Flowering Trees

These are just some of the flowering trees I've seen around town. I only know one of these, so if any of you can identify the trees, jump in. Don't be shy. It can be the new quiz. Identify that tree, instead of help Trish pick an apartment. If you don't know, make up a name that you think fits.

Other than taking many pictures of trees, and of Callie, it's the same old thing. Work and class. I'm getting ready to move across town. I get my keys on the 8th. I have moving people lined up for the 9th. My carpet cleaning and checkout appointments for the old apartment are set up for the 14th. Now it's all a matter of sorting, packing, cleaning, and all the other little details of moving - address changes and switching my electricity from one place to the other, etc.

It's really a pain to move without a car, or without access to someone with a car. Most of the time I don't miss having a vehicle, and kind of prefer not to have one. This is not one of those times, though. As I don't have a major credit card, renting a car is turning into one giant pain in the behind, too. The added degree of difficulty will just give me more points, right? If anyone has any suggestions on this (other than get a credit card or a car), please pass those along, too.

Otherwise, life is good. My first paper for class is due this week - legislative history of a public law. I chose one from the 94th Congress (1975), so most of my information is not online. I'm spending time with lots of print volumes of things like the Congressional Record, etc. It's actually easier to use the print volumes than the resources online. I can understand the print resources. I'm old enough to have used print resources when doing research, back in the ancient days of wooden card catalogs and lots of lots of print indexes to everything. It's making me rather nostalgic.

Callie's flea issue seems much better. I'm still looking for one of the hip and groovy comb things that the vet had. I think I'm going to have to call and ask them what it's callled and where they got it. It's the only thing I've ever seen that will get through all her fur. She's a hairy little beastie. On the other hand, the apartment has never been cleaner. I'm down to vacuuming every three days now, though. I guess it'll make it easier to clean when I move.

This crazy tree is full of fluffy pink flowers, and reminds me of some sort of Dr. Seussian tree creation.

Close up of the fluffy pink flowers. They're really feathery looking. I have no idea what this tree is and have never seen one like it before.

But leave it to the librarian to know that it's a albizia julibrisson, or silk tree (Thanks, Bonnie)

This crazy tree is in an alley behind a building. When I go to the little grocery store closest to my apartment, that's the way I walk. The flowers do not look real. It bloomed earlier this spring, and is blooming again now.

The flowers remind me of a fuschia or something. They droop down. They seem very delicate and sculptural.

Craig identified this tree as a Robinia, "Purple Robe" locust.

This is the only one I can identify. It's a hibiscus. There are a ton of these around town, in shades from purple to pink to white.

This tree is across the street from my apartment. It bloomed late spring/early summer. I've seen more of these around town, too.

This is the closeup of the tree. The flowers are huge and cup shaped.
Craig and Bonnie agree that it's a Liriodendron tulipifera, or tulip tree, which is the state tree of Indiana.

Flowering

I thought I'd share some of the flora of Bloomington and surrounding areas with all of you who're living with fire season already. Hopefully Mt. Sentinel is no longer in flames, and it will be awhile before anything else goes up in smoke. I'll be posting a variety of flowering things in several posts. If anyone can identify any of the ones that aren't labeled, let me know. I'm seeing some crazy flowering things here that I've never seen before.

We'll start with the wild, or at least not cultivated, plants this time. Next time I'll post some flowering trees.

Purpley flowers growing wild in the curb near my apartment

Okay, not a flower - more fossils from Dishman Quarry

Not a flower, either - these are ferns growing near the trail at Dishman Quarry

Flowering lichen (?) near Dishman Quarry

Orange flowers (?) near Empire Quarry

The Third Thing...

The saying is that things come in threes. After the squirrel, and then the bat, I waited for that third thing. I expected it to come from the ceiling/roof. Apparently, the third thing has decided to sneak in quietly by other means. Callie and I have been fighting the invasion of the fleas since last week.

I'm not sure how long we've had them, but fortunately they didn't ever get really bad. I have to admit that my integrated pest management plan using only natural methods didn't even last a week. Callie had a trip to the vet on Monday for a treatment with Revolution. It's one of the spot-on treatments, similar to Frontline or Advantage in the way it works, but with a different chemical. Between that and constant, never ceasing vacuuming, the flea menace has diminished greatly. Callie is just happy that she's not being subjected to daily (at least) baths..

a wet cat is not a happy cat

the brush looks suspicious when you're not completely dry

Tour of Quarries

Today Lynn and I went on a tour of several local quarries. It was sponsored by Parks and Rec and a local land trust. We went to 1) the Empire Quarry, where the limestone for the Empire State Building was quarried, 2) the Evans Quarry where we got to see a diamond saw cutting into limestone, 3) the Mitchell Quarry where limestone is quarried and then crushed for gravel, asphalt, and other commercial purposes, and 4) the Dishman Hindostan Whetstone Quarry, which is now part of the Sycamore Land Trust and is known for fossil tidal records.

Empire Quarry

Empire Quarry

Evans Quarry (the white box-like thing at the end of the track is the diamond blade cutter used to cut into the limestone)

Evans Quarry - stacks of limestone blocks

Evans Quarry - blocks marked with where they're going, where they came from, and the dimensions of the block

Evans Quarry - Lynn wants one of these

Mitchell Quarry

Fossil palm tree trunk at Dishman Quarry

Layers of Limestone at Dishman Quarry

Life in Pictures

I can't believe it's almost July. It seems like time for vacation, but that's not really happening until maybe August, for a bit, before classes start again. Here are some pictures of things in my life at the moment.

Okay, this first picture is not in my life.... It's the bag I did and mailed to Montana. It's safely there. I thought I'd share the photo since some of you have seen pieces and parts of it. Here's the completed thing.This is a photo of the gates I pass through on my way back and forth from home and the library. They're always open. I liked the allium skeleton next to the stone and metal.This is my latest procrastination venture - chain mail. This will eventually be an ankle bracelet. The pattern is called hana-gusari, and it originates in Japan. I'm hoping to work my way up to some of the complicated patterns using double and triple rings. We'll see. It's a good stress reliever in that once you get the pattern, it's repetitive, but requires enough concentration to block your mind from thinking about things, like homework and whatever else....

Summer

Today was the first day of class, second summer session. I'm taking government information, in which we unravel the mysteries of government documents. I really like the instructor, and it seems like it will be a really interesting and informative class.

The bag is finished and mailed, as of yesterday. Woo hoo! It certainly took longer to finish than I'd expected. School did get it the way, but it took between 35-45 hours of work total. I always forget how long these things take. And it's not like you sit down and work for that many hours straight, either. It's something I enjoy, but I think it's not something I'd want to do on a regular basis, especially as a job.

Now that the bag is done, I'm hoping to have more time for other beading projects. I probably won't tackle anything too complicated until class is done in August. I'm thinking earrings are always good, and I still have beads from my Montana visit.

(The picture is of a bouquet I got at the farmers' market about 3-4 weeks ago. The white flowers are mock orange blossoms. They made the whole apartment smell so nice....)

Updates (yes, finally...)

Summer session 1 ended Thursday. Summer session 2 starts Tuesday. In my tiny break between the two, I have a list a million miles long of things to do. First on the list is finishing the beaded bag that I had intended to have finished already. Man, school does get in the way of almost everything. (yes, it is almost done, and will be finished and in the mail tomorrow. Pictures will be posted eventually)

I am not underwater, though, unlike other parts of the midwest. So that's a good thing. This is a photo of what happens when you forget that you've taken the ubiquitous umbrella out of your bag.Have I forgotten the umbrella since? Oh no, not even on the 90+ degree, sunny days ('cause that's what it was like when I left without it).

Callie is happily hanging out in the new rocking chair we bought from Bonnie when she ran away and deserted us... Oh, um, yeah, when she graduated and left for gainful employment (it's all in the perspective :- )

Other than school and work (one place or another), I've had a few excursions to places like the farmer's market, the library, and some local restaurants with Lynn. This is the absolutely beautiful cake I had at a restaurant callled Farm.
How pretty is that? And just as yummy as it looks!