Hallelujah

Suddenly, and really without warning, the pieces of my Why Wheels At All arguement have clicked into place. I still need to work out how to fit in the "What Other People Say About Why Wheels," but that's just literature review. And I don't think they're wrong, but are just looking at small pieces of this bigger thing, often describing the What of Wheels, and not the Why of Wheels.* The pieces just clickity-clicked together... and they're SO not the pieces I thought they were going to be.

Side moral: I'm learning that I really think best in and while writing. Apparently lots of things sound logical in my head, but fall to incoherent custard on paper.**

* Saying things are pretty because lots of similar things were pretty does not explain why it was important that those particular things were pretty.
** Nicked the phrase "falls to custard" from another participant in the Another Damned Notorious Writing Group. I like it; not as earth-shattering as going to hell, not as dire-sounding as going pear-shaped. I mean, custard's still yummy, even when it's not pretty anymore. It's just kind of sad.

Autumn Equinox

Overlook, South Rim Trail.
Taughannock Falls State Park, New York. September 23, 2011.

This is the second consecutive Autumn Equinox I've spent in the Finger Lakes area, this time on my way home from a family funeral.

I stopped briefly in Seneca Falls at Women's Rights National Historical Park. The interior is finished, but I didn't get inside this time. Perhaps next time I'm in the area? Peeking through the window, they've done something interesting along the base of the walls that I'd like to take a look at (as well as just being nosy). The Park is now on Facebook, and have been posting quotes and lots of photos from around the sites, including of places you'll never see as a visitor. It would be great to see more "likes" on their Facebook Page (hint hint).

Brickwork, Wesleyan Chapel. Women's Rights National Historical Park,
Seneca Falls, New York. September 23, 2011.

Then, to Taughannock Falls. I decided to poke around the South Rim Trail this time, in the rain. Kind of surprisingly, I wasn't the only one out in the rain. A continuous stream (no pun) of people looking at the falls from the overlook, a woman walking her dog, and a pair of hard-core hiker-types (with walking poles, not just walking sticks). The falls were running like it was the Spring Equinox, what with all the rain we've had.

Top of the Upper Falls. Taughannock Falls State Park, New York. September 23, 2011

After some time at the falls, I turned the car towards home. The ride home was, for the first time, not my usual route as I headed south instead of east, mapping the new geography of my life.

Texture of the ground, almost 500 feet above the base of the falls.
Taughannock Falls State Park, New York. September 23, 2011

No. 476

No. 476. South of the Mason Dixon Line, July 2, 2011

Not at all who I expected to be sharing this enormous and densely populated campus with.

Still Here.

Still here, still alive. Working to make sense of this new place, new school, new people, new schedule. Not enough hours in the day, but different than before when I was working 9-5. Finding that I still want to/need to blog about stuff.

Another death in the family. Another funeral.

Things are not all bad or stressful. I am grateful for good music, good people, good humor, dancers/ing, whoever invented beer, and the beginning of fall (in spirit, if not yet in fact).