Lizard

Texas Spiny Lizard on limestone

Winter/Spring Schedule

Hey Folks,
I finally have a somewhat free morning (ie. no homework, readings, or tests today), so I thought I would go through and solidify my rather confusing schedule for the rest of the year and the spring.

11/23 mid-morning come home!!!
11/27 noon-ish return to school
12/6 Statistics final
12/7 Art History final
12/9 9-11am Latin American final
12/9 12-2pm French final
12/9 2:01pm burn books, go ballistics, and come home!
(Actually I may end up having to stay another night so that I can get my room cleaned and my stuff packed up as I will not have time before finals to do so)
Christmas Break!!!
1/2 Return to school
1/3 JanTerm begins
1/24 JanTerm ends
Probably come home
1/30 Classes start
3/9-19 Spring Break/possible Alt.SB
5/13 Classes end!!!

Also, my classes for the spring will be Art History Survey: Renaissance to Modern, the Sociology of Childhood, French 202 (French 4), and Art Fundamentals.  I got lucky that I got the courses that I needed and they are perfectly spaced so that M-F I have a class in the morning and a class in the afternoon.  Because these are all 200 level classes it should be a bit easier than this semester which is a good thing because I will be having to spend extra time planning to study abroad in the fall.  Cross your fingers!
I love yall buckets and can't wait to see yall in just a few days.
xoxo

-Kate

R.I.P.

The Scud family kindly request that in 

lieu of flowers, donations be made to

the Kate Hamilton Donut and Coffee Foundation.

We offer our deepest sympathies to the Scud

family in this time of great loss.

Sincerely, the Grande Cup Funeral Home.

Il fait froid.

It appears as though that cold front yesterday has officially set in and it has stayed in the mid 50's all day.  I hope it will stay because lately the weather has been so erratic that I have to walk outside in my PJs every morning just to see if I should layer on with scarves and mittens or wear shorts.  

Today has been quite successful so far.  I've managed to write another page on my research paper which means that I am about 1/4 of the way there.  It is French Week, so last night we held a screening of Le Diner de Cons, the inspiration for the American version Dinner for Schmucks.  While a classic, it was so frustrating that I don't think I could stomach watching it again.  Oddly enough we ended up watching it in another part of the Language House than we usually do, so basically we were a group of mostly Spanish students watching a French movie with subtitles in English in the Japanese commons.  That's college for you!  This evening we are also having a French cooking class put on by Brittnay who actually trained to be a pastry chef in France.  I'm just looking forward to the madeleines and chocolat chaud.  Yum...

I also managed to reach new levels of professional studentship today.  I actually had my art history professor ask to borrow yet another one of my books that I ordered through Inter Library Loan for part of his own research. I see now that being a teacher has its advantages in this symbiotic relationship.  The student does the legwork for the professor's research in exchange for brownie points and extra credit.  This might just work!  

In yet another moment of spontaneous goodness, I have discovered that writing French cuss words on a cardboard replica of the Berlin Wall is oddly liberating.  The German club taped together a colossus of boxes on the North Lawn and then invited everyone to paint and graffiti it with whatever they wanted.  It is actually coming along.  I couldn't think of anything original yet suitable and relevant that I would have painted on the wall had I actually been there so I settled on the old favorite of French profanity.  You sound so worldly and high class when you cuss in another language and people don't get as offended.  I would suggest it.  

Well, I must go back to writing that paper.  

I love yall all and can't wait till Thanksgiving.

xoxo

-Kate

p.s. I so totally got an A on that Latin American Studies test

...just saying

...in case anyone was wondering

beep.

Yeah, that moment when you realize that the "broken fire alarm" that you have taken the last ten minutes to dismantle is really your neighbors' clock alarm.  Classic.  It has now been going for the past hour with no sign of their return, so I am resigned to attempting to put back together the perfectly fine fire alarm and just try and sit it out.  Every once in a while I almost forget that it is there and that is...wait...its still there.  Despite the persistent beeping, I've had a mildly productive day of walking back and forth across campus and arriving at class an hour early because of clocks still set on pre-time change time, but besides that, it's been good.  The cafeteria had some amazing pesto-pita thing that went especially well with a little scoop of cherry cobbler on this windy evening, so I can't complain.  I finally finished that essay that I was working on while complaining in my last post, and it is such a relief to finish that assignment.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it is a B paper.  I kind of BSed in the middle where I was discussing the author's perspective, but hopefully she will kindly overlook that bit and take note of my perfectly centered title page and correct spelling.  Just kidding, the perfect margins are what I should really be getting points for.  Those were deceptively difficult to type out!
Back to the books!

I love yall much and hope yall had a great day.

xoxo

-Kate Alice

I have a complaint...

Having already spent six hours of my day staring at a computer screen writing a tremendously boring essay, I feel that I am justified in spending a few minutes complaining.  Today is probably one of the most beautifully perfect days of the year and yet I have only spent about 6 minutes of it actually outside with no hope of anymore precious minutes.  In the perfect world, colleges would be designed without any homework to do in one's "free time".  Instead of the current system, I would devise a school, much like our public primary schools in which there would be one large chunk of each day spent in class where all of the work and homework expected of you could be finished in class.  Then, when the classes were over, one would simply go home and be free to live until the next morning.  I guess you could say I am just feeling pessimistic over the exorbitant about of homework that I have left even once this paper is completed, but there has to be a better way.  The ability to spent time outside on a beautiful day is something that should be taken for granted.  Instead, we scurry from one class to the next and back and forth as fast as we can between our meals and our dorms trying to live up to the insanely high standards set for us by society, ourselves, and our professors.  All in all, I object.  I guess that just means that I am going to have to start a campaign for a mandatory outdoor appreciation class each semester.  The things this world is coming to...sigh...well, back to that really boring essay.  I love yall much and hope that yall are spending extra time outside on this beautiful fall day to make up for the time that I am forced to be inside.  Much love always,

Kate Alice 

First Week of November

Mustard green salad

 We picked new three-inch high mustard greens, roots and all, and incorporated new cilantro, fresh basil, cheese, tomatoes, and a dressing made of Italian dressing mixed with equal part mayonnaise.  And sprinkled with almond slices.  Maybe the best green salad I've ever eaten.

Frost defense

Temperatures dropped to twenty-nine degrees, burning most of the tender leaves that weren't covered.  We managed to save the green beans, which were a high priority.  The old electric blanket on the right appeared to work better than cloth or plastic tarps. (Yes, those are sleeping bag pads there in the middle.)

Rooster

 The idea is to loose the red rooster when the hens are mature enough to form a harem, wait for fertilized eggs to pile up in the hay, and encourage some patient hen to keep them warm for a month till chicks emerge.

Sparrow-flavored water

Yum.

Next spring's deck

 I worked a deal with the local lumber yard to get these pressure treated culls for one fifth their regular cost.  They should be just fine for a deck around the remodeled shop house.

Autumn afternoon

1431 and to-do list

Preparing soup (and sipping mead)

Celtic Festival

Thank you, Amy, for inviting us for such a fun time.  (Fiesta Gardens on Lady Bird Lake in east Austin)

Celtic violence

An actual image depicting how fast time flies