Live from Laurel

Hello, hello! I'm back from connection
exile and can now update this crazy site with more awesome photos of places I've been over the last 5-6 months. I've recently moved to Silver Spring, MD and started work with an awesome Landscape Architecture firm: Bradley Site Design, Inc. in Laurel, MD. We're working on lots of great projects as I'll explain further in future posts.

on hold . . .

I've got several new posts with pictures all ready to go but it will be just a little bit longer before I can actually post them here.

I've recently been to the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia and to the Taughannock Falls State Park in Ithaca, NY and I have lots of pictures from both of these wonderful locations.

Please be patient with me! ^_^

a day in the sun

The San Antonio Riverwalk is a wonderful example of an active public space. Hundreds of restaurants, hotels and shops line this historic waterway through the heart of San Antonio, Texas. Each section of this pedestrian park has its own character and unique features to be discovered. Water fountains, paving changes, bridges, and a beautiful range of plants and flowers create a unique atmosphere for locals and visitors alike.

Ironically, as the main focus of this sequence of spaces, the canal divides the Riverwalk area in half. Instead of creating a barrier, however, the water dividing you from the opposite bank gives you glimpses of activity on the other side, drawing you through the space.

The many restaurants along the Riverwalk offer a variety of dining experiences but the best of all is the effect of outdoor tables along the canal promenade. People walk by with their children who are drawn to play with the water fountains, a boat full of visitors drifts by with a tour director explaining the local history, and the atmosphere is cooling and restful. This is starting to sound like a cheesy brochure so I'm just gonna say it's a really awesome place! I definitely recommend that you check it out if you are ever in the San Antonio, Texas area ^_^

back in the habit

Austin, Texas = muchly needed vacation!! so much to see, so much to eat, so many pictures to take . . . I had a wonderful time there and I recommend this particular Texan destination to anyone who might actually be bothering to read this . . . The climate is wonderful, the city is entirely casual, and of course you may have heard about the insane number of music festivals held there. The food is fantastic and it's entirely to easy to put away entire platters of cooked meats.

Being the landscape-oriented person I've become, I visited the Zilker Botanical Garden just outside downtown Austin. The butterfly garden, rose garden and herb garden are pretty standard elements found in most botanical gardens and not quite in full bloom. The oriental garden would have been truly beautiful . . . if there had actually been water in all the pools. The one area with koi fish was really lovely and had attracted the imagination of quite a number of children: peering into the water, hopping between stone steps and posing for pictures in the bamboo grove. The prehistoric garden featured a variety of plant species from "back in the day" as well as a statue of the ancient beastie that had left some footprints across the area.

Overall, the Zilker Botanical Garden was wonderful and shady with lots of colorful plants to photograph. The rose garden seemed like it will be quite impressive when in full bloom and the entire garden is free! I'll talk more about the rest of my trip in the next post!

Now, get back to work! ^_^

gravity drives the blood and bends the light

In the words that run from our lips,
in the waterfall of images that
cascade and plummet our brains,
always tumbling into the past
in the moment of their calling,
gravity drives the blood and bends
the light that courses in our veins:
it shapes the stars, breaks our bones,
spills the clouds onto the ground,
sets the boundaries of our play.

From the wail of birth's hard fall
to the coffin's silent roped descent,
from the pull of an age that was
wide and weightless to the weight
of miles passed and years defined,
gravity bends the light and drives
the blood that courses in our veins:
it breaks our bones, calls us down,
keeps us spinning round the sun,
fuses cells and time and flesh
and takes our breath away.

~ Bruce Boston

in memoriam

William Harold Kerns

August 20, 1918 - March 27, 2006

work, schmerk . . .

So I haven't been doing all that great with updating this space very often . . . work has been crazy these past two weeks but the madness has slowed and projects have been completed and sent off my desk. Wheeew . . .

The image above is a view of the garden space outside my office building, in spring apparently. The tree arching in from the left is a very large and beautiful Japanese maple with deeply cut red leaves. The shrubs are all carefully trimmed, a little more than to my taste but they nicely define several sitting spaces. If you follow the path around to the left, you would find a cute little stone-lined stream water feature that would draw to mind a miniture golf course (ie. a bit fake looking) but at least they tried. ^_^

This little garden area is a very nice place to have lunch during nice weather. There are also attractive arrangements of ornamental grasses and flowers that change and grow with the seasons. That's about all I can think of to say about it right now! Back to work . . .

my leafy world

Welcome!

This site is my attempt to share the images and ideas that I collect from my work in Landscape Architecture.

If you're wondering what that is, we work with a wide range of projects: designing front yards, creating your neighborhood park, laying out residential housing plans, developing countywide master plans for growth, and preserving and maintaining our environmental resource areas.

Our influence might not be apparent to most people but you'll find it everywhere if you take the time to see and enjoy our work. Check out the links on the right for a whole list of LA related sites.


For my first entry, I would like to share a few images from the Baltimore Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. I visited my brother at Johns Hopkins University in early November and got to visit the sculpture garden across the street from his apartment.

English ivy was everywhere on the ground and created a sense that the paths, stairs and sculpture spaces were carved out of this green mass. The trees were all showing their falls colors and whomever had chosen the trees for this place chose well: all of the tall trees had brilliant yellow leaves and the few smaller ornamental trees had bright red foliage.

The sculptures were nice but unexceptional. The main idea for this space, however, was how the sculptures were presented to and experienced by the visitor - wide open space for the larger pieces and small, intimate enclosures for the smaller pieces.

The placement of the sculptures and the direction of the paths always provided views toward the next few pieces as you moved through the garden, drawing you along with hints at what else there was to discover. The design of wide, shallow stairs and ramps had the effect of keeping your pace slow and deliberate in order to take your time with the experience.

This garden is located right in the middle of Baltimore but the screening effect of the trees makes you feel secluded and buffered from the noise of the city outside.

Sculpture gardens such as this are wonderful, more apparent examples of a landscape architect's work. I hope to share more beautiful places that I've discovered with you so let me know what you think of my first attempt! ^_^