Tag: photo friday

Photo Friday, No. 824

Current Photo Friday theme: School


Denny Chimes, August 2014

No school holds greater affection in my memory than my alma mater, the University of Alabama. I followed in my father’s footsteps (happy anniversary of his birth today!) as an undergraduate, and later went to graduate school there, too (where I met Tom). Whenever I travel to or through Tuscaloosa, I’m going home. This is a shot of Denny Chimes, on the quad where I walked, read, studied, met friends, or daydreamed, always aware of the time because the bells toll every quarter hour. A medley of music used to play in the late afternoon; I’m not sure if that still happens. Behind where I’m shooting is another of the places I enjoyed many hours, the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. The residence you can see in this photo beyond Denny Chimes is the President’s Mansion (separated from the quad by University Boulevard).

Photo Friday, No. 820

Current Photo Friday theme: Hidden

This is a journal I began in the spring of 1980 and wrote in sporadically until March of 2007. My journals stay, not exactly hidden, but out of sight. The first sentence, that spring day in 1980, is One thing dominates my thoughts. The last thing I wrote, on March 18, 2007, is, All the pages don’t have to be filled because the life is FULL. And that matters more       

Between all that, the writing is as mad as… well, I’ll let Google offer a variety of phrases to choose from.

There’s a reason nobody (that I know of) gets to read my journals. Sometimes I look at my young characters falling in and out of love so impulsively and stupidly and intensely and think it all seems very unlikely.

It isn’t unlikely.

I told Tom I need to destroy this journal. He knows I won’t, though he has offered to be present to watch any ritual of destruction.

Through many of those years, I also jotted information day by day in yearly appointment books. I guess those are the Cliff’s Notes to the ramblings in the journal.

Do students still use Cliff’s Notes?