Floating Glass Onions

Yup, my birthday's come and gone...

I've been refusing to post for the sake of posting, in hopes that what I do post, when I post it, will be insightful, but to tell the truth- part of it's laziness. And who needs a lazy post, I ask you?

(I think I'll just let that hang there for a bit.)

So I'm twenty-two. I wish I could say that I feel older for it, I really do. But the only thing that seems to come with my age is the knowledge of the responsibilities that I should have gotten taken care of when I wast twenty-one. Or twenty. Feh, who needs it.

I guess you could say that I really haven't changed at all.

To be fair, I did have a good birthday-

Took my last exam late due to a mishap with my syllabus. Lucky me- thank god Professor Sempreora let me time myself and take it late. That makes three apples that I owe her. One from when she helped me schedule for my classes a few semesters ago- one from when I popped into her office to talk one day without having eaten, and she let me have one from a fruit bowl in the room. And now one more. Maybe I'll just send her a fruit basket for being so awesome.

After my frighteningly long test, I scooted out towards my old stomping grounds to pick up Amethist, but with a bit of leeway run-time. If you're ever in Affton, stop by Arabesque Jewelers. They're right on Gravois, just shy of Gravois and Mackenzie. I popped in to get my ring cleaned and chat with the owner like I used to do when I lived at the Affton house. Couldn't get it all the way sparkly, though- the owner suggested that I drop it off some day while I'm doing errands out there so that she can leave it in the machine. She's told me in the past that blue topaz sucks up dirt worse than diamonds, but... fwoosh.

Picked up Amethist and we headed back out Gravois to Grandma's for birthday dinner. And then, the Botanical Gardens.

Now, I adore the Botanical Gardens. I've always loved them: rain, shine, snow, even in fog. It's always beautiful- the Temerpate House, the Climatron, and the gorgeous Japanese Garden. I drool over the open blooms, dance in the fountains, wander in and out of the Kemper Center for no particular reason except the oasis of water fountains that it hides on its lower level. And for my birthday I got to see it in an entirely different way.

Dale Chihuly, one of my absolute favorite artists (as well as a complete genius, I might add), has recently contracted an installation for the Missouri Botanical Gardens by the name of Glass in the Gardens. It left me in complete awe.

Everywhere I looked, the light teased the shapes and left little trickles of excitement down my spine. Floating glass orbs and onion-shaped features bobbed in many of the ponds and still-waters that appeared throughout the garden. They swayed, swirled, and danced in the dull light with the sound of big band in the distance. Of course, the fact that the sun was setting by the time we got to the Climatron only hightened the experience- the figures inside were lit with various lights throughout the building.

We didn't get to see all of it, and I know that I want to go back before they take down everything. I want to see what they've done to the Japanese Gardens, and see the new Children's Garden in the light of day. (Yay! It looks like a river town! It really looks like a page from Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn.)

If I can start my twenty-second year by stepping into a new view, there's got to be some way for me to keep it close.

A year of transition- you know, that's not a bad idea...