three months later...

so, it's been a while since i updated...



what has happened?...oh, so very, very much...first of all, my brother albert came to stay with us for a while...no joke...he was here for about eight weeks, maybe more...he was diagnosed with a brain tumor...it's since been removed and he has sinced moved out of the house here, and moved in with a friend in town...i'm glad to have the house back to what it was before...i won't go into detail about his time here, i'm just going to say i'm much more relaxed than i've been in like, eight weeks...



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back in late august/early september i did a few things...first of all i finished my summer job at the AMC...i miss my co-workers...i miss the familiar faces and the good natured joking and ribbing that went on there...i miss crew lunch (wow...who'd've thunk it?!...) of course, it wouldn't be the same anyways if i went back...amer & nimer (the guys from Jordan) aren't there...neither are the four "kids" from taiwan...those six people really made the job what it was to me...i really bonded with them all and i miss all of them terribly and there's not a day that goes by that i don't think about them...seriously...



i left the AMC to launch into my academic career at lyndon state college...i am taking three classes - i did have four originally, but i had to drop one...



lyndon isn't quite the fit i thought it was going to be...i'm sort of committed to going there though until the end of the spring semester...then if all goes well in the fall i can transfer to plymouth state university here in new hampshire...and my commute will be MUCH easier...you see, plymouth sends their instructors up to the tech. in berlin...so i'll be looking at about a 25 or so minute commute to those classes...much easier than the hour & twenty five mintues each way to lyndon...(yeah, i spend almost 3 hours a day on the road each day i have classes...) not fun...but necessary...

...

in late september, i had a truly wonderful experience...i went to see my most favourite folk singer, carrie newcomer...she was playing over in portland maine...i had had class that day - and had actually gone out to lyndonville, vt...then from lyndonville to newport, vt...from newport back to lyndonville...(now, from my house to the college is about 55 miles...so round trip just to the college & back is nearly 110 miles...add to that the trip back & forth to newport, which i think is about 40 miles one way from the college...so 110 plus 80 is...190 miles...just for classes...)


and then portland maine is about 100 miles from where i live...one way...double that and we have 200...plus 190...that's close to 400 miles...but carrie newcomer is so well worth it...i enjoyed the show greatly (though i missed the firat 20 minutes of it because i got lost in protland...) still, the show itself was fantastic, and the conversation with carrie after the show was absolutely wonderful...

there's an old Quaker saying "thee speaks to my condition"...and so often carrie newcomer's words - sung or spoken - do just that...

carrie is a Quaker, and i have a few friends who live not too far from here who are also Quakers...the more time i spend around these people, the more i look at my own walk with God and my own values and beliefs...and the more i wonder if i am in the right place at my current church...don't get me wrong...i absolutely love p. shane (that's short for pastor shane...) and his family...and everyone, really, at harvest...

however, there's something to be said for the Quaker practice of sitting in silent expectation, waiting on the Lord or the Spirit to speak to you, to guide you, to lead you...

i feel that we can get so busy going to church, and bible studies, and prayer meetings, and all of this other stuff...that we often miss what God may be wanting to do with us, in us, and through us...

it's just something i've been pondering quite a bit lately...

carrie newcomer sings in one of her songs a verse that i often find myself meditating on...here it is:

if i could turn down the noise of my own will and choice
i could hear the truth of my life in a clear voice
i will bow down my head to the wisdom of my heart
cool my heels and hold on to the best parts

...the whole song is amazing...really, it is...maybe i'll post all of it in an upcoming blog...but really, so often i find myself thinking about those lines...i really don't hear the truth of my life that often...and i really want to...i guess i'll just have to do some real heavy thinking and soul searching in the days and weeks ahead....

okay, i think that's about all for now...it's late - almost 11:00...and i need sleep...

oh, wait, there is one more thing...it would be an absolute shame if i didn't mention this...

thursday (yesterday) on the way to lyndonville, i was traveling on route two...and i saw something in the road - in the other lane - and it was a living something...it was grey and black and at first i thought it was a cat...but then deicded that a cat wouldn't be out in a terrible rain storm...so then i thought maybe it was a little dog like a terrier or something...but then decided it wasn't shaped right for a dog, either...i slowed down because i really wanted to see what it was, and because if it decided to move, i'd want time to react in case it came into my lane...i drove by and i saw these two big brown eyes, and this beak and instantly it registered "hey! that's an owl!" ...it was 7:10 in the morning...owls are nocturnal and are rarely seen during the day, although it wasn't all that long after daylight that he was out...

i was going to turn around to take pictures and make sure he wasn't hurt, and to try to scoot him off the road so he didn't get hurt...but then i saw him fly off in my rear view...still, it was an AWESOME thing for me to see...

the only other time i saw an owl in "daylight" was two summers ago when i was in alaska and i saw a great grey owl...although the thing about that is that it was daylight almost 24/7 during my time there, so owls were forced to hunt in daylight regardless...however, at the time that i saw him, it was "night time" probably well after midnight...so it would be a "normal" time for an owl to be out hunting...he flew off with a large catch in his talons...it looked to be an arctic hare...that owl must've been about two feet in height - no kidding...

also, speaking of alaska...they got their first snow in anchorage back in early october...(my brother jim lives there...that's why i was there two years ago...) we got our first snow here in new hampshire today...as of 10:00 the total snowfall is about 4 to 6 inches...looks like i'd better see about getting studded snow tires pretty soon...they are better than all season raidals, which is what i've got on there now...

okay...i'm off to get some sleep...tomorrow i've got a lot of things to do with my birdfeeder project...(it's been difficult this year with those!!) and i'm taking the car down to get a cd player installed...i got a cheap one at wal-mart for just around $50...i was sick of not having music in my car, especially with the almost 3 hours a day i spend traveling each day i have class...it'll be fun to have a cd player...and it's got a plug in for my ipod...how fun!!...

have a truly blessed weekend, everyone...

-ramona anne