Okay okay. Time to write. I’m sooo sorry to my readers that like to know what I do while I’m out here! Soooo, let’s see. Last couple weeks. At work: Harvest, water, and weed. Seriously.
Amber
Instant friends with this lady. She’s got a lot of spunk and attitude that I admire. Amber graduated from Utah State in May, so we’re the same age. She’s a rotational intern as well, she visited Joe and I at American History a while ago. So, she’s from Utah, she’s NOT Mormon, and she dates Calvin. Whom she loves, very much. For someone so against being Mormon, she’s somewhat reserved. How do I explain this? She’s careful with what she says, because she’s always worried that someone will be offended. But, she knows when to speak her mind. She’s developed a pretty good balance. Amber introduced me to her roommate, Amara. Who’s also not Mormon. (All of Amber’s roommates are from Utah and are Mormon, except Amara) Amber is somewhat like me, she’s witty and likes to poke fun—but from a loving stand point. She also has very small amounts of patience, like me. Today, I discovered she is a keyboard “pecker”, but I think we all are in uncomfortable situations (such as changing slides for a presentation you don’t want to give). Okay, moving on.
Josh
But, let’s see, on July 13, Joe and I had Josh (the other rotational intern) work with us for a couple of weeks. Until last Friday to be exact. It was nice to get to know Josh a little better. Josh is from Purdue, fresh out of his first year! So, he’s plenty moldable, but he really has a few…quirks. That are endearing. I’m not quite sure why I’m going into so much detail, probably because his personality intrigues me. For someone so strait forward and pretty cut-and-dry he’s very stuck in his childhood. Let me explain—he is very into fantasy things (Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and so on). But, it’s sort of an obsession. However, I admire him for it. I love reading Harry Potter and in all honesty, when I first read it I wished it was true. He really might believe. Also, he loves candy. Seriously. And brushing his teeth. Also, he has the driest sense of sarcastic humor I’ve ever seen, it took me a good 4-5 weeks to figure out he’s joking most of the time. I guess you could say I’m very observant. Wow. While I’m on this kick of describing who I work with, why don’t I just tell you about everyone? I haven’t really done too much until this week anyway! Yes, I think I will, and I’ll make this very organized. Sit back and relax—this will be long.
Amara
Intern for the senator of Idaho. Very cool. Major in performing arts…or something similar. Theatrics. At Will Rice University in Houston, Texas. Very intelligent. And young. Most of the time she acts very maturely for her age, but I love it when she acts her age…it’s so funny! She seems like she might have been burned in the past, what I mean is she’s very guarded. You can only poke fun so far before she doesn’t like it anymore, and I wonder if she’s been “walked on” before…perhaps it makes her fight back. Anyway, I’m sad to report I have not seen much of her in quite some time. I hope to see her before she leaves. Most definitely.
Luke
Landscape Architect Intern. From Illinois (Midwest!) and goes to Ball State. Luke also just graduated, and is moving on to get his masters. Interesting note: he originally majored in Music—for the ORGAN. How much cooler can you get? But, he switched to Landscape Architecture and his consciously trying to learn about plants as well—so he’ll be a really good Landscape Architect! None of this putting plants in small spaces that don’t belong. Amber, Luke, and I once went to Eastern Market together and he pointed us in the direction of a great half-price bookstore. I wrote about that in an earlier blavel and put up pictures. He found an old edition of a music book for organs that was “just perfect” he said. “It’s old enough to hold the page when you turn to it, so you can play without holding it. And the pages aren’t glossy, that’s so much easier to read!” He also led us to another half price bookstore in DuPont Circle. I guess he likes books, no, I know he likes books. He’s been entertaining the thought of working in Des Moines! How fun would that be?!
Here, I was going to put the other interns, but I don’t know much about Shannah, Leslie, and Kaitlyn. Also, I don’t want to talk about Carin, it only makes me angry. So, moving on to staffers that I know something about.
Joe
Horticulturist at American History, my supervisor. He needs an assistant badly…an educated assistant. Maintenance Joe and Randy don’t have a degree in Horticulture, and experience can only go so far. Also, they don’t seem to show much care for what they do. In my opinion, anyway. Joe is future minded, he really does care about the future of our environment—he absolutely loves working in vegetable/fruit gardens way more than anything else. But, he’s totally knowledgeable in many parts of horticulture. It’s evident in the creativity he brings to the Victory Garden and the amount of time he’d rather spend there than in the Heirloom Garden. Also, he has his own garden at home in a community garden. Seriously, way to bring your work home with you. He works hard, like a Midwesterner. I have to say though, some days I think I’m the one doing all the motivating to get to work. But, I guess we all have those days? Meh. He’s engaged, but I don’t know much here—he likes to keep his personal life pretty private from everyone. Though, it’s easy to see he really cares for her and his home life—he loves his cats and loves telling stories about them. He helps out in his community; I think he has way too much on his plate. Oh well, to each his own.
Janet
Probably my favorite staffer next to Joe. Janet is the horticulturist for the Ripley Garden; has been for 10 years! But, she’s totally young at heart. I don’t know her history but I can tell you about her personality. Here’s some history though: she’s worked in a lot of gardens, her plant knowledge surpasses even the greatest professor—she can tell stories, and her Ripley Garden is super well known with the locals and the press. Office prankster, for sure. Prankster in general, actually. Speaks her mind, maybe just to be the objector, but mostly because she really believes in something and will defend it to the end. We’ve had a few intellectual conversations and our ideas differed on organic farming vs. sustainable farming. On “going green” vs. living with the environment in mind. Even though we had differing ideas, I didn’t feel like we lost any amount of respect for each other, in fact, I gained respect for her because she stood her ground. I think she felt the same way towards me. Sometimes, I might shock her, but she’s not quick to show it. I wish I could learn more from her, in my mind I would be sitting cross legged on the ground while she told me stories, stories, stories of all the glorious plant history. =)
Diana
Horticulturist for the Hirshorn Museum. Fun. Bubbly. Motivated. In love. Going to get married soon too, like Joe. Marrying a fellow horticulturist, keeping it in the family! =) She’s so full of energy! It’s so surprising because between a full time job, planning garden activities, planning a wedding, and going to grad school she finds time to have energy! Amazing. She’s a local MD gal with “country” roots. She reminds me of every “country gal” from Iowa. The ones that really lived the farm life—worked with the livestock/pigs, drove a combine, worked the field…those kind of gals. Tons of fun.
Okay, so that concludes my summary of people that I kind of observed and know about. So, here’s an update of the last week, when Rob came to visit. This is the first week I’d done SOMETHING in a while.
Rob arrives on Saturday, we didn’t do much for excursions that day—just hung out with eachother. Which is really very nice. Same for the next day, we did some more touring of Alexandria area, I took him to “our” café—Caboose Café is our unofficial café here =) we went to The Dairy Godmother also. Finally, I got to share that with him. When he comes back to pick me up, I’ll have to have frozen custard instead—I’m a sorbet freak and Rob accommodated it. On Sunday, over our Salmon with red potatoes and green beans dinner (that I prepared!), we decided to go to Dewey Beach. So, we rented a zip car “Cage” (another civic…I’m also obsessed with that) made plans for Monday, since I had the day off!
The drive to Dewey Beach was another new experience for me! Delaware Bay Bridge is so…ENORMOUS. I couldn’t believe how high out of the water it was! And I love the bridges that have the supports above them, makes for lovely pictures. I’ve never really been through Maryland, except for our quick trip through on our way to DC, so this was nice. Rob pointed out Annapolis and the Naval Academy; I wish we could have driven closer, someday. We got slightly turned around somewhere in MD, so we bought an atlas. Interesting note: the cost of the atlas was actually COMPARABLE to the cost of a map of a single state! What? Someone, please explain that to me. It didn’t matter though, because Rob really wanted the atlas. He’s a map guy =)
So, we finally got there. But, the day was overcast, so we walked on the boardwalk looking for a good place for lunch…and seeing a lot of ice cream and sweets on the way =) Turns out we both have a sweet tooth that we’ll have to keep in check! Got some great sandwiches and ate on the boardwalk, then moseyed along the beach, listening to the foreboding sounds of thunder and wishing we could stay longer. But, we had a dinner date, so we snapped a picture, grabbed some salt water taffy (just couldn’t avoid that) and got back to the car just in time for the clouds to open up. The drive back can be described in three words: taffy, atlas, rush.
We made it back in time to be slightly late for our dinner date with Calvin and Amber. We met in Old Town to eat on King Street. Amber and I had decided long ago that we would bring the boys to Murphy’s, because it looked like a good Irish pub. And, was it! Amber, Calvin, and I all got the Beer Battered Fish and Chips—I highly recommend it! Rob got salmon, as usual =) Guinness was had, and merriness ensued. After dinner we walked down to the waterfront, what better place to share with your loved ones? It’s so peaceful by the waterfront, it’s almost like you aren’t in the city anymore.
Over the next few days Rob and I visited all the museums, and sweated our buns off! The hot days made for perfect museum days, not work days. But, I worked and met up with Rob afterwards, even though it was ghastly hot! On Tuesday, the HSD got to go on a field trip the National’s stadium, for a tour! Rob was going to come, but he missed his alarm. Luckily, I photographed everything! Being on the field of the National’s stadium was….magical. Seriously, this stadium is nice, and brand spanking new! The pictures are worth more words than I can put here. We met up with Rob’s cousins, Travis and Jennifer, and ate at Tortilla Coast on Capitol Hill. Apparently, this is a favorite stop of a lot of the young, hip Capitol Hill employees. It was packed! Jennifer was overdue as well, so she was trying all the wives’ tales—longs walks, spicy food, etc. The Mexican was an attempt, but it turned out to be just a wives’ tale. She’s still overdue, up to this point. Anywho, Tortilla Coast had the best Mexican I’ve had in DC! I was very, VERY surprised!
So, much of the rest of the week was spent on the mall or just north of it; in museums, shopping, and so on. Thursday came much to fast, so it was time for Rob to leave already. It was a nice 5 days, I was so sad it had to end. But, before long I’ll be back home with everyone again! The rest of the week was excruciatingly hot, so Joe and I spent much of our time watering…and preparing me for this week—he’s gone all week! I’m “in charge” in a way. Yikes!
Last, but not least, on my blavel. Sorry for the novel, but I promise this is it. =) Yesterday, Diana and Erin (another staffer) decided to take the interns on an unofficial trip to the beach (unofficial because NO paperwork!). We went to Assateague Island, in Maryland…very close to Delaware. It was a perfect day, the sun was shining, it wasn’t too hot, and the waves were just tame enough. So, if you’ve been counting, this was my third visit to the ocean (ever). BUT, this was the first day I could get IN and play in the water. And boy, did I play. I was like a five year-old, seeing waves for the first time. We played for hours it seemed like, and I wasn’t the only one acting like a giddy child! I can’t explain how much fun it was to jump over the waves as the came in and be swept feet off of the ocean floor….it was such a weightless feeling! Then, Amber (who is well acquainted with the pacific) taught me how to body surf. I definitely got tossed the first time, but I loved the exhilarating feeling from the adrenaline rush! Not knowing which was up is absolutely hilarious! Surprisingly not frightening at all! Diana told me she always worried when I got taken under, but every time I always popped up with the biggest smile on my face. I was in heaven. Words to describe this day: amusing, sunburned, sand…everywhere, forgot my camera (dang!), body surf, pummeled, and sea nettles.
Later Gators.
