Missouri cookies

We lost the recipe many years ago, but I have exemplified the venerable old practice of oral tradition and committed it to memory. And in my memory it stays -- I have not divulged the secret to any member of my family, because in so doing I make sure that they still want me back at home. ;) There is something about this mysterious concomitance of chocolate, oatmeal, and peanut butter that makes me immensely popular among my siblings. But today I made it for my school with my friend, classmate, and next-year's-room-mate Amanda. We made a double batch and ended up walking to the store to procure the requisite amount of oatmeal. It being June and Oregon, the rain caught us on the way back, so by the time we returned to school to finish our project, we were nicely soaked. Cookies at my little school are always a community event and excuse for everyone to head into the kitchen to chat about homework, soccer (Spain and South Korea today -- the World Cup approaches), and next week's finals.

It pleases me to be able to import a small but precious tradition from the life of my home into the life of my school. Continuity in a life broken up between two worlds is hard to come by, so I have to appreciate it, even when it comes in the trivial form of cookies.

Silly brother

text message:
"I think you should create a band called the Sitting Ducks".

I think someone is tired of the quacking down the hill! I will be home soon to help them be quiet and content. Hopefully he won't take things into his own hands before then. :)

A good friend

We haven't seen each other that much this last year, but every now and then I call her, or she calls me. I am always just slightly nervous, remembering where I was last time I talked to her and feeling how much has changed since then. It's the old philosophical problem of time and space. How to recover and convey so many disparate months of thoughts and miles of distance? But within a few minutes I always realize: in her silent solitary hours of page-turning and pen-scratching, close-caught moments with loved ones, and confrontations with reality, she is thinking about the same things I am thinking about with my anxious schedule, long lists, and homesickness. And after we've been spilling things out for an hour or so, threads start to appear, and we are comforted to realize that there is coherence -- a narrative. How could we know that without a friend?

"A friend is someone who helps you to persevere." :)

love you, J!!

Funny College Town Story

The other day, as I was running down 19th Street, a blast of music suddenly filled the street. A fraternity house across the way had opened its windows wide and let loose the rousing strains of the soundtrack from Pirates of the Caribbean. A couple frat boys were perched on the windowsill, and a few others outside were erecting a cardboard pirate boat below the window.

I was irresistibly reminded of old days in my brothers' bedroom. Some things don't change, no matter how far away you go!

Happy Birthday to REX!

Seventeen years old!

Love you, dude. :)

(Did you get the card I sent? Heehee.)

The Wheeler Contingent in Oregon

I wish I had a camera so I could follow Claire up with some bits of spring in the Willamette Valley. It's cloudy today, but the rhododendrons and dogwood blooms are breath-taking. The lilacs are coming out just about now as well.

This week is looking full -- a paper due, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test to read, CharlieNotes to do, deponent verbs to memorize, Euclid to sweat over, and hopefully some pleasant hours of running to balance it all out.

Spring term lasts only six more weeks -- six short weeks and then home for three precious months. Our plans for those months involve camping, Faith (yay!!), Zack's graduation, Hill Abbey, Cannon Beach, and hopefully many read-aloud hours with Harry Potter, right, Claire and Brennan? :) I am holding out hope of a chance to visit the beach sometime.

Now that Claire has graciously refreshed my memory on how to post, lol, I hope to write more often, so that she will no longer be the "lonely poster". :)

Now back to deponent verbs and the middle voice. :)

love,
Madelaine

Sunrise

I am a famously late riser but today for some unknown reason I woke up at 5:00. I have been known to say "5:00 in the morning is a time that should not be!" But today I was thankful for it.




The geese on the pond down the road seemed to like me taking pictures of them and posed very nicely.



They did not seem so sure about Sophie; our poorly socialized home-schooled dog =D.


She how ever was more than sure about them!


I have decided that once a week I can be a morning person =).



Claire (the lonely poster:D)