Sarah P Duke Botanical Garden

This past week has been a busy week, but I am not sure I have accomplished a great deal. Monday was a holiday here (Memorial Day), and therefore most government and many businesses were shut down. I am not even sure what I did that day, other than the usual morning walk. I must have done something, but I do not remember at all.

Tuesday Carol and I went to Raleigh to look at a home we had high hopes for. Unfortunately it did not match our hopes. It might be made to work, but we both have reservations, though I am unable to clearly articulate mine. I did walk past the building I will be spending a few hours in over the next two years.

I was lucky with that photo, all the cars were stopped at lights on either side, and I was able to get a clear , car free shot. The building is right on Hillsborough street. Hillsborough is a busy street, though I suspect not the busiest in Raleigh. We stopped at the Whole Foods store on the way home and stocked up on veggies. It is a nice store, but the aisles are very narrow, and it is difficult to walk down them with all the traffic. Someone is always blocking the aisle (said with a blush as I was the biggest sinner, though it is fun to sin). Wednesday I stayed home and did some laboring. Thursday I zipped back to Raleigh to look at another place, but it was a real dump and set along frat row. The location was great, half a block to campus, the price was great, but it was a real mess. Friday I hung around waiting to hear from another landlord, but that is on hold until tomorrow or Monday.

I met two men on the bus coming home from Raleigh Thursday. One is a cook/limo driver. He was tired and babbled a great deal. I found his stories interesting, but I am not sure I like him as a person . The second man ( Mr. Odell) is a genuine Durham resident. Born in Durham 55 years ago he was on his way to see if he was able to get some dentures . All his teeth are gone, so he had high hopes. Dreaming of thick steaks and corn on the cob.

Today, Carol and I hopped on the TTA and zipped over to Duke University and visited the Duke Botanical Gardens. The photos that follow were taken during our jaunt. We walked a little more than we should have because my feet are feeling a wee bit sore.

This last image is of a Dawn Redwood. Very interesting tree, and relatively tall though it is only about fifty years old. Still a young tree.

As I was coming home I was thinking how green it is here. At times it feels like a physical assault, the plants reaching out and beating upon my eyes. It will be interesting to see if I am used to this opulent green in two years.

I am tired after all my walking, I think I will go have a nap.

Oh, one last thing. I have been here for 33 days now, and I have yet to get a sun burn. I am rather surprised at that for I have been out in the sun a fair amount, and as fair as I am I tan a bright red. I am enjoying the warmth though, it is soaking into my bones, I feel warm for the first time in years.

Link to Sarah P Duke website: http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/links_of_interest.htm copy paste the link into your browser.

For more Duke photos check out this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/mlingrell/DukeGardens

Cutting ruts

Walters Pine, the photo does not capture the tree's presence.

This last week has been quiet. I have begun to create routines. I no longer feel so alien when I walk into a store, or as I walk along the streets. There are still small things that are just a little strange, signs that I am in America and far from Cold Lake. Things like beer in drugstores and statues of confederate soldiers.

The days are not growing longer and longer either. They have appeared to achieve a stability, at least they do not seem to have grown longer since I have been here. 27 days now. I walked down to the Carrboro farmer's market yesterday with Carol. It is nearly 2 miles away, and the walk was pleasant. I have not lost any weight yet, but I am getting much more active.

The birds are still able to sound like teenagers having a huge party. The weather has been nice for me lately, almost made it to ninety yesterday, and likely today as well. It is not good news for the farmers who suffer through drought conditions.

The images on this page were taken from the Coker Arboretum. I will end my post today with the image of a Pond Cypress.

Southern Creek

The above image is from this morning's walk. The trees are really very interesting, and I wonder how they can survive during the floods that occur when it rains. My legs were resisting the walk this morning. I did not give them their say however. I walked down to Franklin Street and back twice today, a trip that is just under a mile round trip I would guess. The weather was nice for walking, low 80's and a nice breeze.

I received an email from a friend and a professor at the U of A this evening. They both congratulated me for winning a prize:

Ted and Charlotte Davenport Poetry Prize
Value: $300
Eligibility: Awarded annually to a student who has excelled in writing original poetry while at the University of Alberta. Undergraduate, graduating, or graduate students enrolled in one or more of the following courses are eligible: English 296, 394, 395, 494, 495, 584.
Application: There is no application form; eligible students will be considered automatically by the Department of English and Film Studies.

Hearing of this prize was a pleasant surprise.

Morning walks

I have been walking with Carol in the early mornings lately. Yesterday we walked through a park trail following a circular path that runs west and north of the house. We went the wrong way and had to climb a monster hill (renamed The Hill of Death or THOD for short). This morning we went the opposite direction and had a very pleasant stroll through woods and such like. The first image below is near the trails start. The second shows a street light set into the trees to make the trees feel less lonely at night. The third image shows the trails end, which is well groomed and receives more attention.



This last image shows what Kudzu can do to a tree:
The kudzu is a real problem in parts of this valley. There is one place where the bamboo has gone wild and created a very thick jungle-like place along the stream bank. The pictures don't really show it, but everything is very green here.

Today I work on making another step towards obtaining my residency. I am going down to the library this afternoon and applying for a library card. I received my rent deposit check yesterday (they gave me back my full deposit) so I need to cash it. To do that I need to open a bank account. To do that I need a NC drivers license or NC state ID. To do that I need proof of residency, which a library card can fulfill. If not, I will get a voter's registration form and get a card showing me as a registered voter in the area, and from that the rest will follow. But my first step today is to go check out the library.

Other than that it has been quiet here. I walked around the Coker Arboretum on Sunday for a bit. I will be returning with my camera and taking notes and photos. They have some amazing trees and shrubs on display, some of which are actually blooming and looking quite lush. http://ncbg.unc.edu/pages/38/

Living with a cat

Daphne shows what she thinks of me quite clearly in the photo. I have been accused of photo-shopping the image, but it was just a lucky catch. Khadaphne, the absolute ruler of all who enter her domain, is not a horrid cat. She does puke at random times, but she is rather friendly and enjoys a good scritch behind the ears. She put herself between me and the keyboard this morning and would not allow me to do any writing until she had her fill of attention. She is not a big fan of being picked up, but she will come sit beside me at times and permit me to pet her a little. We have become friends. Her tendancy to barf can be irritating, but she makes up for that in cuteness.
Here she observes a squirrel who has the temerity to encroach upon her territory. As an indoor cat she can only sit and stare-down interlopers.

Daph is a rescue cat. She was feral early in her life, and she retains some of her paranoia. Here she is shown staring up through the sky light awaiting the return of some fireworks that had been exploding. She is afraid of thunder, and the fireworks were making her a little nervous.

Yesterday I went for another walk down to Harris Teeter for a lemon. It was a nice walk, the temperature around 80 with the humidity in the 60's. A nice thundershower romped through the area later in the afternoon lowering the temps into the high 60's and soaking some laundry that Carol had hung out to dry.

Today will likely be a quite and lazy day for me. I have nothing I need or want to do, other than a morning walk. A nice tromp round town seems to help make the day pleasant. Though I was greeted to a pukin cat this morning, so the day has to be perfect now, doesn't it?

It is grad weekend for UNC. That makes me think about my own grad ceremony which is a month away. It would have been nice to attend, but I am just happy to have completed the undergrad portion of my education.

Raleigh

I went to Raleigh for the first time this morning. For now here are a few images. I will write more in the am.

It is now tomorrow, though strangely enough it has also become today.

I left home in a rush yesterday morning, so rushed in fact that I forgot to take an umbrella and to put the garbage out at the curb. My rush worked out however. I caught the 8 am express to Raleigh, and I arrived in front of State's library at 8:50. Not bad for a 30 mile bus ride. I am still having trouble telling my directions, much of the way to Raleigh I was sure we were heading west. I began to anticipate seeing signs saying Greensboro one mile. The campus is very large, there is construction going on everywhere, and it was impossible for me to go in a straight line anywhere. I felt like I was back at the U of A. The first two pictures below were taken much later in the afternoon after I had tramped over most of South Raleigh within a mile of campus. It is a peaceful (all the students are at home or going home I saw a few people loading trucks and uhauls from residences) little square called the Mary Yarbrough square. She was the first woman to graduate from State with a Masters degree in Chemistry in 1927. For more information about her and her fellow women graduates that year go here:http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/exhibits/women/1920.htm

The image below was taken from an old wooden bench that looks towards Hillsborough street, or North. Hillsborough Street is the main street that passes the university heading down town. It has a bit of the feel of Whyte Ave without all the pubs and trendy stuff. I saw a real cool looking used book store just west of campus but did not stop in. I would not have left with my money.

I had three reasons for going to Raleigh. The first was to drop off some medical forms with student health. The second was to get familiar with the area, and the third was to examine the state of apartments in the area. I dropped off my forms in the afternoon, when I found the Student Health building stuck way down on the far south end of campus. I hope I don't have to go there very often, it is a long ways from where I will be hanging out. I did gain some familiarity with the area, mostly by getting lost. I would head south trying to get down to Gorman Street, and find myself coming out to the east where Hillsborough curves. It was not a total waste of time and energy, for I did walk through a nice park that offers theater in the park, though I don't know when or where. I suppose I could look it up on line... While wandering around totally lost I came across this real cool house. I think it is condemned though you cannot tell from this view. The balcony on the second floor is collapsing, and the stairs that lead up to it from the outside are twisted and about to collapse. I still think it is a cool looking house and if it were fixed up, if it could be fixed up and restored, it would be a nice place to live.

Half an hour into my lost wanderings, about the time I saw the cool house above, it started to rain. I walked west on H street, and stopped in at a coffee shop. While there I considered returning to Chapel Hill and trying again another day. While pondering, sipping coffee, and writing, the rain stopped and looked almost inviting. I decided I would make the attempt too look at some of the places I had on my pad after all. This was at 10:30. The next time I sat down was at the little square that I mentioned at the start. It was almost one when I did that, and my feet where not too happy with me. I was satisfied though, I managed to find the places I was looking for with only a few false turns and twists.

From my wanderings through the city I found that it is much more city-like than Chapel Hill though it too has some big trees and heavy bush. Raleigh is not as hilly, but it does have enough hills that there is some aches and pains from climbing the big hills.

My trip home was a little longer as I had to take two different buses, and they wandered around more of the country than the morning bus. Still, it was fun and interesting to get to see more of the state. I was home shortly after four, and my sense of direction is getting a little better, though I am still easily confused.

Here are the rest of the photos I took yesterday

Raleigh houses