Update from abby-land...
Well.. Thanksgiving went according to usual, with a few nice additions. Got up at 7:30, went to Mass with Gabe, came back and got breakfast. Decided to test out my new-improved horse, by taking her on a trail ride. She went really well, better than the last time (which was about.. 6 years?) ago. We saw two coyotes, that was interesting, and I just rode her around on the trail for awhile before coming home and riding her pretty intensively in the field next to my house. Then after putting her away, I worked with Hope for awhile. Came back inside, took a nice two hour nap, then got up and made myself ready for company. Helped with the final preparations, and we ate around 7... then dessert... then hung out with the fam, and eventually went to bed where I read some more of Evelina (for homework, although I also ended up enjoying it!). Today I was planning to ride again, but it was raining, so instead I went back into cleaning mode (I've put.. over ten hours.. of cleaning into this house since I've been home, and it actually really kind of shows, I'm happy to say!). Then read more this afternoon, finished the book, and now I'm taking a few minutes to update for lack of anything better to do. I'd forgotten how good hard work with visible results can make me feel.. it has the ability to alleviate the blues like almost nothing else. I think I might tackle a few more of the problem areas tonight, although there are several other things I *could* do - need to start a story because I have a draft due.. wednesday, I think.. need to write a new poem... ought to be studying for my friday oral exam. But c'est la vie. It's been a great break so far, I've just been really happy and content and have accomplished a *ton*. I'm looking forward to going back but not counting the minutes, am perfectly happy to enjoy the rest of my time here and then go back on Sunday and enjoy that as well.
Hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow, so I can ride again.
I can't believe how early it is getting dark these days - I didn't notice it quite so much when I was at school and painfully aware of the clock at every moment, but today when I looked up from my book, glanced outside to see the pitch-blackness, concluded it was around 7:30 at least, only to glance at my watch and see 5 pm.. that scared me. It makes me pretty tired, as well, and I will be very glad when the days begin to grow longer again.
I think it would be really cool if someday my family would do the twelve days of Christmas - a few things each day, each day has a theme, etc. I should bring this up. Or perhaps I'll just wait till I have a family of my own. But I think it would be really cool.
Anyway, not too much else to report. My brother's b-day is tomorrow, then back to school midday on Sunday- go to Mass here with my family, then be back up there to go to the 7pm with my friends (and finish up any homework for monday). I cringe at the thought of classes, but then remind myself that I have only a week and a half of that left, only 5 MWF classes and 3 TR.. so.. can't complain too much, especially since some of the classes have even less than that. And I will miss some of the teachers, especially Erickson and Williamson. I still really want to, before I graduate, send all the teachers who made a big difference in my time at UVM a thank you note - not hard to do with intercampus mail - because some of them truly made a BIG difference, and ought to know it.
I hope someday I can make that kind of difference in someone's life - whether it be as a teacher, or a mom, or just a friend. It's funny how sometimes we can make a difference to the people we least expect - I bet for instance, my math teacher (Karla Karstens) barely thought of me even when I was IN her class, and yet she made a difference. The same is true of teachers like Steve Levine or Jaime Shaw. Without knowing it, they brightened and enriched my life. And the same goes with my friends... I can't begin to name all the people who probably only *barely* realize they made a different in my life, and I'm sure the closest ones have only the faintest clue, all the more *because* of their closeness.
Anyway. :) Enough sentimentality. I need to escape the computer and go back to the real world. I hope the day after Thanksgiving finds everyone happy and well fed and enjoying all that life has to offer... or at the very least, grateful for the things that we all too often take for granted, like shelter from the elements and enough to eat. :)
Hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow, so I can ride again.
I can't believe how early it is getting dark these days - I didn't notice it quite so much when I was at school and painfully aware of the clock at every moment, but today when I looked up from my book, glanced outside to see the pitch-blackness, concluded it was around 7:30 at least, only to glance at my watch and see 5 pm.. that scared me. It makes me pretty tired, as well, and I will be very glad when the days begin to grow longer again.
I think it would be really cool if someday my family would do the twelve days of Christmas - a few things each day, each day has a theme, etc. I should bring this up. Or perhaps I'll just wait till I have a family of my own. But I think it would be really cool.
Anyway, not too much else to report. My brother's b-day is tomorrow, then back to school midday on Sunday- go to Mass here with my family, then be back up there to go to the 7pm with my friends (and finish up any homework for monday). I cringe at the thought of classes, but then remind myself that I have only a week and a half of that left, only 5 MWF classes and 3 TR.. so.. can't complain too much, especially since some of the classes have even less than that. And I will miss some of the teachers, especially Erickson and Williamson. I still really want to, before I graduate, send all the teachers who made a big difference in my time at UVM a thank you note - not hard to do with intercampus mail - because some of them truly made a BIG difference, and ought to know it.
I hope someday I can make that kind of difference in someone's life - whether it be as a teacher, or a mom, or just a friend. It's funny how sometimes we can make a difference to the people we least expect - I bet for instance, my math teacher (Karla Karstens) barely thought of me even when I was IN her class, and yet she made a difference. The same is true of teachers like Steve Levine or Jaime Shaw. Without knowing it, they brightened and enriched my life. And the same goes with my friends... I can't begin to name all the people who probably only *barely* realize they made a different in my life, and I'm sure the closest ones have only the faintest clue, all the more *because* of their closeness.
Anyway. :) Enough sentimentality. I need to escape the computer and go back to the real world. I hope the day after Thanksgiving finds everyone happy and well fed and enjoying all that life has to offer... or at the very least, grateful for the things that we all too often take for granted, like shelter from the elements and enough to eat. :)