Spring has finally reached Sisian

Well, we're back in Armenia. I'm staying in Yerevan to give a training session to the new volunteers, but Sam's made it all the way home to Sisian, and he's sent along these photos:

It looks like Spring came for real this time- all those false starts and fake outs are finally over (I hope!). I can't wait to get back home to see it for myself. 

Macro Lens in North Stonington

I'm obsessed by the small secrete worlds, the riots of color and contrast, the beautiful and bizarre creatures you can find if you look closely enough at nature. Which is to say that I took the macro lens for a spin in North Stonington a few days ago, and here are the results:

North Stonington

The mothers joined us for a trip to visit North Stonington today. Remembering the hard work that's yet to be done tearing up sod in the Sisian garden, we put black plastic down on an area of the field where we'll start the North Stonington garden when we get back.

We also took some time to walk in the woods, and it was good be be surrounded by trees again. I don't think we realized just how comfortable New England landscapes are for us until we were suddenly surrounded by them again.

It was a really nice day, and I'm really happy that we'll have this adventure ready and waiting for us when we finish our Peace Corps service.

New Macro Lens!!!

I have a great family. The reason I bring it up now is because in addition to visiting them, I got a gift from my aunt of a new lens for my camera- erm- I mean iPhone. The lens gets really close up, and I'm super excited about it. Here are a few of the secret tiny worlds that I found in the front yard this morning:

Back Home (for a week)

We're back in the States for a week. We cane back to be part of a wedding- and that was really marvelous. We love the friends who got hitched, their wedding was touching and beautiful, and it was fantastic to see so many friends from college who were there.

Now we're back at our parents houses, just like before we left for the Peace Corps. We're running around doing errands and visiting family non-stop, but by far the best part of the trip now is going to be visiting with out dog, Scuppers.

They have Donuts in Yerevan

Sam has discovered a donut shop in Yerevan. The donuts aren't fresh or even particularly good- basic Dunkin Donut quality, really. But they are very American, and sometimes a taste of home is really all that's necessary to make your day.

Spring is Coming

In a few days we'll be leaving Sisian for a quick trip back home. I admit that the weather has been a bit frustrating over the past few weeks. I had hoped to get most of the garden-prep work finished in March, but heavy snows as soon as we moved into our new house and again last week blew that plan to pieces. Now I'll be away again until the beginning of May. But it appears that the weather may finally be turning: the pear tree outside our house seems to think so, at least.

I guess I'll have to give up on the idea of having anything established in the garden before Sam and I leave to hike with Border to Border in June and just set my sighs on a late summer and an autumn/winter garden instead. That's okay- now that produce is more readily available in the markets the garden's most important function will be to act as cold storage for winter vegetables.