Monday and Tuesday

Our first family camping trip. Two cars, two kayaks, two parents, and six kids walk into Acadia. Will they all make it out alive? 

We packed all of our stuff into the Mary Poppin's Carpet-Bag like cars, strapped everything down and began the drive to Maine. It's about 6 hours with no stops and I think it took us about 12. Dad and I took the truck, everyone else jumbled into the van.

Being the unofficial family photographer has its perks and some downsides. I never have to worry about being photographed but if I don't take a few shameless 'selfies' no evidence of my existence would exist. Spoiler: I ended up taking over 600 pictures. 

Toby managed to get doped up on catnip just before we left.

We made it to Maine! The dark clouds threatened rain but we pressed on.

Just around the bend was the first sight of an open horizon since travelling through VT and NH.

We stopped at the Kittery Trading Post for provisions where I found this little piece of Maine humor at the bottom of a bookshelf.

Barnabas practiced his mountain goat skills before attempting to climb Acadia's mountains.

Finally, we got there, just as it was getting dark and a bit wet. We set up the tents in the last bit of fading light and tracked a lot of dirt (and mud) into the tents in the process.

Tuesday ended up being mostly a provisions trip back into Ellsworth. I finally got hiking shoes (my procrastonary habits also extend to shoe shopping, apparently).

We stopped for a group family photo on one of the Carriage road bridges before continuing around the Loop Road, a mostly one way road which meanders around the park.

 Barnabas stopped to rappel off the side of the road.

After we got back Barnabas and Dad went off to kayak and fish while we went into Ellsworth.

 After Ellsworth Sylvia and I made chili and cornbread.

The only accidents suffered on the trip both happened on Tuesday, when John tried to cut his thumb off,

and Ben burned himself. Neither required hospital care.

And then there were none

Well, not exactly, but I seem to have lost a significant portion of my college friends to the ravages of graduation.

Here is a collection of my group of awesomely weird people. We call ourselves TUVI. We were able to keep it normal for a group shot for two.

 And then this happened.

 Afterwards we traveled down to Genghis Grill where we all answered to our TUVI names. The waiters were very good about using them with a straight face. I am, apparently, Lady Sherlock.

 A quick stop for ice cream rounded things out before we walked over the bridge to Coolidge Park.

 The lighting was particularly nice as we meandered across.

There was some fighting on the bridge. 

 

 A wild Lizzie appears! Her family and friends were coming over the park so we joined them for a bit.

 But not before we posed dramatically on the stone fountains.

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There was more fighting in the park.
 
We gathered to go our separate ways.

 Finally, I got back to a house, helped my friend pack, got my luggage under 50 pounds, and slept.

Skyuka Falls

After church on Sunday I took a walk down to Skyuka falls.

  

 I knew it was a long walk but didn't realize just how long it was until I got there and had to think about walking back up.

It is 2.6 miles down and 2.6 all the way back up again. 

 The spring itself was lovely and cold.

 Behind those rocks is a cave-like space full of mosquitoes.

 The water was particularly photogenic. It was clear and cold and shallow.

 There were a myriad of flying things buzzing over the water.

 Unfortunately, the walk was longer than expected and I ended up missing church and coming back home around 8 pm.

 I found this large beetle on the walk back up. It was between 1 and 2 inches long.

 I came back right around down and snapped these pictures of plants in the twilight.

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.

I might be going to study in Oxford!

I was flabbergasted when I learned I had been accepted to a summer program at Wycliffe Hall, one of the colleges within Oxford University. I applied over winter break and then waited anxiously for their decision. It was a relief and a source of more anxiety! Oh joy. I have a slew of paperwork to complete by the 15th of March. More concernedly, I also have to raise/ find around $8,300 dollars. Suggestions on how to do that would be appreciated. My main two approaches are 1) apply for scholarships and 2) ask people for money, which I really don't like to do, but I'm not sure why.  According to this article, even bank robbing isn't that lucrative.

When I get there, I'll be taking two seminars and a lecture series, as well as 4 field trips that are built into the program. After the program, I'm planning on taking some time in the UK and the Continent. I can put my pitiable French to the test.

All this is assuming that I get the funding, of course, so prayers for peace and funding would be greatly appreciated. I also broke my camera, so good suggestions on where to get a new one would be appreciated.

Matthew 6
In all this, I pray that I am seeking first the Kingdom of God, and not just the treasures of this world.