Easter on Parade

I just returned from a last minute, 72-hour whirlwind trip to Richmond, Virginia for a family Easter extravaganza--and now I am paying for it with a bad head cold and lots of quality time with my favorite pillow. But I am not sorry, because the short time I had there was fabulous. Witnessed the first-ever Easter egg hunt of my stylish nephew, played a little croquet with a talented group of friends, and strolled along Monument Avenue with hundreds of Richmonders dressed in their Easter best. These are good people, and this is a good place.

Straight Shooting

This month I am faced with the most excellent dilemma of choosing between two great graduate programs that have accepted me.  Of course, I am very grateful to have this decision to make, but that doesn't make it any easier to do! Whatever the case, at this time next year I will be combining two of the things I love the most -conservation and design- as I study my way to becoming a landscape architect.
As I was practicing some archery at work last week (got to impress those kiddies at summer camp), I was tempted to paste the names of the schools up on the targets and just shoot blindly. Everyone is always talking about following your instincts, right?

Creature Comforts

Now that the weather is summer-like, we can drive with the top down! One of our next big projects at work involves planting an educational vegetable and herb garden, which requires lots of riding around the property with two fluffy hitchhikers.

Back at the home front, I have been staying busy while Nick journeys around Chicago for the next six weeks.  I took my first trip to the Chicago Botanic Gardens on Sunday to attend a volunteer orientation and get a general feel for the place. Even though it was a rather gray day, it is one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I have visited since moving here.

Two of my very favorite spring pleasures: daffodils and weeping willows!

I think it would be an exciting challenge to attempt an espaliered orchard in our vegetable/herb garden, but that may be an adventure for next year. In the meantime, I was inspired by the beautiful espalier display at The Garden!

A 24-Hour Vacation

We took a quick trip to New Buffalo, MI this past weekend with a few dear friends and were surprised by a light dusting of snow during the night! I don't think I have ever seen the beach covered in snow before. As you can see, it is gorgeous and a little surreal.

We made a few friends as well:

We built our first snowman of the winter! Also probably our last..

Spring Fling

It is only March 3, but we have had a few beautiful days lately that have me thinking that spring will soon be here. Everyone has assured me that there are still several months of Chicago winter before true spring arrives but I can't help but feel some anticipation anyway.  I think I will begin with an herb garden!

An early morning in my kitchen:

We celebrated a four year milestone on March 1st at a Cuban BYOB restaurant called 90 Miles. It was just the right mixture of romance and fun - an apt reflection of our own experience together. Nick gave me some sparkly presents:

Something Sweet

On the first of February, I began my new job as a Conservation Education Assistant with the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. Our first project is tapping about thirty sugar maple trees. In a few weeks, we will begin teaching school groups about the magic of maple syruping, but first we need to become experts!  Below is a little "how to make your own" for your viewing pleasure.

While looking for the perfect trees to tap, I found this an ancient oak.  Not good for tapping but an excellent hiding spot!

We used a hand drill to make the holes in our chosen trees and then hammered in spiles - similar to spouts - with mallets.

                                            

The buckets look so pretty in the woods, especially as it is a little bit bleak otherwise. We tapped thirty trees of varying ages and elevation. We are collecting data to see which trees produce the most sap and why.  Next year we will have a better idea of which trees we should tap.                                            

Behind me is the Evaporator. We bring gallons upon gallons of filtered sap and boil it down here. It takes about forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup-this is a pretty labor intensive business!  It took us six days of boiling before it was ready for the next step. In front of me is the Finisher. We boil the sap in here until it reaches the proper consistency, at which point it is ready for bottling!

 The finished product: Grade A Maple Syrup! 

The Winter that Wasn't

Here are a few highlights from our first winter in Chicago. Sadly, none of them include snow!

Early on in the winter, I decided to become an origami master.

I celebrated my 26th birthday on the 96th floor of the Hancock building with cocktails and some of my favorite people in Chicago. The view was spectacular!

                                 


Even though Nick forgot to bring his pretty menorah with him , we were still able to celebrate Hanukkah!

In January, we had a surprise visitor. We took her ice-skating, which was the only truly winter past time we enjoyed this year. No sledding or skiing yet, but fingers crossed for March!

In February, I went home to Virginia for a post-holiday visit and got to see my favorite little squishy person.

Also in February, I started my new job as a conservation education assistant at a wildlife foundation! More on that later...