may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living whatever they sing is better than to know and if men should not hear them men are old     may my mind stroll about hungry and fearless and thirsty and supple and even if it's sunday may i be wrong for whenever men are right they are not young     and may myself do nothing usefully and love yourself so more than truly there's never been quite such a fool who could fail pulling all the sky over him with one smile

-ee cummings

my mother and the farm.

my mother never heard about how i spent my birthday, and i love her.

it was a pretty quiet day. beginning at midnight, my roommates woke me up with donuts and to sing happy birthday for me.

the following day, i went to school as usual, and then went through most of the day until someone realized it was my birthday, and people sang. into the third class i found the gummy worms that valerie had snuck into my bag last night, and so i shared them with everyone in the class.

i came back to the house after school, took a nap, and watched an episode of the office.

Christy and Hilary called me and happened to be in my neighborhood, so we all met for some kebabs down the street. about 2/3s of the way through the dinner, i randomly looked up from my food and said, "hey, did you know it's my birthday today?" they were a little surprised and possibly mad that i hadnt said anything beforehand.

anyhow, they had stuff to do in the city and so off they went, and i went back home. at the house, my roommates where all in the kitchen cooking dinner for me (each cooking a different specialty). so we all ate together, enjoyed the conversation, i had some wine, they did the dishes, and then i went off to bed and slept earlier than i had for a very long time.

it was one of the slowest days of my life here in spain, but it was everything i wanted. an introvert's recharge paradise.

and now, the farm portion.

i wont be blogging for a couple weeks. i just had cousin timmy here, and i love spending time with him, so i know its been a while since i wrote something.  but also, my spring break started today, and i am headed off to work on a farm in france for two weeks. so, i wont be intentionally bringing any electronics but my phone and a camera. ill put up pictures when i return.

mother, i love you. thank you for being my most dedicated audience.

nature.

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things—
   For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                                          Praise him.

                  Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

my hair.

and again,  this is my hair. you better believe it. that picture in the middle, yeah, that is val wishing she had my hair... actually, that is her combing it in the other two pictures... that creepy french/kenyan/southafrican/haitian roommate... she can't be 20, i am convinced she is a young 36.

stoked

also,

timmy-tiger and erin-emu have bought tickets to europe. dang kids! get on the road.

people!

yes, these are three of my lovely roommates. Greg is the only other guy, nneka has pizza again, and ann-valerie let us play with her hair again.

this is a good group we've got going.

my birthday.

yes, the third was my birthday. i was a bit close-lipped about all of it, so sorry if i didnt give anyone a heads up. so, some of you (especially my lovely mother) would like to know what i did, right? well, this is supposed to be a very important age, and so i will give you an entire run down.

however, you will have to wait. i am headed to sevilla in an hour and a half. that is right, i am hopping a bus south into warmer weather.

this is where sevilla is:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=sevilla&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=hFOwSbmYGOLEjAe23Y3PBQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image

i am leaving from madrid, and the ride will be several hours. i return on sunday, and at that point, i will give you guys a run down. ok? bueno. mother, i love you.

Anicia

Today, I get the impression that you are a pretty pivotal part of my blog audience. How often do you read this, nitzche? and yes, i just called you nitzsche.

and who saw erin's post about wanting to just come to spain? i did. wazzup america! bam!