This picture was taken at Eastern.  Geese are all over the campus.

This picture was taken on campus after the large snow storm on February 12, 2006.

This scene was shot in October, 2004, just off of Gore Road in Holland/Morgan.

This scene was shot on a back road near Gore Road.  I believe it's overlooking Derby.

This is a picture of the gatehouse on campus.  It's located at the former entrance of the campus.

Here is a picture of Jay Peak taken at Mead Hill Cemetery.

This is a picture of a lamp post near my dorm building.

This picture of Mead Hill overlooks Morgan.

This picture of Mead Hill was taken in October, 2004.  It overlooks Morgan.

Here is a picture of Main Street in Newport, Vermont taken in the summer of 2005.

This is a storm developing in Canada over Lake Memphremagog captured in August, 2005.

Here is a picture of Eastern University's famous waterwheel.

    This year, as a junior in high school, I'm in the school's choir, singing  soprano. I love singing a lot.  I am also working on the yearbook.  Not much is happening.  I've been taking an American government class and now I'm  paying more attention to the political news.  I'm looking into colleges to go to, and have yet to decide where to go.  I am leaning towards being a History  major, with a Jewish twist to it.  I've been asked what I'd do, and most likely I'd be a research writer.

     Despite all the poetry I send in, I really hate writing poems.  I'm just not poetic. I'd rather write a novel...  That is one of my pastimes, besides playing the tile game Mahjongg on our family computer.  I'm also a Trekkie, totally in love with the television show Star Trek.  I was almost heartbroken when Star Trek Voyager ended; but, of course, with all the other Trekkies out there, the producers had to start another series.  This one is called  Enterprise, and is almost as good as Voyager.  Although I spend some times on TV and computer, most of my time is spent doing school work though, with my classes becoming more and more difficult.

Hello Everyone,

     I 'm an eleventh grader and go to a private high school.  I live in Vermont across the road from my grandmother and down the road from Rod, Irene, Alicia and Kylee.  I baby sit neighboring 4 and 5 year old boys every other week (because I switch on and off with Marie).  Marie and I also baby sit Kylee once in awhile.  She's adorable and a very good baby.  She actually likes going to sleep.

     I visit my grandmother and Dawn a lot.  My mom's family is nearby too.

The cold of dark.  The heat of light.  Dark light

The birth of trees.  The death of leaves.  Dead birth

The process of being

 

The love of breath.  The hate of time.  Timed breath

The speed of life.  The wait of ceasing.  Ceased life

The process of being

Below Christ

Above sin

Near Heaven

Among unbelievers

Yet unlike them

By faith

In love

With patience

Without fear

Because of the Cross.

..... Remembering My Dad, by Sarah Ames

            Dad liked to play ball.  When Matthew was younger, Dad was a coach of Matthew’s Little League team.  Matthew told me Dad didn’t enjoy the sport, but he was going to help Matthew because it was something Matthew wanted.  He overthrew his right arm one time practicing and he couldn’t throw well after that. I remember Matthew and Dad practicing ball on our front lawn. Games were a big part of our family’s life for a while.  When I was in the sixth grade, my class had a stargazing night.  Dad went with me.  I know he loved looking at the stars and the celestial bodies in the sky.  He was a big part of that night because he fixed the only telescope there so we could look through it.  This last Christmas he bought Matthew, Marie and I a telescope that came with a book on how to use it and a CD to use in the computer. It is the only present I remember that came fully from Dad.

            Dad loved to tease.  It wasn’t verbal teasing, but instead he would tickle us.  When I was younger, he would tickle me until I cried “Uncle!” By then we both were laughing so hard tears came to our eyes.  He loved to touch feet too.  He would barely graze the bottom of our feet.  It must run in his family because Rod has done it to us a few times in the past and in the last few days Terry has.

            Dad loved to travel.  He went to South Carolina a few years back on a business trip and when he returned he told us he had loved it.  Sunday evenings were a time for rides.  Dad knew this area like he knew the back of his hand.  He knew all the backroads and where they would come out to.   Sunday evenings we would get into the car and he’d drive for an hour or two, to see the special places.  He knew stories for each road: if someone had been born there, or if they’d lived there, or even if he had a memory of it.  He bought a CD of travel maps and used it to plan routes to travel.  I think he only used it on the computer… I don’t think he actually did any traveling with it.  But it just showed me how much he loved to being on the road.

            Dad loved certain foods.  He loved chocolate.  He wanted a chocolate bar with him always. He ate Nestle Krunch bars, Caramello bars, Cadbury cream eggs at Easter time, M & M’s, eclairs, fudgsicles, or anything else that was available.  Recently, each morning he’d go through the McDonald’s drive-thru and buy 2 apple danishes for later on.  Last week I had the chance it have some of my own.  He had recommended them to me and I knew his picky tastes in foods would only allow him to eat the best.

            Dad loved working in our garden.  He would do the rodatilling, the planting and the picking.  We had corn, broccoli, cucumbers, onions, peppers, peas, carrots and beans.  When he had the time he would go out and help Mom with pulling the weeds.  This year dad had high hopes of having a garden, despite his weakness and unbalance.  He and Marie only got around to planting peas.  He loved having our own peas and potatoes, because Mom would make a soup out of the peas and potatoes.  He would eat it even if it was 85 degrees outdoors.  A few years ago, raccoons were getting into the corn and taking it all.  So Dad had a plan.  He put an electric fence around the garden and played a radio outdoors all night long.  We brought home hair from the hair-dressers and put it on the stalks.  The raccoons didn’t like the smell of humans and they didn’t come back.  Dad’s grandfather loved gardening, so we know where that love came from.

            Dad loved the computer.  He bought our computer in 1998.  He used programs to set up his schedule for the days he needed RCT.  He typed the names, addresses and phone numbers of each dialysis patient, and made a list for everyone needing it in the northeast kingdom.  He did taxes on the computer.  He bought a program called Dragon-Naturally Speaking.  The computer would hear the words spoken into the mic and it would write them down.  We didn’t have to type.  I never used it.  The computer would hear words that I hadn’t said and put extra words in there.  But Dad used it over and over, trying to make the computer understand.  He had the patience to stick with it.  He knew everything about a computer.  Whenever Matthew, Marie and I had questions we would go talk to Dad. He knew exactly how to fix it.

            And, oh how Dad loved to fix things.  He always seemed to be in the right place and the right time.  A kitchen drawer broke a few weeks ago and Dad replaced a part and the drawer worked.  If the lawnmower had a problem that needed to be fixed, he knew just how.  We have an old heater that we use in the upstairs bathroom.  It is quite old.  Sometimes wires inside would come loose.  I remember turning it on during the winter when the bathroom was freezing and seeing sparks fly from it before it shut off by itself.  By the time Dad had an hour with it, it was running smoothly.  The cord had to be replaced too.  He took the old cord off and had another put on.  He could fix pretty much everything.

            Dad loved his music.  In the last year or two, we were buying more and more worship CDs.  He would listen to the CDs on their way down to dialysis in New Hampshire.  We have a CD/cassette adapter that he would use so that the drivers could hear the songs too.  He loved to sing along with the music.  Mom, Matthew, Marie and I loved to too.  About 4-5 months ago, he ordered TimeLife’s Songs 4 Worship.  Each CD has songs that Dad knew.  He’d bring them to church and play the songs over the sound system before the service started.  When he wasn’t listening to his CDs, he was listening to oldies.  He put the radio on KOOL 105, and he knew those songs too.  Because of him, Matthew and I know and love the oldies.  Last week when I needed a ride home from babysitting, Dad was the one who picked me up.  As was usually, Dad was exhausted after his long day.  On our way home, KOOL 105 was playing Duke of Earl by the Four Tops.  We both began to quietly sing along and Dad reached over to turn the volume up.  We sang louder after he did that and our hands beat to the music. 

            Lastly, dad had a huge desire to get dialysis units here in Newport.  He began dialysis last year and was gone 3 days out of the week.  He was gone from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening.  He was hungry when he got off the machine but when he got home he wasn’t hungry.  There were several periods of time when he would throw up and couldn’t keep anything down.  He became thin.  He had loose flabs of skin and muscles on his arms and his ribs were visible for quite a long time.  He wasn’t in good health for the last two years of his life.  Falling through a barn loft and having all his teeth pulled, cutting himself in the arm with a chain saw, wrecking Dale Nadeau’s tractor, dropping a hammer on his toe and having an ingrown nail pulled, having a possible stroke and loosing balance on his feet, getting in 2 or more car accidents because of his diabetes, moving from job to job in the last 6 years… none were as painful or as draining as having to deal with dialysis and his worsening health.  He lost the use of his legs last year and was slowly coming back. As of last week he could walk without his cane. The doctors were amazed at how good Dad was doing and how strong he was.  And Dad saw those who were around him on dialysis who weren’t as strong as he, who can’t take the 4 hour drive and the 4 hour dialysizing every day.  He saw the people, the ones with all the troubles who could not make the trips back and forth.  Some don’t go down for this life-preserving procedure despite their need to, because of the length of time. These people are the ones that need the dialysis unit in Newport.  My cousin, Eric, Dad’s nephew died in November.  He died of heart failure like my father did.  Eric didn’t want to make the trips down anymore and Dad hated them too.  He fought to bring these machines to Newport and even though he was getting tired of fighting for them, he was going to press on.

            I know my Dad wouldn’t have chosen this time to leave but it was his time to go.  The Lord said “that’s enough David, you can come home.” When he died, I know God received him with a grand smile saying “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The next months and years will be very hard, but with god with us we’ll get through. And with all the wonderful memories we have, he’ll never be too far away.

Deborah sat under a shady palm tree

And gave out God's advice for free.

She was quite a popular person

Around her no quarrel would worsen,

The enemy's army was made of Canaanites

And soon enough they came into sights.

Barak's chariots of iron numbered nine hundred.

Quickly the sounds of battle thundered.

So Sisera was dead and Deborah's prophecy came true.

The prophecy that said Barak would not slew

The great Canaanite enemy Sisera.

Preposition Poem

Through the waters I strolled

Out beyond the sunset, the clouds built.

With worry I watched them expand,

Against the blue skies they flew.

Down the beach I continued,

Along the frothey salt water.

From the island I heard shouts.

Around I turned, to see the sharp brilliance of lightning.

On account of the danger, I backed away.

Up to the trees I moved,

But the storm was too quick.

Over the sand, the rain flowed.

On top of the trees the water danced.

Underneath, I hid.

Around the trees I moved, in spite of the sinking sand,

To my house I went, seeking refuge from the storm.

Despair

The dessert shop smelled like heaven.

Everywhere I looked I saw beautiful foods.

The cakes, pies, pastries, cookies ...

All were exquisitely put together.

Kentucky bourbon cake with nutmeg, pecans, cherries,

Vanilla pie glazed with butter pecan sauce;

Creme de Menthe, cheesecake with the smell of peppermint,

Chocolate soufflé, wonderfully chocolately;

Chocolate banana rum-cake.

My belly ached with hunger pains.

Then the store keeper caught sight of me.

"Out!  Out!"  he yelled, swinging his broom.

I scurried out and stood in the cold, in front of the window,

Wishing I had just 2 bits to buy a bran muffin.

With sorrow in my soul, lead in my feet, and hunger in my belly,

I slowly left the shop.