and back again

Well... I'm home.

It's rather odd - I feel more overwhelmed now than I did during the last weeks of school. There were so many things that I told myself I would do "after graduation." It is now "after graduation" and the list looms large and immediate.

I keep thinking about Frodo and Sam in the LotR. In the books, they returned home to find the shire under siege and they had one last heroic task to complete (together with Merry and Pippin) - to rid the shire of the scourge that "Sharky" had brought. Once they had completed that task, all that was really left for Frodo was to write his memoirs. The shire was saved and returned to what it had been but he was unable to return to what he had been - he was too much changed. Bilbo too was so changed by his own journey and his possession of the ring that he was also unable to return to what he had been. In their story, the time came for them to leave the shire and go on one last journey to the Grey Havens.

I'm not implying that it is time for me to leave and "go on one last journey" (not some long time yet) - but I do feel that I have changed while much of my surroundings have not. I wonder what that will lead too - it seems that it should lead to something or other.

For now - I'm just trying to get my house in order, literally. There is so very much to do - organize the kitchen (since I just sort of threw things in cupboards and drawers when I moved in last year), clean up all the wood in the back yard and begin to plan my garden, paint a mural, paint the kitchen door and do the stained glass work, re-do the kitchen floor, set up the guest room, and on and on. Oh - and get a dog... a border collie of course... hopefully one that likes to dance (seriously... canine freestyle heel-work to music... Google it).

I do think I'm going to close this blog and return to my Live Journal site. Blogger.com has been fun, but even after a year LJ still feels more like home... there is a real community there and I'm am somehow part of it even if I've been mostly absent for some time.

For those who do read this blog - you might want to visit my LJ site. If you are interested in LJ - send me an e-mail and I'll send you the link.

**PLEASE NOTE** I've removed the LJ link from this post AND I've turned off the comment ability for anyone who is not a member of this specific Blog. Unfortunately, there are SPAMMERS trolling Blogger.com and leaving SPAM advertisements as comments in other people's blogs. I find this practice truly distasteful. Rather than take the time to police the comments in this Blog - I've moved all current journal (and future journal) entries back to my LJ account (LJ has much better security regarding spammers and their ilk).

I've left this Blog up for review and reflection purposes - but there will be no new posts and no new comments.

**And - can I just say once again how funny it is that the spell checker built into blogger doesn't recognize the word blog until you tell it to.