Hello Hello.

The first seven pictures are from my drive between Houston and Americus. The tiger was at a truckstop off I-10 in Louisiana. Seemed to me like they just really loved the animal and were interested in raising money to donate to zoo's.

I made it safe to the farm late last night. I drove in after dark and went to the Welcome Center to pick up my welcome-packet they had been left for me in the mail box. The first page was a map of the farm which had my room highlighted. I made my way over to the house and found my room. The place a quiet and chilly but instantly relaxing. I moved my stuff in after exploring the place a bit. After getting settled in i spent some time catching up on my journals, brushed my teeth, and headed to bed.

I slept great and was woke up around 10am to the sound of my new roommate arriving. I met her (Tabitha) and her father and one of the year-round residents here on the farm. (Nashwa; Nash for short) Nash seems like a pretty interesting guy. He mentioned needing to go into town to work on some immigration stuff for a few local citizens. Am looking forward to hearing more about that..

After a short meet and greet we went in to town to pick up a few things for the week and also for the potluck dinner tonight. I chose to bring fruit. (fresh pineapple and a bag of oranges) My next task is to find a knife big enough for the pineapple..

Below are just a few pictures of where I'll be staying. I'll take more pictures of the farm over the next few days when the sun is suppose to come out. For now though I'm off to find a knife, drink some tea to keep warm, and explore the property!

Above : full bedroom view; main area that all other rooms in the house are connect to - the room i'll be staying in is where the door is open

Above: the kitchen area in mine and Tabitha's room; my corner of our bedroom

Above: The front door to the main part of the house; a view of the enclosed patio on the front of the house; the front door to our room

Hello everyone!

Well, my journey has officially started!

As most of you know i am headed to Georgia for a short farming internship (3 months to be exact). Rather than driving straight there i have taken a detour to Houston, TX in order to spend some time with my dad. i arrived yesterday evening with no problems. the drive was wonderful actually. It was nice to be out of the big city, and driving through open country. Even though most of the trees have shed their leaves once I got closer to Houston i was able to enjoy the foliage of the evergreens.

Currently my dad is overseeing the construction of an incredibly enormous house. He lives on the property in a trailer which has proven to be a really great set-up.

(Pictures and more details of this will come with my next update)

There were so many times during the drive that i wanted to stop and take a picture but as you probably know when driving down an interstate each exit is about 100 miles apart. So 'stopping for a quick picture' isn't quite possible. Luckily when I spotted this little scene the exit was immediately after and the service road was two-way! It worked out wonderfully.

I'm so excited about the new camera my mom and step-dad gave me for graduation. (I'm so lucky to have such a supportive, encouraging family) I'm still trying to figure out all the cool features so the pictures may not be up to par for a little while. For example, these three pictures are a bit blurry but after reading some of the manual today, i think i've figured out the problem. We shall see!

I got up this morning (Thursday) around six-thirty after having an enjoyable nights sleep in my dads small A-frame camper. I really have got to get one of those some day. They are super efficient and so fun! Construction on the house had already begun. I grabbed a cup of coffee and made some yummy breakfast. My new favorite addition to scrambled eggs.. tomatoes!

Well, I'm off for now. Later this afternoon, if the weather allows, we are planning to go to Kemah where there is a boardwalk and the ocean! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Today was another day full of rain. At first I was disappointed because I had really enjoyed being able to ride my bike again. Also, I had been loving the cool, sunny weather.

I decided to walk to school. I was reminded of the time when I lived on the other side of campus and would walk to school in the rain. How had it been so long since I'd done this?

Of course, it proved to be wonderful. On the way home I found myself full of playfullness. I sang along to my music and danced down the sidewalk. I stopped along the curb and stood with my feet in the water when it was traveling especially fast..

I approached the intersection near my house and stood on the corner, bopping my head to my tunes, waiting for the light to change. Right at the moment when I had really drifted off, a giant truck drove by and splashed water all along the front of me.

I found myself laughing before I had even fully realized what had happened.

I'm smiling now just thinking about it.

Not because it's funny.. for another reason. Not sure even what words would describe it. But I'm glad it happened. It's nice to be reminded of this childlike side of life.

www.whatsyourtree.org

- check it out, and let me know what you think.

It's been raining for the past few days here in Denton. It's been lovely of course. I cant wait to see the color of green everything will be once the rain passes and the sun comes out. I rode my bicycle to class this morning. It wasn't raining at that point. Once I got out of class though it was pouring. I rode home, listening to the perfect music, dodging the mass of cars (since everyone drove because of the rain.), loving my position in this day.
It was rejuvenating.

"Freedom is perhaps the most resonant, deeply held American value... Yet freedom turns out to mean being left alone by others, not having other peoples' values, ideas or styles of life forced upon one. But if the entire world is made up of individuals, each endowed with the right to be free of other's demands, it becomes hard to forge bonds of attachment to, or cooperation with other people, since such bonds would imply obligations that necessarily impinge on one's freedom." - Robert Bellah
(The progress of individualism, it turns out, shades easily into fragmentation.)

QUICK UPDATE:

I had my first bicycle crash last week. I was zooming through a parking lot and before I knew it I hit a curb and went flying. I thought it was one big parking lot but in fact it was two smaller ones divided by an unexpecting obstacle.

Twisted my ankle.

Banged up my elbow.

Scraped my leg and back.

My bicycle was only mildly bent up but it's all fixed now.

Last night I went to see Spoonfed Tribe. It was a great time. I've been trying to see them for some time now. The show was at Tree's. We had Mexican food before and it was so yummy. Dancing at those shows is one of my favorites.

I want to see them again at an outside show. That's the best.

I've been watching ALOT of Golden Girls lately.

I miss writing/receiving letters. If someone would like to be pen pals leave me your address.

Here's mine if you want to go first.

1305 Underwood

Denton, TX 76201