Magnolias

I love Magnolias! They are in full bloom right now and everywhere you walk outside you see their beautiful blooms and smell their wonderful, sweet, southern scent! I've said for years that I don't know if I could ever live in a place without Magnolias and this time of year just reminds me of how much I love them! They remind me of my Grandmother's house growing up, they remind me of trips to the beach in SC every year, they remind me of Radford, they remind me of Summer in the south! I wish I could get some fresh Magnolia scent to waft through the computer as you're reading this, it would make the entry so much better!

Congratulations Dr. Siburt!

This weekend we went to Durham for Claire's graduation: a PhD in Chemistry! Congratulations Dr. Claire Jarvis Parker Siburt!

. . .. I'll post more pictures shortly.

My new bike

I got an awesome deal on Craigslist and I rode to school yesterday for the first time :-)

Weekend Craft Project

A couple of months ago I bought a set of dish towels from Crate & Barrel and when they arrived I decided they were too pretty to use, so they've been lying in the dining room since waiting for me to do something creative with them . . . and I finally did. We went to Michael's this weekend and decided on canvases as our backing because they were on sale (mostly because they were on sale). So we bought three, and simply used a staple gun to staple each of the towels taughtly to the canvas. Now they are hanging on the wall in the dining room and are so bright and cheerful!

LaChua Trail

We've posted about our walks to the LaChua Trail before, and it's a place we try to take everyone who comes to visit us. If you want to see alligators it's the place to go! We try to go walk on the trail every few months because it changes so often and a few weeks ago it was a gorgeous Spring day and we decided to head out to the trail. Every time I go I'm always a little afraid I'm going to see animal planet in real life . . . in the past we've see wild piglets walking right past the snouts of HUGE alligators, Bison crossing the path just yards in front of us and so much other wildlife. This time, as we were walking down the path, an alligator on the bank quite close to us caught our eye. After realizing it wasn't out to get us because it had a huge fish in it's mouth, we stayed quietly to watch. I wish I was videoing the whole event because it was amazing, but instead we just have a lot of still pictures. The fish was probably 2 feet long and about the size of a football in circumference(not small!). As we walked up the gator was just holding the fish in its mouth. Then the gator starting moving (very quickly) for the water, and right before it went into the water it gulped down the fish, in 2 gulps. Afterward it just laid there on the bank, obviously quite full because it had a huge fish in its belly, whole. It was crazy to watch! Here are a few pictures from that day on the trail. Come visit us and we'll take you there :-)

The gator when we walked up, holding the fish in its mouth.
In the process of taking the first gulp.
Only a little tail left sticking out of his mouth.

Finished . . .
and very full!
A heron landing on a tree
Red-winged black bird
A very scary caterpillar

Squirrels

I can't tell you how much time(and money and contraptions) we've spent over the last few years trying to keep the squirrels off of the bird feeders. They've broken numerous feeders, eaten pounds of bird seed and driven us crazy. About a year ago, we found a great "squirrel proof" system at the local bird store and invested in it, and it has been a good investment . . .but the squirrels still find ways to get on the feeders every once in a while. Last week we walked outside to this, and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. Even though they are a huge annoyance they are awfully cute sometimes.

May 1st, already?

It's May 1st, the Spring semester has ended . . . all of my classes, conferences, travels, etc. One year ago this weekend I was graduating with my AuD. It's so hard to believe it's already been a year, time goes by so fast! Even more so, I've already finished a year of my PhD program!

This Summer is going to be a busy one, starting in two weeks when we travel to Raleigh/Durham for Claire's graduation from Duke. We're very excited that there's another Dr. Siburt in the family and we're looking forward to all of the graduation festivities that weekend.

After that it's work and Summer classes until Becca and Eli's wedding, then Scott & Maureen's wedding in June, followed by our trip to Scandinavia. I never thought this trip would get here and now it's only 6 weeks away!!!

For the time being I get a day or two off and have no idea what to do with myself . . . I'm sure I'll find something though. :-)