The beginning of fall.

We woke up the other day to find that it was chilly outside... I guess fall has found us. 

I love fall. I think I love it more than spring. Winter, on the other hand - not a big fan - but I don't let that take the fun out of fall. I love the open windows and the long-sleeves + shorts or tanks + jeans. I love eating fall-ish food, like stew. I love going outside and knowing that it will be gorgeous in every way and that I won't sweat. 

And what I love most of all? Sleeping under three blankets while cold air comes in my open window. That is what I love the best. (Possibly more than anything else, at all, ever.)

Excessive dressing of the babies is fun at first too. We didn't have any warm clothes for Lucy to wear, since the chill came out of nowhere, so we dressed her in Henry's old sweater, a hat I made her earlier this year (from Christina's scrap yarns) and a pair of socks I had tried knitting myself, but were much too small. :)

And on to today's pictures... I cut Quinn's hair right before everyone came for Dad's birthday tonight. It was so amazingly gorgeous out in the yard, so we trimmed in the grass. :)

Photo by Quinn, while I was snapping with Sara's camera!

Photo by Quinn!

I am tempted to put up a large picture of Erin's face, but I think she would cease talking to me. ;) Tonight was lovely! Now for studying tomorrow... Biology test on Tuesday morning at the crack of dawn (literally), and our first geology test on Wednesday. It's going to be some science-y studying tomorrow. Also, I handed in my first English paper Thursday... We'll see how that turns out!

September always inspires me (and October; they are glorious months), so with a little determination, you will be seeing more posts from me in the near future. :)

Au revoir! 

- caroline

the last exams

So I'm finished with high school. Wow. This is crazy! I'm not going to lie - I wasn't happy that I couldn't finish by the end of 2010. Now I have finished months after my projected graduation date. It's a bit of a bummer for me, because it was a personal challenge to finish last year, and I failed.

The last four years of school have been sporadic. It's a strange feeling, when you are responsible for your own education. You are in charge of your own timeline, of handling your own learning curve, of reaching your own deadlines. There is no one to piss you off but yourself. You can't blame some crappy teacher for your bad grades, or your classmates for distracting you, or your early morning classes for not being able to concentrate.

I guess I'm pretty proud of having taught myself. I know that many others doing correspondence school have gotten better grades and finished in half the time. But I don't know their stories, I just know that I managed my high school education the best I could, in my own way. And I had to break that time up with work and projects (and, I'm not going to lie: TV) - I'm not the kind of person who can do homework everyday. Therefore, I had lots of breaks during the four years - I have gone months without picking up an academic book. But it was always there in the back of my mind... You should be doing homewoooooork. And now? Heh heh. No more voice. Though I'll probably sit down at my dest and do phantom homework, out of habit. Yes, yes, I think I can still feel the pages in my hands...

I still can't believe that American School thinks it's a-okay to avoid essay writing. This is the first real, more than half-a-page essay that I have had to write. It ended up being the last exam that I finished. And it looks so legit, doesn't it? We shall see if they think so. :)

Well, I felt like I should blog this before the moment was over, for the sake of documentation. Also, I don't want to sit at my desk for any extended period of time unless absolutely necessary. I will be blogging tonight, though!! I have some lovely after-the-storm images.

Anyway, thanks for everyone who helped me finish school! Especially Erin. I would be graduating in 2013 if it wasn't for her! <3 Thank you so much for all the help and for letting me board in your house for months. They are some of my best memories. Also thank you, Mom, for letting me slack off on chores and babysitting and for watching TV all alone so that I could finish up!

Hehe. I'm going to be giggling for a few days, I'm sure. Oh! I'm done with homework. Hehe. Guess what? No more homework. Hehehe.

See you later, maybe at my graduation party!
Lots of love and happiness,
- caroline

Trader Joe's, Dr. Who & The X-Files

I tried these potstickers today. I would have made them by hand, but, what the heck, these are delicious AND frozen! They were really very good, I could have probably eaten the whole bag of them. And then I would have lived forever, due to the amount of garlic in one sticker, multiplied by 20. 

Exciting news, though. I am THIS close to being finished with school. And when I say THIS, imagine me holding up a hand whose fingers are a nanometer away from each other. Yes, THAT close. My second to last exam is being sent in the morning. Then, I'm going to reread my essay - again - and then send that tomorrow too. And then. I will. Be finished. Of course, it would be my luck to have accidentally forgotten to send one of the pages, and then they send the exam back as "incomplete" and it becomes all confusing... I can see that happening.

Okay, this is where Dr. Who fits in to the picture. Remember the episode with the gas masks? How could you forget it. I bet there are people who haven't even watched it who can't forget it. Anyway, Quinn is, you know, different *wiggles hands in Mr. Fox style*, and so in preparation of cleaning the chicken coop, he puts on this get up. Rest assured, it didn't stay on the whole time. He's not that crazy. 

But, doesn't he look like a cross between the gas mask creepiness and a steampunk Cyberman? *shiver*

  • • • • •

 Okay, last but seriously not least... Here is the X-Files reference. We were watching Friends tonight, and when we get up to get some food for the sixteenth time, we notice that there is this light flashing outside. Lightening? Oh, that would be normal, right? So, no. Instead, there is this weird light flashing through the trees. It's not terribly far off and the light source can sort of be seen through the trees, but who knows what the heck it is.

The picture shows the neighbor's floodlight, which is annoying in itself, but to the left, you can see the light flashing on the horizon. See it? Bluish? It's much more obnoxious than the camera could capture.

I, of course, have dibs on it being alien/government activity. In the boonies of Georgia. It's not unheard of in the files of unresolved casesssss.

So, now I'm going to go to bed, enjoy the creepiness of the flashing light, do some NYT crosswords (my free trial ran out, so I've been having to do the hard puzzles. I'm on Thursdays), and snuggle in the glory of almost being done with school.

Goodnight!
- caroline

the string

'Are you anything akin to me, do you think, Jane?'

I could risk no sort of answer by this time: my heart was still.

'Because,' he said, 'I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you -- especially when you are near me as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.'

 - Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre

dusk

I was determined to take pictures at some point today, but first there was a boring breakfast, then a shower, then a trip to the library (but I drove, so no pics), and then homework and fashion shoot planning and re-planning. And lots of phone conversations and thinking things out with Mom. A boring lunch, and a REALLY delicious bowl of Fresh Apple Crisp with whipped cream -- I will post about this tomorrow!

Well, it wasn't until dusk that I was picture inspired. :) I love this time of year. The mix of dead plants with new plants, the mix of the golden setting sun and the cool colors. 

Quinn made a mustache for my computer. It started with making a mustache for his computer - his mustache is black and curled - I will make sure to take a picture tomorrow. :D He thought mine should be orange. It's appropriate. ^.^

DUDE. I am addicted to these honey roasted peanuts. When we watch at night, I can eat them and eat them. It's kind of a choice: Do I quilt or do I eat peanuts? Because I can't quilt AND eat them, they are so messy. ;)

The trip to the library was to get a copy of Jane Eyre. My last exam in British Lit is to write a three page essay on some question or another about a book. I had a few book options, one of which was Sense and Sensibility, but how can you not choose to prove that Rochester is an example of a Byronic hero?? He's like the PERFECT Byronic hero!

The only copy the library had was this tiny, tiny book with bible paper pages and that cool ink drawing on the front. Kind of cool.

Did you know that Charlotte Brontë wrote under the pen name "Currer Bell?" In fact, all three Brontë sister's used pen names, men's names, so that readers didn't know they were women. Charlotte was Currer Bell, Anne was Acton Bell, and Emily was Ellis Bell. In their time, women writing literature was so scorned that the easiest way to be published was to assume a man's name.

Good night! Going to go make a pumpkin pie. Might post pictures later tonight.

- caroline

P.S. Why is this song coming up on Coldplay radio??? Really love your peaches, wanna shake your treeeee. Ugh. It's only the catchiest line of innuendo. Ugh. Now it's just stuck in my head.

another beautiful day

The day started with pancakes. Which, being in charge of pouring the batter, I neglected to fully document. I even accidentally made a HUGE pancake - I blame it on weak wrists. :P I should have taken a picture, it was massive.

If Erin is reading this... Yes, that is algebra homework you see. *hides under a rock* I never inked in that last exam! Shame. My face is turning red. Anyway, it's all done now, so I can admit to it. I had to check it all, over and over, and I ended up learning about matrices all over again. Which, for solving systems of equations, turn out to be rather useful, if you don't mind all that a1b2c3+a2b1c3+a2... I imagine that it must feel so amazing to have a mind that can process numbers quickly. You'd feel so quick, so on top of everything.

The tiny cup on the right was made by yours truly! I never did take pictures of my pottery... I'm such a slacker. This is my teabag cup, it is terribly useful, which, when I made it, didn't seem possible. It came out of the kiln as this miniature purple thing, and I was thinking, what on earth am I going to do with this? But now I love it. :)

I don't know how it's possible for me to continue to take pictures of the yard. You'd think that after five or so years it would all get really old. But I love home, I love the yard and the barn and the coop and the house. And the tree and the swing and all of the ridiculous bits of trash that our insane neighbor hangs on the fence line to grunge up our view. It's so perfect. :) We need to get the porch furniture out again and enjoy the nine days of weather that we apparently have left.

All I have to say about the weather is that it had better be ridiculously gorgeous on March 6th. This fashion shoot is going to be amazing, and rain would really just put a damper on things. A damp damper. Maybe I shouldn't be talking about it.

Well, now I'm going to work out (on Day 6!) and read myself to sleep. Good night, whoever you are reading. Leave a comment, if you like. 

I'd like. ;)