Monthly Archives: September 2007

Whew! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in the Walton household–Last weekend, Mom and I made a whirlwind trip to Madison (I think that we were in town a total of 36 hours) to squeeze baby Jack’s cheeks, indulge in Vicki’s excellent cooking, blow a kiss to the mountains and then wake up and hit the road. I know that everyone will be relieved to know that I made it back in town in time for our 1:00 kickball game (we won) and then a visit from Lisa, one of my best friends from growing up. She and I had a ball playing music together and catching up. Drew has been hitting the books hard, working to make this semester as strong as his others and I have been hitting the concerts with an equal vengeance. I am fortunate, through my job, to receive a lot of tickets to the great music that passes through Charlottesville so this week I was able to see Lucinda Williams, Drew and I both went to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Kings of Leon, and then I went to see Amos Lee, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan last night. It’s hard to know where to begin and I won’t proffer any reviews here, but I will say that I think that we both feel wildly grateful to to be able to see such incredible musicians in intimate venues in our small town. Drew wasn’t able to make it to the show last night because he was on a plane yesterday morning to fly to Baton Rouge for a week to reconnect with home, so I’m sure that he will come back with good stories and a stomach full of cajun food. In the meantime, Grace and I are holding down the house and looking for adventures!
Here are some pictures of Elvis Costello and Bobby D:

That’s all for now…I am going to attempt to be more regular with this and I should have some pictures up shortly of the water birds of Florida quilt for my cousin John’s baby, that fiery maple outside our living room window and the lovely transition into Fall. Our love to everyone!

Well it’s Tuesday September 18th 2007 which means that Drew is 27 today. We are going out to Mom and Skip’s for dinner and tiramisu to do a little singing and well wishing. Birthdays this year are seeming to carry a little more weight–there is honestly a tangible quality to getting older even though we are both still so young.
September this year genuinely feels like the story book notions of Fall–cool air that stays crisp all day and a hopeful bright azure blue sky. Not a bad month to be born in at all! Here’s to Drew!

Well, I talked with Daddy for a little while yesterday and he said that I ought to just write what I have been thinking about because chances are that if I wait for exciting things to begin happening weeks like this last one will go by and nothing will appear on here. So, my thoughts on things…no pressure now. I think that Drew and I are both anxious for the seasons to roll over. We have the most beautiful maple tree that turns an incredibly brilliant and unusual orange for about a week each year directly outside a large picture window in our living room. Our house is so small that it fills our entire home with color and casts both a charming and eerie aura on the walls and furniture and exudes a sense of anticipation for the last quarter of the year.

Mom has always said that Autumn is her favorite season and I think that, in its way, Fall is a lot like avocados, cigars, goat cheese or ripe olives among other things in that it is a somewhat mature and acquired taste. As kids, the year inevitably revolves around Spring and Summer–the coveted extra hours of daylight and the freedom of being away from school–which still certainly resonates in this household. Over the last couple of years though we have both been chomping at the bit waiting for cooler nights and crisper mornings as we start casting longing looks in the direction of stored away sweaters. We have even pulled out our down comforter already though a sheet is all that’s really needed. I am, by nature, not impatient really, but driven by instant gratification and so it seems that this is yet one more lesson in various virtues taught by nature that I will have to ‘patiently’ abide.

One of my favorite poets,May Sarton, wrote some beautiful Autumn Sonnets that essentially point to her belief that that love remains even in death, as the roots of a tree remain strong even as the leaves fall. While the dead stay unrisen, we do have the luxury of knowing that watching the days get shorter and leaves fall to the ground only means that it will only be a few short months before the cycle is complete and the rebirthing begins again.

She writes:
If I can let you go as trees let go
Their leaves, so casually, one by one;
If I can come to know what they do know,
That fall is the release, the consummation,
Then fear of time and the uncertain fruit
Would not distemper the great lucid skies
This strangest autumn, mellow and acute.
If I can take the dark with open eyes
And call it seasonal, not harsh or strange
(For love itself may need a time of sleep),
And, treelike, stand unmoved before the change,
Lose what I lose to keep what I can keep,
The strong root still alive under the snow,
Love will endure – if I can let you go.

Sonnet 2 from “the Autumn Sonnets”

I am jumping ahead of myself here, as it’s 80 degrees and I’m still in sandals, but it turns out that crunching leaves, bulbous pumpkins and crafty projects for the encroaching Fall are all that I can think about.

Hey everybody out there who might just happen to read this. I’m new to this whole technologically advanced communication style, it was only in the past few weeks that I’ve figured out texting on cell phones, so I think I’m moving along nicely with the times. Anyhoo, I’m back in school for the Fall semester, I say that, but I was in school all summer too, so I guess I’m still in school and enjoying it. I’ll start next week in my clinical rotation. It will be in the PACU, the post anesthesia care unit so that will be really cool. After this round of clinicals I will choose my top three areas to “specialize” in, I’ll get one of those three and I’ll get a more intensive schedule in that area. I’m not sure yet what I’ll choose, it’s weird because I only started nursing school one year ago, but already I’m having to think about getting out–Craziness.
Also, I’ll have you know that I started playing Fantasy Football this year, I’m already hooked and the season hasn’t even started yet. It’s addictive, you trade players, add players, drop players, I’m pretty much gonna win.
The Cubbies are struggling to stay in first, but that’s what being a true Cubs fan is about, crying late at night and praying to God that the Brewers and Cardinals all get some crazy disease.
Anyone who’s reading this probably already knows it but I’ll tell you anyway, the LSU TIGERS are looking pretty hot this year–tough game this SAT night in Tiger Stadium, I wish I could be there. But hopefully the TIGERS will roll up the Virginia Tech Hokies and then I’ll be able to talk some trash up here in VA. Then again, I don’t think I’ll talk trash seeing as it is there was a tragedy at VT this past year. Instead I’ll quietly laugh whenver I see a VT shirt or hat, that’ll work…GO TIGERS!

Well, my first inclination is to write about this beautiful late summer weather that we’re having but that seems like a horrible cliche that I could easily fall into a regular habit with so I’m taking a different spin on it altogether. I have always loved the weather and watching its rhythms hoping that at some point I will have a farmer’s savvy in anticipating what will come. Usually we start off every morning with coffee and a hard look at what the day’s weather will hold (online–not very farmerish of me, I admit) but it’s my own personal pattern that I can’t escape. The time honored tradition of discussing the weather with strangers or in a conversational pinch is as laughable as it is essential, and there’s a certain amount of poetic justice to the way that the weather is universal and affects every individual regardless of individual differences. People can feel the weather and empathetically respond to one another in a common way that is, ironically, incredibly uncommon. Anyway, all of that is to say that giving updates on the weather might be my fallback cliche, but it is also my way of communing with each of you to give a fair idea of what’s happening in our little world. If you’re interested in further reading check out this site. (Or check it out anyway. How To sites are always the best.)

Drew thoroughly gorged himself on football this weekend which means that it must be that time of year again. He is already making plans with our VA Tech alum friends for the LSU/Tech game next week. They’re providing the tv, we’re bringing the boxing gloves…no, no that’s a joke. All’s fair in love, war, and extreme sports enthusiasm.

Drew is also working on a very cool research project with one of his professors examining cultural differences and strife between native nurses and immigrant nurses on a particular floor in the hospital. If their findings are statistically significant, his team will make sweeping recommendations to the hospital at large and hopefully have their findings published. He put together the entire survey that they are using and has been subsequently responsible for analyzing the data so this will be both good personal experience and a great resume builder.

And finally, on my side of things, here I am out celebrating our friend Kate’s birthday:

Fun was had by all!

Well, this is my very first swipe at a blog…my main intention is to be able to easily keep everyone up to date about our life here in Virginia. We’ll see how it goes, and feel free to give me any feedback. Optimally Drew will set his fingers to the the keys every now and again, but I can’t make any promises for the old boy.

Today is absolutely beautiful outside: cool temperatures, bright blue sky, an afternoon of promise. I will admit that these are the days when it’s hard to have a sidewalk instead of a garden in front of our house, but maybe I’ll give a little extra TLC to our small collection of T’s the tomatoes in their big pot by the front door. Tom, Tina, Tiffany, Tad, Ted…we’ve been naming all of our meeger little harvest for kicks.

Last weekend was our championship game for our Summer Adult Kickball league. This is serious business, folks! In true Cinderella fashion, we’ve spent the summer slowly and painfully moving, one beer at a time, from the last spot in the league to fighting to the death for the championship title. Last Sunday, after three games in 90 degree weather that changed from grueling sun to ominous clouds and a light drizzle, we gave the oposing team an easy run and lost by one point in the bottom of the seventh. But as the old Gould’s Mustard ads used to say, “Second place, and that aint bad”. Having never been much a fan of baseball (beyond its useful metaphors) I’ve had a lot of catching up to do. Apparently jumping around with excitement over catching a ball in the outfield is not all there is to it. Anyway, here’s our motley crew:
Some of us were missing from the photo, so our friend Tom very generously photoshopped the rest of us in.

It’s labor day on Monday, which I was about to write that I knew nothing about, but that was embarassing, so I have since done a little research and if you would like to know all that I know about Labor Day you should click this link. See, this blog stuff isn’t too intimidating…except for the lack of a spell check, so please pardon any blaring errors until I figure that one out.
Sending out our love!