Going on 2 Hours

~ Highlight of the Day: Picking olives! ~

 

I pulled an almost all-nighter last night. I started writing my Palestine final paper at 2am-ish, got my Palestine final paper done at 5:55am, got it printed at 6:05 (after wrestling/pleading with the printer for 10 minutes), went to bed at 6:15 (with full intentions of waking up in 30 minutes to go to breakfast and class and stuff. . . ), woke up at 8:15 to a frantic roommate who also slept in through breakfast and into class. . .

I'm pretty satisfied with how things went. I got my paper done, I slept for two hours, and stayed awake through class due to the adrenaline rush of waking up totally late. I was totally starving when lunch came around, but I can handle hunger :) 

After lunch (and editing Madison's Palestine paper) we picked olives - next week we're making olive oil! So cool!

Well, that was today. Yesterday we went to Bethlehem, and here are a few of those pictures:

 

 

 

I forget which church this was (there are a lot of churches in Bethlehem . . . ), but they had an excellent array of plants - they even had a kumquat! At least I'm assuming it was a kumquat. It sure looked like one!

 



 

After hanging out in a handful of Bethlehem churches all day long we ended up on the hill across from the city to read the account of the shepherds (I think it starts at Luke 2:8). It was interesting to experience the terrain the shepherds would have been so familiar with. There were these huge bulbs that were beginning to sprout - I mentioned them in yesterday's post :)

 

 

 

Also noteworthy: I tried downloading the Doctor Who episode 'Blink' so I could introduce it to all my JC friends. . . you can't if you're outside the USA! So sad!

 

 

The Souk

~Highlight of the Day: Sleeping in and finally going out! ~

 

It was soooooo good to get out today! I actually stepped foot outside of the JC! Hallelujah!

 

You may be tempted to think, "But Rachel, you just got back from Jordan, where you walked around all day every day. What do you mean you've been couped up in the center for two weeks straight?"

 

Let me tell you, there is a huge difference between exploring Jerusalem on  your own and being on a structured field trip. A huge difference.

 

So today we enjoyed, at our own leisurely pace, the open air market, or souk, in West Jerusalem. It was great; we got dried fruit and fresh fruit, found a plant shop (that everyone else was kind enough to stop at while I reveled in it), ate lunch, and did a bit of shopping.

 

Now I'm trying (half-heartedly) to write a paper. . . papers are so yucky.

I love papers like I love stairs, and running up hills!

 

 

 (me with lots of plants, laughing at

Annie instead of looking at the camera :)

 

 

(me with my cool new shoulder bag!

(they're all the rage here at the JC. . . that and leather

 [I refuse to jump onto the leather bandwagon though]) 

 

Oh! I made a really important discovery today: lamb is disgusting. I can't stand the stuff. I thought it was beef at dinner tonight, so I took this huge helping, and then couldn't stomach a single bite of it. How does it taste so different?! How does it taste so gross?!

Thursday

~ Highlight of the Day: finding a 'Wildflowers of Israel' book (even if it was published in the 70's) in the library while looking for sources on Madaba ~

 

Well, only two more finals to take - Palestine (which is a paper. . . ugh) and the Field Trip test (which is supposed to be hard, but at least it's not a paper :)

 

I'd rather not talk about finals though. I'm thoroughly sick of them. Let's talk about more exciting things, like my class schedule for Winter Semester!

I'm now signed up for:

 

Soil Science

Bidding and Estimating

Environmental Biology

History and Culture of Medicinal Plants

Mission Prep

Weights

& 

Martial Arts

 

I'm kind of really excited for martial arts. . . can't lie. I'm also willing to drop it if it's going to be way harder than I'm imagining. . . And I'm really really excited to be taking plant classes again. You have no idea how much I miss them. . . all I want is to memorize a few hundred annuals and perennials. . . :)

 

 

Rocks and Stuff

~Highlight of Yesterday:  Listening to a Bedouin woman teach us about weaving while sitting in a beautifully woven tent drinking herbal tea (which was called something fancier, but I forget) ~

 

Ok, this is going to be quick, because I've got laundry, and studying, and Seder song practice, and a million other things beside.

 

We saw a lot of rocks yesterday. We visited the ancient city of Arad down in the south (the Negev desert), and Tell Sheva (a mile from Beersheeba) in the north. I think we ended up driving through all five land regions: Costal Plains, Shephela, Hill Country, Judean Wilderness, and the Jordan River Valley. We saw the Dead Sea, and Masada (we'll go there later in the semester [so excited for that!]), and Jericho, and crazy huge date palm plantations. I've never seen so many palm trees in my life.

 

The ancient city ruins are really cool. It's hard to imagine what the city was actually like, but it's interesting to walk through it. My favorite part of the ruins we visited were the wells and cisterns. I cannot imagine digging anything deeper than a few feet or so, and that's in mild Washington weather!

 

Well, I'm back to studying for the next few days. . . We leave for Turkey on Sunday!

The Mediterranean

~ Highlight of the Day: riding a bike (handless. . . not that I'm bragging or anything :) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea ~

 

I wish I could post pictures so bad! The Tel Aviv waterfront is absolutely beautiful, and the water is warm, and the sand is perfect for sand castles and burying people, and there are markets just a short walk (or bikeride) away. . . it's definitely been an amazing day.

 

I even avoided a horrible sunburn (unlike some of my unfortunate classmates). I'm just going to have a freakin' awesome farmer's tan. And a Chacos tan! That I'm excited for.

 

May I just say, I love my chacos. They are comfortable, open, sturdy, water-safe, and stylish :) I would wear them everywhere if I could.

 

Anyway, I'd promise pictures tomorrow, but we're going on a full day field trip to the Negev Desert (and some other cool places). I don't think we're getting back till late, and then it's a whole new week of classes, and then I'm teaching primary on the Sabbath, and after that we're off to Turkey for a week!

 

Fun Fact: Acacia trees are native to the Negev Desert. . . not that I'm totally geeking out about that or anything :)

 

 

Day 2: The Holy City

~ Highlight of the Day: Walking through the Old City ~

It's killing me that I can't post pictures. There is so much to see, and so much to show! Today we went on a quick tour of Jerusalem. We walked up the . . . north wall I believe, and entered through Damascus gate. After that I couldn't tell you where we went - I got terribly turned around, and if I hadn't been with a group I'd have been lost for hours! We did go up to the roof of the Austrian Hospice and look out over the city at one point, and we got to briefly stick our heads into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  That was probably my favorite site. To witness the people, some of which you could tell had traveled much farther than yourself, so humbly worshiping there was simply moving.

I can already tell I'll be spending as much of my free time as possible there. I can't wait till I become familiar with the city and know my way around. . . and I did find some stringed insterments, so you know I'll be back :)

I'm also in heaven with all the different plant life here. I have a pomegranet tree right outside my room. And there are olive trees everywhere! It's interesting to see what kinds of indoor (at least what people in Utah/Washington consider 'indoor') plants the shop owners decorate their store fronts with. They're planting things like ponytail palm and Norfolk island pine. At the Austrian Hospice I saw Plumbago auriculata, which I had worked with for most of the summer up in the Estate Houses at Longwood. And of course there are just a slew of plants I've never seen before. I will probably invest in a Native Plants of Israel book . . . if I can find one.

I have my sights set on the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. It's only 17 minutes away from the Jerusalem Center, and I think if I can convince two other people to go with me, and figure out how to take a taxi, I'll be set!

Well, believe it or not I'm already swimming up to my eyeballs in homework, and it's all due tomorrow morning! So here's to blogging in English and being in Jerusalem!

Gone!

~ Highlight of the Day: comming home to the Fishbowl :) ~

 

I'm packed for Jerusalem, I'm in Provo, and I'm happy. It's so good being back. Even if it's for only 2 1/2 days.

I quickly packed up the bonsai stuff, and dug up my daffodils (the ones I started from seed 5 years ago. . . they were supposed to bloom this year. . . )

 

It was like a treasure hunt digging for these :) Maybe I can get them to bloom this year.

 

We cleaned out the pantry, including the pickles I pickled forever ago. 

 

 

One jar ended up being edible.

 

 

Aaaaand one last look at my phone. . . I won't be seeing it again for 4 months!

 

 



How Many Plants?

~ Highlight of the Day: Adopting two adorable baby cycads ~

Here's a joke for you:

How many plants can you take on an airplane?

It depends. . . how many has Rachel managed to accumulate in 3 months?!

Ok, maybe it's not a funny joke. But honestly, I don't know when to stop. I'm flying home in 18 days, and my 'Plants to Keep' list keeps growing. . . Here are my two most recent additions:

They are Cycas circinalis (I think), and are practically baby dinosaurs. . . or at least dinosaur-aged. They're both male, having been vegetatively propagated from the huge Cycas circinalis (again, I think) in the Palm House of the Conservatory, which has been there since . . . 1951 or something like that. Anyway,  they are cool, and they will somehow make it to Washington, be it by carry-on or checked luggage or mailed package!

 

I don't usually name my plants - but these are my baby dinosaurs, so they need names. I'm thinking Luke and Lyle, but that could easily change . . .

Also noteworthy - I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time tonight. Totally not what I expected it to be. . . but better :) Dance movies always make me want to learn. . . why isn't life like a dance movie? I just need some dramatic events, a problem or two, and an incredibly attractive man so I can learn to dance professionally in a matter of weeks!

Of Algae and Dark Tunnels

~Highlight of the Day: Wading with the tadpoles and lilies :) ~

 

 

I love algae cleanup. You get to put on waders (doesn't mean you stay dry. . . you just don't get soaking wet), catch frogs and tadpoles, and talk with a group of new faces. Today was particularly exciting due to a mysterious beast causing large disturbances in the water by the Love Temple. We were all in a fairly small, concentrated area of algae, skimming the lovely green stuff by the bucketful, when just to my right there was a large "shloup!" like something big had jumped in . . . or out. Everyone thought I was crazy until about twenty minutes later when the same something jumped out of the water towards the arborist guys, who were then just as freaked out as I was (for at least a split second :) I think we decided it was a fish, though the garbage compressor scene from Star Wars kept playing in the back of my mind. . .

I'd take pictures during algae cleanup. . . but my
poor camera's already been through True Blue.
I doubt it could survive an algae episode.

After work a few of us lucky people got to go on a tour of the tunnels that run under the whole conservatory. It was quite exciting, and did not lend itself well to pictures. It's so odd how perception of area differs depending on what's filling it. Some spaces in the tunnels seemed much more spacious than their elevated counterparts, though in general the low ceilings and big bulky pipes made things seem much smaller.

 

 

There were definitely some Indiana Jones moments. I think it's the last one, about the holy grail, when they're wading through rat infested sewers to find some ancient tomb. . . (though there were no rats, and the water we were wading through was only from watering)

Baby Watermelons!

~ Highlight of the Day: Discovering a second baby watermelon! ~

I am so excited. I don't care that they probably won't mature before I leave. I have succeeded in growing watermelons! I've wanted to do this since I found a baby watermelon plant (or what I thought was a baby watermelon plant) in my favorite seed spittin' spot in my backyard back when I was just a wee child :)

I'll have to take a picture with my ukulele in it for scale :) There will most likely be very consistent updates on these guys. What can I say, they've won me over completely!

The rest of my garden's kind of a mess. . . I need to do some tidying up. I found these interesting little guys on one of my zucchini's . . . they kind of remind me of African horned melons. Or aliens.

Short (ish) and Sweet

~ Highlight of the day: Taking a freezing cold shower. An as-cold-as-it-can-get shower ~

Today:

Tied peppers

Picked grass

Ran three miles

There is no picture of me after running three miles, you're welcome :)  

What I pondered most today: Could certain aspects of Doctor Who be considered 'steampunk-ish'? Like in that one Tardis-eating planet episode? Hmmm. . .

Exclamation Points!

~ Highlight of the Day: A nice, cloudy, breezy, cool morning ~

Title note: I seem to have been using exclamation points a lot in my post titles. . . for a while it was these, ". . . ", but now it's exclamation points. I may need to put a conscious effort into breaking this habit, so if they start getting on your nerves, don't worry, it's being worked on! :)

I love how different gardens have different styles. We visited Chanticleer today, and I thought it was absolutely amazing. Just to sum it up nicely I'd say it's somewhat of a cross between Longwood and Scott Arboretum. It's much more formal than Scott, but not as dependant on annuals and constant display changes like Longwood.

The ruins were such a lovely contrast of stark, structural architecture  and natural, whimsical plantings. I wonder how hard would it be to build some ruins in the backyard. . .

Zucchini!

~ Highlight of the Day: coming home to zucchini bread ~

Zucchini. I am up to my eyeballs in the stuff. I mean, this always happens, so you'd think the surprise would wear off and I'd learn to deal with the huge influx of it. . . but  apparently not. So I think I'll have some zucchini and eggs, and zucchini bread, and steamed zucchini, and fried zucchini, and boiled zucchini, and then maybe some more zucchini bread :)

This morning's harvest. . .

This morning I whipped up a double batch of zucchini bread. It was a lot. Of everything. But it only called for 4 cups of grated zucchini, and I'm pretty sure I got away with 5 1/2, so it did put at least a small dent in my zucchini problem.

I had to use the biggest bowl in the kitchen. . .

At least I know I won't ever run out of veggies for the rest of the summer :)

Kohlrabi!

~ Highlight of the day: harvesting mostly everything for dinner from my garden! ~

This purple beauty is a Kohlrabi. My neighbor gave me six tiny little starts of this in May, and now they are ready to harvest! I honestly had never had it before and I didn't know how to cook/eat it, but today I decided to give it a try. So I turned to the oh-so-dependable Wikipedia for guidance. Did you know this was related to cabbage and broccoli? I had no idea. And sure enough, it smells like broccoli. Exactly like broccoli. So here's my first kohlrabi attempt:

From left to right: lemon balm, mysterious peppers (all 3 kinds),
 kohlrabi, and basil.

I can't wait to have this as my veggie for
lunch on Monday! It sure beats carrots.

I made fried egg-something-flour pancakes. It's awesome how well that recipe lends itself to experimentation, I was totally making it up as I went.

I would just like to state that kohlrabi is delicious. It has a sweet, crisp broccoli flavor. Just a random connection - the scientific name of kohlrabi is Brassica oleracea, which is the same as ornamental cabbage, and what my house on the row is labeled as!

I also finally found the answer to a matter that has been weighing down on me quite a bit lately. What is the plural of 'fez'? Well, I was reading my O Jerusalem book and came across it:

My fruitless attempts at coming up with a correct-looking spelling are finally at an end!
Fezzes are cool. :)

Needless to say, today was quite productive! I've discovered a tasty new vegetable and learned how to spell 'fezzes', what more could I ask for? :)

Mum's the Word

~ Highlight of the Day: Finding out I didn't miss beekeeping for overtime because beekeeping got moved to tomorrow! Couldn't have planned it better :) ~

Um. . . Mums. That's all I did today. Woke up after hitting snooze (that is a funny word. . . ) three or four times, made it to work on time (barely), took cuttings of mums for 3 hours, ate lunch, and potted mums for 5 hours.

This is what I look at all day - a potting bench, soil, fiber pots, and mums. This variety pictured here is called Honey Glow, I believe. I only remember because it was a cool neon green instead of the plain regular green. We went through something like 4 or 5 yards of soil mix too (not yard as in 3'X3', yard as in how much of something it takes to fill the back of your pickup truck to nearly overflowing). It was a lot of soil, for a lot of mums.

After looking at mums all day I was excited to do something different - I got to help take some of one of Bruce Monroe's exhibits out. All of the pieces we're showcasing here are centered around light, and all but one of them are nighttime exhibits. The only daytime one is a whole lot of 'lily pads' set afloat in the large lake. They are essentially neoprene discs covered in Cd's, and when the sun shines on them you get a rainbow of reflection across the lake. It is way cool. They've been out there all summer though, and time has taken it's toll. Today we removed the most damaged ones. It was hot, and sticky, and stinky, but it was not mums, and I was happy :)

Homesick. . . Sort Of

~Highlight of the Day: Getting to sit in the Scott Amphitheater and finding my phone ~

I started off this beautiful, relatively cool day with slipping on the good ol' size 9 waders (it's the smallest size they've got) and taking a nice refreshing dip in the lake :) The algae wasn't that bad, but it still took us all morning because it's in little pieces that the pitchforks can't really pick up efficiently. If you ask me it's because we're selecting for small clumping algae, and it's reproducing fast enough for us to see the evolution ;) If you ask the lovely IPM Rachel* (She's in charge of us algae skimmers ) it's because we're doing our job well and the problem's being minimized.

Then it was off to the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College. You may recognize this picture if you've ever flipped through a landscape design book:

I must say, I was beyond impressed with the campus and it's grounds. The whole place is beautiful and stunning and well thought out. Every space is different, but commands respect in it's simplicity and purposefulness. I absolutely loved it. If you get a chance to go, take it.

And on top of the breathtaking public garden spaces they have green roofs on the dorms! You can't see much of them unless you actually go up onto the roof, but they are so cool.

I don't think I'd mind dabbling in green roofs a bit. . . I do hope and expect that the demand for them (and therefore experience with them) will continue to grow. If I don't end up working with them as part of a career I'll definitely keep it in mind for any future house planning I may have :)

By the way, did I mention campus was gorgeous? Apparently the buildings are made of a local stone called Wissahickon schist. . . I think Wissahickon is a nearby river. Anyway, being on a campus made me totally homesick for BYU. I know I'm going to think I was delusional to say so, right around finals week in a semester or two, but I can't help but feeling a sort of longing for classes and classmates and . . . and. . . even homework. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for that last bit there. Maybe the heat is getting to me :)

Oh yes, and I harvested my first zucchini today, and made my favorite totally-changed-and-not-even-healthier-plotsky out of it. That didn't even use a fourth of it though, and I've got two more out in the garden on the way. . . I'm going to be eating a lot of zucchini!

I'd like to thank my fabulous roommate for
offering to take a picture of me and my zucchini :)

* There are so many Rachel's out here. There are four in our area of Longwood - IPM (integrated pest management) Rachel, Research Rachel, Rachel the Seasonal (or R Squared), and me. At church there's at least 3 or 4 more. . . On the Row they call me Ukulele Rachel, which I am totally ok with :)

Fieldtrip!

~Hightlight of the Day: sending a picture of a weeping angle to my sister~

So what do a whole bunch of plant geeks do for fun? We go to the Morris Arboretum.

the Fernery

This is easily the biggest Katsura tree

 I've ever seen. Did you know at one point
 durring the year they smell like cotton candy?
So cool.

 They had a lot of cool places, like a giant bird's nest. While walking out I passed a mother and her little boy. The boy was saying excitedly, "those are big eggs. Those are dinosaur eggs!" It made me smile :)

Aaaaaand Mercury. The god, not the stuff.

After we had a chance to mosey around a bit we were off to the Laurel Hill Cemetary. I wasn't all too excited about it at first, but then we arrived :) It was a truly amazing cemetary - one of the oldest (if not the oldest) of it's kind. As a more knowledgable intern told me, it was the first to be designed as a place to go and spend time.

weeping angel!

There's just so much stone, everywere, and a lot them are obelisks or other tall structures. Altogether it creates this forest of stone amongst all the greenery, which is quite lovely.

There are also several streets/paved paths just lined with small houses (I'm sure there's a more technical term. . . ) so much so that it looks almost like a neighborhood. Of dead people, of course.

So that's what we do for fun! It was indeed a blast. And just for the record, I wore my chacos all day long, and I can just make out the beginings of a chaco tanline :)