Sycamore Gap along Hadrian's Wall, the piece my camera couldn't capture. Only the grass today was greener and the sky much more grey with about 20 minute intervals of sun. Altogether beautiful. Altogether good for the soul.

These are some of the best things I've heard all day:

"Best let it go! It'll only go up!"- Man walking by me as I'm clutching my scarf and making my way through some windy wind.

"Mind your toes, now. I'm not a very good driver." - Little old lady in a pub scooting past me with her walker.

Also, British greetings:

Hey-o. Hi-o. Thanks, hey. Mornin', hey! Afternoon, hey! Lovely day! Cheers.

Ohhh I just love it here. I thought about this all day.

A review, if you will.

Today I took a pink-and-purple-and-blue bullet train through the greenest countryside I've ever seen. There are crumbling old walls going every which way and clouds that hang so close to the earth you can feel them on your shoulders (in a good way).

Today I stepped off Platform 2 and into the Wilson Home on Warwick Road. I have a view of a nice yard of hydrangeas looking over a bowling green. (The grey team is really good).

Today I had the best scone of my life made by a dear woman at John Watt & Son. It seems every shop in Carlisle is owned by some somebody and their son(s).

Today I ran into about 8 people walking on the right side of the sidewalk. Keeping left is hard.

Today I paid in pounds and tuppence. A pair of hot pink shoes for £ 2, with which I will walk along Hadrian's Wall to-morrow.

Today's dinner was fish and chips with malt vinegar and garlic mayonnaise. When in Britain...

Did I mention my room is purple?

P.S. Camera photographs will have to wait until after the trip. I forgot my USB cable. Oops!

I love, love, love that it is raining on the seventh day in August. You can barely hear it; it's something like white noise. Looking out the window you see it fall in minuscule drops, a constant outflow like static. The smell mingles with the familiar scent of peppermint brewing in my tea--but today it is all the more befitting. I spend my grey afternoon planning a trip-for-one to the United Kingdom. Rail pass, notebook, prospectus, and guidebooks strewn about as I scribble down names of places that will soon become stories with photographs and journal entries and conversations; it's quite unreal.

Photo, Andy Monaghan

"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Riches of life.

I have a whole box and about 10 digital files of unpublished photographs. A friend back home encouraged me to share what I capture, and I am only now starting to believe her. Why do I keep these things to myself? From now on, I will try to archive my adventures photographically. First, there is much catching up to do; I woke up this morning and uploaded an entire box of film photographs onto my computer. Here are some favorites from my post-graduation road trip home with Tia. And the rest you'll find conveniently displayed on Facebook.