Coming Home...

Phew! It has been almost a month since I last wrote in here. Things have been crazy. Also, Charlie has been home so I have less time to be introspective and sit down and write. I stay a lot more busy when he is around.

We've continued to work on our garden and landscaping, and it is pretty much done now, which is really exciting. I wanted to get most of it finished before we left for vacation so that things didn't get out of hand as far as weeds and stuff went while we were gone. We finished the little raised bed in the back and Charlie decided to plant some vegetable plants there. The only thing he has ever really wanted in a garden is a vegetable garden. We have tried in vain at each house we have lived at, including this one. I agreed to let him have one more shot at it this year - we raised the bed so there is better soil and more sunlight, and he took a chainsaw to George's honeysuckle tree/bush that was covering a large part of our patio. We'll see how it goes. He's got basil, jalapeno peppers, green and yellow peppers, zucchini, cucumber and tomato plants. Meanwhile my basil, cilantro and parsley are doing well in pots, and I have some tomato plants in pots on the side of the house as well. If all these turn out we will have tomatoes out the wazoo. That is OK, maybe I'll learn how to can them. I'll post pictures of that later on...

We also just got back from Peru. I love coming home after vacation. One think that I think travelling really does do is help  you to appreciate how much you like living where you do, at least for me. We spent 10 days in Peru, it was awesome, but I'm happy to be home.

We flew in on Friday night, late and stayed in Lima, Peru for that first night. That night we went to the hotel bar and had a few pisco sours (sort of tastes like a margarita) and met some interesting people. A Mexican man that had been living in Germany for the last 30 years and worked for Siemens. A lawyer from Nepal, and a Chicago businessman who I quickly realized had a prostitute with him. We had fun talking and then went to bed. Saturday we flew to Cusco, Peru, which is at about 11,100 feet above sea level. We stayed at a place called WalkOn Inn, and spent two days enjoying Cusco. They had a lot of very pretty churches, and in general a fair amount of history, as it was the capital of the Incan empire waaaay back in the day.

Our friends our first night in Lima

The courtyard at our hostel in Cuzco

Plaza de Armas in Cuzco

Inside the Jesuit church and cloister

The local beer

Cathedral at night

This is a sort of blurry picture of the altar at the cathedral in Cuzco

Charlie in the Plaza de Armas

Inside the San Pedro market

Me in my llama sweater at Los Perros

On Monday at 5:00AM we were picked up from our hostel and taken by bus to Ollantaytambo to start the Inca trail. Charlie and I were the only two who elected to carry all of our belongings on the trail, and our packs seemed huge compared to everyone else's. Anyways, the first day was an easy 5 miles, not too much up hill not too much down hill and plenty of rests stops to learn about the different cacti and wildlife that were around. We had porters with our group to carry the food, tents, etc. These little men were amazing! They carried at least their own body weight in supplies and the would literally RUN by us. They went so much faster than us it was incredible. But the local people were the same way. They would wrap up whatever they wanted to carry in a colorful blanket, tie the ends of the blanket around their shoulders and off they went.

Our whole group on the first day

the porters and their bags

This is where we camped the first night. The roosters started crowing at about 2:30 am

The food they served was actually really good. Three hot meals a day, made by the cook, who used to be a porter but then went to culinary school. We had pizza, cake, pancakes, eggs, rice, quinoa, pork chops, you name it. All very good, especially after a long day of hiking. 

On the second day we climbed to the highest point along the Inca trail. At over 14,000 feet in elevation, Winay Wayna was not an easy climb. We started out OK, but then the higher you get the more breaks you need. It was like every 10-15 steps you'd have to stop and catch your breath. After that we went down, down, down, down to about 11,000 feet again and camped for the second night. It was COLD that night. Very cold. It gets dark there at like 6:00 PM, so we would usually eat dinner and then go to our tents and go to bed. I usually couldn't sleep that early, but it was so cold you didn't want to be anywhere but in your sleeping bag anyways.

At the highest point along the trail

The third day was the longest at 10 miles. We had two smaller climbs, but it was mostly downhill which got REALLY old by the end. However, we did see several Inca sites along the way that day and by the time we got in around 5:30 we were absolutely exhausted. However, at our campsite that day there was a restaurant that served cold beer (for S/.15, which is like $5 each, which is a HUGE rip off in Peru, however enjoyable) and had bathrooms with a toilet! Woohoo!!!!!

The last day was an easy 3 miles, mostly downhill (which sounds nice, but by this point my quads were so sore I had to go down sideways). We got up super early in the morning so that we could see the sunrise over Macchu Picchu. Our guide took us around the city and showed us all the important parts. It really was fascinating. The Inca's only used the city for about 50 years, and it took about 30 years to build. When they abandoned it they were still adding more and more to it. It was considered a sacred city, as it was surrounded by the four glacier topped mountains that they worshiped as great protectors of the Inca people. Their religion was based on a trinity, similar to Christianity, but they had the underworld where you went after you died (represented by a snake), the present world (represented by a puma) and the heavens where the gods lived (represented by a condor). They also worshiped the sun, moon, and stars, and worshipped the mountains around them as great protectors. Mother Earth was called Panchamama, which was also very important to them. When the built the city, they built it around the big boulders, as they never moved them out of respect for Panchamama. Their stone work is incredible, I can't even imagine how long it would take to build temples with such intricately placed stone.

Our group at the Sun Gate overlooking Macchu Picchu

Llama inside Macchu Picchu

When the Spanish conquistadores came, the women and children left Macchu Picchu for Vilcabamba, the last Incan stronghold, and the men stayed behind. They burnt all the bridges leading to it. However eventually they ran out of food and also deserted the sacred city. Hiram Bingham found it in 1911 with the help of a local farmer, and it has been a tourist attraction since then. It's amazing, really, that it was kept a secret for so long. They continue to find Incan ruins in the jungle, the last big discovery was two years ago. As our guide told us, "The jungle, it has many secrets."

The stone work. Incredible.

So, after four days of no shower, no toilets, and no bed to sleep in, we were back to Cuzco. And our hostel did not have hot water. None. Ugh. But the following day (Friday) we flew into Lima, and the Doubletree there DID have hot water. And comfy beds. And I don't think I have ever been so dirty in my whole life:)

Friday afternoon in Lima we went to the Larco museum. They had a ton of pottery as well as textiles from the  various people that have inhabited Peru. One thing that was really interested about the Inca's is that as they conquered other people, they really assimilated their knowledge and their strengths and used them to their advantage. Some of the peoples were really good at medicine, others astronomy, others pottery, etc... And you could really see how things evolved as time went on, it was pretty cool.

Saturday we went to Central Lima and saw some more churches, plazas, etc. In churches all over Peru they have an obsession with Mary. She is at the center of most of their churches, religious artwork, etc. They had a correlation between her and Panchamama or Mother Earth, which is really quite evident in some of their works. But it is interesteing. You have Mary, dressed to the T with these elaborate gowns (real cloth!), fake hair, and the like. Not a statue made entirely of marble, but more like a big expensive Barbie doll. They have statues of her, and lots of pictures that depict her life and death, as well as a lot of stuff that focuses on the Holy Family and Joseph, which I feel like we don't see much in North American Catholicisn.

Inside St. Dominic's in Lima

In the courtyard at St. Dominic's cloister

Plaza de Armas in Lima

St. Dominics

Blurry pic of Mary dressed to the nines with her wig on. Best I could do with no flash

Cathedral in Lima

Outside the Larco Museum in Lima

Blurry again, but this is baby Jesus in his military garb

We left that night and made the long flight home. Luckily I slept most of the time. And we are now home, I'm back at work today. It is good to be home. Our gardens didn't look too bad, I did do some weeding yesterday after I got home. The comforts of home are nice, and it is the best part of summer in the midwest - not too hot, but warm enough that you can sit on your back patio all night without a coat or sweater on. Soon enough it will be too hot:)

Charlie goes back to work on Wednesday. It has been nice having him home, but with him gone I'm sure I will update this more, so I guess that is a good thing:)

"You got here...

All the way from your beautiful country...

Wow...

It is a huge accomplishment...

Once in a lifetime...
For some...

Really!!!...

Enjoy it in the full...

&

This is just one of the tasty moments your

Life will give you. How luck we are!!!!!"

- This was on the menu at Los Perros, 

the restaurants we ate at the second night we were in Cuzco

Gardening

I have been working so hard on the landscaping. After we moved in last year we had worked so hard to make the inside of the house liveable and nice, we had no enegery left to do much of anything with the outside. And it really bothered me. It bugged me to walk up to the house and have it look like an eye sore (OK, maybe not that bad, but still) when I knew how much work we had put into it and how nice it looked on the inside.

So, this summer, my job is the landscaping. Charlie has <conveniently> hurt his back, so I've done most of the work by myself (with some very much appreciated help from my parents last weekend). This weekend was no different. It has basically been raining since the last time I updated this blog, but today we had SUN! Glorious SUN and it was about 70 degrees out! So, I got out of bed at 11am, ate some breakfast and set to work. First thing was first, I went to Home Depot and got supplies. When I came back, first thing I did was start to build the raised bed that is going to be in the backyard. For one little girl doing it by herself I think I did pretty good. Only broke one drill bit and below you can see what I got done. The next step, which will need to be done another weekend, is to use the bricks we used to build our wall out front to put a front on this little flower bed.

Next, I set to the bed under our <NEW> kitchen window. Our window guy is finally making progress again. The kitchen window is now in. He just needs to do the upstairs and he needs to put screens/storm windows in, but we are slowly but surely getting there.

Anyways, underneath the kitchen window there is/was a patch of grass. It is really annoying because it is impossible to mow with our little lawn mower, and it sort of looked sad anyways. So, that is gone. We put Round-Up on it last week and this week I laid out some of that black weed barrier stuff and filled it in with gravel. Then, I planted some annuals in the big pots my Mom and I picked out last weekend and, voila, it looks MUCH better.

 Last thing I did today was to hang up the lanterns that my parents got for me from Ikea. I waited for George to leave and then hung them up on the fence posts. They look really cool, hopefully George doesn't get too mad and he will just appreciate them for the ambiance that they bring to our backyard.

As you can see from this last picture, my backyard is still a disaster area. But we are getting there. The next things to do are to finish building the flower bed in the back and to plant some creeping phlox or other good ground cover in the front bed. Then, quite honestly, we will be done. And all this crap will be gone from my backyard and in it's proper place in the garden.

Our backyard is nice because all we have behind us is the railroad tracks and the river. There are not any houses or buildings nor will there ever be. So it is a really nice place to go and sit and just enjoy the nice weather. I'm hoping that when we are done it is a really cozy and inviting backyard with some character. Hopefully all this work adds some value to our house, but honestly, it is just fun for me and has been a good learning experience. It will be nice to have it all done when our friends come to visit at the end of July.

And now, enough distraction, off to do some more work on my research paper. I'll leave you with a quote I found in the facebook profile of my roommate from South Africa. It made me think of my Dad.

"Opportunity is missed my most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

Rain, rain go away...

It's been a little while since I posted. I think it has rained since that time. Hopefully it will let up soon, I'd like to be outside!

However, I've been busy! And not the kind of busy that leads to procrastination and then me updating my blog because, "I will never be able to concentrate until I do!" (or so I tell myself).

Last weekend Charlie's parents and his brother and sister-in-law came to visit. We hadn't seen them in quite some time, so it was good to see them again. I am always at a loss of what to do with then when they're here. I know that sounds bad, but it's true. I feel like I have to entertain them the entire time, and they are not easy to entertain. It is easy when my parents come to visit, because I know that even if we don't do anything but sit around, it will be fun. If all I do is sit around with my mother-in-law one of the two of us might not survive the weekend. Better to keep busy.

In that spirit, despite the fact that it was raining (it has been raining for two weeks straight it seems like), we had enough of a break from the rain Saturday morning to go to the zoo for a bit. The Columbus Zoo is quite the experience. The best zoo in the country last year. And I hadn't been in forever, so it was time to go again.

Everyone was very impressed with the flamingos

A little fuzzy, but they LOVED the reptile house:)

This one stayed right there and looked at us. Until some lady came by and started yelling, "Hey there monkey! HEY! HEY!!!" Very annoying.

The animals were all so active because it wasn't too hot out!

Even the giant turtle was moving. It looks like he's fallen and he can't get up, but he was very slowly moving.

Fuzzy again, but a BABY GORILLA!

Sleepy kangaroo

I learned that koala bears sleep 22 hrs per day. That must be the life.

And the Lorakeets!

It was a good time. It started to rain and rain hard before we got to the lions or the giraffes, but that is OK, we'll have to go back another time.

We also celebrated Joe's birthday, Kelly brought a cake along and we sang happy birthday.

Being prepared like usual, I did not have birthday candles, so we used tea lights. However, we could not get 29 tea lights on the cake, so 4 had to do.

On Sunday, after they left, it was nice out, so Charlie and I decided to go for a walk around the Village since we had a small break from the rain. Good thing I brought my trusty camera! I saw an Egret, yes an EGRET on the top of someone's HOUSE! I have seen them in the water when I run by the river, but never this far from shore! Watching it fly was amazing! I just hope he could find his way back to the water...

This past week has been a pretty busy one as well. On Monday I didn't have to drive to Dayton because we had a guest lecturer that afternoon at Children's, so I had the morning off! I went to our condo and cleaned it from top to bottom. We were supposed to do it together on Sunday, but we forgot, and besides, Charlie's back would not have held up. My back was killing me by the end with all of the sweeping and mopping and bending and stooping. Anyways, it is clean now. It was gross though. I have half a mind to charge our old tenants for the cleaning. It was nasty. I also went to the gym that morning, so I was SORE on Tuesday!

Yesterday I went to yoga, for the first time in probably over a year. I decided I wanted to start going again. It is such a good workout - the stretching is amazing and, literally, every muscle in my body hurts today. My feet, my hands, my breathing muscles, everything. And it is a good way to release stress. Worth the $15, though I still think that's a lot of $$ for a yoga class.

Today I had lectures in the morning, and I didn't have to go to Dayton for the afternoon again, this time because Dr. Adam's wife broke her arm and he had to go to the doctor with her. So that is not so good for her, but good for me! The sun was shining for the first time in what seemed like FOREVER, so I went to Home Depot and bought plants. Lots and lots of plants. Shrubs, perennials of all sorts, just anything that looked good. Then I came home and finished the edging in the front and planted all the plants I bought. I'm still a bit torn about whether or not to do two rows of stones for edging or just one, but one will do for now.

I had already put some wildflower seeds in the front, along with some geranium roots, daylilies and there was already some cone flowers growing, sedum, and two other things that I bought last year but have no earthly idea what they are. Today I added a lilac bush and a rhododendron. I didn't take a picture of that, because it doesn't really look like anything yet.

On the side here I had already planted some monkshood and crocismia in between my peonies (I hope the crocismia gets enough sun. And I hope the squirrels just dug around and did not steal my bulbs, we'll find out). Four hostas were already out there, I added three more hostas today, as well as some foxglove, coral bells, lily turf and yarrow. This side yard is sort of part sun, however my peonies, which usually like full sun, so really well here, so I took a few chances, we'll see how things do. Like my friend Sireesha said, you might as well try. I feel like plants are a bit more hardy than I sometimes give them credit for.

I planted some bleeding heart and astilbe in the back last weekend, which is already starting to poke its little head through the soil. The backyard is difficult, because I think it may be all been paved, and then they filled it in and made a backyard. Which I'm glad they did, but the soil sucks, and it is rocky like two inches down and just crappy for growing things. I transplanted some extra dirt from the front to the back, for the planting I did so far. I want to add some hydrangeas. I'm going to have to raise the bed if I'm going to do that though, so we'll see how enthusiastic I feel about it later.

Now, I've cleaned the house and gotten everything ready for another weekend of visitors, this time my parents! So excited to see them!

Before I go, another picture of my dogwood. Such a pretty color of pink, I love it.

"How people choose to treat you is their path. How you react is yours."

This was on my daily inspiration card in yoga last night. So true.