Two weeks, 21 photos

The squirrel waits for a peanut.

It is collectively thought be my aunt and me that this cardinal looks like a drug addict.

Scallops that were originally destined to be used for a VIMS project were seared in butter and wine. Thank you.

The woodchuck.

Peached and praline.

Cannon at Yorktown, the oceanside city that marked the beginning of the end of the Revolutionary war.

The typical dress of Scottish soldiers that fought at Yorktown. Or, the original hipster.

We saw 4 deer. But only 1 Bambi.

I visited 4 cemeteries. The earliest grave was from 1608.

Someone had drawn pacman on the parchment.

A parade of shoes

Ben & Jerry's.

Sign of old money: Your juniper tree grows through the brick wall designed to keep out riff-raff.

Pizza & Co.

So... my tendencies toward food blogging are literally swallowing this blog. Or maybe it's because I'm not supposed to record the antics in class...
We read poems today. I chose the arms and spoons part of Prufrock. Everyone else had children's poets or TS Eliot. But one girl read Angelou. It was brilliant.
Anyway. Antics. We were supposed to critic our peers, and I said that one guy needed to sound more exasperated. Mistake. That became the word for the day. Every one of the guys in the class described someone as exasperated. The lights were exasperating. The food in the cafeteria was exasperating last night. It culminated when someone asked what that word meant.
If you could experience that, I wouldn't be putting up photos of BLTs and broccoli laden pizza. Speaking of which...

It has everything. Pesto tomato artichoke dip olive oil broccoli lemons provolone prosciutto mushrooms pine nuts onions parmesan feta olives on whole wheat crust.

At the college art museum.

art cafe 26. Nice, overpriced, but with good cappuccino.

The library has the 2nd largest collection of books about dogs in north america. They even have a signed copy of Higglety Pigglety Pop!

The Exmore diner. Collard greens, butterfly shrimp, crab cakes, and cinnamon sugar sweet potato fries.

The Avada Kedavra shake at Aromas. Minty vanilla chai, greenish with blue sprinkles. It was so good. HP 7.2 was also good.

Carnival time!

I won $2 at bingo.

Carol's glasses.

The spider. Yeah, aunty gripped my knee and looked very confused during this one.

Antebellum everywhere.

Stingray's sweet potato biscuit with Virginia baked ham are heart-stoppin' good.

WBG, food, and angles

Banana bread with nectarine Carmel sauce and Hagen daas vanilla. It was so good I ate it over the sink.Well, right now I'm in the Swem Library. There are co-eds waiting for computers.

The old piano in my class room.

The cheese shop, an emporium of my fantasies.

Carol's office is a land of mystery.

Oh, yeah. There have been five lightning storms since I got here.

Asparagus, bacon, brie, and egg salad. Divinity is located at the Blue Talon in Williamsburg.

A Frozen Custard.

Day 1

Today I started what I can only describe as a journey. This summer, I will travel over ten thousand miles, venturing from one end of the Pacific to the edges of the continental Atlantic. However, for you to be even remotely interested in my travels this summer, I must tell who I am, and where I'm going and what I will do once I get there.

Poipu Beach

My name is Avery. I am an English major, college student from the San Francisco bay area. Rabid reader. Avid foodie. I am a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, friend, tutor, and now, a blogger. Since I'm linking up people that I know in reality (there is still something surreal about the relationships that form over a glossy screen on a computing device), many of you might already know these things. I was taught at home for eleven years by my mother. I will digress now, I think...

Homeschooling students usually fall into 2 categories in outsiders eyes: Religious conservatives or hippies. Once I was called something mildly derogatory that encompassed both groups: a prairie child. I personally do not find this overtly enraging, but I was, under no circumstances, a bumpkin, country or otherwise. But, I suppose, being blessed with brains has been a divine anti-comeuppance, because now I'm stereotyped as the crazy-ambitious ex-homeschool student who is a few (You can thank my older sister; we always studied at the same level. I couldn't let her beat me in annual book reading capacity, either.) So, insanely religious or forlornly intelligent, I have dabbled in stereotypes, and am hay to say that they have made me stronger, wiser, and equipped with a plethora of snappy comebacks.I am gladly a nerd, fitting the stereotype to a T. I threw out my back once because my load of books from the library was a bit too heavy.

Kevin (father) Deb (mother)

(Meanwhile, in another, less dorky place:) This summer blog is mainly for my family and friends. I want them to be apart of my adventures, even if we are separated by many miles. If you are one who is represented to me as pixels on a screen, welcome. I'm glad for the company. If there are any glitches in the system, I'll sort them out (first day, remember). 

I start in an airport, but now I'm listening to the ocean pull on the shore, the humid air unfamiliar after a long, chilly spring. I'll keep you updated on my acclimation.