Last night we unearthed the flannel blanket, down comforter and fuzzy socks. When I awoke late this morning, warm and smugly under the blankets, I could feel the chilly morning air on my face. Something about fall that makes me happy, is this. We are determined not to use the heat until it's absolutely, truly cold. It's good that this early 1950's house is tight and well-insulated. And there is something to be said for conservation by dressing warmly instead of going straight to the thermostat.
SG1 decided some weeks ago that she would be taking a one year break before applying to graduate school; a move I whole-heatedly support. Her Beloved is currently applying to several graduate programs in California, with an almost sure shot at San Francisco State University. She's really hoping UCLA and if she is chosen, she will likely go there.
Oh, my.
My daughter going to Los Angeles? Yikes. She grew up in rural Western Massachusetts. She attends college in bucolic surroundings. Yet, I know she is well-suited to city life and will adapt. Access to public transportation will certainly free her, as she does not care to drive - at all. As in, never obtained a driver's license. Going everywhere on trains and buses will broaden he world. She will occasionally venture off to another campus for an event but otherwise is fairly well cloistered at Mount Holyoke. Well, cloistered physically but broadened intellectually to an extent that I never was in college. It's what she wants and adores. I'm happy she's realizing her dreams but also taking care of her mental health (bipolar disorder). She's ruled out law school completely and will apply to combined masters/ph.d programs in gender studies. She'll likely end up teaching at a college or university and living a faculty life.
SG2 is laboring on at Boston University and alternates between complaining she's sick of school when she's stressed or awaiting the results of an exam or paper, in which case she's always worried she's messed up somehow. But then when she's surprised that she did better than she thought (which almost always), she feels okay again about moving forward with college until graduation. She has a job which pays for sundry things, which really helps her dad and me out. Actually both girls have work-study jobs to help out.
It gets a little freaky thinking about likely more than doubling my current loans for the last three semesters of SG2's college education. Yikes.
Another installment in the Chronicles of the Empty Nest. :-)
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A few little notes to blog friends:
Ed at Enriched Geranium: I've decided to wait until Friday to post about his band The Motor Primitives. I'm going to combine the post with The Friday Evening Nudes. Hehehehe. ;-) You'll see.
Jood at Journeys With Jood: I haven't forgotten about the cool awards you've so generously given me and that I will post about that in the next day or two.
Beth at Cup of Coffey: Ditto an your meme.
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Here are a few photos I took today
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Corn Stalks at One End of The Green River Bridge
The Green River Timber Bin Dam
Corn Stalks Green River, Vermont
Corn Stalk Silhouette
A Sign Along The Way
You shall know the truth
And the truth shall
Make you odd.
Flannery O'Connor
Have a great week, everyone!
Peace
Wellness
Love
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Corn Stalks at One End of The Green River Bridge
The Green River Timber Bin Dam
Corn Stalks Green River, Vermont
Corn Stalk Silhouette
A Sign Along The Way
You shall know the truthAnd the truth shall
Make you odd.
Flannery O'Connor
Have a great week, everyone!
Peace
Wellness
Love
We are also waiting for as long as possible before turning on the heat. It's getting down into the 40s sometimes at night but I am determined to wait as long as I can before giving in to the comfort and convenience of the thermostat.
ReplyDeleteYour girls are in an amazing time of life. I'm glad that things are calm for you.
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely peaceful post
ReplyDeleteI really like the cornstalk silhouette
and the SGs - what can I say - wonderful young women.
Great photos, and a wicked cool quote from Flannery, which I didn't recognize, to my eternal shame!
ReplyDelete...And thanks for the low-down on The Gurrrlz, they're never quite that forthcoming to me.
I suspect it's a Sister Thing, you being one of those. ;)
Justwant to say that the photos in the last couple of posts have been wonderful.
ReplyDeleteLove the nudes as usual, too!
So you're going bi-coastal. Boston and LA. That should keep you hopping. Been there, done that. A bit of a strain, but interesting.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are wonderful!
Got a chuckle from the quote.
Dear friends,
ReplyDeleteI'm just basking in all this wonderfulness! Life was so hard, for so long. I really do feel peaceful and I feel fortunate that you all are generous enough to share it with me.T Thank you again and again.
CR: The girls adore you. If I'm their big sister, you must their big brother, then. You know how that goes! That we've forged such strong ties with our children despite our differences as their parents and living apart, is a small, wonderful miracle.
And thanks to all who have been enjoying the pictures. When you live in such a beautiful area and have the ease of a digi-cam, it's easy to take nice pictures. I'm having a blast with the camera in a way that I seldom was able to with the old conventional cameras.
Peace & Love,
Gina
Oh, regarding the Flannery O'Connor quote. It's actually a quote from the Bible (John, maybe?) and FO changed the last word from FREE to ODD. I don't know in which story she used it, though.
ReplyDeletehi! me, got the furnace on. on the days it is sort of warm for me i turn it off and let the sun in all the windows.
ReplyDeletethose loans will get paid off in time.
i told my kid that for the price of a rich person's car she could have a first class education and that was how we all should look at it.
we all did. her part of the loans were paid off a few years ago.
ours are pretty low now and that icluded a wedding after grad school.
it all works out and it doesn't lose value like a car. ; )
p.s. i loved the pictures and the quote!
ReplyDeleteLove the photos!!
ReplyDeletei love fall too :) i put the flannel sheets on sans snuggly blankets (compromise for always warm hubby)- my sister doesn't drive either and she hoofs it or takes the bus when she can. there's something to be said for not being tied to an auto. but i wouldn't trade being so close to the country- i currently live in suburbia on the edge of nature- so it's again, a good compromise for long island born hubby. we have bunnies and horses in the backyard along with numerous birds- and tonite a deer eating crab apples across the street. love it.
ReplyDeleteWell, tonight we had to break down and turn on the heat. And..it feels soooooo good!
ReplyDeleteBetmo: we live in rural suburbia, I guess you call it. There's our view of the river and many natural spaces surrounding and though we have a huge yard, we do have neighbors. I'm with you. I love cities to visit but I wouldn't trade where I live for city living.
Great photos! We relented and turned on our heat last week. It's been getting down into the 30s at night and the house gets pretty darned cold.
ReplyDelete