Ever since March, I was looking forward to the second week of June (who am I kidding, ever since last August).  That is when my work year as a teacher ended and I would begin my time off to recover and refresh myself so that I could do it all over again.  I was really looking forward to all the time I would have to spend writing new blog posts, doing home repairs, and perhaps even finally getting to landscape my backyard finally!

But that didn’t happen.

Alas, my yard is still a yard and not a garden.  There are less weeds now and I finally pruned the overgrown camelias, but there’s still the dilapidated fence, insane ivy, and dusty, bare soil.  Any week now we’ll have the fence replaced and I’ll finally be able to sheet mulch (there will be a post dedicated to that when it happens).  I have not laid the wooden floor in our bonus room.  I have a half un-upholstered chair in the garage waiting for me to have enough time to continue working on it.  There are seeds for Albizia julibrissin, Rosa californica, and a type of manzanita sitting on the table next to my bed, asking me each night, “So, uh, when are you planning on planting us?”

So what have I been doing?  I got a summer job.  The day after my last day of school work I started working part time at a place called Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco (see my previous blog titled “A Tree in Your Sidewalk?  You Can Grow That!” for more info on this amazing organization.)  I’ve been running around San Francisco doing emergency tree care, providing the public with information about trees, and working diligently on researching information and gathering some pictures for the upcoming tree database for the new website.  It’s been a lot of work but just as much fun – and I’m learning a heck of a lot.  Soon I will post about  some of the tidbits worthy of attention (yellowing Magnolias, the impending doom of Myoporum trees, and more).

I did manage to have some fun this summer, too.  I spent a week in the Eastern Sierras with my family (where I got the wild rose seeds) and celebrated my 30th birthday in Sonoma at a few wineries (where I got the manzanita seeds…and some amazing wine, of course).  Tomorrow I leave for a road trip to Portland, OR.  Along the way, we will be stopping at the many beautiful sites (and breweries) along the California coast up through Oregon.  This is my first time heading north along the coast, so I’m looking forward to seeing everything (especially the forests and other plant life).  I’ll post pictures of anything of botanical interest.