A mushroom by any other name...

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii.
Yellow parasol.
Plantpot dapperling.
Yellow pleated parasol.
Or my personal favorite, lemon-yellow lepiota (after its old scientific name).

 

Whichever name you so choose, these guys would still be yellow, dusty-looking, and living with my potted Pentas. I was freaked out by them when they first sprouted up out of nowhere, but I think they've grown on me (figuratively AND literally).

Things You Don't See Every Day

.. in Athens or anywhere else.

Tiny house.
Tiny house on wheels.
Tiny house on wheels being transported as an RV.
Tiny house on wheels being transported as an RV behind a full-bed wrecker truck.

Jesus
Jesus and Mohammed
Jesus and Mohammed's Tree Service

Purrfect

 

I love Kitty. Beaker loves Kitty. I love Beaker. Cycle complete.

Beach Plants

 

My standard Florida pics generally include a sunset, some turtle tracks, and an obligatory pool-and-beach shot, but I mostly neglected any of those this year. I took a few snaps of various plants and flowers I thought were interesting and wanted to ID later, but that was about it. At least the weather was nice this year.

The Hills Are Alive

... in Vermont. Where else?

In June I made a little journey to the wild North, where I stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge. Besides being a great location for recreation such as hiking and skiing (in the winter), the Lodge now has a brewery on site, which is set to open... now-ish?

While I was there, I discovered a new beautiful (and naturally, completely invasive) flower.. hawkweed! Apparently hawkweek is native to Europe, so I guess it's somewhat appropriate that it be found at the Trapp Lodge, since it was founded by Austrian musicians.

There was plenty of hiking and wandering to do in nearby Stowe. Here's the iconic view from Sunset Rock looking down into the village.

What trip would be complete without a little Appalachian Trail action (or in Vermont, the Long Trail)? Here's Mt. Mansfield, from a safe distance on the rec path. The nose is the hooked peak on the left, and the chin has lots of cloud cover touching it.

It took a few hours, rock scrambling, and lots of sweat and encouragement, but I made it to the top along with my cousin and two uncles. Here's a view from the chin itself, complete with cousin's head. Needless to say, going down is much easier.

Peak Baggin'

Second-tallest peak in Georgia? Bagged it!
Wild and scenic river in South Carolina where they filmed Deliverance? Bagged it!

Early summer seemed like a good time to do some peak bagging, that is, visiting some of the highest points in the state. So the household piled into a Rav4 and headed up to Rabun County in northeast Georgia. Rabun County is home to the second highest peak in Georgia, Rabun Bald (second only to Brasstown Bald). So we enjoyed a nice hike up the mountain passing through groves of laurels, rhododendrons, and azaleas.

The mountain laurel was particularly stunning, with its pale pink highlights and popcorn-style buds opening up.

Similar in coloration were the Piedmont azaleas.

We reached the peak after a few short hours of casual hiking and strolling through rhodi tunnels. The final challenge is climbing the steps of an observation tower, from whence you can see views to the mountains of North Carolina and down to the piedmont of Georgia.

We took a detour for our hike back down, walking down an old logging road. We were hoping to catch views of the multi-million dollar vacation homes on the side of the hills, but to no avail. However, we did see tons of flame azaleas in bloom, which made for some nice color contrast, as well as ferns, lichens, and salamanders.

After finishing our hike, we still had plenty of daylight left, so we decided to head across the border to South Carolina and experience the wild Chattooga. There's a sweet rapid called Bull's Sluice that's quite the hangout spot for kayakers, so we hung out on the rocks and watched paddlers and boats full of raft guides-in-training shoot the rapid. All in all, a pretty successful day.

Gettin' Crafty

About two years ago, one of my brothers decided to do a clothing purge and set out on the monumental task of going through every single t-shirt he had ever acquired since elementary school. He ended up with a mountain of shirts from every type of event, club, and fundraiser known to man! Running races, schools, youth groups, family reunions, sports teams... everyone had a unique t-shirt design for their people/place/thing. How did we develop such an obsession with special matching shirts?? I digress...

His plan was to tote Shirt Mountain to Goodwill, but when I happened by and noted the amazing colors in some of the shirts, I got an idea.

a wonderful, awful idea

Some time back, I had seen this article on the internet about making a braided rag rug, and I already had a few old t-shirts hanging around. So I took on some of the more vibrant members of Shirt Mountain and schlepped them back to Athens with me, where I began to undertake Operation Floor Decor.

It took a year and a half, but I finally turned the bulk of those several dozen t-shirts into 3 rugs: 2 braided ones and a woven one (inspiration from here). They took many, many hours (so many hours!), but I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

A Windy City Wedding

Back in April, one of my good college friends was getting married in Chicago. I had never been to Chicago, despite living relatively close to it for 4 years, so I was excited to finally pay a visit.

Evan and I both flew for free, thanks to sky miles, and we stayed in a hostel in the Arlington neighborhood near Lincoln Park, which was a really lovely area of town. This is what $85 a night can get you in Chicago (with a shared bathroom down the hall).

 

The hostel was being (inexplicably?) occupied by a large class of French students on a field trip, so there was never a shortage of people hanging around. Our hostel room had an unexpected guest who hung out with us as well. I think this is Katharine Hepburn, though I don't think Hedy Lamarr would be too far off either.

The weather was pretty dismal; highs in the 50s, gray, cloudy, and drizzly most of the time we were there.. quite a change from the South, where the redbuds had bloomed 2 months earlier and where we were starting to hit highs in the 70s and 80s each day. But I hear that's just how the Windy City rolls.

One of the best parts about Chicago is the L (or "el" for elevated train system). It took us everywhere we needed to go at any time, it ran regularly, and it was completely reasonably priced at $2.25 a ride to most anywhere in the system. We used it to get from Midway to the hostel, to bars and restaurants, and to downtown. We also used Uber for the first time, and it was a smooth, easy experience, waiting for 2 minutes on the corner and getting dropped off at the hostel doorstep (for free, since it was our first use).

We hit up the Lincoln Park Conservatory and briefly the Zoo, but mostly we caught up with my old friends who I hadn't seen in a long time, which was quite nice. Also, Lou Malnati's Chicago-style pizza, mmm mmm.