there are some issues at night, having a lot to do with the size of the space, age of the building and the city's bike path running behind the house, but i believe once i have a dog, these will subside. there is a TON to be done in the house and the yard, and it seems that the more physical labor i complete during the day, the more easy it is to sleep at night. there is NO SHORTAGE OF WORK TO BE COMPLETED. in fact, there's so much, i'm completely overwhelmed. since i'm having difficulty with establishing any kind of routine, other than a daily walk at some point before 3PM, i'm sort of approaching everything in a haphazard way. dude, i still have stuff to finish putting away...well, actually, we're supposed to have some rain over the next week, which means i can't do yard work, so i suppose i'll prolly finish all the putting away by the end of the week.....providing i can figure out where the hell the salvation army drop-off had moved to; i suppose it would be needless to say that i need to clean out a buncha stuff before i can finish moving things in... then, the inside work can begin. everything is digustingly dirty, is in desperate need of a paint job, and there are actually a lot of repairs to be done; i have to wait for sporty on that, since i don't know who he likes to work with, what he thinks should be done now, etc. the yard i can get more of a handle on, because it's alot more obvious. i've gotten some seeds started, the garden mostly cleaned out, i'm only about a quarter of the way finished with weeding, and i still have more grass seed to lay out....not to mention the garage, which is even more desperate than the house for some organization and cleaning....aka-i don't want to buy tools that are simply buried under insulation, tarps, and assorted other crap that's just been tossed everywhere...
in terms of entertainment, i have been spending quite a bit of time reading and watching the wildlife in the yard. so far i have seen sparrow, finches, wrens, robins, blue jays, cardinals, and even a raven! i also found out that we have one of the world's largest woodchucks living under our house. i was out reading on the porch, and it crawled out from underneath, and left me speachless. tully (my brother) says it's been living there for at least 6 years, and although i thought it prolly weighed about 15 pounds, he thinks it's more around 30!!! in terms of reading, i've become a jane austen junkie; since i've been home i've read SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and MANSFIELD PARK (which, by-the-by, takes place in northampton, england). although i'm really tempted to just start right into EMMA, i think i'm gonna try and finish THE TWO TOWERS first, so i don't burn out...plus i'm convinced it's having quite a negative affect on my own speach....i'm hoping to develop a more regular schedule, to be finished with work around the house at 2PM every day, so i have the rest of the afternoon to more artistic/creative endeavors. the only creative thing i've done so far, other than some knitting (finishing sean's sox), is to sketch the poor sparrow who flew into one of the sliding glass doors and had a most horrific death before my eyes (does death really have to follow me everywhere?!?!?!?). i'd finished cleaning the glass panels of all this tree sap sporty kept calling "condensation inside the windows", and apparently i did too good of a job. at the time it happened, i was completely paniced, cuz what do i know about birds and how to save them in life-threatening moments? after the crying subsided, because of course i felt i was to blame for the whole of the thing and it was extremely traumatic to see the blood coming out of it's beak, i decided all i could do was try to honor the thing by drawing it after it had died. in fact, it came out pretty well, even for such a sad situation. there are a number of other projects i want to venture into, but i think it will only happen once i have something resembling a routine....


and now for some pictures....i'm kinda just throwing these in because i'm still working on photoshopping the ones from my trip, and some of the activities from before the trip. these were snapped as i took one of my walking routes this morning...it's gonna rain today, and i wish they were sun-shiney kinds pictures, but they're not

this is one of my favorite dorms at smith college. until i saw the movie of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, this is what i imagined the dashwood's cottage at barton park to look like.



this is the president's house at smith college....i've actually partied in this house when i was much younger...any details of which will be retold only in person...anywho, it's how i envisioned norland to look (again before the movie), and as it so happens, it's almost directly behind the "cottage"...smith college is beyond beautiful, and i will do a much more complete photo essay at some point in the future. i have always compared the campus of any academic institution to it, and none that i've seen have come close to being as beautiful, except, perhaps, trinity college, but that's in hartford, and who the hell would want to live in hartford (would be like living in west oakland, but without the benefit of having san franscisco or berekeley near by; think employment opportunities)? i shouldn't say that...springfield would be way worse...but now i'm just sh!@#t-talking...



this is paradise pond. i would like to point out that the ice skating only happens in the winter, when the pond has frozen over. it's about a 10 minute walk from my house, and i've spent a lot of time there in winters past. it's almost like a currier and ives kinda experience...wicked ol'skool new england!



this is the greenhouse i've mentioned to some, as being a miniature version of what's in golden gate park. once i've gotten some picts from inside, you will especially notice the comparison. it's surrounded by one of the botanical gardens on campus... there's also a wonderful little pond with a bronze statue of a heron in it...



and finally, this is northampton's public library; FORBES LIBRARY. it's the place i went to get my nancy drew fix as a child (although i do own a few of the books). i will also try to do a photo essay of this, because it's an amazing building. they've done enough work on it that it's quite changed since i was in high school (how i wish i had pictures from then; SUPER, SUPER GOTHIC!!! i have quite a few memories as i spent a lot of my time there), but it's still pretty elegant for a public library.....how does it compare to YOUR hometown library?