Writing is such a useful method of procrastonation

So, Oxford is definitely going to happen. Through God's grace and a lot of incredible generosity it is more than funded. I leave on the 29th of May and get back on the 3rd of July. God even provided an amazing summer job!
After I get back and recover from jet-lag I'll be staying at a farm by my town working with wagyu calves.
But Oxford! I'll be taking two classes of C.S. Lewis because I have no self-control. One on his beliefs and how Christianity is and can be a rational faith and the other on the Inklings and the effect of the classics on their work. Intellectual heritages are something that delight me and I very much suspect that the second course will feed directly into my SIP.
It's funny how God works things out.
When I came to Covenant and knew I had a Senior Thesis looming over my graduation, I planned to figure out my topic sometime in my junior year and begin studying it between my junior and senior year. I just figured it would be me and my local library, but I never dreamed that it would be me and the Bodleian! While I always suspected it would have something to do with intellectual heritages, the courses I'll be taking in England and the ones I'll take Senior year seem to have come together nicely into one beautiful conglomeration of Classical and Renaissance writers and thinkers.

After Oxford I'll be taking 4 days to travel to the continent. I will most likely find a hostel or place to stay like it and just try to live on one place for bit in an attempt to soak in the feeling of the place.

A New Camera!

How exciting! By an act of Divine providence I purchased a used Nikon D3000 a couple of weeks about and have been having a blast learning its quirks. It takes such lovely pictures I hardly need to do anything, but I'm sure once we get truly acquainted they will be simply marvelous!

There's nothing quite like carrying around an impressive camera. People always assume you know what you are doing. I had a photoshoot last week for a friend's senior pictures.

One day while figuring out some features I stopped next to a bush as it was handy to get some closeups. I had just finished taking a series when I looked up to see a stranger walking up the path and he gave me such a look that said "What are you doing you crazy, mad woman?" so I gave him my cheekiest of smiles and walked on.

 Flowers are such a nice fall-back as a photographic subject. I've found for pictures like the above where there is no obvious plane of focus that I can use the camera's auto-focus to find the plane I want, turn it to manual and it doesn't give my any problems when I shoot.

How we celebrate a 21st Birthday on the Mountain

My roommate celebrated her 21st birthday with a surprise birthday party, only the people who were invited were the ones surprised. We ate sweet potato pancakes with lots of toppings including fresh strawberry sauce.
We finished it with sparkling grape juice because we are classy that way.