In her ramshackle house off Somerset Terrace;

People make queries

On seeing our neighbor’s cat-haunt,

Saying; ‘Something’s addled in a woman who accommodates

That many cats.'”

-Sylvia Plath’s “Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats”

…I’ve recently discovered the joys of Plath’s poetry. Her use of imagery, enjambment, structure and so on and so forth make this little English nerd a very happy little nerd indeed.

I picked up “The Collected Poems – Sylvia Plath” yesterday on a whim while at the library for the teen volunteer orientation session. It was well worth it…although since I’ve visited the library twice in as many days the pile of *books kept next to my bed has expanded to the height of approximately a foot.

In other news, a conspicuous lack of internet for over twenty four hours (the ultimate “first world problem”) left me with little to do but, you know, actual things. Actual things being “knitting” and “playing the guitar” and “going for a walk just because”.

Instead of going for a walk while it was actually nice out I postponed until it was getting a little on the wet side of things, yet that actually turned out to be in my favor as I managed to rediscover that I love the smell of wet earth. I also rediscovered that:

• Turning off my music once in a while and just listening to nature, cliche as it sounds, is actually really worth it.
• I love the feeling of leaves against my face.
• It isn’t summer until I’ve scratched my knees on raspberry thorns. (On that note, my back is also scratched and I’ve burned several times. I should offer a formal apology to my epidermis.)

I walked up a street until it turned into somebody’s driveway, at which point I veered away into a field that may or may not have been fenced off and spent a few minutes nestled in leaves, scratching my knees in the process.

This was the view from where I tucked myself away inside the leaves.

After a certain amount of leaf snuggling I walked back out and meandered around the neighborhood until I decided I should probably run home, at which point I took a short cut down a very steep hill. The hill had a great view, but it was situated right above a soccer field, and I rather wonder what the soccer mom’s packing their kids into their minivans thought if they noticed the random barefoot (unfortunate shoe selection for adventuring led to the choice to go unshod) teenage girl wandering down the hill.

Whatever confusion I may have caused the minivan owning mothers, or damage done to my knees, I feel that this nice look at my neighborhood was worth it.

All things said, twas a nice note to a summer that has been highly enjoyable so far.

-Kaelen

*These books being the “urgent” books- library books making up a large majority topped by a script and my devotionals and journal.