Week 40

Day 273: May 10, 2015

The trees have turned from a lime green to a grass green. Hopefully, that means that they are almost done pollenating. I think that is why I have been so miserable lately. My allergies have been going crazy.

Day 274: May 11, 2015

Another day off spent inside hoping to avoid as many allergens as possible. I did watch the first Harry Potter movie, though. I haven't watched it in a really long time and yet it still makes me mad that they cut out the potion part, that Hermione kicked butt on, of getting to the Philosopher's stone

Day 275: May 12, 2015

A Harry Potter Musing:

So, today I was thinking about the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter. The symbol looks like this:

The triangle represents the invisibility cloak (even Death cannot see through it and Harry is the current owner). The circle represents the Resurrection Stone which can bring people back from the dead. The line represents the Elder wand, the most powerful wand in the world (made by Death, himself). As I was thinking about the shapes and their arrangement (I am doing a knitting project) I realized a possible reason for the shape. The cloak is a protecter of people (protects the wearer from enemies and therefore is on the outside “protecting” the other Hallows. The Resurrection Stone encircles the line (mostly) because it can reverse the worst curse that the wand can impart (death). The wand is in the middle because it is the main focus for much of the world (being most powerful and all). It also pokes out of the circle, representing the Resurrection Stone, because, although the stone can reverse death it can not bring people back as they were. Those brought back occupy both the regular world and the spiritual world and therefore cannot fully be in either one. The other reasoning for the symbol is much more simple: starting from the outside going in, we have the best going in toward the least useful object when it comes to evading Death. Going in the same order, we also see the least dangerous item (cloak) to most dangerous (wand). And in terms of how the items were used they go from least selfish use on the outside (cloak) to most selfish use (wand).

Day 276: May 13, 2015

Well, I uber cleaned my room today. There are carpenter ants all around the village and I saw one in my room. So, I picked everything up and vacuumed, moved my bed and vacuumed under it, and I took out my recycling, trash and donations. Although I didn't get a nap it was a successful afternoon.

Day 277: May 14, 2015

Today was the rhubarb festival! The lawns and gardens team harvested a bunch of the rhubarb from around the village and made a myriad of baked treats. There was rhubarb crisp, a peanut butter rhubarb crisp, rhubarb pie, rhubarb custard cake, rhubarb cookies, rhubarb sauce, and rhubarb soda. Ice cream was free and everything was amazing. Many of us even dressed as rhubarb and one even dressed as “rhu-barbie”, it was awesome.

Day 278: May 15, 2015

We got two new housemates today. One is Sharon from North Dakota who will be our new registrar. The other is Jesus from Venezuela who will be helping with the new foot bridge crossing the river. He is an international student at Valparaiso University (Valpo) which is probably where he heard of this place. It was a beautiful day to arrive in the village.

Day 279: May 16, 2015

At breakfast today, they had powdered sugar donuts. As a kid, it seemed like when ever we went to grandma's house or hang out with my cousin there would be powdered sugar donuts. Being a kid, the donut was amazing but looking back on it, they were your run of the mill cake donuts. Not particularly amazing but good nonetheless. Now, however, whenever I see or have one I am instantly transported back to when I would sit next to my (favorite) cousin, eating donuts and laughing about the white rings around our mouths that would inevitably be there.

After I taught a sock knitting class tonight, I did not feel like going back to my room so I started walking. I decided to go down the road. It was starting to get dark so I didn't really want to go down the even darker trail. Since we can walk down the road after 6:30 that was the next best option. It was a nice walk but definitely got kinda creepy and a little dark by the time I got back. It was a nice walk though and I am glad I did it.