Holidays

There's something wonderful about being home with family. Yesterday was filled with catching up with my family and just being a part of their life. I deadheaded roses and pulled weeds. I ran errands for people. I got caught up on the last few weeks of my sister's life. She's getting ready to go away to college and I wonder how much longer we'll have these face to face sister chats. My brother and I got to play around on the piano together. He always amazes me with his knowledge and skill in drums and piano. He actually talks to me and I love to hear what's going on in my philosophical brother's head. My aunt is visiting over at my grandmother's for a few weeks. Grandma's almost ninety but she and Aunt L. are like teenage girls on a sleepover. They were up past midnight chatting and dare I say giggling?

I'm trying to savor this holiday of sorts since I have jury duty next week. Then, it's back to the university for work. I got a full time summer position on campus so I'll be busy.

Little House?

Piles of stuff litter the curbs. Some of it's trash; some things waiting to be loaded into waiting cars and trucks. As people pack up their apartments and depart for places unknown, I'm drawn into thinking about my stuff and what the curb and car will look like when I leave. The idea of living simply has been nagging at me since I had two friends depart for distant places and for long periods with just a suitcase or two, and then I saw this video...




Growing up in California, I dreamed of big houses. I dreamed of big farm houses, sprawling ranches, colonials, victorians, craftsmans and haciendas. The house would be filled with children and clever storage ideas. The house I grew up in was only 1090 sqft but it felt enormous at age six. By age 16, that feeling had faded. The idea of having my own room and my own space held great allure. I designed houses for large families in which two children in a room was the exception and the rooms were spacious enough that it wouldn't matter.

The last couple of years, I've spent time in some large houses. Enough time to see the drawbacks of lots of space. Momentary moments of panic when a child goes missing and it takes you longer to search the inside of the house than it would to run around the house twice. More space means more things. Being alone in a huge house and having the alarm tell you that there was movement in a distant quarter of the house. In my family's house, you have to be an excellent hider to be lost for very long. We constantly bump into each other.

There's a large part of me that want to have a little homestead of my own with a little house built by me. I think I read too many frontier themed books growing up. ;) The idea of a little house like the video appeals to me. Of course, I would want a shower of some kind (maybe outdoors?) and I would want space for my books. Instead of designing large houses, I now dream in miniature. Which is better since it's more probable that anywhere I live will be small. There's another part of me that just wants the suburban life I grew up with. American dream much? Although, I'd like to add some goats to the mix of suburban animals...

When I signed the lease for my apartment, the list of permissible animals included birds. Dangerous thing to tell a former 4-Her. I was tempted to ask if that included chickens but realized that would scare my roommates since we were all signing together. A couple small banties to round out my balcony maybe?

Post 50!

So for having this blog for three years, this is only my 50th post... Can you say slacker? ;)

Then again, my motivation to post has increased over the last year since this is a great medium for sharing my life with family and friends.

I'm sitting on the floor, looking at clouds rolling overhead. It looks like a time lapse video; they're moving so fast! I should be working on a paper for tomorrow but it's halfway finished and I've been called in to work.

My hawk buddy was back outside my window, yesterday. A hawk looks a lot like a scrawny chicken when he/she stretches up to get a better look at something. I think it's the legs... I love it when the hawk hunts outside. It reminds me too look up, and usually I grab my camera to take pictures.

Currently my camera is out of commission until I find my batteries. I have a pack of AA somewhere in my room, but with finals week my room isn't the best place to find anything. It looks like Miss Messy moved in. This is not ok. I don't like Miss Messy and she will not be staying long. Part of the problem is that my garden moved inside since the exterior of the building is being painted and there's a lot of clutter from that. Paper, my worst enemy has taken over. I started the semester with neat files for every subject. Now, I have neat piles for every subject. So much for a campus move towards sustainability and reduced paper usage. At least filing will be easy. I just have one paper and I'm done for the semester!