Home Sweet Home

~ Highlight of the Week: Sitting in an ancient stone temple on top of a mountain covered in olive tree groves looking out at the Aegean Sea ~

Well, I'm back from Turkey! On one hand it seems like we've been in Turkey for ages, but then on the other hand sitting here at the Jerusalem Center again feels like we never left at all. I am tired though. Utterly exhausted. We kept up a pretty good pace, and there were a lot of early mornings, late nights, long bus rides, big rocky ruins, and strange food.

Over all, Turkey is an amazing place that was not at all what I expected (not that I really knew what to expect. . . do we learn anything in school about Turkey?), and I'd absolutely love to go back some day if I get the chance. There is soooo much to say, and so many pictures to share! That being said, I also have been putting off my homework for the last 8 days, and have two papers to write and a test to  study for. So I'll try to give you my Turkey experience in chunks.

I may post later today with a picture or two to get started. . . if I don't crash and sleep off the last week or so of hotel beds and bus rides :)

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!

 

 



Home!

~ Highlight of the Day: Going through boxes of old stuff from elementary school ~

I was on a plane for a little less than 7  hours yesterday. Usually I'd be totally fine with this. . . but I was suffering from a particularly stuffy nose with a tendency to sneeze at inconvenient moments.

 

Seattle!

I did survive though, and I'm home in Washington. Green, cool, lovely Washington! The stuffy nose did prevent me from enjoying that wonderful it's-been-wet-for-three-months smell that I love so much. Not that it smells much like that at this time of the year - we do have a sunny season sometimes :)

 It's good to be with my girls :)

And these guys. . .

Well, I have 6 days and 3 goals.

1. Pack for Jerusalem

2. Pack all stored stuff into a small number of boxes

3. Enjoy Washington. All of it.

I'm doing alright at that 3rd one. Not so much with the first or second. I only got as far as opening up all my boxes and going through all the nostalgia found in them. It took my nearly all day :)

I did find time to do a little photo shoot with my siblings. Apparently they like steam punk! Who knew? I am no photographer, but they had fun dressing up. . .

  

Packing

~ Highlight of the Day: Seeing my family! ~

It's been a lovely day. I slept in (as much as you can with a 5:40am habit and needing to use the restroom. . . ), sat on the porch while eating breakfast, packed to the Of Monsters and Men radio on Pandora, went on a field trip to a huge estate, gave away almost all my food, and showed my family the gardens.

I am always amazed at how much clothes weigh. As predicted, I'm totally pushing the 50 lb limit.

I took one last walk through the forest to the production greenhouses  (in all honesty I may walk this tomorrow, but I may not, so I'm playing it on the safe side).

My garden (now Maddie, Becca, and Sara's :) is still an overrun mess, but there are significantly less weeds then there used to be! It's still got a good month or two to spit out some veggies :)

We drove past all sorts of old ruins today - I want old ruins in my backyard. . .

All in all it's been a pretty good almost-last-day. I still have a few goodbyes to say tomorrow (sad ones . . . not that I've had any particularly happy goodbyes :), and after that we're off to Virginia!

New York, New York

~ Highlight of the Day: Terrace pizza and chocolate mousse cake. ~

My family is not entirely plant minded. Everyone mows, to some extent, my mom weeds when she has time, and my sister likes plants but is convinced she kills them. I have no idea what my brothers think of it all, and my dad likes a good looking yard, but is allergic to stuff outside, like grass. So gardens have never really been on our lists-of-things-to-do-on-vacation, or even locally.

Being here at Longwood is totally different. We take all sorts of field trips to gardens, like they're the most important attraction around (because they are the most important attractions around :) and actually enjoy it all quite thoroughly. Today we drove to New York City, not to see the Statue of Liberty, or Time Square, or Broadway, but to see the High Line.

This is the place that has the odd cement planks for the floor, with the cool transition from path to flower bed. I've seen it on Pinterest so many times, but I didn't know it was taken here!

They had the coolest water feature - it was just a section of the path with grates on either side of it. On one side water came up to run across the path to the other grate, where it fell underneath and (I'm assuming) is pumped back up to the other side. How perfect for a hot summer day? It's just enough water to get your feet wet and splash around a bit in, but not enough to really cause any safety issues. You could walk across it with shoes on and stay dry. It's just brilliant. I loved it. Just look at that adorable little kid getting his feet wet!

Checking Out Our Government's Greenhouses!

~Highlight of the Day: Finding my presumed long lost black ear-thingy for my skull candy earphones (it was the last medium sized one. . . only the medium ones fit my ears!) ~

So I could write a ton of juicy details on the operations of the Smithsonian greenhouses and the U.S. Botanical Garden greenhouses, and then go on to list off a bunch of Latin names and what not. Or. . . I could just post a few pictures, only explain the really interesting ones, and get to bed at a semi-decent time :)  

Gotta be green - the yellow flats are made of corn,
and the pots are made out of wheat. I guess
 if anybody gets hungry before lunch they're set :)

spiderweb begonia!

How great is this? I thought it odd that Longwood has random topiary animals stashed away in dusty corners (like the life sized elephants in the barn at the nursery. . . ) but apparently it's something everybody does!

Now can you imagine my surprise when I, who just yesterday was
wondering about this flower, found it casually hanging out next to
 some cold frames back behind the US Botanic Garden greenhouses,
with a label!

I've decided I really like cacti and succulents. I think I may have to start a collection when I stop moving every three or four months :)

Look at this! We totally used to have one of these
when I was little! I may have
been more excited about this than the plants. . .
maybe :)

Um. . . dreadlocks. That's all I can think of when I look at this.

Variegated Ginkgo biloba!?! How awesome is that?! I want one. . .

Ok, so I still ended up talking way too much and spouting off Latin names. . . but much less than I would have, let me assure you! Also, must Downton Abbey be sooooo incredibly sad and emotionally draining? I'm having some issues here. 

To The Ohio. . . and Back Again

Friday night I left with a group of 60-some young single adults on a bus bound for Kirtland, Ohio. About 15 hours of driving, two hotel breakfasts, three slices of pizza, two chapters of 'O Jerusalem', and one testimony meeting later I was right back where I started! Well, maybe a little more sleep deprived and spiritually fed :)

We first went to the Kirtland Temple:

Did you know the walls used to have more of a blue hue
 to them, the roof was red because of whatever they
dipped the shingles in, and the doors were
 an olive green? It's hard to imagine. . .

Yeah. I wore my neon yellow Gravely shirt :)

The Community of Christ did an excellent job of the tour and history of the place. It was interesting hearing the stories without the usual Latter Day Saint lingo.

After visiting the temple we drove the short distance to the LDS Kirtland visitor center, where the saw mill and the N.K. Whitney store are.

 I remembered most of the tour (led by the wonderful sister missionaries :) from a family trip several years ago (especially the sawmill, cause it's so cool!), but this time they told us the story of Orson Hyde, the man the Whitney's employed to watch the merchandise (their upstairs storage was worth something crazy, I forget how much). He had thumbed through the Book of Mormon, read some verses, and declared it a fraud. For the next year or so he preached against it, until one day he felt a 'prick in [his] heart'. So he actually read it, found it to be true, and was baptized.

This is where Orson Hyde slept with the inventory
 on the second level of the N.K. Whitney Store

Here's the cool thing - He was then called on a mission to the city of Jerusalem. His companion gave up and turned back before they even got out of the United States, but he continued on and served for three years as the only missionary (as far as I know) the church has ever had in Jerusalem. There's now a garden there named after him, and when I'm there in the fall, you will see pictures of it :)

My ukulele has now been to the beach.

We wrapped up the day with a little Lake Erie, which was great once we found it (we detoured to a ranger station and a water treatment plant first. . . )


I came away from this trip with a deep sense of gratitude for the immense sacrifice the early saints suffered for their faith. If I were asked to sell all I had, my business and/or home, to help pay off a church debt, would I do it without doubt or hesitation? Would I stay stalwart in the face of immense physical trials? Even when those trials take the lives of my loved ones? I am in awe every time I try to contemplate the strength of will and testimony the early saints must have had. We owe so much of what we have today to their perseverance. So 15 hours of bus time, two sack lunches, two really late nights, and one rainy Sunday morning later I have a greater respect for the faith of those who lived my church's history, and a resolution to try a little harder to be a little better :)