tulips and mansions

Monday evenings are usually boring for me because Tim is at class all night and doesn't get back until about 1030pm. Unrelated to this, I found my Ipod (which I never really use) and charged it up the other day. Combine the two, and I decided to take a nice long walk around the neighborhood north of ours, Guilford. Guilford is really swanky; it's an enclave of lush greenery, mansions, and quiet streets in the middle of Baltimore City. It's swell that it's within walking distance from our house because it's sometimes nice to get away from the hustle and grittiness of Baltimore once in a while.

In the middle of Guilford is Sherwood Gardens , which is apparently one of the most famous tulip gardens in the United States. It's 6 acres and has 80,000 bulbs. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's peak bloom right now.

Look at the lone red tulip in a sea of purple.


Take a look at the houses near the tulip garden; they're huge! They remind me of the houses in Spring Lake, NJ, except these aren't near the ocean.

I love these coral-colored shutters.

This is my favorite house. I love the white shutters.
This house? It's ours. Well, not the whole things, of course. We live on the second floor.

It's sometimes nice to dream about living in such a pretty neighborhood, but I don't think I'd appreciate it if I actually lived there; I'd just take it for granted. I think this is true of a lot of things in life. I think it's better to just be thankful for what you have at the time, because the more you accumulate, the more you'll want. Living simply helps you appreciate the little things of life. Ehh. I'll stop now.

"Whoever loves money never has enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 5:10

chincoteague island part 3

The second day we were there, the weather was very ominous; it was so windy and dark.

Cute ducks relaxing.

Our final day there, the weather was absolutely perfect. High 60s and sunny. Perfect for taking a ride to the beach.

It was a really relaxing weekend, and we needed it.

chincoteague island part 2: catching seafood

There were lots of salt water marshes on the refuge, so we attempted to catch some critters of the sea. After digging in the sand and shallow water, we (mostly Tim) found a lot of mussels and a couple oysters (no pearls, sadly).

Tim ate the mussels raw. Tim wanted the caption for the picture to be: Tim's Raw Bar. ahaha.

While trying to open up an oyster with a pocket knife, Tim sliced his finger pretty deeply. Because the knife didn't work, he threw the oyster against the blacktop and that did the trick.

chincoteague island part 1

We had a lovely three day weekend in Chincoteague Island, VA this weekend.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast called Miss Molly's Inn. Apparently, the book Misty of Chincoteague was written there, which is sort of neat.

The best part of the B&B was that they had a bunch of beach cruiser bikes to borrow. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to ride one of those bikes because they just look so carefree and old-fashioned, so it was exciting to finally get to try one. We took ones with baskets in the front. :)

Most of our time was spend at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (which is adjacent to Assateague Island National Seashore). The beach is pristine and only a small part of it is accessible by cars, so we rode our bikes there. It was so natural and undisturbed and is the nicest beach I've ever seen.

Even though it was only about 65 degrees, Tim went swimming, of course. Apparently, it was a tolerable temperature.

I'll write some more about our trip for those of you who care...

sprouts

We planted some seeds a few weeks ago in hopes to grow some sustenance on our little terrace. We are finally beginning to see some sprouts:

Cherry tomatoes, cilantro, chili peppers, und so weiter...

Tim built this little flower box out of scrap wood, into which we planted peas. And they're sprouting, too...

Other pretty things on the terrace:

A bunch of gorgeous orange tulips looking graceful in the dusk light:

new (old) chair and kitty kat

When my parents were here a couple weeks ago, we went to Second Chance, an architectural salvage place, and I found this nice chair for a good price. It's so comfortable; as you can see, Sealion likes it.

shiny, happy people

Tim and I are volunteer tutors at the Pen Lucy Youth Partnership Learning Center.

Here is my beautiful student (warning: blurry because it's from my junky phone camera):

And here's a pic of us. The glasses I'm wearing are hers that she found and punched the lenses out of. ahaha. What a fashionista.

Good times tonight at tutoring.