Week 7

Day 42: Sept 21, 2014

I woke up early this morning so I grabbed my yoga mat, my camera (just in case) and my water bottle and headed out to climb on some rocks and do some yoga. I ended up mainly just wandering around off the trail but I did climb on one rock and did about 15 minutes of yoga. It was really nice and surprisingly calm. I was out for about an hour when some of the remediation guys came through clearing the trail. Apparently there was a blast happening in the quarry so I grabbed my stuff and headed back (I was ready to go anyway). Then, since it is Sunday I put on my jersey and prepared to watch my phone for updates. The Packers lost but I did finish my second sock so that kinda made the loss a little easier. Since I finished one knitting project I had to start on a new one so I found a sock pattern that uses fine yarn (I have some that I need to use). It is going to take me way longer to finish this set of socks. The needles and yarn are finer which means that every stitch takes just a little bit longer because I have to be more careful that I don't break the needles. It also takes longer because it just takes more stitches to make an inch of fabric. Everyone came home today so the village is once again full. It makes just sitting around more fun when there are more people to sit around with. Plus there are all sorts of fun stories to hear and talk about. After dinner but before eucharist, Alex, Leah and I hung out on our porch and talked about life. It was such a great chat and the view of the valley didn't hurt.

Tonight was the 21^st night of September so, of course, we had a dance party where the headliner was September by Earth, Wind, and Fire. It was glorious and since I don't have to work tomorrow I was able to stay up for the whole party plus the cereal/water break afterwards. I mean we are all back in our rooms and it isn't even 11pm yet but it was so much fun. It is nights like tonight that make me wish I didn't have to get up crazy early in the morning for work. I mean, if I went to bed at this time every night I would only get about 5 hours of sleep a night. I could do that once in a while but I definitely could not make a habit out of it. Such a wonderful night!

Day 43: Sept 22, 2014

HOBBIT DAY!!! So apparently it is both Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays today so the village celebrated with first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper and, of course, we kept coffee break in there. The morning was basically solid meal times. So many mealtimes yet so little time for them all. I spent most of my day off finishing up my art work for vespers on wednesday. I represented the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel. Do you have any idea how hard it is to draw two people wrestling without making it look sexual? Well it is quite hard but I did it! Vespers tonight was very interesting and really got me thinking. Steff, one of directors, did the “sermon” and talked about “flung”peace. You know, the moment when you go from freaking out (internally or externally) to suddenly feeling peace as if peace was flung at you and suddenly hit you. It was so interesting that I felt the need to grab a pencil and paper and write down what was going through my head. It was kinda crazy.

After vespers, the twenty-somethings gathered for a little goodbye party for Katherine and Aly. They were here all summer so we decided that it would be nice to gather and celebrate that. We ended up sitting on the porch of one of the lodges, laughing and talking. It was wonderful. Sometimes sitting and talking with friends makes for the best of nights. I can tell that I am on “Holden” time though because when it was 9pm it definitely felt like 10pm. I left a little later than I wanted but it is just so hard to leave a good time. The coffee cart was calling from the distance and I knew I had to sleep before it reached me.

Day 44: Sept 23, 2014

Back to the grindstone, literally. One of the first things I did this morning was turn on the coffee grinder. It is staying dark for longer. Usually there is some light starting to find its way out before 6am but today it was at least 6 before there was even a hint of light. Wow, though, when the sun started to rise it was so beautiful. The clouds were lit from underneath with a yellow/orange hue. It is times like these that I am so amazed that I get to live in such a beautiful place. The coffee cart was pretty normal except at the very end of the shift. That was when about 20 Forest Service people came along with the normal pre-closing rush from Holdenites and so it was crazy. I think I made two pots of coffee within about 10 minutes. The coffee could not come out fast enough. Times like that, though, are what make the whole thing fun. It adds some adrenalin to the end of the shift when I am about to fall asleep. The rest of the day was pretty normal although it did take me almost an hour to count money. In the afternoon I went to the Craft Cave, took a nap, knit. There was a talk about cougars today though and that was pretty awesome. There were even some cute kitties in the presentation. It was really interesting and made me a little less weary of them. They really don't want to mess with us. They may watch us from the shadows but we are not worth it for them to attack us. The night ended with Riley, Mark, Benji, and I watching Miracle. I ended up staying up later than I probably should have but whatever, it is a great movie.

Day 45: Sept 24, 2014

Well, it seems as though it is Mayfly mating day. There were a ridiculous amount of them up by the lights this morning. It was gross and cool all at the same time. For some reason, I was just exhausted today and yet I still went down to the clay studio after lunch to mess around with clay. I ended up making a mug but I don't know if I am going to keep it. Once I finished up there I pretty much went straight to my room and took a 2.5 hour nap. It was pretty glorious. Before dinner, we had another wildlife talk so today I learned about wolverines! Apparently there is a wolverine named Sasha who lives in our area. They are really secretive so I probably will never see one but it is cool to know that one is out there. The evening was filled with staff meeting and Arrested Development. The staff meeting was long but the Arrested Development was funny so it all evened out.

Day 46: Sept 25, 2014

It was another foggy, wet day today. It was constantly drizzling and the valley was filled with low hanging clouds/fog depending on where you were. I played in the clay studio a little this afternoon and had a pretty busy evening. First, I tie-dyed a Luther sweatshirt that I found here. It was sun-bleached so it need a little sprucing up. Then, I went directly to a meeting about possibly starting a knitting group. Following that meeting I went to a talk about wolves which I had to leave a little early so that I could fit in dinner before I had to be back at the clay studio to teach some hand building (which I didn't end up teaching because everyone wanted to be introduced to wheel throwing. I was perfectly ok with that). From there I went immediately to Vespers and then straight to work in the bookstore. Luckily tomorrow will only be at least as crazy. (I am being sarcastic. I am not looking forward to tomorrow.)

Day 47: Sept 26, 2014

VIP day! Ok so here is why I was not excited for today. The day started out normal: open coffee cart at 5. But then we started to have all of the traffic that normally bypasses the village come though the village (they are working on the bypass road). This at least made the morning interesting because I could watch the trucks and such go by. Then, at 11:30, the VIPs came into the village. This means that there were an extra 100 people in the village and I was open for an extra 3 hours. That makes for a very long “morning”. However, the “morning” did end on a high note. The cross country team (two guys) went out for a meet so we had a little pep rally for them before they left. It was pretty great, especially since it was a great chance to embarrass the boys. I was able to take a little nap in the afternoon but then we also had the installation service for the new pastor which means that vespers was an hour instead of a half hour. There were two good things about the extra long service- more time to knit and the bookstore was closed tonight so I did not have to work the extra hour after vespers. That would have been miserable. It was still a fun day, though. I am exhausted, but it was a pretty good day all in all.

Day 48: Sept 27, 2014

It was as normal a day as possible. I do think I might be getting/have a cold though which might interrupt my hiking plans for tomorrow.

Week 6

Day 35: Sept 14, 2014

Welcome to another week! So, even though today was my day off I still woke up right around 5am. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep but that magical rest would not come. I decided last night that if I woke up early enough I would go for a walk down Ten Mile Creek trail so when I couldn't get back to sleep I decided to get dressed and go out once it got light enough. As I was walking down the stair from our porch, Benji yelled out the window to wait up. So, instead of a solitary walk we went together and looked for bears. Apparently, there have been a few sightings of a mom and two cubs in the area so it was worth looking out for them. We ended up not seeing any but it was a nice walk any way. The rest of my day was filled with searching for knitting patterns and painting a glass jar that I am going to store some tea in. I am exhausted and it is only 8:30....

Day 36: Sept 15, 2014

A wonderful day off. Sometimes I wish I could sleep all day on these days. I woke up early, once again but today I just hung out around my room before breakfast. I basically napped, knit, and cleaned today. The only main activity today that differed from other days was the evening batik class and a wonderful nighttime conversation with Riley. Once my batik is washed and everything I will show it to you. I think it turned out really nice.

Day 37: Sept 16, 2014

Well, I woke up at 4am today.. I was wide awake so I decided to just get up and turn on the machine early. I still had at least a half hour to burn so I walked down by the creek and watched the night crew dig holes. It was surprisingly peaceful. I also found out today that I am going to start training someone on the coffee cart tomorrow. She will be working the cart on my days off which means that people will be happier on mondays! This afternoon was joyous. Right after lunch, Sam arrived in the village (we went to school and studied abroad together) which was exciting. Then I helped Mark write his request for an extension (He decided he wants to stay until May). After all of that excitement I decided to go for a walk down to Ten Mile Creek. I even brought my hammock for a wonderful afternoon spent in the woods where I could only hear the sounds of the rushing water and the sounds of construction were drowned out. It was so great. I stayed there until I finished my book. In the evening I made a sign for Alex's door to welcome him back from his out. Since we no longer have a mouse problem, I found a picture of a cat and wrote “I heard you were coming home so I eated all of the mice”. It is adorable.

Day 38: Sept 17, 2014

I started training someone to open the coffee cart on my day off! This means that I won't have to hear about how I wasn't there on monday and blah blah blah. The village took basically a class picture today. We all lined up in our fluorescent shirts and vests and took a grand ol' picture out in front of the creek/barrier wall. We watched Frozen at night and I started working on a knitting a sock. Other than that, not much happen and I found out that my picture was mislabeled in my yearbook. I think it is kinda funny. Hopefully it won't affect future reunions but if it does, it does and it will be something to laugh at.

Day 39: Sept 18, 2014

So, this morning about 10 minutes after I got up, the fire alarm in the village went off. I was already awake so it was no big deal for me but as I walked toward the cart and a hose house (to help if needed) I saw many flustered and drowsy villagers and remediation workers. It was kind of fun to see the village so awake when I got up. I don't think they appreciated it as much as I did. Other than that it was another normal day here. In the evening, we had the first meeting of the pottery “club” (aka people who want to spend a fair amount of time in the studio and/or have a project in mind that they want to do). The potter basically just showed us around and introduced us to the space. After vespers I worked in the bookstore where it was packed for the first half hour and then pretty quiet after that so I was able to finish the sock that I was working on so I will start the second one tomorrow. Tomorrow is Fun Fact Friday!! Which also means that I have only two more work days until my weekend when I can sleep in!

Day 40: Sept 19, 2014

This morning I made 4 drinks before 5:45. We don't actually open until 6. That was how my morning started but was actually not indicative of the rest of the morning. I think a lot of my usual miner customers are out of the village right now because it seems to be slightly quieter. Although, I could also just be getting used to the number of people and have more practice at making drinks at this point. I even had time to wipe down the inside of the shelves that are open to the air (they were really kinda gross with dust and whatnot.) The rest of the day was normal except that after dinner and before vespers a few members of the Holden Village board came up and announced the new directors. No one really knew who they were so it was an interesting reaction (aka there really wasn't one). They only thing that I think really got a reaction was the fact that change was mentioned quite a few times and I think that made some people uncomfortable. I mean, you have to realize that some of these people have been coming up here for 20+ years and the remediation was a huge issue for them so talk of changing more things on this side of the river was not necessarily a welcome thought. However, I think there won't be as much change as the new directors are thinking they would like to do. I feel like this is similar to when politicians say that they will do this, this and this when they get into office and then when they are elected very little of what they said that they would do actually gets done. I really don't have much of an opinion on the new directors other than that they look like nice people. I don't know them and have no idea who else might have been in the pool of possibilities so I am forced to trust that the call committee did a good job and I am sure that they did. They are as invested in this place as we are, maybe even more.

Day 41: Sept 20, 2014

I saw Jupiter this morning! It was hanging out just above and to the left of the moon this morning and was visible even as the sun came up (well, until the sun broke on the horizon). I rinsed out my yarn that I dyed on thursday and it looks pretty great. The plan is to make some felted slippers out of it and so the yarn is dyed fairly dark. Hopefully it will felt well (it should, it is wool but you never know). Practically half of the village left today to go on hikes. Most of my friends went to one of the lakes down by Lake Chelan but since I have to work tonight I had to stay back. It kinda sucks but that is part of life. The few of us 20-somethings who are still here are going to hang out together tonight. There was talk of putting together a puzzle (yeah, it is going to be a real party) but who knows what else we might do. -Later- So Mark and James came back from their hike tonight and invited me to hang out in the hot tub with them. Since I had been hoping to go in this weekend anyway, I decided to talk with them about their hike and about life in general. It was nice and relaxing (I even gave out girl advice. It was great.) I feel kinda bad about not hanging out with the other girls but sometimes you just need to hang out with guys. There is so much less drama or pent up anger or frustration or whatever it may be at the time. Plus, both of these guys would be considered “safe” (aka not going to hit on you and are generally just good guys that you can be just friends with). All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful night and I am almost done with my second sock! Also, and here is the best part, I have tomorrow off!!!

Week 5

Day 28: Sept 7, 2014

A wonderful day off. In the morning I met and talked with one of the new guys in the kitchen. I think he is about my age and is from San Diego. He was sitting alone so I decided to go and sit with him. It was a good decision because now I have a new friend :). In the afternoon, Bengi, Mark, Riley and I watched a Japanese TV show (I still don't know what it was called) and I finally got the rest of the TV shows that I wanted from Alex. A relaxing day. It was a nice day outside but surprisingly hot so I decided to postpone my hike/long walk until tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the first day of school! It is basically a holiday here so I am very excited.

Day 29: Sept 8, 2014

Today was the first day of school!!!! For most kids, families and neighbors this is not a hugely exciting event. However, here, it is one of the most exciting days of the year. There are 14 houses/chalets on chalet hill and one of the busses stops at each one while being delayed by villagers all along the way. There was a knitting circle, a mechanic fishing for a 2lb bolt, a DJ, a cow, a few hillbillies, a few sleeping mavericks (basically the physical laborers, kinda), the Cat in the Hat and even a man made rainstorm that hung over a senior in high school's head. It was so much fun. We ended up delaying the school day by an hour and a half. At lunch, they served an old fashion cafeteria menu. There were corn dogs, sloppy joe's, and a vegetable medley. It was even served by cafeteria “ladies” (two of them were men in dresses). They were almost cartoony and very stereotypical cafeteria ladies. So great! I was going to go for a hike in the afternoon but I ended up stubbing my toe pretty bad during the “parade of hilarity” (who knew toes could bleed so bad?) so I sat and watched movies and finished another hat (this one was made with finer yarn and has cables so it was more difficult and therefore slowed me down a little). Vespers tonight was focused on the first day of school so we used all of the song books and listened to some Oh, the places you'll go. The night was finished with some soccer and brownie thunder ice cream (the best one that they have here). It was a wonderful day (minus the throbbing toe)!

Day 30: Sept 9, 2014

It's trivia Tuesday! Since this is the first week of school I decided to focus the questions on school or school subjects. Here were the questions this week:

How many people/kids enroll in school every year?

a) 1 million

b) 7.2 million

c) 17 million

d) 78 million

Math: What are the first 3 digits in pi?

a) 3.25

b) 2.14

c) 3.14

d) 123

Science: Which scientist would study rocks and minerals?

a) zoologist

b) geologist

c) botanist

d) meteorologist

English: The most commonly used letter in the english language is.....

a) R

b) S

c) T

d) E

As always, the answers are at the bottom of the post :).

What else happened today?

Umm.... I woke up to the sound of mice scampering though the walls this morning... I may be sleeping with the light on tonight (I hear that helps to at least keep them away from you). There is something a little disconcerting about hearing something running around above you and in walls. I wouldn't mind them if they just nested in a corner and didn't leave that corner but I don't like hearing the scampering above my head (I can hear them right now as I type this). Also, we set out traps and I just checked and all of the peanut butter has been eaten off the trap but no mice were caught..... -Later in the day- So I emptied out my first mouse trap today. They say it gets easier after the first time which I hope to God is true. Also, Elijah (the pastor's kid) and I became good friends today. He found a lucky penny which he figures is extra lucky because very few people carry around cash here. He was so excited but didn't have any pockets so I told him to put it in his show for safe keeping. He thought that was a good idea since he really did not want to lose it. I know we are good friends now because he chose to sit next to me during vespers rather than next to his grandmother. I feel loved :) . The night ended with a free ice cream, some mancala, some frustrating tangrams, and Arrested Development. Not only was it a fairly good day but it was perhaps a life changing day (I may be able to deal with dead mice now).

Day 31: Sept 10, 2014

It was a normal day- no mice were caught. However it was an especially long day. I worked an extra hour at the coffee cart and then worked until 9pm at the bookstore. The only thing weird about today is that I am pretty sure there is a coffee cart troll who is taking some of my dishes. Today we were down at least 10 spoons. Hopefully the disappearance is a one time thing.

Day 32: Sept 11, 2014

I may or my not have slept through two alarms this morning.... I ended up not waking up until 5:40 (almost an hour later) which meant that the machine did not warm up until 6:20 which also means that most of the remediation guys were not able to get their coffee this morning. I felt really, really bad but what are you going to do? James (a volunteer here who is about my age) decided that he wanted to learn how to make his own coffee drink so we hung out before breakfast. It was nice to have him there when I had to tell the remediation guys that there wasn't going to be fancy coffee. Also, he has pretty great music. Having him there also helped to cut the stress that seemed to keep coming this morning. So, not only was the machine not ready but we were also missing the four most needed parts to make the espresso (the troll took them). Two were the baskets that hold the coffee while the water is going through and both of my shot glasses were missing. Eventually I found all of them but they were scattered all over the place. It did not make my morning any better.

In the evening, for vespers, we went out to the labyrinth to walk and pray for those affected by 9/11 as well as for those who are affected by war and genocide everyday. It was a very nice walk and I may go out there when I want to go for a walk but don't want to go too far. It would also be nice to go through without worrying about getting back in time to open the bookstore. After I closed the bookstore, Riley, Benji and I headed back to the chalet where we had a wonderful chat and ended up staying awake for almost an hour later than I had intended to. It was nice to just sit and talk rather than watch a movie or play a game. Who knew? :) I know, I know, my “generation”, right? I just want to say, it is true, we can actually sit down and talk!

Day 33: Sept 12, 2014

Fun Fact Friday!!!! Today I had 5 fun facts. One of them was my name. One was about the potential for northern lights tonight. One was about where the word testify came from (look it up it is really quite funny. The four was about the “Windy City” and how it is actually not particularly windy. And the final fact was about an Australian man who tried to sell New Zealand on eBay.

The morning was nice and normal (although a little cold) but at night we had a campfire to celebrate the completion of one week of school and Riley, Mark, and I watched the sky for the northern lights. We ended up seeing the beginning of them (it was kind of a misty light) but then the moon started to come up which made it too light out to see the aurora become curtain like. Talking and watching made for a late night (it is now 11pm) but it was totally worth it.

Day 34: Sept 13, 2014

Oh man!!! So this morning when I went out to the coffee cart I looked up in the sky (like I always do- I can't get over all of the stars) and saw the coolest thing! There was a halo of light around the moon. I was a sundog but the light was from the moon. I think some of the miners thought something was wrong because I literally stood there staring for about 5 minutes. It disappeared soon enough, though, and I had to run to turn on the espresso machine. It was so cool. In the afternoon I went to the craft cave and started a project. I painted a big glass jar black (I am going to use it for tea) and I will sketch some decorations on it and then paint it again. The evening was pretty standard. Although, during vespers someone accidentally kicked a plastic cup off the balcony. It hit someone in the head but they were ok. The best part was just that we kept plowing through the song we were singing and there was really no acknowledgment that it even happened. After working in the bookstore I came back to my chalet and Mark, Benji, and I watched National Treasure. Even though the moon was super cool this morning, the best part of my day was seeing an envelope in my mail box. Even better was that the letter was from my cat. It can't get much better than a poorly spelled, written in a Russian accent letter from a cat. I hope everyone had a great week!

Trivia answers-

How many people/kids enroll in school every year? d) 78 million

Math- What are the first 3 digits in pi? c) 3.14
Science- Which scientist would study rocks and minerals? b) geologist

English- The most commonly used letter in the English language is... d) E

Week 4

Day 21: Aug 31, 2014

Today was a wonderful day off. I woke up early just because my body is use to it but I was able to get breakfast and then go right back to sleep. It was amazing! I ended up sleeping until 11am. Granted, there was an hour and a half awake time in between but still. A girl who graduated Luther with me came in on the boat today! Her name is Riley and she is going to be the garbologist for a year. We hung out a little in the afternoon while she was waiting to go to orientation. She also lives in my chalet which is pretty cool. After Eucharist, tonight, there were ice cream sundaes in the dining hall and a bunch of us hung out for a while until we decided to watch the Incredibles (such a great film). The rest of the night was filled with laughter and sleepiness induced hilarity. I also received a wonderful massage, which worked out a few of the many knots that I have acquired over the last long while. It hurt but my back feels better than it has in a while. I think all of the knitting that I have been doing has been making me tense my shoulder blade muscles and they haven't really had the chance to work out that stress. All I know is that my back is at least a little better than it was before. The guys, Benji and Mark, have just ran to the dining hall for a late night snack so I figured while I was waiting for them to get back this would be a good time to write. Hope all is well!!

Day 22: Sept 1, 2014

Happy Labor Day!! So the village did not actually have the day off nor did the miners. However, since my day off is normally on Mondays I was off today! In the morning I went on a wonderful exploration hike up in the old mining town. Since the main road is traveled more now because we can't use the road I decided to hike on the deer trails. One of said trails led to the upper street that used to be part of the town. Because it is less traveled there was much more over growth and old pieces of rusting metal (which always make for good pictures, right Dad?). After my little walk and junk hunt I went back to my room and wasted some time before lunch by watching some tv shows that I got from Alex and knitting the blanket that I have been working on (it is almost done!!). Because it is Labor Day the kitchen decided to have a picnic for dinner and the mine remediation guys got off of work early so we were able to have one big group meal. It was nice to be able to see the guys (and gals) and interact with them. Sometimes it feels like we don't even live in the same isolated little town. I mean, I see about 20 of them in the mornings when they get coffee but I never see them all at once, all together. After/ during dinner we had some games to celebrate the “end of summer”. The first was a three legged race- I was still eating so did not participate. Next came the water balloon toss. It started out with primarily Holden people and kids but by the second and third round we had many miner spectators and even a few participators. The final game was a tug-of-war. First, we just split up the groups fairly evenly and played (my side won). Then we had a mine remediation vs Holden volunteer tug. At first we thought that they were going to win it hands down but as Holden people saw that we were starting to lose they came running. I think it ended up being about 30 Holden-ites to 15 remediation workers. It was pretty great.

After vespers we had Monday night fútbol where I met Eric who is an intern on the other side of the creek. He is always at Monday soccer but today was the first time that I actually talked to him for more than a second. I found out that he is going to school for environmental engineering (which I am thinking that I might like to do... or hydrology). So we got to talking and I think we might be friends now! Plus now I can go up to him and ask questions so I can find out if environmental engineering might be something that I would want to do (he is much more approachable than the other environmental engineers). Today was a pretty great day off but it is back to the coffee grind stone tomorrow!

Day 23: Sept 2, 2014

It is Trivia Tuesday at the coffee cart today! Here are the questions I asked today:

Which state does not border Lake Michigan?

-Michigan -Illinois -Ohio – Indiana

Greenland is physiographically considered part of which continent?

-Antarctica -North America -Asia -Europe

Which 2 teams played in the first Super Bowl?

-Green Bay vs Chicago -Kansas City vs Buffalo Bills -Green Bay vs Kansas City -Dallas vs Baltimore

(The answers are at the bottom of this post)

The miners were glad to see me today because apparently the person who was supposed to cover my day off did not show up. Oh well. I can blame it on Labor Day.

The rest of the day was pretty normal except that instead of Mark being the hurt one, Benji is (he sprained his ankle last night). So, after work today I went back to the chalet and watched movies with Benji and finished the blanket that I was knitting! It looks awesome and since it is made with thick wool it is nice and warm. It is big enough for my lap while still covering my feet and if I curl up it can cover my body. I love it, which is good since it took 6 skeins of yarn to make. Other than that we are still on a 2.5 movie a day average and if it keeps raining like it has we will probably keep that number going strong since I don't really like to hike/hang out in the rain, especially cold rain. Tomorrow is Walt Disney Wednesday at the coffee cart! It's going to be great!

Day 24: Sept 3, 2014

Another fairly normal day. I finished a hat that I had been making for a Christmas gift so that was fun. Other than that, my afternoon was filled with a nap and movie watching which is pretty normal but still nice.

Day 25: Sept 4, 2014

Wanna know what the worst thing about being here is? Not being able to fully support my boys (the Packers). Tonight, although the game was playing in one of the chalets, the game cut right through Vespers (the church service that I have to go to) and I had to work through to the end. A loss is hard enough to deal with but it is even harder when you can't actually watch what is going on. Reading it as it comes up on the screen is just not quite enough. Ok, rant over. Otherwise my day was about as normal as ever. I finished another hat and found a pretty awesome Woolrich shirt in potty patrol so that was exciting. Nothing else to report so why make you read nonsense?

Day 26: Sept 5, 2014

Let's see... Today some of my new friends left the village. It was their time to move on out. It was a little sad to see them go but I have a feeling that they will be back next summer or even to visit during the winter. Also, either it is getting warmer at the coffee cart or I am just getting more used to the change in seasons. In the afternoon I read my book out on our porch (I'm going to have to get a picture and share it with you. It is amazing). It was the perfect weather, not too warm (the sun was not on me directly) and not too cool once I had my flannel on. At about 4 I decided to walk a little ways into the woods to a nice rock that is covered in a dry moss and has a tree growing out of the top. I can see the village from the rock so it is really less than a 5 minute walk in but is perfect for a reading spot. I think it will be the place where I go when I want some time to myself but don't really want to be out from more than an hour. Since it is so close I can get out there and be comfortable while still having enough time to read or contemplate life or whatever I choose to do at the time. My other reading spot is about a 30min hike in so it is a good place to spend an afternoon at or just a place to sit for a little while but I would need more than an hour if I wanted to sit and relax. Tomorrow is my Friday! See you then!

Day 27: Sept 6, 2014

Another normal day in the village! In the afternoon I was going to get movies from Alex but he ended up busy so I took a walk along the creek and found some cool rocks. I started a new book today- The Cuckcoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling. I found it in potty patrol which was pretty exciting. The bookstore was hopping today, so much so that I didn't realize that Mark had come in until he had been there for 15min. In the evening, after work, Mark, Riley, and I watched Oh, Brother Where Art Thou. It was a pretty great night.

A note from Mark,

Use the shwartz! Get to the choppa! Get Down! Wooooraaa! I love pie. There is a lot of pie at holden village. I hate rocks... there are a lot of rocks at holden... and I have to move them all, everyday. I love nature, today there were many deer and little chip monks just chilllin, like villains, #thegrinch I also enjoy games such as pool, bowling and ping pong, of witch I played today and lost, oh well. I ate food. Food is good, I am good at blogging WHAT.

Trivia Answers!!

Which state does not border Lake Michigan?

-Ohio

Greenland is physiographically considered part of which continent?

-North America

Which 2 teams played in the first Super Bowl?

-Green Bay vs Kansas City

I hope you enjoyed the third installment of my weekly blog!