Thai Exhibition Garden

SITE EVALUATION AND PLANNING
.. was the inaugural year of the Charleston Garden Festival at Middleton Place Plantation. As a fledgling entrepreneur and young Charleston Horticultural Society Board Member, I was eager to participate.
I enlisted Chip Chesnutt of Other Side of the River to be my co-conspirator and we blindly entered the world of display gardening.
In the spring of .., we selected our site- a vast 60x80 foot green space with a view of the Ashley River. If you've ever done a display garden, you know this is an enormous space to fill. We simply didn't know any better.
Over the summer, we drew and submitted plans to the CGF powers-that-be, ambitiously deciding to build a tea house and create meandering paths into several well-designed rooms. Mixing hardy Lowcountry plants like Oleander and Viburnum with exotic orchids, gingers, bananas and palms, we designed a tropical garden that would thrive in the Southern landscape.
We bought a book on how to build bamboo fences. Chip and his crew spent the summer in a forest with machetes, harvesting invasive bamboo. The canes were held together with intricately woven black rope, as seen below:SET-UP
Set-up began on a Monday and we had four days to complete our garden. Plants were delivered on loan from local wholesale nurseries. A disturbingly heavy Buddha statue was borrowed from Hyam's Garden Center. Twenty-foot tall bamboo was cut from the forest and hauled to the site. We were overwhelmed to say the least!

I coordinated the layout of the site, with a crew of Americorps volunteers and Middleton Place Plantation employees.
Because the plants stayed in their pots, we had to water them every day to keep them from drying out:
Pine straw was artfully arranged around the bases of the plants to give the appearance that they were actually planted in the landscape:
Chip and his crew built a surprisingly sturdy tea house with a bamboo thatch roof (there was no plan and he had never constructed anything before....though he told me over and over that it was "to code"). He surrounded the boards with bamboo:
Then, Chip and his crew took the cut timber bamboo and created a "forest" around the perimeter. They did this by driving a piece of rebar 2-feet into the ground, removing the rebar and inserting a piece of bamboo. They did this over and over until the desired affect was achieved. It was really ingenious....I wish I had picture of the process. You can see the bamboo in this image:COMPLETED
Somehow, it all came together. I lost 8 pounds that week and my feet were so swollen that I had to soak them in Epsom Salts before the garden party. But it was worth it.

On Monday, we dismantled the garden and returned the plants, stone and borrowed items. The pine straw was used on a landscape installation later that week and the fence became a screen in Chip's backyard.
I had about 10 meltdowns that week, but looking back, I'm glad we chose to tackle the entire 60x80' space. It was quite an experience.

Next

I have now officially spent five days in a state that could only be described as "totally useless", which also coincides with my longest break from riding since 1997. Frankly, I'm scared sh!tless of tomorrow morning's commute to work, but I'll have to deal with that one sooner or later. The enforced lay-off did give me the opportunity to get the Lennox Head/Minyon tour journal completed. Interested parties can read about that here.
In the meantime, I've had an opportunity to think about what I want to do when I return. I'm planning to ride The Wonders of Glorious Mee in Brisbane, that iconic Audax ride with three substantial climbs on October 4. I actually rode that for five consecutive years before missing last year's ride in the middle of a form slump. At one point I had a reputation for going on big (and largely pointless) attacks on Mt Glorious. Whether I'll be capable of that in this year's edition remains to be seen. The way I've felt over the last few days, I'll be glad to just finish within the time limit.
I also need to return to the Mullumbimby region to explore the Wanganui Gorge. Apparently this Gorge, 20km west of the town is supposed to be home to spectacular views and some giant strangler fig trees. I should be able to make that into another 200km day without too many problems. Those are going to be the goals that I focus on over the next few weeks. I'm sure other things will come up between now and then, but as long as I'm back on the bike, I won't care too much.

Bouldering with Flo

The Mission 7B, Torridon

Flo from the Mountain Equipment team was over for a few days. The weather was perfect and we had our pick of disciplines (providing we didn’t mind getting cold). Flo was keen to boulder, so we headed to Torridon, the Arisaig Cave and Glen Nevis. It was quite strange for me to visit some of these favourite old haunts of mine with someone else. Normally you won't see another soul at most highland bouldering venues.




Flo enjoying Inward Bound 7B, the classic of the Arisaig Cave.



Flo begins the crux swing on Under the Hat 7C, Heather Hat Boulder, Glen Nevis



Flo clinging to the ship boulder (The Mission 7B), Torridon.





Eyeing up the next edge on A Bridge too far 8A, Torridon.



I hadn't visited the Arisaig Cave for 2 years because I'd basically run out of projects. The one great line still to do there just seemed too hard last time I was there. But having a look at it (As in standing on the ground, just looking, as I still had only one functional leg) I decided that I really ought to return for another scrap with it. Likewise in Torridon I discovered a couple of great lines to go back for soon.

A 14,556-Step Day

We had all kinds of ideas for things to do today, but we didn’t do any of them.  Why?  It was just too darn cold.  When we got up at 6:00a it was a mere 45F (7C).  We hoped that as the day progressed the sun would come out and warm us up a bit.  That didn’t happen.  It was overcast all day and the temperature barely got up to 52F (11C), staying there for maybe 30 minutes before it began moving back down again.

I’m not really complaining; I’ll take cold temps over hot anytime, but we had hoped to sit outside this weekend, maybe have an al fresco meal or two.  The damp chill put paid to those plans.  Perhaps next time.

Not that we stayed home mind you.  After all, you can’t walk 14,556 steps inside the Phaeton.  Well, you can, but since it takes only 17 steps to get from the cockpit to the far side of the bedroom, it would take forever to rack ‘em up.  I’m participating in the “10,000 Steps a Day” Program sponsored by my company, so I’m off to a good start :-)  Actually, I easily walk 10,000 steps a day; so my goal is to get above that number.  (With my stride, what I accomplished today equates to 4+ miles (6+ km).  Not too shabby.)

After relaxing around the bus-house until mid-morning, we took the .5-mile trail from the campground to Gunston Hall, George Mason’s colonial home.  Since we had toured the estate on a previous visit (post here), our purpose was to get some exercise by strolling the grounds.  Of course, there were some photo ops along the way, some of which made me wish I had my DSLR and tripod with me.

Field of buttercups as far as the eye can see.

a yellow poplar tree with plenty of blooms.

So, this is what the blooms look like when they’re still attached to a tree branch.

Behind the visitor center, a secret garden bordered by tall hedges revealed …

Viburnum bushes

Easy to see why this species of viburnum is nicknamed common snowball.

… as well as the snow white blooms of azaleas.

When the white azaleas start blooming, I'll come back to you … or so the song goes.

Azaleas bloom in the spring; it sure doesn’t feel like it today.

We returned home around noon and grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Then, Mui went off to shop for a project he has in mind (post later).  While he was gone, I processed the photos from our Gunston Hall stroll.  That done, I headed out for a walk around the campground loop to find ‘acceptable’ sites for future visits.  A few shutter clicks added to my collection of Pohick Bay Regional Park photos.

A head-on view of Site 71 shows how wide it is.  our space goes out to the fire ring on the far left;
and there’s wide open space to our right.

Clockwise from top left: a small portion of the play area (for adults and kids), which is rimmed by campsites behind a ring of trees; another angle of view of site 71; one of the two comfort stations that house restrooms and laundry facilities; mountain laurel buds; behind the trees on the far side of the coach is the play area pictured in the fist photo of this collage.

When Mui returned from his shopping trip, we headed out on another walk.  This time we took what was supposed to be a 1-mile paved path to Mason Neck State Park.  It was one mile, OK; but that was just to the park’s entrance.  When a roller-blader told us that it was another 1½ miles to the visitor center, we decided to turn back and leave exploring the park to another visit.

Look at the size of that root base!
Mui’s just being macho; it really IS cold today.  OK, OK – Truth be known, we both took
off our jackets on the return portion of our trek.

The fertile spore-bearing fronds of the Cinnamon Fern gives the species its name.

We saw plenty of these blooms in The Smokies as well; now I know that this flowering
plant is the Sawtooth Blackberry (aka Southern or Highbush Blackberry).

And so we wrapped up another day at PBRP.  It wasn’t quite the day we’d hoped to spend here, but sometimes you just play the hand that’s dealt you and move on from there.

Intense Lady Slipper

Intense Lady Slipper, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

These lady slippers are so interesting. The flowers are shaped exactly as the name would suggest. This particular flower was much richer in color than others nearby. Seen in the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
Anybody been there?

Mt. Borah Epic

Today was the running of the Mt. Borah Epic. While the race is on the Saturday of Festival of the Trails - it is separate from the festival.

According to the promoters:

"The Mt. Borah Epic is nothing short of its true definition. A series of trail systems developed by the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association, also known as CAMBA, have led Mt. Borah to stage a race that pays tribute to the trails and offers a one-of-a-kind experience found no where else but Northern Wisconsin.

Skill, endurance and perseverance will be asked of each rider as they challenge the Epic this upcoming spring. Each section of the course holds its own key to success. Racers will traverse rocks, roots and navigate through pine groves, all while enjoying the epic single track that has inspired us to stage this race from the very beginning."

I was not in Cable, WI for the start (probably should have gotten up earlier enough, but needed my rest). Taking a break from shooting some photos of the skill class, I noticed a growing number of folks in blue sweatshirts gathering at OO Trailhead. I learned that the point-2-point race will be coming through here. Found a seat and spend about an hours shooting the riders.

OO Trailhead was about 1/2 point of the 30 mile race and the only (for what I know) fuel/water stop. Photo with this posting is the race leaders at the fuel stop. Once they are sorted, proof copies will be on my events & race web site.

Rainy day paddle

The forecast today was rain and waves. So as soon as the kids left for school, we packed up and headed to Montrose beach to paddle with Scott Fairty. This wasn't supposed to be a paddling day, but you don't just let 2- to 4-foot waves get away unsurfed.

Guess which car is ours.



Synchonized paddling?



The waves were rolling in nicely at the beach, but the area just north was chaos. Waves were hitting the "sheet piling" (shoreline retaining walls) and bouncing back, creating surf in both directions and at times meeting and combining to create waves twice as large.

Going....

Going...



Gone!



Waves like these can be intimidating. They may be more of a challenge to your confidence than they are to your skills.

Paddling in conditions like these, we realize how well our kayaks handle chaotic waves if we let them. Sometimes we just bob around in confused conditions without bracing to see how little we really need to do. But today, some bracing was necessary.

Forecast for tomorrow:

See you tomorrow, Scott?

Sharon out to sea.