college graduate

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions — as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all. — Friedrich Nietzsche

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Hooray! I made it! My grade was posted this morning. I am done. It wasn’t the straightest path, and it certainly wasn’t the easiest. But, I now hold the honor of calling myself a “college graduate.”

Still, the past thirteen years of hard work earned me more than a college degree. I also got…

…two beautiful children who bring me more joy than anything else I have ever known,

…a wonderful soul mate of a husband who never utters anything but a kind word to me and our children and is in every sense of the word a life partner — the journey has been much easier with him around,

…a small but happy home of my own and much work to do as its caretaker,

…many jobs, some more fulfilling than others, and endless learning in the “real world,”

…the chance to grow as a mother, a wife, and a woman, in ways I never knew were possible.

Earning my degree is an accomplishment that I am proud of, but I am just as proud of everything I’ve accomplished outside of the classroom during these long years. I am looking forward to learning what the future holds for me now that this task is complete.

bloom

From “A Prayer in Spring” by Robert Frost:

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

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at the farm

Last weekend we visited Stonewall Farm in Keene to see the “Dancing of the Ladies” — the moment that the cows are let out for the first time in the Spring. I heard that the cows frolicked, but I had not idea that they actually leaped about. It was something else.

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the elusive lillia

Caught on film!

I’ve been playing around with Photoshop actions. These are from the CoffeeShop blog. I’d really like to learn how to do this on my own so that I have more control over the finished product. I have serious perfectionist tendencies. I don’t think I’ll ever love my photos as much as I love other people’s. But, dissatisfaction often leads to growth, so I’m not in a big hurry to be content with my work.

I may not be satisfied, but I am tired. This will have to do.

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peekaboo

He looks very genteel in the last photo. It makes me giggle. Also, he really needs a haircut!

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