A Week That Was

This past week was a very busy and exhausting one for me and is likely the last one to include two days off for a couple of months. I got to experience 2 hours of brutalization in the dentist's chair where not one, not two, but three applications of Novocaine were required. I also filmed a spot for the city of Suffolk's cable TV channel loosely about Historic Garden Week. On Thursday I got my second shot at live television and appeared on The Hampton Roads Show. There were also a few more pleasant and less taxing moments including being able to meet Gene and give him his prize from my Winter Walk Off. I also enjoyed delicious food and good company at Fellini's with my family and Virginia's newest and my favorite Certified Child Birth Educator along with her accomplished artist partner fresh from a well-received show at the Courthouse Galleries.

On Friday I debated between spending my day off unwinding with a long bike ride or in my neglected garden. The bike trip appealed to me more, and I choose to head to Old Towne Portsmouth where this blog has been before. In order to get to Portsmouth by bike I had to ride downtown and hop the ferry. My timing could not have been better. As the ferry left Norfolk, the Harry S. Truman was heading upriver to dry dock for several months, creating lots of photo ops for this blogger. Also on the ferry was a very chatty man who worked at the shipyard and filled me in on all the details. He was concerned about a terrorist attack and was perplexed that the armed helicopter gun ships were not in sight. He told me all the aircraft carriers and all of our subs are nuclear powered, and given how many of each are floating on or under local waters at any given moment, it made me ponder the situation, especially in light of recent news on the nuclear energy front. Whatever, I enjoyed the sight of such a massive construction being pushed and pulled between the two cities dwarfing all in sight.

Just steps from the river is Old Towne Portsmouth, and though it's leafy streets and hsitoric architecture might seem a world away from aircraft carriers and loud river traffic, this town owes its existance to what happens on and around the water.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Camellia japonica

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Hyacinths in the park

Kerria japonica

This is the only time of year I really care for Golden Euonymus (Euonymus japonicus 'Aureo-marginatus').

Ipheion

My weeks are not always so full, and I am good with that. Perhaps this week I can actually get some work done in the garden.

(my complete photo set is here)