Posts

Playing Tour Guide at the Botanical Gardens

Image
This past week has gone very well. I'm excited; I've finished the first of three rotations this week and am excited to work under a different professor starting next week. So far I've had the chance to do both field work as well as start creating a theoretical framework of knowledge on plants (translation: read lots of scientific papers!). This past week I attended a lecture by a forensic botanist who came to Athens, and that was really cool learning how plants can be used as evidence to help solve crimes! To celebrate my scholastic progress, my parents and sister very kindly came down and spent the weekend with me :) I was so excited to take my family to the botanical gardens and play tour guide. In between extolling the (many) virtues of my favorite local destination, I managed to take a few photos that I thought you might like to see. Enjoy! :) ~Austin The autumn crocuses were some of my favorite from this trip.  These black-eyed su

Roses at the Botanical Gardens

Image
So this past week I finally made it out to the botanical gardens again for a bit of a respite and reprieve from the rigors of school. I enjoyed my time...and enjoyed focusing on rose photography...one can never have too many rose photos in your own personal stock photo collection ;) Enjoy the pics! :) ~Austin  Just absolutely lovely...  A nice shot of a garden pathway.  Pretty periwinkle and dahlia! Well, that's it for now! Gotta scamper off to bed! :)

Double Trouble at Tallulah Gorge

Image
Guess it's been a little while since I've blogged! Been busy, been good. I have (and continue to) read lots of scientific papers, and once a week, I am going out with a senior graduate student working on a small project, of sampling herbaceous diversity in a nearby forest. I'm really enjoying the experience!! This past weekend one of my good friends came to visit me, and while having fun catching up, we drove up to and explored Tallulah Gorge State Park. I had never been before; I really enjoyed the experience. Definitely a very pretty gorge and waterfalls, and we certainly got our exercise walking up and down all those stairs! I really enjoyed my visit and look forward to visiting again with more friends and family. Attached are some of the pictures that I took that I thought you might enjoy. Hopefully I can go again and photograph the gorge when the fall colors hit! ~Austin  Some of the first falls that we saw. They were very pretty, and just outside of

Butterflies at the Botanical Gardens!

Image
My week has been good :) While there is still lots of new stuff to learn, overall it is a very smooth transition academically. The grad students are welcoming, the professors friendly, and yes I still remember how to crank with a capitol C!!  Yesterday evening as a bit of a reprieve I spent some time at the botanical gardens. I really enjoyed my time; and especially was delighted at all the butterfly photos I was able to capture. I hope you enjoy them! :) -Austin  Happy happy happy! I like the color yellow  :D  Beautiful setting for a bench.  Not sure what species this flower is, but it sure is lovely! :)  Such an inviting path...   Jatropha integerrima above, and very likely Helianthus annuus below.  Some pretty periwinkle - I want to learn the exact species!  A Firey Skipper butterfly above, and Red-Banded Hairstreak butterfly below!  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Georgia's state butterfly! This is my f