Corn

Today I was going to share a bunch of pictures with you from my recent travels home, but when I got to George House, the local coffee shop here in Findlay where I do my writing when I'm home, I realized I forgot my cord to link my camera. So instead I'm going to talk about something I've been thinking on a lot lately: corn.

While I was driving through Oklahoma I realized that I love the smell of corn. Oklahoma was fragrant with it, and so is Ohio. I realized something else though as I drove, that my earliest memories of that smell came from my grandpa's garden. I loved my grandpa's garden. I loved shelling beans. I loved the smell of corn in a pot of water. I miss my grandpa so much.

Today as I rode my bike to Oakwoods, I couldn't help but think about all of this as I went past the corn that's now taller than me. I was also reminded of a time when I an ex that I just wanted to run through the corn (like little girl Jenny does in Forrest Gump). He informed me that they used to make criminals run through corn as punishment. That dream was squashed.

I'm glad that every year I get a happy little reminder of my grandpa, who seemed to plant a love for growing things in me.

A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit. - D. Elton Trueblood

Alabama, Arkansas, I Sure Love My Ma & Pa

Well, I'm back in Findlay, Ohio. I never thought I could be so happy to be here, but I really am. It's nice to be in a place where you know the roads, where all of the McDonald's are, and where you know people.

It took me two hours to unpack my car, and I'm taking a break from putting everything away to write this. It was really nice to walk in to my apartment and see all of the changes I made at the beginning of the summer. I think I literally walked in and said you're so pretty!! (yes, I talk to my apartment, apparently).

Now I have a couple weeks before classes start again and I actually feel ready for my senior year. I'm taking a few courses outside of my major that I am legitimately excited about and a bunch inside my major that I'm super pumped for.

This is kind of a funny moment. I'm sitting on my bed surrounded by mounds of clothing, my foot propped up on a new comforter set and Beyonce's Smash Into You in the background. Life is good.

Pictures to come :)

I live in my own little world. But its ok, they know me here. ― Lauren Myracle

Roll Out ... Again

Today I have started my trek back up to Ohio, taking the long way through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. I will be taking hundreds of pictures once again, but here are some photos from the places I am going that I pinned on my Outside board on Pinterest.

Appalachian Trail

Amicalola Falls, North Georgia, part of the Appalachian Trail.

Appalachian Trail

West Virginia

Craggy Gardens, Blueridge Parkway, North Carolina

It is better to travel well than to arrive. - Buddha

Back From the West

I managed to write one post while I was traveling, and then never had an opportunity to load it! How rude, I know. I have lots and lots of photos to share, some poetry, and a few grand ideas . . all in the few days before I leave for my Long Beautiful Drive back to Ohio. Hopefully I can fit it all in, and hopefully I'll have access to more internet for that trip. So, here's my one post I wrote on the second day:

I couldn't help but take in the land around me yesterday. I drove 17hrs through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and finally, South Dakota. Today my brother and I will be seeing the Badlands, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore and potentially Crazy Horse Monument.

As I type, slowly rolling hills that make the ever expanding South Dakota horizon creep past the window. The sun has risen behind us, giving the land a dusty haze to its golden strands. A million yellow signs dot the road, advertising the Petrified Garden (family owned and operated) and, of course, Robert reads each of them aloud with satirical enthusiasm.

This is a good morning. It is the only morning. I am very much in danger of falling in love with waking up to open air and nothing but the sun on the horizon. I think I'll let myself fall.

Oklahoma was beautiful. I was so thankful for the drive through the OK state because the whole first half smelled like corn: beautiful, stringy, pungent corn. I have always loved the smell of it in Ohio, but never quite to this full appreciation. I really do love Oklahoma. I found myself singing Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa and thinking how I could be a farmer. I could be an Okie.

At first I was very sad to be in Kansas. The interstate we took until well past Topeka was extremely boring, but after turning down the country roads I was taken by the land again. Everything in Kansas was golden and ablaze. There are so few trees! The few large hills gave miles upon miles of horizon to my eyes. It was so hot that I dripped from anywhere my skin was touched, like my body had been tapped as a water source by anything that so much as gently grazed my leg. I would have written Kansas off. I'm so thankful it didn't let me.

As a Texas Longhorn, Nebraska is synonymous with Corn Husker . . . but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer amount of corn growing there, or as my brother said, “they've got that huskin' shit down.” It's unfortunate that by the time I may have noticed something other than the corn in Nebraska, it was dark and I was beginning to get loopy from exhaustion. Maybe I'll catch you on the flip side, Nebraska.

South Dakota . . . ah, South Dakota is a post of its own.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I Wanna Live Where The Green Grass Grows

Since today I am wishing I had a bike to take on a nice long ride, I am going to share a few pictures with you that I took on a ride to Oakwoods Nature Preserve before I Ohio. It's crazy how once you get in to a routine of working out how much you miss it! I definitely am right now.

My bike isn't anything special and I have had it for probably 10 or more years. The trip to Oakwoods takes me about 20 minutes and is about 4 miles. I park her in the shade, slip off my socks and shoes, and walk down to the boat ramp first.

Last time there were a bunch of minnow checking out my toes from a safe distance. 

Then I walk into the woods a way to my special patch of grass and sun!

Above is the path I take. Further up on the trail the park managers added gravel and stones which is obviously upsetting to someone who enjoys walking around barefoot. 

My beautiful patch of grass (above) is constantly dappled with light. I love laying around in the grass and listening to the birds around me and occasionally having false hope that a deer will spring forward on to the path at any moment. Last time I was there I counted 6 or 7 different bird calls, but only saw robins. How rude is that?

Lying around in the grass definitely leaves me covered in debris. I also normally leave the woods with giant red splotches over my abdomen, but for me, the 5 minutes spent there breathing in the woods and birdsong are worth the allergic reaction to the carpet-soft grass.

Further down the trail the path was completely covered by dogwood fluffs. It isn't done justice by this picture but the sight is somewhat magical and gives you the feeling of being transported somewhere else.

Thoughts on grass: I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. - Walt Whitman

'All I Am Is All I'll Ever Be, And That's Just A Boy From Texarkana.'

Yesterday I made a journey which I have taken countless times since the age of 6. I drove from Findlay, Ohio down to Texarkana, AR. The drive, which Google says takes exactly 15 hrs, took me 13 hrs and 10 minutes. What can I say? I drive well.

This drive was horribly uncomfortable though. A few months back my car's heating/cooling system stop allowing me to turn it off, and more recently it stopped allowing me to choose what temperature it spits out. The whole way down my car blew hot air on my feet and up my windshield. It would have been fine with me to just roll down my windows for the trip, except that temperatures were upwards of 90 almost the entire second half of it. Needless to say I am now dehydrated and taking in as much water as I can.

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

Other than my almost fainting, the trip went really well. I didn't hit major traffic in any of the cities and only was stopped in Arkansas for road construction for 5-7 minutes. The best views of my trip were definitely the bridge over the Ohio River, Memphis and the bridge over the Mississippi.

You're the only 10 I see ;)

Obviously not my picture... Hernando de Soto Bridge Memphis

This coming Sunday I will be traveling to Miami, FL with my mother and throughout the week we will be going up to Hot Springs! I am so excited to get to spend some time here and am looking forward to all of the awesome projects my sister-in-law and I will accomplish (we already made our first trip to Hobby Lobby today).

Plus being down here means I will finally get to do a bit of shopping with my ladies. I already scored this awesome fringe purse:

From my favorite author: Not all those who wander are lost. – J. R. R. Tolkien

One of Those Rides . . .

Anyone who has ever been to Northwest Ohio knows it is as flat as a pancake. Well today the land set out to show me otherwise. I took a bike ride today that really kicked my butt. Normally I bike about 4 miles out to the Oakwoods NaturePreserve, where I slip off my shoes and let my feet soak in the quarry for a bit before I bike the 4 miles back to my apartment. For some reason I decided to take another route today that took me on some of the old roads I used to frequent as a high schooler. My route:

Only 7.3 miles . . . but I kid you not, the entire trek was uphill. If I could draw how it felt, it would be like one of those M.C. Escher drawings that never ends.

M.C. Escher's Ascending and Descending (thanks to tentblogger.com for the crop)

Despite my quads burning wildly afterward, and my being certain I had gone at least 50 miles, I felt very accomplished and proud even when I calculated the distance on Google Maps.

Today's Ride Playlist:

My Girls by Animal Collective

Tangled by Maroon 5

Hello by Beyonce

Ghost of a Good Thing by Dashboard Confessional

Eskimo by Damien Rice

Play Crack The Sky by Brand New

Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel

Kingdom Come by The Civil Wars

No Sunlight by Death Cab for Cutie

We Intertwined by The Hush Sound

Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

Thoughts on hills: After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
Nelson Mandela

Hiking Around

Exercise is one of my best friends, but after 7 years of running Track on a high school and college level I hate running for the sake of running. I hurdled, ran sprints and even some middle distance, as well as jumps and throws. Yes. I was a heptathlete. It was gruesome and this past year when I ran in to more than my share of health problems I finally called it quits. Then I took months and months off from any physical exertion and they were some of the worst months of my life. Something amazing happened though: after those months, I started getting in to hiking and nature gawking. I always loved being out of doors and my parents were convinced by age 5 that I would be an Entomologist or Archaeologist. I am still considering getting a second degree in Ecology actually.

But anyhow, I began looking up good hikes nearby (if any of you know Findlay, Ohio you know how funny this is) and eventually accepted that any great hiking would be at least a 2 hour drive away. Since my interests began I have taken many walks at the local Hancock County Parks' Oakwoods, have hiked and climbed around Hocking Hills, Charleston Falls, Hot Springs and BaldMountain. This coming Fall I plan to hike part of the Appalachian Trail during Thanksgiving break and am going to spend most of this summer tromping around anywhere I can go. I love our National Parks and really hope to someday work for one. Here are some pictures from some of my excursions and there will be a lot more to come in the ensuing months!

Oakwoods

Oakwoods

Mt Ida in Hot Springs

Bald Mountain, MI

Hocking Hills

Hocking Hills

Evan at Hocking Hills

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” - John Muir

Pilot Episode: The Plot

It is hard to begin a blog about nothing, or what feels like nothing, but really I want to write about everything and don't know where to start. The easiest topic to begin is one of the hardest to end: explaining myself. In effect that is what this entire blog will become, but what makes a better story than character development?

I am Whitney Goller. I was born in Texarkana, Texas, have lived in Ottawa and Findlay, Ohio, as well as Melksham in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. In my spare time I am a shieldmaiden of Rohan. Currently I attend The University of Findlay and major in studio art. I grew up believing I was anything and everything. After years of people telling me differently, I have finally come to understand that I still am anything and everything. More specifically though, I am an artist, a designer, a thinker, a reader, a writer, a scientist on a small scale, but most importantly I am not a dreamer. I am a believer. I believe in God, in myself, in you if you will let me, in a greater purpose, in individual freedom, in change, and in making things.

This is a lot to put in to few words, but I am hoping you will listen to my explanations as the days go on. I intend to post my art, poetry, thoughts, pictures and maybe even some ideas. I am giving up most of my social media sites for this endeavor of explaining myself without limitations, but in case curiosity gets the best of those reading these words, here are my sites: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. I sell my artwork on both Etsy and Society6.

Oxymoron to think on: Act Naturally