Longwood Gardens

Here I will share some photos from a trip to Longwood Gardens that I took with my good friend Kiri.  For those of you not familiar --it is located in Kennett Square, PA and includes1,050 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows. It was a bit cold when we went so we stayed in the warm greenhouses, but still had a great time.  First...a quick history lesson...

Pierre du Pont was the great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who arrived from France in 1800 and founded the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company gunpowder works. Pierre turned the family business into a corporate empire in the early 20th century and used his resulting fortune to develop the Longwood property.  He is described on Longwood's website as an "industrialist, conservationist, farmer, designer, impresario, and philanthropist".  I'm not really sure how indusrialist and coservationaist go together...and aside from him purchasing the land in 1906 "so he could preserve the trees", I couldn't find much on him as a conservationist.  And DuPont is certainly not the best role model of conservation. In fact, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked DuPont as the largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States. 

HOWEVER.... In 2005, BusinessWeek magazine, in conjunction with the Climate Group, ranked DuPont as the best-practice leader in cutting their carbon gas emissions -- DuPont reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 65% from the 1990 levels while using 7% less energy and producing 30% more product. AND...in defense of Longwood Gardens--which seems a bit extravagent in is energy and water use--they do have many sustainable practices such as recycling, composting, and using many kinds of eco-friendly materials and products.  So I guess I can't complain too much. 

Anyway, its hard to find anything green right now let alone anything blooming--so this is the place to go! Longwood Gardens is currently having an Orchid Extravaganza! 

The orchid family is currently believed to be the second largest family of flowering plants and the number of orchid species equals more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. That's a lot!

FYI: Some Orchids of the genus Ophrys (called bee Orchids) bear flowers resembling female insects in appearance and smell. Male insects are attracted to the flowers and attempt to mate with them, thus pollinating the flowers. Sneaky lil flowers!

Spring Ahead??

Don't you wish sometimes that we could spring ahead to spring?  In Texas I could do that a little easier--winter was shorter!  I know what you are thinking--when I was in Texas I complained about not having seasons.  Well, if I had it my way I'd go back and forth bewteen a long spring and a long fall.  With very short summers and short winters.  And lots of sunlight and blue skies all the time. 

Colors of fall are amazing...but so are the colors of spring.  And the sounds of spring!  To many people the sound of the first mockingbird singing is an annoyance...but not to me.  Today I saw a male Eastern Bluebird singing--a good sign that spring is near!  Plus, the groundhog did not see it's shadow which means spring is on it's way! (According to Punxsutawney Phil anyway.)


We have 40 days before the beginning of spring on March 20th...so I thought I'd provide a little bit of spring here. I took most of these a few years ago in several different places.

The 2011 Push Up Challenge

Last year when I was slogging through my thesis it seemed to help me to exercise between periods of writing. I found the 100 pushup challenge online: http://hundredpushups.com/ Basically it shows you how to go from whatever pushup fitness level you are currently at to 100 consecutive pushups in 6 weeks.

I don’t know about you, but my upper body strength has always been poor. I played soccer for 10 years and that certainly didn't help. So pushups have been something I avoided like the plague (along with pull ups, and chin ups and rope climbing, etc.). BUT think about the benefits and advantages to pushups:

• Pushups are very basic. No expensive equipment required, you can do them anywhere at any time.

• They are not only great for your chest, but your abs, triceps, shoulders and torso. It’s really a great core exercise.

• It’s very easy to add variations to the basic pushup to make them easier, harder, or to focus on certain muscles.

When I did the program last year I did the knee pushup variation so that I wouldn’t give up right away. I started out only being able to do 8 before I collapsed on the floor. And I made my way up to 40 consecutive pushups after a few weeks. But then I hit a plateau and when I wasn’t making more progress I gave up and didn’t complete the challenge.

So, I’m giving it another go. My initial test this time was 20 consecutive pushups (still knees, but if I get brave I’ll switch to the real ones later). I’m posting this online in hopes that it will help me stick to the plan and be more successful this time around—and to encourage others to try it too. The program is very simple to follow and only takes about 30 minutes a week.

A quick note about pushups—while they have a lot of benefits, its best to do pushups with other strength training exercises to even everything out. Basically with only pushups you don’t work the muscles involved in pulling, which isn’t ideal. But pushups are still a simple way get started.

Good luck!

Hiking

Hike v. intr 1. To go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise, especially in the country.

In New Zealand it’s called tramping.
In India or Nepal it’s likely trekking.
In Australia it might be called bushwalking.
In the United Kingdom it’s usually called rambling or hillwalking.
Hill or mountain walks in northern Great Britain--fellwalking.

Walk. March. Traipse. Journey on foot.  Hoof it. Trudge. Scramble. Slog. Bushwack. Saunter. Tromp. Stroll. Tread. Traverse. Perambulate. Amble.

Dayhiking. Thru-hiking. Backpacking.

En Espanol: caminata, excursion, paseo de ejercicio, dar largos paseos, excursionar.

Auf Deutsch: wanderung. 

Call it whatever you want. But hiking is certainly one of my favorite pastimes. And I’m extremely eager to get back to it in warmer weather. Is it spring yet?!


"My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing." ~Aldous Huxley

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." ~John Muir

"The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least - and it is commonly more than that - sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements." ~Henry David Thoreau

"Walking takes longer than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed." ~Edward Abbey

"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-three today and we don't know where the hell she is." ~Ellen DeGeneres