Peachy

I'm in the peach state! Georgia is one of my favorite places on earth. I've spent extend periods of time here, and though I've never actually called Georgia my home, it always feels like it when I cross the state line. To me, Atlanta is the epitome of Georgia - a big city with small-town people. Southern hospitality reigns supreme. It's great. Now I just need a fruit stand to get myself some real fresh peaches.

Actually, I'm a couple of hours east of Atlanta right now - in Milledgeville. It's a crazy place - home to the state's largest public sanitorium (Central State Hospital, which I had the honor of delivering phone books to). There's also lots of outdoorsy stuff - camping, hiking, the Oconee river and wildlife refuge, canoeing, etc. So fun! The only downside is the lack of yarn shops. The nearest LYS, according to Ravelry's system, is in Macon, about thirty minutes down the road.

I've been singing a lot this trip. It just feels like the thing to do. "Country Roads," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Rock the Boat," "King of the Road," "Sweet Home Alabama," and "Red Dirt Road" have made it into the mix multiple times. I don't know how to put this, but... I feel good. (Oh, yeah, I've been singing that song, as well.) This is about where I was yesterday when it started. You can't see it, but there's a hat in progress in my lap. Feet out the window. First sunny day since we'd been here. And it hit me -

I just suddenly feel so alive and so blessed to be alive and so happy with where I am right now. I love being young. I love living in America. I love soaking up every minute of life. I love breathing the fresh air and looking at the beautiful place God created - different parts of it every month. I'm almost giddy with life itself! The only thing better than dreaming about tomorrow is living life. It's so sunshiny and beautiful.

I don't think Whiskers quite shares my sentiments, but he'll catch on. Phone books and knitting combined are not a good thing in his book. Speaking of knitting -

After a huge knitting dearth in my life for the past several weeks, something inspired me to pick up the needles again and knit some baby hats. (Perhaps the same mysterious thing that made be break out in song?) I've finished thirteen hats in the past couple of weeks, more than halfway through with number fourteen. I've been inexplicably drawn to Bernat Softee Baby Jacquards lately - I'm not in love with the yarn. But I keep buying it. Maybe it's just a subconscious desire to see all of the little stripes come out evenly in the middle of the hat (I like symmetry a little too much). In any case, here's a really quick picture of what I've done so far.

Full-Time Travel

I must be crazy, because a little over a month ago I quit two jobs to go on the road delivering phone books. Call it wanderlust, itchy feet, cabin fever, youth, or stupidity, I decided that I couldn't be tied down to schedules or hours any longer. Then I realized that, unlike many people, I had the luxury of stepping right out of it without any enduring consequences. So I stepped out of my very orderly life and into... well, more on what I stepped into later.

In the past month I've been in Chicago, Illinois (awesome city! I MUST go back!), Gallipolis, OH, back home to Greenville for about 48 hours, then to Madison, AL, where I am now. Here's some evidence that I have been where I say I have:
Chicago! Picture taken from the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier. Aaaand...

Point Pleasant, WV, right across the Ohio River from the hotel.

And we drove every mile of the trip. I've found a couple of incredible yarn shops (though, at this point in my knitterly development, all yarn shops are awesome because I've had so little experience with them) and some incredibly great burger places. But I haven't gotten a lot of knitting/crocheting done. In fact, this is about it:
One owlet.