And the living is easy.

Summer. 


It's always one of those things that you cannot wait for, and when it finally arrives, your brain goes....oh. hey. yep. hey.




Anti-climactic, much?


At least that's how it's been for me in college. Whatever.


Summertime means a lot of time for reflection, invention, creation, and sheer laziness. I've been doing my best to avoid the last one on that list, but it is something that is slightly tricky to avoid when you are hanging out in your bedroom a lot by your lonesome. 


But lots of other things happen, too.


For instance, in  the first week of being home and having lots of time to myself to manage my own time, I have:


-gotten (part) of my life organized


-invented my own iced coffee drink


-read a couple books and started another


-taken solitary walks and bike rides and highly enjoyed them


-cleaned my room. repeatedly.


-played music, on both my iPod and bass


-repeatedly gone to the library


-taken myself shopping (for rather practical things, but still)


-watched a couple fantastic movies which I will later enlighten you about


-drawn pictures. lots of pictures.


-bought a hat


-learned to braid my hair a few different ways


-played the piano


-sang really really loud when no one's home


-taken showers


-actually I always take showers alone. i just thought i'd mess with your head for a second.


-contemplated cleaning drawers, but then shying away from the idea


-played tag with the dog


-eaten lots of greek yogurt and honey


-and string cheese ( i promise this is not my diet. it's just the alone part of my diet)




and other things. but those are very specifically alone things.
And it's quite wonderful. 


Yet I always find myself panicking that I should be doing something more useful with my time, and wonder what I should be doing.
But then I realize it's summer, and homework does not exist right now.
Sure, there are many projects I am and could be working on, and that's happening. It's just weird not having strict deadlines for busywork.


Oh! And one other thing I have taken to doing that I highly enjoy: I am trying to brush up on my wildflower identification.


Sound boring? NOPE. IT'S NOT. Being able to identify the plants you're walking by in the woods is GREAT fun, surprisingly. Like, do you know what birds-foot trefoil is? Or water hemlock? Columbine? A showy orchis? Whelp,all of these are right here in the Minneapolis metro.See?

Here's Birds Foot Trefoil. Recognize it? Yup. Can be found on the edges of basically
 any road anywhere around here.

Here's Water Hemlock. I suppose you wouldn't see it much unless you were near water, but hey, it's Minnesota. Water is everywhere. A word to the wise--this is probably the most poisonous plant in MN. And, fun fact, it's closely related to the hemlock that was rumored to have killed Socrates. Whoopee!

Here's Wild Columbine. You see a lot of this in the mountains,  too. But you can also see it in the north woods. And my mom's garden.

And finally,the Showy Orchis. I kinda tricked you on this one, because it would be a rare deal for you to see one regularily. I had the pleasure of stumbling upon one of these last spring with my mom. We later learned that these plants only bloom once every 10-15 years, and will pop up quite a long ways away from where they were last. Tricky little devils. It was quite the treat, I might add.

So, yes. Flower identification is actually rather rewarding. I'm only doing flowers so far, because it's a lot easier than trees or shrubs. At least for starters.


I'm also trying to brush us on bird call identification, too, though that it a lil' bit trickier, since you don't always see the culprit making the noise. This is where we employ the interwebs...




And there you have it. My current state of being. Well, so be more specific, my current state of being is me being is warm and sweaty, as I just had the pleasure of a solitary evening bike ride again. Tralala. Shower time.


Solitary shower time. heh.




Audios.




Songs of the Week shall be revamped shortly. I'll probably just post a list of the things I have found interesting as of late...