To the point of boredom [76]

I've been in Massachusetts for a week now. I'm an East Coast girl once again. This week I've driven 14 hours across the country, unpacked two cars worth of belongings- one into my new home and one into my sister's- I've met way too many new people (but I guess for me 2 people is too many so that's not saying much), I climbed onto a roof for a wonderful view of Boston, I painted wine glasses with one of my best friends, I survived my first solo drive on the Mass Pike (complete with getting out of a parallel parking job that was much too close for comfort), and I drove through my town in several directions without a map and without getting lost. I have a week before my grad school orientation (eek!) with not much to do, but that just means that I have more time to enjoy the big green field, woods, marshy little lake, and waterfall (yes waterfall) in my backyard. Up until yesterday afternoon I was a little worried that this next week was going to drag by in a mess of bored nervousness but then I took my roommate's dog out into the field behind our house to get some exercise and I was met with one of the best views ever. That is not something I've been able to say very often about my backyard. In Germany we had such a small backyard that the snowmen we made were not only miniscule but covered in sticks and dried leaves because we just couldn't get enough snow rolled together. Our yard in Michigan is plenty big but isn't anything special. You know, no waterfalls or anything. And with the chance of sounding pompous, living in Michigan means that I've had friends who've lived directly on one of the many small lakes but they have nothing on my backyard. Most lakes in residential areas are just surrounded by houses. People will practically build on top of each other to get a corner of the lake. Although we don't live out in the boonies, as in we've got neighbors all around, we live on a major road, bla-bla-bla, our backyard is natural, it's green, it's purely wonderful. How about I just let the pictures do the talking... But really, the point of this post was not to bore you to death with a lengthy sonnet about my wonderfully green yard. The point was actually to sing the praises of taking time out of the contemporary stressful life to the point of boredom. No zen talk, I promise. Just that, if you ever get the opportunity to just chill and take life at turtle speed for just a moment, look around you and see what you've been missing. In the course of the week I have been able to get to bed early enough and leisurely enough that I've been waking up before 7 on my own, without the help of an alarm clock. To others that may sound ungodly early but to me it's wonderful. Also, in just the last day I have been given the time to wander through the woods at my own pace- well, as long as I kept up with Bubba- (I didn't realize how much I missed relatively pure nature until I had it back), finally finish the index of the book of recipes I wrote up before leaving Michigan, finish two blog posts (you're welcome!), and start the ridiculously long process of picking pictures for a scrapbook I'm putting together.

 So here's my backyard. It comes complete with an old shrine and street sign:

Then it's the second star to the right and straight on til morning! 

Or... to the left and down the mini hill to:

At the edge of the woods, looking back towards our house

First glimpses of water

The path into the woods looks a little bit like this:

 And this:

 

Also, this:

WHAM! Waterfall

 

Bubba, my trusty adventuring buddy:

I'll just leave you with this image. If you're ever looking for me in... well probably the next year, 

try the dock first xx