bushes" on my side of the line.

On Biking...

Bear Grylls: you can't be brave unless first you are afraid...

Once in a Lifetime?

so last year started out with my first Half Marathon, and ended with my first Half Ironman. In between were a slew of pool and open-water sprints, and swim or bike legs of various relays. And thus was my indoctrination into the sport of triathlon.

Team Z focuses winter training on running, and people elect to do a Half or Full spring marathon as the culmination of their winter training. Obviously, I chose the Half last year - Shamrock. I figured I'd eventually run a full marathon as a part of all this, but didn't want to commit until I really thought I'd be ready. I'd assumed that I'd do something flat, and fairly "easy" in marathon terms... like Shamrock.

In July last year, as I was driving with friends to my first open-water, non-local triathlon, Musselman, I got an email from Active.com. I skimmed it as I was on my iPhone and chatting.
It said "Congratulations! You are now registered for the Big Sur Marathon."
This did not register in the form of comprehension.
My thought was - Why is Active sending me emails promoting California events? Did I ever use Active to register for an event in CA? no... hmmm...
why. stop.
Wait.
That email said that I was REGISTERED!
what?!
OMG! now my brain was frantically trying to figure out if I had done something by mistake!
and then I figured someone must have done this to me!
At first I thought it was my BFF... but then I figured she new better than to do something like this... and so my next thought went to my [insert adjective to describe a noun that represents the person with whom you share your life, so is therefore more than a "boyfriend" but you are not married, so is therefore not a husband].
He was in Afghanistan at the time, and since the timezones were still in my favor, I forwarded the email and asked "Was this you?!".

Yip - he had registered me for the M%^&$# F@$&*!& Big Sur Marathon.

So, here we are in February, and I am trying to get ready.
Everything I have ever run is 90% flat.
My coach suggested I run hill repeats... there is a hill in front of my house.
On Wednesday's I'm going to run repeats of this hill.
I'm so excited... can you tell!?

On the Plus side... I'm thinking I may only run a marathon once, so it may as well be:
"Best Marathon in North America" - The Ultimate Guide to Marathons

Check It Out! this is actually the quote on the website:
"If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it."
Bart Yasso, Runner's World

Report out of hill repeat week 1:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





(the joke is that I got retribution for the marathon registration by signing up [adjective noun] for Ironman Wisconsin. I did sign him up, but it was at his request as he was stuck in a meeting that day with no access to the internet.)

Hello... I'm here:

So, I'm thinking maybe a more efficient means of posting will mean I will post.

I'm going to do this Photo a Day thing for February via Instagram.

I can't figure out how to get the Instagram to show up as a post on my Blog, I don't think Blogger has a widget for that yet.

I have linked Instagram to my Tumblr account, and I've put in a sidebar thingy that shows the photos.

Neither or these things are going to show you in my feed that I've updated my blog... so if you use a ready, you won't know that there is a new photo.

If you want, you can follow me on Tumblr, Instagram, or Flickr. Let me know if you need my usernames.