Glanalaw - delighting in pure song

I seem to have a "thing" for aprons.  I love designing them; I love making them; I love wearing them.  (My clothes love it when I wear them, too; I am a very messy cook!) All this to say: I made another apron! This was another stash project; the main fabric I picked up on sale last winter, the muslin for the binding I always have on hand, and the gingham was actually an old shirt I made five or six years ago.  It never fit quite right -- an Empire waist that hit mid-bust, sleeves too short -- and so I rarely wore it.  But it was perfect for this project! This is also the first garment I've drafted entirely myself, and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out!  The skirt is a half-circle, and I discovered in designing it that most of my high school geometry skills (inconsequential to begin with) had deserted me, so it was quite a lot of trial and error.  The bodice I just sort of made up; a few body measurements, some newspaper to draw a rough pat...

After a grueling finals week (I do NOT want to spend upwards of 40 consecutive hours awake again for a very long time!) and a long drive, I'm finally home for the summer.  The last couple days have been consumed with sleeping (very important!) and unpacking (likewise important, but much lower on my priority list!)  But finally my room is beginning to look less like a tornado zone and more like a bedroom, I managed to squash all my books on my bookshelves, and it's beginning to feel like summer.  The kids even dragged me for a swim in the lake this afternoon, although I've been in Tennessee so long that 75 degrees no longer feels like swimming weather! This will definitely be a working summer, as I'm studying for three CLEP tests, researching and beginning the application process for graduate school, and working on music for my senior recital -- not to mention researching and beginning a massive paper for the scholarship symposium at school next spring.  They're no...

I keep being tempted to tell people I've had a horrible week, and it's only Tuesday.  Between spending half the weekend in the tornado shelters, I think to myself, between that and my massive paper due tomorrow, and sleeping through a test this morning, and being sick, etc, etc - I've had a horrible week. But really, I haven't.  I spent the weekend in tornado shelters, yes, but we didn't have a tornado.  We didn't even experience major flooding, as so very much of the state did.  (Pray for TN, people.  You might not think 12 inches of rain over a 2-day period is so much, but it does TERRIBLE things to rivers and to low-lying areas.)  I have a 10-page paper to write, but I don't have the presentations that so many of my friends must give.  I slept through a test, but the kind professor is letting me make it up.  And I may be sick - but it's only a mild cold, nothing debilitating or life-threatening. I have to keep reminding myself that though I...

... that we survived without any tornados on campus - in fact campus is just fine - but the rest of the state isn't looking so hot.  South Jackson experienced some pretty bad flooding; Nashville seems to be pretty well completely underwater; and lots of the little towns got hit really badly.  Travel is difficult due to roads either still underwater or completely washed away; bridges are out, there are sinkholes everywhere, and fields now look like small lakes.  We are fortunate to have escaped so lightly on campus - other than two nights of interrupted sleep, and some minor electrical damage from a lightning strike, we've sustained no damage.  But I know the rest of the state would appreciate prayers; for the waters to recede, and for repairs to be swift.

Last week I went on choir tour with my university choir, main destination being the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  It was a great trip - four evening concerts, three high schools, and two Sunday services - and we got to spend almost two full days exploring D.C.  Of course, one could take two months and not see the whole city!  Unfortunately I did not have my camera, so the few photos I may post will be borrowed from my friends' facebook albums.  The one above is of our whole group in front of the high altar in the Cathedral.  The concert was a very moving experience - to be able to sing, and to worship, in a place of such beauty and grandeur, somehow made God seem very near. Of course we missed an entire week of classes for this trip, and no one can do successful work on a touring bus, so when we got back I had two near-sleepless nights trying to catch up in homework (mostly successful).  These were followed by our spring Choral Concert last nig...