Thunderstorms (and Also, Good Weather)

It is currently storming where I live, and I don't mean any puny little spring drizzle. We're having a full-blown spring thunderstorm complete with rain pounding down in sheets, huge bolts of lighting that bring false daylight for half-seconds at a time, and enormous claps of thunder that set the entire dorm squealing. I'm talking pathways turned into rivers, hail, and a message from the deans to stay indoors until the storm has passed.

All of this is actually wonderful in my opinion, except for the fact that I'm not allowed to go outside and run around in the rain until I'm soaked to the skin and need a towel before I'm allowed back inside. That's one of the best parts of a thunderstorm, of course--getting caught in it. I love being outdoors in a thunderstorm or at least a hard rain, especially at night.

I have very fond memories of storms such as these. The most recent happened a year or two ago at the Austin staple, The Hula Hut restaurant. Part of the restaurant is on a pier out on Lake Austin, and at that time the roof of said outdoor section was in fairly poor repair. It started to pour, and despite the old doors that had been placed on rafters underneath leaks, presumably to prevent water from dripping on the heads of unsuspecting customers, we were all getting pretty wet. A tornado warning had gone out that evening. The patrol on the water was shooing all boats off of the normally busy lake and into the many public docks nearby. Through all of this, our party remained at the restaurant to finish our meal. When the time came to leave, we remembered that our car was parked in a lot that seemed increasingly distant. We would have to go get it. At first my dad was the only one supposed to fetch the car, but my sister and I decided to accompany him. Rain is fun! I fondly remember running through torrents of water on the pavement, splashing through large puddles (I was only wearing flip-flops on my feet), and eventually making it through some very muddy patches of grass to the car. My mom was very pleased to see us bring the car up the door of the Hula Hut.

It's because of situations like that, as well as memories of heavy rains at summer camp, that make me wish that I could just go outside right now and get soaked. Unfortunately that won't happen because of the deans and their safety-consciousness. Pfft. Who needs it?

Luckily, I did get to be outside today. This afternoon was actually surprisingly beautiful. Two of my closest friends and I went outside to study under the big tree near our dorm. I didn't get much homework done, but that's okay. I brought my camera! And thank goodness, my friends are willing models.

One of our friends came by on the way back from dinner and told us we looked like hipsters. At the time one of us was drawing, one was writing, and I was laying on my back taking pictures of the tree and its new foliage in a very relaxed manner.

We all had a great time hanging out. Even my rather more shy friend modeled for me, which is rare.

I'd say she's pretty darn good at it.

The storm has subsided, so I guess there's no chance that I'll be able to go outside and run around in the rain. Darn it! Oh well... maybe this summer there will be more storms for me to take advantage of.

Interesting Topics

Lately this blog has been somewhat dead, and I think the way to revive it would be to start posting about things that are interesting. You know, other than my scintillating personal life. I'm currently wracking my brain to think of any topics about which I could write that don't involve updates on my daily routine. Of course I could regale the small viewership I have with tales of my childhood, but I doubt if many would appreciate stories of how I gave my sister and her friend (and my mom's embroidery) haircuts, or how I almost inadvertently caused an "international incident" as an innocent youngling, or how my sister and I explored the hill behind our condo in Wyoming and quite possibly almost ran into a moose in the gathering dusk (We had some wonderful adventures on that bluff, let me tell you--maybe this summer we'll be able to relive them. Or I will. Isabel's not very enthusiastic about exploring these days).

This isn't the moose we think we almost ran into at Ironrock, but it's cute.

In any case, in an effort to increase reader satisfaction, I would love to hear your suggestions for what you'd like to see on the blog! I'm going to make an attempt to post regularly, but I'd prefer to have something good to post about.

More moose photos are never a bad thing.

Among other news... I have one and a half weeks of classes left! And after that comes one week of exams, made less stressful because I only have two real exams and two art classes. Tomorrow I'll be deciding where to live next year, and on Saturday is the last track meet of the season. Hopefully I'll be well enough recovered and able to run the 800 that day and finish out the season on a good note. Also, once school is out, I'm going to Uruguay for five weeks with a school program to live with a family there and be totally immersed. I'm looking forward to learning a LOT of Spanish--the more the better. Until next time...

Radio Silence

I've been quite inactive on this blog for a long while, not least due to my browser's refusal to display the dashboard and the fact that I was lazy enough not to install Firefox until now. I do plan to keep this updated, though.

Not surprisingly, a lot has happened since I last posted. I spent the first week of my spring break (all the way back in March!) at the farm every day, living with Richard, Rachel, and nine other farm-loving students who were sugaring. I loved every minute of it, but I must say that morning and evening chores as well as dinner/relaxation time back at Snowhouse were my favorite parts. I may write up some of the stories from sugaring later.

Hello

I have also been taking riding lessons at a nearby boarding school, which have gone really well. For the past two weeks that I've had a lesson, injuries and soreness from track kept me from standing in my stirrups, let alone jumping. It was so bad last Sunday that I couldn't put any weight in the right stirrup and had to have a lunge lesson. But that was good for my seat, and the week before I got to ride my first dressage test. That was a lot of fun and I'd like to try more of it, but I think jumping is still my thing.

When I was in Austin over spring break, I was busy. I took three riding lessons, all of which went amazingly well. My equitation has actually not deteriorated as much as I thought it had, and Jones and I still work very well together.

The flowers were blooming as well, so out came the camera.

Some other notable moments from spring break include getting to photograph a jackrabbit up very close and personal (baby steps towards wildlife photography!) and catching a lovely sunset at the point.

My favorite because of the curve of the water.

Shot from about 5 feet away. Rabbit sometimes freeze like this when they see a potential threat.

More has happened since then, but since this is a pretty picture heavy post already I'll leave it at that for now and end with a photo of a cat. Can't go wrong with that!
 

The End of Winter and Other Updates

Winter here in the Northeast appears to be on its way out the door, despite the forecasts for some snow later in the week. The sap has already begun to flow and sugaring season started a few weeks ago, which has kept the farm workers busy. There has been very little sap in the last few days, but there should be more tomorrow. And we have already started making syrup and other maple products, which we had run out of just before the season started.

Starting the fire in the evaporator

The warm days have been excellent for being outdoors, so this Saturday when we had nothing to do one of my friends and I took a long walk in the woods, toting cameras.

We walked on the bike paths for a while, which took us around Shadow Lake.

Shadows in Shadow Lake

Then, after following what appeared to be a trail but disappeared, we crossed a murky stream into a maze of sap-lines. We tried to figure out where the lines emptied, but eventually gave up and followed another path that we found.

These rocks are part of a sort of bluff with a rocky cliff on one side. We climbed it, of course.

We hit another beaten track shortly after that, which happened to be the path that Richard and I drove the horses on several weeks ago. We followed it for a while, but then we spotted a waterfall a little way off-trail. Jamaica has asked me to not tell everyone about the place we found as our own photography-paradise, so I'll just show the photos that I made. These are all unedited, by the way, because although they need some processing I don't have the time (midterms coming up this week!).

Of course, we made our way back to the horses eventually.

I hope you enjoyed that little adventure vicariously. You'll probably be seeing more of that waterfall in the future, hopefully on a brighter day. It was snowing a little bit that day.

Riding Lessons

I finally took a riding lesson while at school! I took a taxi to another boarding school nearby which has an equestrian program, and had a half-hour lesson aboard one of their lesson horses named Buddy.

Buddy

He was a sweet little horse and a lot of fun to ride. He's a Morgan cross. His trot was really smooth and fun to ride--especially to sit! My instructor at first said we would probably only trot because his canter isn't great, but we did canter and eventually jumped some cross-rails. I'm really excited for future lessons!

I also, predictably, hung around for a little while to take some pictures of some of the other horses around the barn. Here are some of my favorite shots.

my absolute favorite

More to come!

News from the Farm

It's been a while since I've posted, and since then I have returned to school. I'm taking all new classes except for Health, which include Honors Geometry, Spanish 3, Digital Photography 1, and Visual Arts Foundations. But I don't have any pictures from any of those (I will have some from Photography soon, hopefully!). I do have many developments from the farm to report.

First, Eliza gave birth to twins the day after I left school. Their names are Ricky and Pete, and of course I have photos of them. They are named after a security guard and P&P man who help out at the farm quite a bit.

Ricky

Pete

We also took out the team--Roca and Kate--with the wagon on Sunday. It took us more time to harness than it did to actually drive them up to Wallace and back, but that was due to sizing issues and the next time should go more smoothly. Although they were kind of butts on the ground while we were harnessing, they are great when they're in harness and pulling. Of course, Kara was left behind and NOT happy about it, but she gets all the attention when I'm in the saddle so she shouldn't be complaining. Maybe.

Roca is on the left, and Kate is on the right.

Look forward to more photos soon!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!