I'll chronicle my exciting trip to the south in another post, but right now I'm too darned excited about my Christmas tree.

It wasn't the same decorating without you ladies, but your spirit was here!

Happy Thanksgiving

ATL

Right now...

We aren't very good bloggers lately, ladies!

The setting of my life may be different, and I miss you all more than words can say, but I thought you'd be comforted to know that some things never change...



I still proudly run the blender when called into margarita making duty.

And my boobs still manage to capture the hearts and minds of photographers everywhere


Miss you the mostest.

It's Been Too Long

Oh jeez, girls, where to begin...

The farm does not have internet. Jon and I are wifi-ing it up at the Temecula Public Library, which is where we will spend the majority of our one-day-a-week-off.

The farm DOES have four yucky alpacas, 17 cute chickens, 1 lame rooster, a promise of 28 ordered guiena fowl (how do you spell that?), a squirrel problem, roving coyotes, rattlesnakes, lizards, rats, mountain lions, and lots of other things that make me scared to go outside at night.

The farm also has passion fruit, guavas, persimmons, pomegranates, limes, lemons, grapefruit, macadamia nuts, oranges, not to mention the usual vegetables. And avacado season starts in December. I can't wait.

The days are long, starting around 6:30 or 7:00 and ending around 5:00, with an hour for lunch. I spent the majority of this week raking leaves from under the macadamia trees so that when the nuts fall we can collect them without digging through 2 feet of leaves. I never want to touch a rake again. (But I will be tomorrow, because we still have at least 40 trees to go.)

Jon and I have the Master Suite at the brand-new intern house (brand-new meaning we slept on the floor for the first 3 nights until our mattress arrived) and a really great housemate, David from Louisiana who just graduated from Virginia State University.

The leader of the interns is Jason, who graduated from IUPUI Fort Wayne a year or two ago, played professional volleyball in Europe until two months ago when his sponsorship ran out, and says both "dude" and "bro" a lot. Just imagine Jamie Utt on a lot of pot. And without all the political correctness. He's taking some getting used to.

Jason's dad, Lance, is the "manager," although I'm not sure exactly what he does other than drink a whole pot of coffee every morning, talk about his old Navy days (that's the branch of the U.S. military, not the clothing store) or the time he smoked, snorted, and injected speed for an entire week while living in various bars, and shoot at various things on the property, like squirrels.

Finally we have Cuco, the Mexican farm hand who's been working here for 2 years and knows everything there is to know about fruit and nut trees. I love him, even though he thinks this isn't a good job for me and that I should go back to school as soon as possible.

So, that's my California life so far. Sorry I've been out of contact so long! I miss you all dearly. Especially when I'm living with 5 manly men--I need some girls in my life!!! Or at least cable so that I can watch Glee once a week. Anybody else love that show?

P.S. My new address is:

2120 Rainbow Glen Rd.

Rainbow, CA 92028

Tonight, I miss Earlham a lot.

More specifically, I miss the people at Earlham.

I miss you three ladies to the moon and back.

I miss our wonderful professors and classmates, and even those who were not so wonderful.

I miss all of the incredible families and children I got to know in Richmond.

I'm feeling nostalgic this evening and just a twinge sad. I'm slowly building a life here, but it's nothing like it was when we were together. Usually, I simply feel too busy to stop and reflect.

Most of the time our blog is filled with so much joy and ridiculous humor, but tonight I just wanted to let you all know that I'm thinking about you and I love you and miss you.

I don't miss Ratty. He was a douchebag.

Spell check doesn't think that douchebag is a word.

Douchebag. Douchebag. Douchebag.

Tonight I rented "Away We Go." You'll all love it. We should have a reunion and watch it together. How about you all come here next weekend, okay?