paw paw pics

project paw paw and other gardening adventures

i heard of paw paw trees for the first time last month from my friend andy, and for those of you who know him, it is a subject of which he is fond. within days of mentioning it to my housemate jennifer, she had found me a (free) source of young paw paws in need of transplant. about two weeks later, with the help of tree-savvier than i am friend jake b., i was in the process of planting two of them in my yard (you need at least two for them to pollinate and produce fruit). i was told that they are fickle plants and don't really like to be moved once they've started to grow successfully, and right now they seem to be having some issues (leaves turning brown, no new growth), but it's only been a week and a half, the rain has kept them well watered, and there's good southerly sun in my yard, so we'll see if they perk up with time.

this weekend i also took advantage of the surprisingly nice saturday afternoon to plant flowers (some annuals, some perennials) and seeds for lettuce and okra. the vegetable and herb seedlings i've been growing experimentally in the basement (beets, eggplant, carrots, green peppers, basil, cilantro, dill) are not ready to be transplated, so right now i'm putting them outside for a few hours a day to allow them to acclimate. i also picked up some tomato and squash starts from mildred's daughters farm in stanton heights, which i'll probably put in the ground next weekend. only got 4 varieties of tomatoes this year (instead of the 11 i tried to plant last year, with varying success)...

city of asylum "reading the world"

last night i went to a reading with jen m., put on by city of asylum, and i came away thinking how limited my verbal expression can be sometimes. i'm a very literal person and often feel restricted in how i use and understand language, in particular when it comes to creating mental imagery to represent concepts, and listening to the authors read from their books and discuss them afterwards was a pretty humbling experience...
there were three readers, kyung-sook shin (south korea), david bezmozgis (latvia), and herve le tellier (france) and the reading was moderated by terrance hayes (and i know i'm late to the table on this one, but i think he's awesome, and this is based on hearing the guy say 20-30 sentences in person and watching a few videos online...), who pointed out some interesting comparisons among the themes of the novels (family, place) and asked more general but equally interesting questions (why write novels vs. poetry, films, etc.? what role does translation have in the experience of writing, reading, understanding a piece of literature?).
i wish i could remember and relate all of the stories and discussion but one of the things that sticks in my head is the idea that when a story is written in a different language from the one its characters would use and about a culture foreign to the primary audience the novel is written for, there is a series of layers of understanding depending on the language and cultural background of the reader. david bezmozgis described this as the concentric circular ripples that result when you drop a stone into a pool of water, the outer ripples representing those who can still appreciate the story in a broad way, but those who have a more intimate knowledge of the language, culture, and experience that the novel addresses can get a little closer, like the smaller circular ripples, emanating closer to where the stone hit the water.
a simple metaphor perhaps, but beautiful and unambiguous, nonetheless...
two more readings next week - may 10 - gary shteyngart (russia) & may 11 - jean kwok (hong kong). check 'em out.

mother nature please make up your mind

highs in the 70s today, snow tomorrow... it don't make no sense! nonetheless i took advantage of the balmy weather this a.m. to ride to work. i think the people at the Y are confused that i get in and out of there in under 20 minutes - either they think i work out at light speed or they've caught on that i'm just using the steam room and shower :). rode in last monday, too, despite 20 degrees on the thermometer, but was too lazy the rest of the week.

hAH! take that, st. patrick's day!

yeehaw!
i can't take full credit, because i wouldn't have done it alone, but i rode my bike to work today, thanks to the planning and encouragement of my housemate.
it was a balmy 37 degrees when we left the house and it was a lovely 30 minute ride via the normal route from lawrenceville. showered at the Y, even put on make-up, *and* i'm wearing light-up shamrock earrings (again, thanks to my housemate). i think it's supposed to be in the 60s this afternoon so the evening ride should be awesome.

unofficial bike boycott

even though it's doing no one any harm but myself, i haven't been able to get myself to ride my bike for a while (going on three weeks now, ugh!). i'm hoping to be able to get over this mental obstacle soon. perhaps my trip to DC this weekend (happy birthday mom!) and the cold but clear weather next week will be a good motivator to start cyclommuting again.

3 out of 5 ain't bad

i logged three days of bike commuting this week (mon, wed, and thu) and perhaps it's not such a huge feat considering how great the weather's been, but hey, it's still a record for me. plus i think i'm getting faster, as the ride from lawrenceville to the Y on wednesday only took me 20 minutes. i sorta wish i had ridden today too, because i think it would be good to blow off some steam after a kind of rough week.

low temp record

february 11: solo ride from el-ville via the normal back streets. time: 25 min (ish).  i believe it was 15 deg F when i left the house. proceeded to drop my phone at 44th street and Plummer trying to approximate what time i started riding and a nice man driving a mini-van stopped so that i could pick up the pieces before he ran over them.thank you sir! :) hit the Y for a shower upon arrival downtown and was at work by 8:20.

back in the saddle

i *think* i've ridden my bike to work at least once since jan 8 but can't remember exactly when... or perhaps i just pulled the bike out for other non-commuting purposes. anyway, due to the spring-like weather predicted for this week (high of 38 degrees today!), i'm taking advantage of the opportunity to ride until it becomes too snowy/icy for me to feel comfortable on the roads.

edit: i just found a draft post that i never published for the single ride i took to work in the past couple of weeks.
january 17: oakland to downtown via the jail trail, approximately 25 minutes. there were some rough patches on the trail where snow and ice freaked me out enough that i got off my bike and walked, but fortunately those patches were limited. weather.com said it was 14 degrees out when i set off, but with the sun out (i purposefully left a little later because riding in the dark at that temperature was not going to happen), it wasn't so bad. part of me feels like once it's below freezing, it's all the same.

and today february 9: solo ride from oakland on the jail trail. time: 22 min (ish). debated using the shower at work to clean up since i was running late and didn't have time to hit the Y, but decided i'm not ready to take that leap. :) experimented with listening to the npr app on my phone, which halfway worked, but was frequently muffled by the roar of cars on the parkway ramps above my head. probably wouldn't do this (ride with headphones) if i were sharing my route with automobiles.

thwarted by weather and work

no bike commuting since last saturday (jan 8). :( i've been discouraged by forecasts of snow and then actual snowfall and the resulting slush, confused /nervous car drivers, and lack of space on the shared roadways. plus 12+ hour work days and eating takeout on top of that has not made this week a particularly active/healthy one.  it's amazing how distinct the contrast is between how i feel this week compared to last (i.e. much worse!), even though it doesn't seem like a handful of rides to and from work would make that much of a difference, but i guess it does!

cycling avec flurries

january 6, solo - time: 30 min to the downtown YMCA, route: thought i might try to stay on butler, but then got annoyed with the veehickles, so i weaved through the river side streets and alleys to smallman to penn to liberty to market to 5th avenue.
when i left the house, weather.com said 21 degrees/feels like 14. i considered, for about an hour, while lying in bed, whether or not i would ride, and finally just decided to suck it up and dig out my long johns. still haven't bothered to find a solution for my mouth and nose aside from wrapping a scarf around my face, but other than that, i stayed pretty warm. it started to flurry around 30th and smallman and by the time i got out of the Y all showered and dressed for work, my seat and the ground had a little dusting of snow on it. decided to walk my bike the last bit to the office, wondering if i'll be game for riding home in tonight if more snow accumulates... we'll see!

biking experiment

at the end of december, i decided to get rid of my bus pass in an effort to encourage, er force, myself to commute more by bicycle in 2011.  not the most opportune time, weather-wise, in pittsburgh, but as others have pointed out, if i can get used to riding to work in below freezing temperatures, then in the other seasons it will be a no-brainer. much of the challenge is logistical: what do i wear? how do i handle showering and changing for work? how do i carry all my stuff? i'm working these things out bit by bit (wear warm, wind resistant clothes, especially for the fingers and toesies, go to the Y if there's time or do a quick wash up in the ladies room at work, shove things in a messenger bag until i get panniers, etc.).

so far, i've ridden to work twice - last wednesday (technically not 2011, but still...) and this morning. i think i can stick with it, but as with most things, if i express my intent publicly and widely, i'm much more likely to follow through ('cause who wants to be a slacker in front of all of her family and friends?). for now, i'm going to shoot for twice a week for now and reevaluate periodically... i'll keep track of dates, routes, time, and riding companions here and if you think you might like to join me, i can put out the word the night before so we can meet up along the way.

"stats" to date:
december 29, w/jennifer - time: ?, route: back way (river side of butler, under 40th st br) through central l'ville, joining butler @39th to penn to liberty to market  to YMCA on 5th
january 4, solo - time: 34 min, route: back way through central and lower l'ville to smallman to penn to liberty through mkt square & ppg plaza to office back door on 1st ave