Engaging

Engaging, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Kathleen and I have been engaged for about a month now, but we just got the ring today. We decided to forego diamonds in lieu of something more symbolic - our birth stones.

I think pearl and amethyst looking smashing together, don't you?

(Also, this is white gold, but the wood table makes it look more yellow)

4th of July 2011 (post 1)

Letchworth upper falls, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Over the 4th of July weekend, Kathleen and I went camping with Kathleen's parents and sister at Letchworth State Park in NY. The main feature of this park is a massive gorge, often called "The Grand Canyon of the East." It's not quite as deep as the Grand Canyon, but it's pretty impressive. I'll post some more gorge-like photos later on. Here are the first three in this set.

Letchworth middle falls, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Vaguely Troubling, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

This last one was just too awesome to pass up :P

Gardening

The corn is as high . . ., originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Kathleen and I have planted our first garden together, and this is the first time that I've done any kind of gardening in more than a decade! Crazy. I'm having a lot of fun with it, though. This year we've planted corn (pictured above), tomatoes (flowers below), an onion patch (below), hot peppers, cantaloupe, zucchini, summer squash (none of which are pictured here), and we're trying to get some spinach and swiss chard to come up, but the spring was so wet that we didn't put the seeds in until two weeks ago, so we may have to do a late summer planting and try for a fall crop of that stuff.

Anyway, I'm delighted by our progress so far!

Onion Patch, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Tomato Flowers, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Oh, and Scout is our supervisor while we're gardening. She does a marvelous job at it . . . also, she eats a lot of grass.

Task Master, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Yep

Yep, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

That's dog hair.

And for reference . . .

"Yep" reference shot, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Brown Eyed Girl

Brown Eyed Girl, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

She did a pretty good job for her first time under the lights. It will definitely not be her last.

Scoutypants Marie, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Scorcher

Scorcher, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

This is a partly burnt tennis ball near an extinguised controlled fire in the Ann Arbor arboretum.

Spring Light Abstract

Spring Light Abstract, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Every morning I wake up to this, I want to get the perfect picture of dappled light coming through the tree outside of my 3rd story apartment bedroom window. It's hard to capture exactly what I want, but this comes close.