the weekend

On Saturday, I went with Cristiana to Eugene to grocery shop and toot around. We began the day at the Saturday Farmer's Market:

Starting the day off with a delicious smoothie...maybe a poor choice because I got really cold.
Cristiana got her espresso; she only drinks coffee once a month in the US. In Italy, she drank 3-4 everyday!
SALADSALADSALAD

Some slippers I had my eye on...

AND THE BEST PART IS THAT I GOT SOME LOCAL HONEY! it is in a jar and the jar has a mr. potato sticker on the top, and the sticker says I yam what i yam! it's delicious

Yes, so the farmer's market was just lovely, and we did some more shopping and sat in a bagel shop and made phone calls, did some reading etc.

It was nice to be in a city after a week of quiet in the woods! But we did have to return. When we got back to the Andrews, we moved all of our stuff to the apartment across the road because there are more people coming this week, and we got shuffled around. This apartment is more open and light, but it is very cold. We keep turning up the heat, and it keeps turning off...

Today (Sunday), I woke up late (10 am...) and Christiana and I went on a hike on Lookout Trail. It took about 2.5 hours, and I brought my camera along...

Rough skinned newt!

goop coming out of a dead tree...my guess is oozing sap--but I will ask Jay...

Calypso orchid!
gorgeous!
tea cup fungi
a HUGE slug!! out of curiosity, I poked him a bit , and his head retreated and he got tense...

After our hike, Cristiana and I both went for a run/walk (an active day!).

And we made the most delicious dinner!! She made mushrooms and chicken, and I made roasted onions, steamed spinach, and Ari's leftover tortillas...it was delightful!

I have started reading The Hidden Forest (Jon R. Luoma), and it is fascinating. He's a very good writer, and he covers a lot of good stuff about the origins of ecology. There is an interesting bit about the Sand Dunes of Michigan and Indiana and the succession of flora seen on the dunes (that there are specific plants that grow in younger areas that prepare the area so that other plants can successfully grow there later, and that this change that occurs over time can be seen on the dunes because of their age differences). But the book mainly focuses on the Andrews forest.

So tomorrow, the science will resume, and there will be more science-y posts to come...including an explanation of what phenology actually is!