Earl Grey Soliloquy: July 2016

16 July 2016

One Day...

...until I hop on a plane (alone, for the first time) and fly to LA, where some college students in bright red t-shirts will put me on a bus to the campus of Thomas Aquinas College!

I'll be there for two weeks, participating in the TAC Great Books Summer Program. We have classes for two weeks to familiarize ourselves with their unique curriculum and determine whether or not the college is a good fit for us.
I'm incredibly excited, but also somewhat terrified, for this new experience. It's definitely way outside my comfort zone, especially the flying alone part. (So prayers would be appreciated!)

Two of my online classmates from Kolbe Academy are also going to the summer program, so it will be cool to meet up and make friends in person! It's certainly a relief to at least know the names of two of the 130-ish students who will be there.
We won't have much internet access while we're there (as we'll be doing things like hiking, going to the beach, and having bonfires), so I probably won't blog about it until after I return.
Please pray for me and all the students and staff participating in this wonderful opportunity!

12 July 2016

Two New Pets

Acquired on Saturday, these two little guys now live in Tessie's room and sing to the birds outside her window.

Their names are Percy (the blue one) and Athena (the white one). They're both very young, especially Percy, who is less than three months old.

Aren't they cute?

11 July 2016

L-48

This morning I was experimenting with flash fiction.

I first noticed the boy on my way to work one morning. His eyes reflected the green-gray of the leaves and burned me. Neither of us spoke.
He was always there behind the bushes. Every time I looked, there he was, staring at me. He became a comforting presence to me: a constant in my ever-changing world. We shared a look almost every day. We never spoke to each other.
So the weeks and months went by.
This morning there was a different boy in his place. I went up to him and asked, "Where is the other boy?"
A thread of silence grew until at length he cut it. "Sentry L-47 has been exterminated. I am Sentry L-48."

10 July 2016

News!

Some certain people came home, including her:

and him:

As a result we've been doing some fun things, including getting coffee...

and shopping!

09 July 2016

Weekly Prompt Writing

From this week's meeting.

At first, darkness. I lost my bearings as I floated about in the abyss of blackness.
And then I was blinded by millions of lights lining the walls--white, blue, red, and green lights. They lit up in a wave and I saw that I was in a vast enclosed chamber. Surrounded on all sides by these tiny lights.
A control panel of sorts? But how had I gotten here?
I jumped when a heavy thud echoed overhead. They were coming. My breath fogged the inside of my helmet as I looked around in a wild search for an exit.
There it was, far, far below me. With no gravity, I'd have to climb down there. I grasped at the walls with my hands and feet and pulled myself with all my strength. The space suit added at least twenty more pounds to my normal weight, and it wasn't long before I broke a sweat.
But wait. I stopped. What if they expected me to go out that way?
I let go and began drifting up again. I climbed in the opposite direction until I was near the ceiling.
And then I heard another thud.

05 July 2016

Independence Day 2016

We went to the annual 4th of July party at the Scotts' farm. We laughed a lot, watched some really awesome fireworks, and stayed up far too late. Happy 240th birthday, USA.

As usual for homeschool gatherings, there was volleyball.

7-year-old Selah took some lovely group selfies on my phone.

The cat chillin' in true patriotic style.

The evening light through the corncrib was really cool--think this photo, but 10 times cooler.

In fact, the evening light everywhere was beautiful.

(No, no pictures of fireworks. Those don't really work out with a phone camera.)

04 July 2016

Shakespeare Camp: Friday and Saturday

WARNING: this post has a lot of pictures.
The performance went just smashingly! We always lag a bit by Friday evening, but energy was back up for the performance on Saturday. It was actually one of the smoothest performances we've ever had. Huge thank-you to everyone who helped (and that's a lot of people)! Every year I'm more amazed that we, a bunch of homeschooled 6th-12th graders with little to no acting experience, managed to perform an entire Shakespeare play with one week of rehearsals and mere sentences cut from the original script. It's an incredible opportunity for us, and depends completely on the generosity of Mrs. Kane, our director, and all the other moms who help in various ways. It's always the highlight of our summer, and what an awesome experience, to reach college having performed in seven different Shakespeare plays.
And now, the photos. In no particular order. (Because trying to put photos in order on Blogger is nightmare-ish.) All photos taken from my phone and the Facebook posts of Mom, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. Nehring.