Dorm Life

My friend Emily returned to campus yesterday as a sophomore. Here she is with her mother, Karen, at her new dorm in the midst of the "College Stuff Dump." I am envious of her dorm apartment. It accommodates four with individual sleep/study rooms, two shared bathrooms, and a common area with kitchen.


I must say...the kitchen in their dorm room beats the one I had in my first studio apartment. Between the four of them, the girls must have every kitchen appliance ever invented and enough dishware to feed half the campus. :-)

I helped Emily and Karen unload their cars and tote stuff up more flights of stairs than I care to count. I offered my "expertise" gleaned from hours of watching HGTV to suggest a different arrangment for the furniture in the sitting room as well as guidance in hanging artwork. Lianne's original artwork is collected on one wall with an original painted by one of Emily's best friends. Opposite is a fabulous "Moulin Rouge" poster. More wall decor will be added. We'll see how long the furniture arrangement lasts. At least it gave them some ideas for getting the sofa and two arm chairs out of the institutional "everything against the wall" look.

This should be a fun and exciting year for Emily. Freshman jitters are done with. She has a great group of friends to chum with. And she's"focusing in" on a major -- Photography. [Sorry about the pun.] Check out her photos on her Flickr site (see link below). Emily has a natural eye and I'm eager to see her develop her talent.

Forty years ago just about this time I was arriving at Linfield College as a freshman. Very quiet and shy, lacking the social experience of most of my dorm mates. So I envy Emily more than just her fabulous dorm room.

TRAIL PONY


Here's evidence that Phantom actually left the barn on Friday. We all had our hands full during the ride, so I didn't take a chance on getting the camera out for pictures of us on the trail. :-(

Oh well, I'm hoping to make an appointment with Emily to snap pictures of me and Phantom. Something for my album and her growing portfolio.

That's Phantom's traveling companion, Lefty, in the background. Lefty may have objected to trail signs and tree stumps, but he was AHA Region IV dressage level 2 and 3 reserve champion the previous weekend. (I hope I got his placements right. Anyway...he did darned well in the dressage court.)