This summer I visited so many places- beaches, mountains, prairies, forests, oceans, cities- and not one of them is as comforting or familiar as this view. Just west of this spot is my grandparents' house and the garden I grew up playing in. To the south are fields and the forests we cut our Christmas trees from. And north of where I'm standing is a house that is bursting at the seams with love.

It's funny how when you're busy, you do so many things and interact with so many people, and yet, being busy actually makes you feel lonelier. There are interactions yes, but no real connection. I miss having a connection to something. And to someone. How I feel at this stage in my life is a lot like this picture. Everyone around me seems to be moving so quickly. My friends and family are getting married, graduating, having babies, leaving on missions, and getting real jobs. I'm so busy, but it feels like I'm not really doing anything. More often, it feels like I'm just a moment stuck in time.

Well hello! School is back in swing, and things are busy as ever. Hopefully this is my last full year (KNOCK ON ALL THE WOOD), so I'm trying to cram as much in as possible. If you don't see me, I'm not dead, I'm just either in a studio somewhere meticulously crafting a scale model of a wooden floor, or at work, or laying in bed questioning my life choices. 

The girl I do respite with came up with a fun game to play in the car a few weeks ago. She calls it the one word story game. The rules are fairly obvious. Miraculously, this actually keeps her entertained for long stretches of time. Here was my favourite story from today:

I had to go do a sleep test downtown at the sleep clinic last night. I felt like a lab rat. They hooked me up to 1.6 billion wires, and to a machine, and into a wall. As you might imagine, that makes sleeping a wee bit uncomfortable.

Did any of you catch the Perseids meteor shower this week? My roommate had never seen a meteor shower, so late Thursday night/early Friday morning I took her to watch. Finding a good spot to stop proved to be a bit tricky because Southern Alberta actually has a crazy amount of light pollution. You can't drive very far without seeing a lit up farm or city lights in the distance.

My Alberta grandparents were in need of another walker. Fortunately, there was one at the Homeland that no one was using, so they made arrangements to ship it here on the bus. I was to pick it up and drive it out to Barnwell. Backstory over.