sofiaviolet | the promised photos

sofiaviolet

From our meal at Green Bean. I always lol when I see Tabasco outside of Louisiana.

stone staircase

These stairs led to the tea house in the... wilder part of the Smith gardens.

Bitter orange, according to its tag. Ouch pointy.

Japanese tea house

Nifty!

natural depression in stone, filled with rainwater

Kind of gross rainwater, but hey.

tea house and beyond

The structure was surrounded by rock formations representing important events in Buddha's life.

interior of tea house

No really, nifty.

purple flowers

Not sure what kind of plant this is, but it's pretty.

stone steps and tree

Stone steps that don't really go anywhere.

stone steps and huge pink flowering bush

Taken from same place as previous photo. I just turned a little.

some kind of clover

Like clovers, but bigger and differently patterned. IDK, not a botanist.

small white flowering plant

Not sure what this is, but pretty. \o/

tree near water

No caption. Just a nice picture.

small white flowers

No idea what these are. I feel like they should result in berries of some kind.

small yellow flowers

Unknown yellow flowers.

big ugly concrete block

And then we came across this in the woods.

lost shoes

And yes, that is a pair of shoes sitting on top the big hunk of concrete.

At this point, my camera died. Stupid thing consumes batteries at a rapid pace. So all of the following photos were taken by Ellie.

view of water through assorted greenery

Not sure what happened here.

interesting bark on tree

Ellie found the bark on this tree interesting enough to photograph.

dead tree standing

Dead tree that hasn't fallen over yet.

further view of water through assorted greenery

Ellie: probably a better photographer than me.

small pretty island

Yeah, I don't even know.

Side view of giant fuzzy plant of doom.

I am awkward wheee

I am so horribly not photogenic. OMGawkward.

painfully awkward, I was not kidding

Recording my outfit for posterity. Ignore the horror that is my posture and the way the shirt is misbehaving. (Outfit was a very poor choice for a cold rainy day. Oops.)

Shirt: Mighty Fine + Sanrio, from Wet Seal
Skirt: Elevenses, from Anthropologie by way of Ebay
Shoes: Flojos, origins lost to time
Bag: Sanrio, acquired secondhand from the interwebs
Necklace: Morgana from Sihaya Designs
Earrrings: from Wyrding Studios (I can't find a picture online, but the prompt I gave Kythryne was "roses")

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sara

It's a Japanese maple! No, really, I have a very similar one in my front yard and I love it lots. It definitely has the Giant Doom Plant thing going on, though.

From:

sofiaviolet

Huh. It's pretty nifty. But also completely ridiculous.

From:

heartequals

You're cute and these pictures are so pretty. I love the gigantic plant of fuzzy doom.

From:

sofiaviolet

I kind of wanted to touch it! But I figured that was a bad idea.

From:

green

Beautiful pics and you are ADORABLE. :D

From:

sofiaviolet

XD

I might try making icons out of some of my pictures, but I don't know how they'll turn out.

From:

nanila

I'm pretty sure that the plant with the pretty bell-shaped blue flowers and the long shiny pointed green leaves is a muscari. It's a bulb that forms clumps and proliferates readily when studiously ignored.

From:

sofiaviolet

Cool. I like plants that do best when ignored.

From:

moizissimo

IDK what muscari is (I should google it! Oh! Grape hyacinth!) but it looks like what I call a bluebell. Hrm. Except on real bluebells the flowers go the other way.

Ahh! Spanish Bluebell (Wood Hyacinth). Google Images to the rescue!

The yellow flowers are buttercups. Most contrary to their name, they don't make butter yellow. They are toxic to cows. :(

From:

teigh_corvus

That looks like it was tons of fun. What a lovely spot!

Plant-wise, I think that you're clover-like plant actually *is* clover - or at least a member of the clover family. It's a huge family. The bush with the globe of white flowers is a rhododendron, and the plant that looks like it should have berries is a wild strawberry. :)

From:

ajnabieh

I was totally going to post with the clover and the strawberry--not that I'm a plant genius, but now you have two data points for confirmation ;)

From:

sofiaviolet

\o/ Informations!

It actually looks a bit like clover I've seen before, just bigger.

From:

contrarywise

Make that three confirming data points, and I also agree that is a rhododendron. :)

From:

ajnabieh

zomg, thank you for making me excited about this week's roadtrip! You could see the tea house across the pond from my wife's sophomore year room. And, oh! I'm going to go kayaking on the river! \0/

I love your outfit, especially the hoodie--that's, like, my favorite color.

From:

sofiaviolet

:D What a view!

I call that hoodie my Gabe Saporta hoodie, because clearly it is not enough to like his music; I must also dress like him. I believe it was $8 at the Garment District in Cambridge.

From:

quoththeravyn

The unknown berry blossoms will become strawberries in a couple weeks.

From:

sofiaviolet

Oooooh, nifty.

From:

egret

These photos are great. Your outfit is great: hello kitty ftw! I love Japanese maples. I had no idea Northampton was so photogenic.

From:

sofiaviolet

It really is so pretty. ♥

From:

contrarywise

Yay for visiting Northampton! I'm glad you found cool places to explore. Next time you're out there, go to WEBS--it's the biggest yarn store evar!

From:

sofiaviolet

Will do, when I am receiving a slightly larger and more consistent paycheck.

From:

miss_haitch

Gorgeous pictures! Makes me want to go and visit some woods. :D

From:

sofiaviolet

Woods are lovely! Just try not to wear flip flops.

From:

zulu

Oooh, that looks like a beautiful place to take a hike. Even through the screen it sounds like a peaceful forest.

From:

sofiaviolet

It was a really quiet place. We saw one jogger, and then there was a family heading in as we were coming out.

From:

zero_pixel_count

...ok, I am 95% sure this is not the northampton I was expecting... but, uh, only 95%. which probably says I am nowhere near familiar enough with my own county. *embarassed*

...nice pics, though! (and I like your skirt)

From:

sofiaviolet

Heh, this is Northampton, Massachusetts. Very pretty, and not very far from Boston, where I live.

From:

zero_pixel_count

Hee! I thought it was a bit, y'know, green for Northampton, Northamptonshire - which is pretty only if you have a thing for industrial architecture, mostly.

(And, coincidentally, is not far from Boston Lincolnshire, which is where my mother-in-law lives).