A Visit to the Huntsville Botanical Garden

Preface

It's been busy the past few weeks.  My brother's kids have been in school, I've been working on projects, studying, taking naps, etc.

Yesterday, though, just as I was about to ask to take the car to go do some sight-seeing, my sister-in-law suggested that very thing.

I was soon given the key of power and this is my excited face:

The Huntsville Botanical Gardens.

Now, I think that making multiple visits to Kew Gardens as a child may have permanently ruined me for lesser botanical gardens.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed my visit and, as you will see towards the end of my post, can appreciate nature wherever I find it.

After driving Jonathan, my red, stick-shift traveling companion, the twenty-five-minute drive to the gardens, paying my dues, and promising a couple of joking ladies at the front desk not to take any snakes home in my pocket, I was off.  The first site to greet me was this little hobbit house:

Charming, right?  This was going to be a good day.

My first move was making a beeline for the "Purdy Butterfly House" (I thought this name rather funny because at first I wasn't sure if Purdy was somebody's name, or just a southern pronunciation of "pretty").

Unfortunately I was a little underwhelmed with the number of butterflies flying about (it was an overcast day), but I was charmed with a choice monarch of which I snapped a picture.

I said a cheery "hello" to a group of school kids as I passed them on my way to the herb garden.  I was enjoying the herbs when a splash of color to my left caught my eye.  I turned my head and my breath was taken away.

It was a beautiful field of wild flowers, many of them poppies, with a little cabin in the middle of it, styled after the cabin in Little House on the Prairie.  I absolutely adore wild flowers so that was a real treat.

The picture doesn't do them justice:

And here's Yours Truly, with the background of the aquatic gardens (the problem with having a car for a travel buddy is that one simply has no other choice than to resort to selfies):

A Romanticist Moment, a More Serious Note

My visit to the Garden of Hope, a section dedicated to those who have struggled with cancer had put me in a pensive mood.  While I've only ever had one truly malignant form of growth, cancer is not foreign to me personally.  It's not productive to worry about it, of course, but cancer is there for many of us, either in our future or in the future of someone we know and love.  As we've extended our lifespans and conquered the other major killers, cancer has taken it's place as The Emperor of All Maladies.

I sat down in a grove of trees an read some lines from Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.

A theme in a couple of Wordsworth's most famous works is the difference between how he viewed and interacted with nature as a child and as an adult.

I read:

To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
...
well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.


As I sat on my bench amid the boughs of the trees, I felt that I heard the "still sad music of humanity," and felt Wordsworth's gratitude and recognition of the moral anchor the beauty of nature truly is.  It is a gift and a joy that, in spite of maladies and wrongdoing, "disturbs [us] with the joy of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime."

And I leave you, dear reader, with that.

Yours Truly, 

Andrew

Update From Andrew

     It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and I just finished jump-starting my buddy's car and drying some dishes.  This time I have a legitimate excuse for not posting anything for a long time (besides my laziness).  Actually, I've been waiting on Prom pictures!  Unfortunately today, four weeks after the big event, I am still waiting...  Oh well, perhaps, Dear Reader, you now have something to look forward to (or dread I guess ;).  In the meantime I shall give you all a rundown of the exciting things that are going on in my life. 

1. School's Almost Over!
   That's right folks, Yours Truly is way excited to get away from Timpview High School.  I just finished my four AP tests (Biology, European History, English Comp, Calculus) and will know my scores some time in July.  The last day is on Wednesday which brings me to my next point:
2. I'm going to Canada!
   I depart for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on Thursday.  This is perfect because my father can get in his viking and WWI sites, and my mother her Anne Of Green Gables ones.  As for me, I'm just happy to tag along. 
   
3. Movies!
   I just had the first movie night that I've had for several months.  The playlist?  Stardust and then Signs.  I had seen Signs before which I find to be a tense and eventually uplifting movie, but I hadn't seen Stardust.  I had turned down the chance to see it when it was first in theaters based on some negative reviews, but I found it super awesome and fun-to-watch.
4. Books! Dracula by Bram Stoker.  Need I say more?
5. Tree Street Computers!
   Drew's computer-repair business is coming to town baby!  Check us out at www.treestreetcomputers.com.

Yours Truly,
Drew

Skiing and My 50-Mile-Long Nature Essay

     I attend Timpview High School and I'm sure that you've heard me bashing on it before.  Well it is a strange place.  Among the many oddities exists that of the terms (quarters).  You would think that the second term would end the day before Christmas Break but, unfortunately, this is not the case.  In fact, there lie two weeks of second term after Christmas Break.  This is nice because it leaves an end-of-term crunch to look forward to (sarcasm intended).  This finally brings me to my point.  Sorry about the delay, but my life has been even more crazy than usual these past few weeks.

     The good news is that I am here giving the update, the absence of which has kept you tossing and turning in your beds at night for weeks.  First off, I officially have the skiing bug.  I went for my first time this season two days ago with Suspence and the kids.  Then I went for my second time yesterday with Meg.  The skis, bindings, poles, and pass work together like clockwork.  As I was riding up the lift yesterday, we went through a darker stretch of trees.  I looked down and saw this:

My skis... GLOWING IN THE DARK!!! (I tried to take a picture but it's too dim for my camera).

Cool!  Who knew right!?

      I've also been singing in the ward choir lately which has been a lot of fun.  There is something to be said for actually taking part in good music rather than just listening to it.

     And now the main attraction:  My Nature Essay.  It's actually rather good.  Also, all of my writing has a principle or something to learn behind it (it's not just a fun little story about me) so keep your eyes open.  I am, of course, open to criticism and/or praise so... comment!  Writing Below:

King's Peak

     

     An ant crawled across the rock. Then my boot landed, squishing the little invertebrate and ending his rather miniscule and unimportant life. I was doing it. I was undertaking a fifty-mile trek through the Uinta Mountains to King's Peak, the tallest mountain in Utah. The plan was to leave base camp and hike for two days until we reached the base of the peak. On the third day we would conquer the mighty stone spearhead and summit at its glittering tip around midday. The two remaining days would be used for the return journey making it a five-day trek.

      

     As I walked along, I felt the weight of my 35 pound pack on my shoulders and hips. It was a good backpack. We had haggled with the salesman until he gave it to us at a very low price. Those salesmen will do anything to sell if you are strong and firm enough. It was an internal frame, pretty water-tight and quite comfortable too. Yes, it was a good backpack.

     I felt great. At home we are used to large meals and relaxing evenings. On the trail the trekker barely feels hunger. He is glad of food, but almost rises above the need for much of it. The second morning I felt strong and ready to go, and after a quick packet of instant oatmeal we headed out of camp for another day of hiking.

      I thought back to the first morning of the trek. As we headed out in my white Astro Van we laughed and talked amongst ourselves, excited for this new challenge. Outside it was very hot, but that was little problem for us. We simply turned on the air conditioning and the radio and soon the van was filled with cool air and rock music.

      I absentmindedly ripped a leaf from its branch and began shredding it into little pieces and tossing them to the wind. We were making a good pace and were right on schedule. Up ahead the trail wasn't marked except with little stacks of stones. This line of markers extended up a ridge just ahead and my companions and I headed on up the trail. It was hard work and hot sweat rolled down my back but I knew that I was easily up to the challenge.

      I hiked up the last stretch and looked down into the valley below. I saw tiny, insignificant pine trees. I had bested the ridge. I smelled the cool clean air and laughed in triumph as an impotent mountain butterfly flitted past.

 And then I looked up.

     I saw great, jagged peaks tipped with blindingly white snow. They towered over me like enormous guardians of some forgotten realm. I shielded my eyes from the light, less confident in my victory. A few gray clouds floating lazily in the midst of a blue sky caught my attention. The clouds had seemed small to me at first, but as I watched they started to grow. They grew to blot out the sun. They grew to cover the sky. They grew to hide the summits of the peaks so that I could no longer make out the white snow caps. They became a gigantic veil between me and heaven that rumbled like an angry beast from some long forgotten age. A flash of lightening caught me off guard and left jagged red lines searing in the backs of my eyelids. I felt rock-hard hail pounding my head, neck, and back. I was caught between a hammer of ice and an anvil of stone. It dawned on me that if I didn't get off of the subject of my ill- judged victory, I would soon be cooked by the bursts of lightening that lit up the sky all around me.

     I scrambled down the side of the ridge into the forest of massive pine trees and huddled beneath one for shelter from the wrath of the sky. I gazed up through the great branches of my protector into the power, majesty, and sheer terror of a Uinta Mountain summer storm that darkened the sky and sent all living things frantically scrambling for cover.

      

     Within a few minutes of the beginning of the storm, it was over. The sky cleared, the hail stopped, the lines on my eyelids faded, and the ancient mountains stood as timeless and immovable as ever. I slept soundly that night.

       

     Our party, because of the deceptions of the mountains and our own human error, did not reach the summit of King's Peak. In fact we did not so much as set foot on it. We headed home early, tired, and hungry. Toward the end of the journey home our spirits rose at the prospect of comfortable sleeping arrangements, rock 'n roll, and all-American cheeseburgers. Upon arriving at base camp we piled into my gloriously cool Astro Van and headed for the nearest Burger King. I'm sure we smelled terrible and looked the same, but we didn't care. There is one moment I won't forget, though. As we drove away from the wilderness and back to civilization I looked back and saw King's Peak in all of its glory. It was lit in evening light and was clothed in a deep purple robe with a shimmering golden crown of ice. As I looked back upon the stone that had proved too great to conquer, the music that filled the car faded from my mind and I believe that King's Peak, that great and majestic mountain, was laughing at me with ancient laughter born of bygone days in sun and snow and of watching the butterflies and ants and people around it live their lives and fade into memory. And in my heart, I laughed, too.

Sunshine

Hello Everyone!  It's been a while.  For my AP Language-Comp class I wrote a personal narrative. My Dad quite liked it so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Sunshine

 

      There was a shark under the boat. That's what my cousin Will told me, a tiger shark. Grandpa said that there wasn't, but Will and I knew that there was. Will saw it. Will knew lots of things like that there was a secret rock under the boat. You could get to it and touch it with your toes, but you had to go through a place where garbage fish were. I was too scared.

      Grandpa took me on a wave runner to explore the little fingers of Lake Powell. He even let me drive for a bit. I drove around and then we found a sunny little island full of cool sandcastles. They had little sticks in them that held them up.

      Later Jensen, one of my older cousins, got me to go knee boarding. I flew across the big green mountains that our motor boat made. I was kind of scared at first, but then I felt the comforting sun on my back and the cool spray on my cheeks. Bump, bump, bump I went behind the boat. It felt good to be free and to fly in the sunshine, the warm happy sunshine. The waves made me cool, and the sun gave me joy, and I was the sun, the happy, happy sun, flying high over the water.

      Just a few months later, my disease came. A sore on my face wouldn't heal. The sun wasn't my friend anymore. When I went outside he glared down at me. He stopped me from walking home from school with my friends. He made me wear a funny hat, and I couldn't go to Lake Powell anymore. I had to get lots of shots that hurt. I had to stay inside my house even when the sun was smiling and the sprinklers were going.

      Then one day, when the sun wasn't as bright, the leaves fell off the trees on to my neighbor’s lawn. He was a nice man who often smiled and let me play in his basement. I decided to go rake his leaves because he was old and could not do it himself. I got the rake and went over and began to work. It was hard work, and I was tired. The slick sweat rolled down my back and I thought of going home. The spiteful wind kept blowing more leaves onto the green lawn, and as soon as I got them all into a pile, more would come down. Finally I got all of them picked up, and into black bags. The man came out of his house and said “Thank you!” His smile warmed me more deeply than the sunshine, and suddenly I was the sun again, flying high over the world.