Maybe...

Maybe Fort Wayne can be beautiful. I took both of these here.




I was driving home from Hannah and Tony's last night. The sun was setting. So amazing. I rushed home to try to take a picture of it. My house is surrounded by houses so to get a good photo, I climbed a tree. :)

For Hayley... Looking at what's been over-looked

I'm going to start writing again for Hayley. I think she's the only one who still tries to read this. Besides, she is one that has encouraged me to write by her own writing. One time Hayley sent me a 14 page letter. Two days later there were another 10 pages or so. I need to start writing again. AND... I told her I'd write the next entry for her.

Sometimes home is a hard place to be. This week I've heard of or seen or even experienced so many examples of this. One friend of mine has been abused, and returning home for her means remembering. Another friend just flew home because a family member died. Currently, I am working with refugees who have all fled their homes. Sometimes home is just hard. For me, though there have been times where I've missed my home, it usually is hard when I feel restless. During those good old college years, it's always a transition. Moving in and out. Getting jobs and quitting jobs. From class to work. From friends to family. Independence to... Transition.

I love traveling and seeing new cultures. There are times when it seems I live in the most "culture-less" place in the world. My traditions are bland, clothing is indistinct, the skyline is forgettable. I know that this is because I've been here most of my life, so I'm numb to even the positive aspects. But I'm here. I'm here for another two months. So I'm going to start looking for what I've been over-looking for so long. There will be pictures and hopefully stories.

Between the days....

I like this picture. I took it on a day that was quite the opposite of most the days I've been living here. Not good or bad. Just opposite.

This day in particular, I was walking the harbor in Dun Laoghaire. By myself. Didn't know a single person I passed. Had no where to be. Slow and full of room to think. Slightly lonely, because even if I wanted to talk, I had yet to make friends in Dublin. Lots of paths to walk and plenty of time to walk them. I looked at everything around me. Took in every detail. That's when I saw these little flowers coming out of the wall.

These days, the feelings of loneliness come in a completely different way. People everywhere, acquainted with most of them, but all of us in too much of a hurry to do much about it. There's always something more to do or think about or figure out. And although much of these things are good and profitable, they don't leave room for free thought. The pace of my steps is a bit quicker here than that day. It's a Dublin city-center kind of pace. Point A to point B.

A song that I discovered while I was abroad has some great lyrics that apply to both of these days. It's called "In Between the Days".

"In between the days,
sometimes you need a change.
I want to do something
that takes my breath away.
And makes me not want to go home
at the end of the day.
In between the days."

And though these days are different, they're still comical... For lots of reasons... Because sometimes I wear slippers outside after a heavy rain. (Sorry, Mom). Or because solace comes in cups of tea. Because sometimes having a Zimbabwean meal is necessary on a Sunday evening. (Note to self: look at these oddities more and enjoy them.)

Cold and loving it

Exploring. One of my favorite things in life. In the different places to which I've travelled, my favorite thing is to explore. Walk and meander around... Find a random place to get tea... Go up and down hills... I do the same thing with people. I want to know all about them and what they're passionate about. I like getting past the surface and beyond the beaten path with most things. And I'm learning that the potential for that is everywhere. Yes, everywhere.

Today was a great day of all of that. My friend Grace and I went to Yellow Springs. It's a little town near by that is the opposite of Cedarville in so many ways. It's still small, but has a hippie-sort-of-flare. Our goal was to walk around and take pictures to further develop our photography skills, all the while getting to talk and spill our souls. It was absolutely freezing, adding another point to my life of favorite experiences that have happened in the intense cold. Here's some shots from the day...


Walking around Yellow Springs town...








Yellow Springs gets its name from an actual spring that's more orange than yellow flowing nearby. We decided to venture out to find that as well.











After we took as many pictures as possible before our fingers lost feeling, we got some coffee at the Emporium, a small coffee shop with yellow walls, old persian rugs, and chipping wooden floors. Coffee for a dollar and a quarter. When all was said and done, we decided to make this a weekly tradition.

I'm learning a lot lately. Learn. A slightly overused word. I'm processing. I'm wrong a lot, and seeing that. I'm seeing and hearing new ideas and thoughts. I'm rediscovering things I've heard most of my life as if they are new. Yes, learning.

First photos of Ohio

I feel like I exhaled so much tension as I took pictures. Blessed with a good chunk of time, I read, wrote, and photographed. The calm was brief. As soon as I check my email or my planner, I'm reminded of all the British Broadcasting I have to read and all the other things there are to be done. For my sanity's sake, I'll keep pulling away and taking pictures, focusing on all that is beautiful or telling or intriguing...

I took some pictures last week when I went to the Gorge with my roommate, Brittany. The Gorge is like a really little, little piece of Glendalough. But it is nature and outside and therefore, smile-provoking.

Proof.





There are shoes in this picture... that's for Susan.


These next two are a couple I took today while wandering around the village of Cedarville. This is where I live for now, so different from where I've been. And yet, still so good and still so saturated with evidence of God.





I like roads. I like driving them, running on them, and the way they can symbolize a journey.