Wanderings in the Woods

School has been leaving me pretty burned out, so this weekend, I decided it was time for a change of pace.  And I thought the easiest way to accomplish that would be to have a change of scenery.  Thus, I decided I would go to the park.  I love the park, but I haven't been there in at least a year, probably longer.  I always think I don't have time, but I should really make time for it more often.

 

 

It was also a wonderful excuse to break out my awesome hat that I rarely have a chance to wear.

 

The park has lots of trails, many of which lead down to the lake, which is a nice place, if a bit sunnier than I like.  I prefer finding a bench or a log in the forest to sit and think or write.

I did manage to get some writing done, which was my goal, but not quite as much as I'd wanted.  I did, however, get lots more exercise than I'd planned.  You see, the trails around the park are like a maze: each large path has many different, smaller, sometimes unmarked paths leading off of them.  And my theory when walking is to choose the most interesting looking paths, which generally tend to be those tiny, barely traveled paths.  (Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and all that.)

This usually isn't a problem, because all the small paths eventually lead back to a larger path and all the larger paths eventually lead back to the park.  The only issue is knowing which direction to go.

So eventually I found myself back on a larger path and randomly chose which direction to go.  At some point I realized that the path was taking me around the lake, but I didn't think much of it, because the path twisted and turned and looped back so much that I had no idea where I was.  I did eventually get to the end of it, only to see this:

 
Yup.  The trail ended, not at the park, but at a road.  And the park was three miles back the way I'd just come.  I was not a particularly happy hiker at that point.  For one thing, I was wearing a long skirt and non-hiking boots, which wasn't the best for lots of hiking.  Also, I hadn't had any water since I'd left my house about three hours earlier, so I was pretty thirsty.  Next time I'm bringing a water bottle.

I did get back to the park eventually, but I was pretty exhausted and my feet were quite sore.  Despite all this, I had a really fun time at the park and did have some time to sit peacefully in the middle of the forest and write.  

My Not-so-Adventurous Month

Today (actually several weeks ago now, because I forgot to post this) was one of the best school days of the year: second Friday!  My school, which is the most awesome high school ever, has this tradition that on the second Friday of the school year, we get out early, everyone floods to the picnic tables outside where pizza is sold for a dollar a slice and there are coolers of free soda.  All the clubs set up booths and people wander around, collecting free candy and sometimes baked goods and signing up for more clubs than you can possibly attend.

I think I signed up for more clubs than last year, and I'm really hoping I'll have time to attend them.  I signed up for French Club, German Club, Japanese Club, Indian Culture Club, Drama Club, Photography Club, Your Name Your Story, Model UN, and Student Legislative Assembly.  Most of the clubs meet at lunch, so it's easy(ish) to be part of lots of them.  I was actually Vice President of French Club last year, but I decided I'd rather not do it again.

In other fun news, I got my new backpack!  It's pretty awesome, and actually fits all my stuff!  This means I can stop using the lime green monstrosity I've had since third grade or something.

It's a little darker in real life, but it has the most adorable red striped lining!

Also worth reporting is the wonderful time I had at my friend's tea party last Sunday.  There was lots of delicious snacks, several types of tea, and, of course, delightful company.  (And a ridiculous amount of mosquitoes as well.)

Credit for this lovely photo goes to my friend's mom, who is wonderfully artistic.

School, despite it only being a month in, is already crazy and hectic.  I'm losing hope of ever getting a full night of sleep this school year.  My classes are really pretty hard and require a ton of homework.  It's stressful, to say the least.  But I'm sure I'll get in the swing of things eventually and it will get easier.  (This is such optimistic thinking I'm having trouble even typing it.)

School has kind of taken over, so I really haven't done anything exciting since mid-August.  The most interesting thing I've done is spontaneously go to Fresh Market with my friend.  We have, however, decided that we should visit the tea room and possibly have picnics dressed up in Victorian clothing, complete with parasols, so maybe I'll have something interesting to report soon.

I did get a fun and artistic picture of the Elderflower Lemonade Eleanore and I found.  It was actually quite good, and the bottle is adorable.

I hope that all of you in school are having a better time of it than I am.  Oh, well.  At least I get to see my friends on a regular basis.  (And, despite my complaints, I really do enjoy most of my classes and find them interesting and fun; they're just a lot of work.)

Also, happy Friday the 13th!  I actually get really excited when we have Friday the 13ths.  I'm convinced the reason we've had so many of them this year is because, for one thing, it's 2013, and also because the world was apparently supposed to end last year, so this year isn't supposed to happen and is therefore unlucky.