trios.

}it's been more than a week. even more than "a week or so." in fact, i've actually been home for more than a week now. so call me a liar. but, boy, did i enjoy my break. the past week i've been savoring my ordinary life at home, staying on top of some work and letting other things slide. i needed that.

}earlier today i caught up on posting my 365. and boy, does that make me smile. i have pictures coming out of my ears and seeing just a handful edited and displayed gives quite a sense of accomplishment. in other news, i'm glad that i can start a new picture file for june tomorrow. 1175 is a lot of pictures to wade through. i think you all have some coming your way, though. how about a wordless vacation post with pictures that didn't make my 365?

}one more thing. you know i took piano lessons for nine years before graduating from high school? since then i've played for fun - easy songs and my old (more challenging) pieces. well, this past week i decided i was ready to really play again. just one piece. something i'd have to work for. so i looked around a bit (actually i printed the first piece i semi-liked), and here it is. oh boy, are my fingers happy. happy, happy. and you know what? i like practicing. a lot. it's sending happy shivers up my spine to be back at it again simply for pure enjoyment. i think the break was necessary, though. just like my blog break. life is like that. swells and lulls. rises and falls. ins and outs. all that said, i'm glad to be back.

gone summering.

be back in a week (or so).

summer school: photostitch.

 i promise i didn't plan on doing another summer school post so immediately. promise.

but i learned something kinda cool. something i'm a little geeked out about. you see, i saw this panoramic image that caroline took and it set off this little voice in the back of my head. this little voice said, you know, i think your camera might be able to do that. i think when you were so diligently reading your manual you quite ignorantly skipped over that part about shooting in "stitch assist" mode. i think that might have been a mistake, kind of like the mistake you made when you admired photos like this and this but assumed that since she has a special camera, you couldn't even come close. you might want to rethink that. 

yes, little voice, i might - especially since i have a vacation coming up, full of beautiful views. i think this lesson may just come in handy.

{please kindly ignore the fact that i took this photo in the light-less evening (=grain and blur) with absolutely no thought to composition (=boring). also please overlook the fact that i have not edited this photo except for merging the panorama, and that the view is warped in some places because the photostitch software seems to think i have a super-duper camera lens - like a 50 mm (i'll take it!) - instead of a dinky 5.8 mm one. you may, however, observe my eagerness to share my discovery. oh yes. that, you may comment on.}
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thus continues the theme of summer school - a record of the (more or less serious) lessons i'm learning throughout these longer days of sunshine.

summer school: unashamed.

i know what you're thinking. i thought she said that school was over for the semester? yes. i did. and i meant it.

but i realized today that this release from formal instruction in no way precludes the learning of new lessons - it actually creates space where i can open my eyes and ears to see and listen more deeply than before. listen to bigger lessons. see bigger pictures.

i saw one of those today as i ran for the first time in months. i watched myself strive for perfection (everybody runs three straight miles cold, even when they couldn't do it before, right?). i laughed at the bar i set for myself.

but then i saw that bar in other assumptions i've made recently - like the one where i assume that my relationship with God will stay the same, always operating under the terms i've settled into, and then wonder why He feels so far away. i've checked the boxes, right? i've cleared that bar. so He should be here.

uh huh. when did those things that used to be the ebb and flow of a relationship become a checklist? when did i think that i had God figured out? and how did i miss that if growth in Christ is my goal, i have to be willing to learn new things, go new places with God?

willing to learn. willing to stop and listen. willing to run in shorter spurts. willing to recognize this beginner's status as growth (instead of as failure. missing the mark of that high bar.)

i suppose it's a little ironic that my lesson for today is that there is no shame in learning. no shame in lacking the ability to run three straight miles. absolutely no shame in not having God in a box. no shame in admitting - allowing - room for growth.
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thus begins the theme of "summer school" - a record of the lessons i'm learning throughout these longer days of sunshine.

a few odds and an end.

i made a pillow one night a few weeks ago. i kinda fell in love with that piping, and the bright button-up back, and the iridescent green stitching on black. so i took a picture before i gave it away.

also, pop tarts. friends, you will not regret making these. i baked four (out of my batch of ten) and froze the others in waxed paper; nothing is better than popping one in the oven for breakfast. forget toasters! [disclaimer: you should know that i do not say these things lightly. i know my brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts, and will probably still enjoy them on occasion. there is, however, absolutely no comparison.]

in other news, school has come to an end (as of yesterday, when i turned in my last projects). since i seem to have become addicted to deadlines, it may take me a while to adjust to the lack-of-pressure. i may decide on some crazy blogging scheme (the...100 days of summer?) to compensate. and i may not. consider yourselves warned. *grin*

dear blog.

thanks for always being here to listen because even when i don't have anything to say, it's nice to know you'd hear me if i did. you're good that way.

much love, e