A week in Minnesota

Hannah watering her flowers in the greenhouse: lilacs, lupines, statice, dahlias--all to be bouquets at this summer's market.

Last week I got to visit my dear organic-farming best friend Hannah, her beautiful, great-with-child sister Rebecca and dexterous brother-in-law Joe, in the rolling country of southeast Minnesota, about a half hour from Rochester. About thirty minutes after pulling up to the farm in Hannah's red '91 Tercel, I milked my very first cow, Frieda. :) Milking a cow is HARD, I learned. Hannah's about four times as fast as I am, but I think if I milked twice a day like she does, in a couple months, I could get the hang of it.

Hannah milking Frieda

tenacious Frieda

Hannah and I got to have lots of espresso-talks, just like old times, transplant baby flowers in the greenhouse, make butter from Frieda's milk (isn't that awesome??), check the maple trees for sap (which is actually just water--not sticky, like you think of it. And it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of delicious maple syrup!), feed her chickens, cook really good food, eat really good food, speculate about the new baby, and get to know her boyfriend and other friends a little. Such a delightful week.

Oh yeah, did I mention we watched Season 4 of LOST every night? Just like last time Hannah and I saw Becca and Joe at their farm in NY! :)

Back home, with Danny at the pool the day I got back, to be followed by a delicious shrimp and mushroom pasta he made me!

Norovirus

I've had to miss work at the nursing home the last two days due to infection with the highly contagious Norovirus--the illness that struck over 400 of 1800 passengers on a Celebrity cruise ship late last month. It's been going around the nursing home the last week or so. It's HORRIBLE--I hope you never get it!! Really, two nights ago was the worst night I think I've ever experienced. And, guess what: alcohol doesn't kill it. And you can get it from contact with just ten of the virus particles. Oh, and you won't become immune to it just because you've had it before. It's bad!

In other news, I had an interview with the Medical College of Virginia / Virginia Commonwealth University last month--I felt like it went well! It was really great to get to catch up with one of my best friends from middle school, Sheinei, who's in grad school up there. She, Danny and I grabbed Thai food the night before my interview and she gave me a pep talk (which Danny told her to do while I was in the bathroom :)--sneaky!).

My Aunt Kate is visiting from NM. She and my parents are at the beach right now--I'm supposed to join them, with a few sisters--hopefully I'll be well enough to go in the morning.

The last several months

Sorry I haven't written in so long! I've actually started a few blogs and then just haven't finished them. These days there seems to always be something else hanging over my head (that's commanding more of my attention than my blog)... right now it's secondary applications for med schools. And working at a nursing home--which I love! But here are a few photographic highlights since JULY!

One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog more, which shouldn't be too hard at the rate I'm going right now! :)

Danny telling me to study for the MCAT, Cate! Probably 90% of the first months of our relationship were spent in a coffee shop studying.


Elizabeth and I playing tennis this summer. Have to say, we're both pretty bad... but I'm worse!


The day we watched the National Parks documentary premier on PBS, Danny and I went hiking in Pisgah. Lovely fall day.

Leah and I went camping with her church--such fun.

Haley and me going "wild" at the Greenville Zoo.

Elizabeth, Ellen and I in NYC--we got to stay with the lovely Erika Grace Powell. Trip of the year :).

Biz and Tim got married in Memphis December! What a party!! Hannah and I were honored to be in the wedding.

You Are the Blood

I just downloaded this beautiful song from the Castanets (Sufjan has a much longer version that's also good). Hope you like it.



You are the blood
Flowing through my fingers
All through the soil
Up in those trees

You are electricity
And you are light
You are sound itself
And you are flight

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Just thinking about this Frost poem--thought I'd share it:

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

My Dad

I've thought about starting a series of posts on people who have had a tremendous influence in my life (and/or people who I just plain adore) for a while now. What better time to start than (a few hours after) Father's Day, and with my dear daddy?



This will soon turn into a brag fest. Sorry!

Here are a few things I appreciate about my dad:
1) He's one of the wisest, godliest, kindest people I know.
2) I can talk to him about everything under the sun: theology, music history, linguistics, philosophy, travel, faith crises, psychology, art, medical stuff, literature, and boys--haha. I think he's the most learned person I know, and just easy to talk to. Good combo.
3) He might be the most generous person I know, but doesn't let his left hand know what his right hand is giving.
4) He adores my mom. They have weekly date nights, which is pretty sweet.
5) All my friends say they come to parties at my house to see me, but I know they're actually coming to talk to my dad, because he's so cool. I'm ok with that. I would probably do the same thing in their situation.
6) He's really hard-working: he spends time studying/writing/practicing an instrument every night after work. It's inspiring.
7) He can be hammy--like in big groups of people, just act silly, cracking corny jokes, etc. ;)
8) He makes a killer scavenger hunt, and always has--rhyming riddles and everything.
9) He's a lifelong learner--right now he's listening to a course on the French Revolution from the "Great Courses" series and reading a book on modern art, and taking piano lessons. A true Renaissance man.
10) He knows what's really important: the heart.

Fun facts about my dad:
1) So far, his descendants are 2 sons, 6 daughters and 1 grandson, 2 granddaughters, and 2 granddogs.
2) He's lived on a hippie farm.
3) He's a P.P. (published poet) :)
4) He played lute in the wedding of the owner of Best Buy's daughter, back in the 70s.
5) He brews beer for fun, with George Koontz.

Three things

I ran into my old RUF intern last week at the Greek Festival--Catherine, I forget her last name. We stopped each other to say hi but didn't really get the chance to catch up on each others lives. The last time I'd seen her she was engaged and getting married in the next few months. I was coming out of my first real breakup when we had lunch together a couple times my junior year at Clemson. I'll never forget afternoon at Moe's when she revealed to me the three things Steven Speaks, our campus minister, had told her were necessary to make a relationship work: repentance, forgiveness, and love of other people. Three years later, I'm pretty sure that wisdom is true. Maybe you could condense the three into two: humility and love. But the repentance/forgiveness aspect of a relationship is so beautiful--the constant change and growth, the perpetual emergence of something good, the graciousness it takes both to accept criticism and forgive your debtor, even when it is your best friend.