8/23/97

I just finished summer school a couple of weeks ago, and the fall term starts this coming Wednesday. During the interim I've still been working at my assistantship. All of the free time I envisioned during school terms turned out to be less than I hoped and has quickly faded.

I have had some fun, though. I went home to visit my parents for a few days. My dad's friend has a cabin way, way back in the middle of nowhere, and I finally got to see it. Blue wildflowers and Queen Anne's lace scattered through the weeds along the gravel road leading to the cabin. The woods smelled great: I rolled down the truck window to breathe in the air. The cabin is furnished with a couch, table and chairs, bed, and a fully-equipped kitchen; most of the things were picked up at yard sales. Just a few weeks ago, my dad helped his friend build a deck on the back.

Nearby is a house that was once the home of a somewhat-famous Southern author. The house has a rustic look, but needs a lot of restoration, which has been undertaken recently. A pond covered in lily pads is in front of the cabin. There is also a natural spring on the property; I cupped my hands to drink from it. This whole time rain came down, freckling the pond with waterdrops.

My mom and I went to an antique store while I was home. I love good antique stores, poking around through old things. I especially like looking at embroidered linens, quilts, photos, and toys. Sometimes I wonder about the person who made these things, in the case of needlework or crafts, and why her family hasn't kept them. These things have a person and a story behind them, but those aspects are lost when they end up in a pile of linens with price tags on them. I guess I shouldn't complain, otherwise I'd never get to see them.

8/28/97

Today has been an odd day: the combination of things I worked on at my assistantship, my mood, seeing the aftermath of a wreck, and the bagpiper. Off and on all day I've felt out of sorts: during the day just that "something-feels-out-of-place" feeling, kind of like you forgot something you needed but can't quite pinpoint what it is. Combine that with a slight sense of restlessness. By late this evening it sort of shifted into a general really blah mood.

At work I found some unique and/or interesting books. One was a diary of a woman in the 1700s in New Jersey. It was very small, and had been issued by a private press; it was a modern imprint. I think it was excerpts, but I can't remember for sure. I set it aside to photocopy a couple of pages, so maybe I can share a quote in the next entry. Another was titled A History of the Insane in Great Britain: those nineteenth-century folks sure were blunt.

I left work at 5:00. As I was walking to my car, I heard faint bagpipe music which got louder as I went along. In front of the arts center there was a lone guy playing the bagpipes. Last fall there was a girl who would play bagpipes outside.

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