Tawny

The bright colors of fall are beautiful, but my favorites are the tawny colors of drying grasses and weeds. If you let your eye catch on them, explore them, you notice the differences between what could seem a large stretch of sameness. A phrase from a Mary Oliver poem pops into my head - "and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular." I sometimes think that if we humans managed to eradicate all the things "we" deem as not useful or not beautiful, the world would be so much less rich. So, here, now, I am thankful for all the marvelous beauty and diversity that surrounds me in my own yard and community.

thyme under leaves

Virginia creeper

rock wall and beautiful, tawny weeds

dried grasses and rocks

tawny and headframe

mountains and weeds

love the way the mountains look like layers, stacked on top of one another

more mountain layers (from Walkerville)

Callie in the sun, sharing the bed with a few fall decorations yet to be put up

Employed at last, employed at last...

Okay, as promised, the scoop on the interview. I interviewed Monday afternoon last week. The interview was based on two scenarios, and involved a kind of simulated case study approach. They were scored, with the highest scoring person offered the job. The job was offered to the other person, who turned it down. I was offered the job Tuesday morning. Our scores differed by about 6 points, so it was close. I am naturally delighted to have a job, and hope the other candidate is successful in her search.

I left for Missoula on Monday evening after the interview, spent a few days in Missoula with friends, came over early on Friday to check out some apartments and turn in my application. I flew home, enjoyed the holiday with my family, including my Texas sister and nieces.

This afternoon I found out that I was approved for the apartment I liked. So... in a week I have a job and a place to live! Woo hoo! After being unemployed for 6 months, the mad scramble now begins to find money for all of this. I'm hiring myself out for odd jobs.

The list of completed and upcoming jobs -

• cleaning and reorganization of two different purses
• baking 12 dozen cookies and 4 loaves of non-yeast bread, and cooking & freezing a caserole to feed 24
• cleaning & reorganizing a basement
• weeding

My catch phrase is No Job Too Odd. So, if any of you have any need for odd jobs in the next 2 weeks, let me know. As long as it's legal, I'm not ruling anything out.

I am really excited about the job itself, and the temporary inconvenience of having to scrape together moving money is just that - temporary. I'm thinking that I may be doing some pretty rustic living at first, but having done that more than once in the last couple years... well, it's not pretty, but it works, and it doesn't last forever (thank goodness!) Thanks to all of you who are now and have been my supporters in the past. Without you, I would not have made it through grad school, and wouldn't be soon to start my first professional position. You know who you are, and I will be forever grateful.