Brandon and Gwen's Adventure

Brandon and Gwen's Adventure

Monday, October 15, 2012

Status Update, Huntsville, Alabama is Our Home


Huntsville, Alabama

Population: 170,000

    It's been some time since our last post. Things have been extremely busy around here. After completing our extended Utah trip we have been settling down in our new home in Huntsville, Alabama. It's nice here, the temperature has been consistently lower than that of Columbia, SC, our former home. The humidity is much lower as well. One thing I am looking forward to is the Fall. Beautiful leafy trees replace the ever present pine forest landscape that we are used to. Don't get me wrong, pines are beautiful, but they tend to snuff out all other foliage within reach of their acidic needles. I'm expecting there to be a lot of opportunities to photograph the impressive array of colors that this new backdrop will provide for us. The farms here are incredibly beautiful.


    I took this pic with my iPhone 3GS today on the way home. We are only 12 miles outside of the city and yet we are surrounded by beautiful cotton and corn fields. All of the corn has been cut down for the season, but the cotton is flourishing. This stuff make quite a mess of the local roads with loose cotton balls rolling any way the wind blows like tiny white tumbleweed. We also find ourselves surrounded by horses, cattle, and chickens as well! I love that we can live in "the country" without being too far from jobs or local culture.

    In the spirit of our new surroundings, we have taken up gardening. This year we successfully tended to three bountiful tomato plants, and a ridiculously productive green bean plant. We even managed to grow some cucumbers and basil! We also unsuccessfully planted pumpkins the plant grew large and strong and even flowered, but we planted too late in the season so no pumpkins. Unfortunately the local Lowe's didn't have a very large seed collection for us to choose from. Next year we will have to hunt down a local Mom and Pop store for some seeds and advice.








Here are some of our tomatoes just waiting to be plucked, sliced, and eaten. This is as fresh as it gets.




 









You don't have to travel far to see local wildlife. Nature can be viewed from our glassed in back porch.












 
Praying Mantis.
















The skies here are absolutely stunning. Here are a couple pics taken from the backyard.





















Ninja really likes Huntsville. We are renting a house that sits on one half of an acre. Needless to say, Ninja runs rampant across the backyard chasing everything from bunnies to skinks or even giant crows. What can I say, she's the definition of a small dog.








Ninja even made a new friend, say hi to Emma. She's a sweet dog, a big baby really. She stayed with us for a few days while her mom traveled. Her and Ninja get along great.




 
 
















     Gwen has been working non stop since we got here. We have been fortunate enough to spend some real quality time together on several weekends, but they are spread out most of the time. She loves puzzles and has put a few together since beginning her hectic schedule. She also likes to paint, this painting was done on some old canvases we had lying around for some time.

    This was completed in an afternoon. I am admittedly biased, but I really think it turned out great! Gwen is the true talent around here. All things considered, Huntsville is a very nice city and is definitely different to other cities in Alabama. We are pleased to call this place home.

Brandon