Phlox bloom in the field, Spring.
Ten years ago Cymande and I celebrated the New Year in Paris and slept on the floor of a train station finally arriving back at our hotel at 8am. Ten years later we were in bed at 8pm. The decade had us in grad school in Boston; living in the semi-idyllic Beverly, Rockport and Gloucester; serving 3 years in the National Health Service Corps in Lake City, FL; and finally deciding to stay on as Pediatric NP's in Lake City. It wasn't and isn't an easy decision. We miss our friends, we miss the little things (independently owned restaurants, hills, normal humans, the rocky granite coast) and we have to endure the local culture (revisionist history, Tea Party Morons Magical Thinkers, 6 foot Confederate flags mounted in the beds of pickup trucks, "Southern Heritage," scientific illiteracy, poor fashion sense and poor dental hygiene.) We miss you New England and San Francisco. We like to think of OWR as an outpost on the frontier.
Dogwood blossoms, Spring.
The past year has been a stressful, yet mostly positive, thrill ride for Cymande and I. We dealt with the psychologic madness, the physical pain and the large sum of cash that is infertility. My thanks to the amazing and highly competent embryologists, reproductive endcrinologists and nurses that guided our way. To follow our journey from infertility to a twin pregnancy, (if you haven't already been doing so) I welcome you to the second trimester. Everyone think June 2, 2010.
Junonia coenia (buckeye) pupa, Autumn in the field.
We were lucky to have so many visitors at OWR to take us out of our daily routines. There was marathon badminton, kayaking, frozen pipes, swimming, savory food, bad films, good wine, and indescribable music. Thanks to Ross, Allison, Gio, Soleil, Connie, Lee, Anthony, Faye and any visitors that I've forgotten.
Elaphe guttata (corn snake) climbing the rose trellis, late Summer night.
There was talk of paving Old Wire Road and surveyors spent months staking out the path of the future road. The surveying was followed by an army of county mowers that thoroughly destroyed all the survey markers. OWR might remain a dirt road forever with this type of planning. Oh, the South...
Ichetucknee River, Fall.
Columbia County, while an insanely and irrationally conservative place, has surprisingly managed to not sell out our springs to water bottling companies or to South Florida. I continue to be thankful for this policy stance. However, the county needs strict regulation of fertilizer use, run-off control and real land-use policies that could reverse the damage that is being done to the springs. Oh, let me guess...they want to do another study to determine what we already know...or maybe have another feel-good meeting of industry and river management people. Regulation with big nasty teeth is what we need. This is a county that allowed a concrete plant within a few miles of Ichetucknee Springs and the construction of a large industrial park practically on top of a major sink that feeds the Ichetucknee. I hope this decade brings powerful permanent protection of our springs.
Our pear trees began producing this year, but we failed to watch them closely enough. They ended up chicken food. Summer.
There have been so many predictable complaints about the past year by so many predictable people. My complaints are more extensive, about the fear-a-go-go decade as a whole. A humorous profanity-laced complaint summary consistent with my feelings can be found here.
To all the good people: Happy New Year and let's make this decade a better one...
