New Job!

Yup, that's right!  I will be gainfully employed as of wednesday!  I'll be using my wonderful degree, that I was beginning to think was good only as a foundation for continued academic study, and the experience I gained working with Rob Wolfe and his small architecture firm.  I'm excited because it'll be an education of what goes behind the walls and above/below the ceiling and floor besides the structure of the building.  I'll go to school and learn about structure, but HVAC, electrical and mechanical systems are new territory for me!  

Childhood

This beautiful image is one of my childhood.  My wonderful mother bought me The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies which powered so much of my imagination.  I could stare for hours at the incredible drawings of gauzy wings and vibrant flowers.  The poems were fun to read as well and were just a "drop in the bucket" where my poetry collection is concerned.  Literature and poetry were a part of everyday life for me growing up.  My first book that I ever read was a rhyming book: Each Peach Pear Plum.  I can still recite the opening lines from memory: "Each peach pear plum, I spy Tom Thumb.  Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard."  Hands down one of my favorite children's books.  *Beware good friends of mine.... When you have babies, you're getting my favorite children's books!* 

THE SONG OF 
THE FORGET - ME - NOT FAIRY

So small, so blue, in grassy places
My flowers raise
Their tiny faces.
By streams my bigger sisters grow,
And smile in gardens,
In a row.
I've never seen a garden plot;
But though I'm small
Forget me not!


For a reason I can't figure out, the Harebell fairy was my favorite.  Maybe it was the delicate drooping blossoms, or the way the fairy looked so wistful and elegant; I think I wanted her dress... Either way, these fairies and their poems are things I still cherish in the well read pages of that book.

THE SONG OF 
THE HAREBELL FAIRY


O bells, on stems so thin and fine!
No human ear
Your sound can hear,
O lightly chiming bells of mine!


When dim and dewy twilight falls,
Then comes the time
When harebells chime
For fairy feasts and fairy balls.


They tinkle while the fairies play,
With dance and song,
The whole night long,
Till daybreak wakens, cold and grey,
And elfin music fades away.


(The Harebell is the Bluebell of Scotland.)

Madness and Mayhem OR A Weekend of Rugby

This weekend was the Old Goat Alumni Rugby Tournament where the current boys team plays the alum boys and the alums *try* to trounce the younger men... The weekend was a little slice of bliss for me seeing as I stayed in an incredible old B&B and reconnected with so many old friends.  By the end of the weekend, there were so many old friendships rekindled and new ones forged, that I'm reminded of why I joined rugby in the first place.  Part of why I joined was because of Cass, part because I wanted to prove I wouldn't get broken, and part because I knew that the community that Rugby builds is a community for life, much better than any greek system....

Having said that I also realized that I've let some of my dreams slip by the wayside and I've promised myself that I will pursue as many as I possibly can regardless of how scary they might be.  I have that job interview tomorrow, which I'm very excited for.   I don't know what will happen, but I've got my fingers crossed and hope that I get somewhere with it.  I still haven't heard from any school other than UMass, so I'm beginning to plan for my eventual move there.  I'm wondering if I shouldn't try to work something out with UMass if I get this job since I think the job will be incredible.  I'm stuck because on one hand I have family telling me to follow my dreams and we'll make things work out however we can.  On the other I have friends telling me I shouldn't be approaching more schooling without a financial bent to my planning.

My next project is to try to figure out funding, oh joy.