Book DONE!

I just pressed send on the final file of my book! YAY! Still a lot to happen before it is actually published in the Spring of 2013, but most of the heavy lifting on my side is done! I'm going to go buy myself a lot of chocolate and spend the rest of the day doing nothing productive whatsoever. And after that, who knows, I might just start posting on this blog with some sort of regularity again.

A new chapter

Well folks, I have very exciting news! Next month I'm going to be starting a new job at... Arrowhead Alpines! If you read this blog regularly, you'll know it is my favorite nursery, a legendary place for everything rare and unusual, so I am very excited. What will be I doing for them?
Well, it is an incredibly diverse nursery with an incredibly small staff, so a little bit of everything! Can't wait. To give you a taste of what an amazing place Arrowhead is, here are just a few photos of plants that are looking gorgeous in their greenhouses right now:

Narcissus romieuxii

Cyclamen coum

Cyclamen hederifolium

Agave utahensis v. eborispina

Sedum tetractinum 'Coral Reef'

Late autumn goodbye

I was down in Ohio, visiting my parents this past weekend.

It was a gorgeous late autumn day, and the trees and water in their back yard were breathtaking.

The 12 acres I grew up on back up to Lake County's (poorly named) Hell Hollow Park which is dramatic and beautiful.

We moved to this spot when I was 8 years old, and since I moved out at 19, I don't get back as often as I like.

But every time I do, I step out of the car, hear the waterfalls, smell the cool, moist woodland air, and feel at peace.

My parents are  moving in a few weeks down to where they've always wanted to live, in the high country of Western North Carolina. They're selling the land to the park, so more people will be able to enjoy this idyllic spot I spent my childhood running around in.

I'm happy for them, and very happy I'll always be able to come back and visit this place in its new life as part of the park, but it was also a little bittersweet, saying goodbye.

These woods were not just my playground, they were my church, my place to be alone. In special, secret spots, I figured out who I am, what I believe, how I want to live my life. I cried, rejoiced, wrote long, long letters to dear friends.

Standing in those special places this weekend, I looked at myself, and was very happy. I love who I am, how I am living my life, happy knowing that wherever life takes me, I'll always have deep roots reaching back to that rich, woodland soil.

Goodbye.