18 February . . . Day 7

Today felt like summer.  I'm still feeling under the weather, but I couldn't justify staying indoors.  I packed a bag with my camera, keys, and a box of stationary and went for a walk.  I was in a T-shirt in February -- in Pennsylvania!  There were still large sheets of ice all around, left from the snow of just a few weeks ago, but my neighbors were out in short sleeves walking their dogs and chasing their kids.

I wrote a letter to Elizabeth, and took this picture.

a letter to Elizabeth

Later I found dozens of trees that I wanted to photograph.  My roommates and I went out to the Prince Street Cafe for dinner, and we talked about trees.  I miss sitting underneath the big canopy of leaves with Grandmama, bringing her pine cones and fat, red magnolia seeds, pretending that she was the child who needed to be fed. My sister and I would play house under that tree for hours, and Grandmama would talk about how she used to love to climb trees, how Nana was always fussing at her for going up in a tree to read.

I'm so lucky to live here.  Tonight, with a strong wind blowing through my half-opened window, I can smell rain and pretend to be in the mountains.