His path was rugged and sore/Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds...

(the title is from a poem written by Thomas Moore about the Great Dismal Swamp, where we went kayaking last week....I chose the line because BOY does it describe how I felt)

watch out - this is LONG. mostly pictures though...
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It's been forever since I've posted....I know, I know. I kept thinking we were busy...but NOW we're busy, and we're only getting busier. So the last thing I covered was surfing....

well. I went surfing several more times, but after getting absolutely slammed in the jaw with the surf board - thanks wave energy! - it wasn't quite the same (my jaw is fine now though). I did still go out early in the morning with my friends sometimes, though, and saw some really incredible sunrises. One morning I just went and played in the path the rising sun made on the water, which was awesome. The ocean was positively glassy that day, and it was gorgeous being out in the water with no one but my friend (and the sharks below me!) around.

(the last three are from the same morning. all are from the same beach)

Let's see...also one weekend on of my best friends (Bridgie!) came to visit me! It was fun to have her here and to share this gorgeous place with her. We went down to Hatteras and spent the afternoon at Cape Point (right where the OBX turn SW)....it was when one of the hurricanes was passing by off the coast, so the waves were HUGE and rough.

(I promise I'm wearing a bathing suit... ps I really hate carrying surf boards out of water. ha.)

One of my friends here celebrated her birthday a few weekends ago, so we went actually went out! (Usually we just hang out at our apartments cus the weather is great and we have big porches)...

From L to R, Nathalie (it was her birthday), Robb, me, and Betty

THEN, another week (by now we're at the end of September/beginning of October) we went to Ocracoke to visit Alton Ballance at the Crews Inn. He's fantastic! Extremely knowledgeable about Ocracoke - its people, its history - and a very sweet, fun person. It rained the whole time and there were just about infinity mosquitoes, so most of the pictures I tried to take outside were blurry (from rain and/or the camera shaking while I was swatting them....)

this is so, so true. it very much captures the essence of my mantra in life right now, especially with these incredible study abroad/'abroad' experiences that I'm so fortunate have.

on one of the porches at the Inn

riding in the back of Alton's truck on the way to the beach

everyone on the beach! I love this picture. from L to R, Betty, Josh, Nathalie, me, Alton, Robb, Ann, Alex, Jamie, Robert!, Lindsay, Sasha

hungry pelican waiting at the fishing docks

legit fisherman (I think those are red drum in the bucket)

Lindsay (our very sweet ecology professor) and I left Ocracoke early - she because she has tons of work to do for her post-doc, and me because I had to be back in Manteo to meet Erin & Kermit (my internship mentor and HER boss, the town manager) to go the state planning conference!! I got back to Manteo, spent an hour in my apartment, then hopped back in the car to go to New Bern with Erin & Kermit. We were getting the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, so it rained the WHOLE TIME. New Bern got 15 inches in 5 days...other places in eastern NC got 20 inches, which is a ridiculous amount of rain, period, but especially for that region because it is so extremely flat and low that the water table just rises and then the water doesn't drain off. Anyway, we went to the NC APA planning conference for three days and it was so cool. I learned so much about the planning profession - topics in the field, current research, various careers, the misogyny of many of the men...  - it was super informative and a lot of fun. 

me and Erin in front of Tryon Palace

my favorite historic house in downtown New Bern! beautiful...look at that porch! those columns!

Last Friday we went kayaking through the Great Dismal Swamp to Lake Drummond, which is a pocosin - a lake that is higher than the land around it! huh. Because of the week-long rain in eastern NC a week before, the lake was quite full and the paddle up was not only against the current, but was against the RUSHING CURRENT that was fed through a mini-dam, which meant it was even stronger. Ridiculous. We paddled about 4 miles against that, and then finally came upon the lake, which was gorgeous and made all the pain absolutely worth it. 

the water is full of tannins from all the organic matter, which makes the water super dark (like tea, which is dark for the same reason) and spectacularly reflective. we were lucky because the surface was extremely calm - on dirait même positively glassy - which meant it was even more reflective.

I just really like the lighting in this picture.

cool patterns made by foam, of all things, on the surface of the water

me on the water. you know, I'm a pro-kayaker...

The next day I was...not the sorest I've ever been, but my arms and shoulders were still quite uncomfortable. That morning, we had to be in a parade in Columbia (about 45 minutes away). Guess what they asked me to do? Yeah. Hold up this crazy puppet's arm. Not just hold it - hold it UP. Wave it around. Make it clap. whoa. But really, in the end, it was good, because it forced me to work the lactic acid out of my muscles, which meant that after that, I felt a lot better.

That night we had a bonfire on the beach (yes, legal, as long as you have a permit, which we did). It was a lot of fun! I hope we do more.

from L to R, Josh, Robb, Nathalie, Sasha, and Ann.

The next day (this is Sunday now, just for reference), I went with Erin to Island Farm, which is a living history site just outside Manteo proper based on a farm that was there in the second half of the 19th century. They were having an open house for a historic preservation group in Manteo, but the owners (Bill Parker and John Wilson) know and love Erin and invited us both to go! There were only two 'interpreters' (it's so weird to think about them like that, having done it myself) but it was still really great to look around. I fell in love with the farm and am in the process of working out some way to volunteer there. I miss that lifestyle so much!

I was so jealous of her inside kitchen! Except I bet she didn't get nearly as many as nice breezes as we did at camp. Plus she only had one fire to work on. One!

sigh.

And as if all that wasn't great enough...I came home Monday afternoon from my internship to discover that one of the girls in the program had rescued two five-week old kittens! When I went to see them, they were just drying out from being bathed (with Burts Bees soap!) -- they were so fluffy and smelled like honey. And they're so tiny! I've never held kittens so tiny. so unbelievably cute!!

ADORABLE FLUFFBALL

ahaha I know, great picture of me. but LOOK AT THE KITTEN. so tiny.

oh. my. gosh. I literally melt every time I see this picture.

!!!

If you'd like to see more pictures (believe me, there's more), check out my Facebook albums:

first album (posted before, but updated now)

second album

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Best wishes to all of you! I hope you're all doing wonderfully --- I hope that you're finding joy in your days, even if it's not immediately apparent.