Well, I seem to be getting worse and worse at updating this thing! Fall is taking its sweet time to get here, and I have been getting more and more impatient for cooler weather. My least favorite part about this awkward weather phase we're in is that in the morning when I leave for class it's so cold I have to bundle up, but by the time I'm walking home from campus it's 80 degrees! I'm anxiously awaiting the days when I can be bundled up all day without sweating. But anyway, here's some pictures in review of September. Hopefully the quality isn't too bad since they were almost all taken with my phone.
Ellensburg Rodeo happened Labor day weekend, but since tickets to get in are so expensive, Erin and I watched from the water tower. Not a bad spot for a free rodeo viewing!
On September 17th, Kara and I went to the Puyallup fair and met this camel. They have camel rides, but we opted to just look at them...
At the fair, we also met these guys! They're kinda famous :) Big Time Rush is sort of hard to explain, but basically they have a TV show and they're also a band.
Last weekend Jay's family flew out from Ohio. We rented a cabin just outside of Leavenworth for the weekend and had some good times hanging around in the town. It was great to finally meet his family! In this picture, left to right, front row: Me, Jay, Brad (Jay's stepdad). Second row: Ashley (Jay's sister), Chuck (Ashley's boyfriend), and Brenda (Jay's mom).
These clouds looked pretty amazing yesterday. The wind has picked up a bit here, which has caused the smoke to hover over the hills in the North. It's nice to be able to see clouds again! When we first came back over here, the haze was pretty bad. As I was walking to class a few days ago the haze was so thick I couldn't even see some of the closest buildings on campus. The health center has been giving away masks for students and staff to wear to reduce risk of inhaling too much smoke, but thanks to the wind it's not as much of a problem now. If anyone is interested in fire updates, the
CWU website has a button on the homepage that will take you to a page with more detailed fire information/updates.
The first 2 weeks of classes have gone well so far and it looks like this quarter won't be too much harder than any of the past quarters. I'm taking two English literature classes and one Philosophy class. I thought philosophy would be no big deal. I mean, I read the untranslated Canterbury Tales last winter, how hard can it be to read stuff from the 1800's? But the stuff we're reading in philosophy are some of the most difficult things to understand. Although since the class is on the philosophy of race, class, and gender, it's interesting to tie the different ideas into some of my English classes. There's a lot of overlap between my English readings and the concepts in this philosophy class.
Anyway, I'm struggling through the hot weather and philosophy readings praying for the day when the weather will finally feel right to make pumpkin bread and cider beef stew!
