Nobody, darnit

Spiders are one of the hardest and most frustrating things for me to get pictures of with my dumb little autofocus camera. First it seems easy, since spiders tend to hold still for a bit, hoping you'll go away. But then the camera refuses to focus, and the spider skitters away. The contrast has to be just right for the autofocus to pick it up. Today, however, I got some good ones. The jumping spider photo is one of my best.

Arachnophobes, don't click through!

( Read more... )

Before Sunday, was Saturday. I've been having dreams of travel, so I decided to go somewhere I've never been (or remember having gone to, anyway). This meant Vashon Island. It's a good time of year to go, I suspect, since the weather wasn't too bad, but there also wasn't anyone else there. There also isn't anywhere to eat except a Mexican place, which I wasn't in the mood for. Turns out the town is off in the middle of the island rather than conveniently placed at the ferry dock. So I had a yummy lunch of Orange Crush and Knotts Berry Farm Cookies out of a vending machine.

Here's a sleepy sea anemone

( Read more... )

Today, my Viable Paradise classmate, Peter, and his wife were in town, so we visited the Japanese Gardens out by the arboretum. The weather was amazing--bright, clear and crisp. All the leaves are red and dew and frost covered everything. The place is a little too cultured to have the sort of chaotic undergrowth in which I find fun little treasures to photograph, but I found some nice moss and mushrooms.

Afterwards, we drove north to Bellingham, by way of Chuckanut Drive. If you're in the area, make sure you go down Chuckanut right now. The leaves are magnificent this year.

Anyway, here's some pictures of mushrooms.


( Read more... )

Took a wrong turn at the strip mall today, and stumbled onto planters full of fungus.
I don't suppose anyone can identify this one? Each cup is about 1/8 inch across. It's one of those thing I never would have found if not for intently staring at the dirt.


( Read more... )

Today wasn't the greatest of Sundays, but it wasn't too bad. It started out decently enough. I got a bunch done, both cleaning and creative stuff. After getting stuff done, I went to Discovery Park, which I'd been planning on doing for months now. I'm hoping to set part of a story there. The last time I was there was when I was in my phase of randomly exploring Seattle to help figure out where I want to live. Back then, I got lost, wore myself out, but managed to catch the bus just as it started to pour down buckets of rain. The bus has a long layover there, so the driver can get in a break. She let me wait on the bus, rather than out in the cold shelter. This trip was sort of the opposite of that one.

Everything was fine and lovely at first. I got some nice pics, found a clearing full of maples that works perfectly for my story. Then, it started to drizzle. That's fine--I had my hoodie, and a little drizzle is pleasant. I walked along the beach towards the lighthouse. Then it started raining. It didn't just rain, it pissed. I let the wind drive me up the beach to the point, where I thought I could take shelter on the leeward side of the lighthouse. Turns out the point is covered in big rocks and is not something you can easily round in a storm. But that was fine, since it wasn't too cold. I waited there, enjoying the rain, figuring it would stop soon, because usually these squalls pass in a few minutes. It didn't. The waves got bigger. I had to retreat or get my feet wetter than they already were.
It was at least a mile to the bus stop, but I could handle that. I was soaked so thoroughly I was in a state of resignation.
I missed the bus by five minutes.
The next bus left in an hour. I was fine with that, though (mostly) since I knew this bus came early and hung out for a while. Like last time, I could wait on the warm, dry bus. So in the meantime, I sat in the shelter and ate the granola bar I'd brought for a snack.

However, when the bus showed up, the driver didn't let me on, despite my pleas and wheedling. Evening was approaching, I was soaked literally to my skin, I was no longer moving around, and I was starting to shiver. That's when the day officially turned to shit, and I started to cry. I'd been walking all afternoon, I was cold and wet and hungry, and faced with an asshole.
I'm sure the guy has every right to enjoy his lunch break in peace, but man, there's this thing called compassion. I don't know if I should complain to Metro or not. I'd like to, but I honestly don't think I could handle them telling me I was in the wrong. I stood around passive aggressively shivering in front of his bus for half an hour, maybe that's enough.
bleh
But hey, pictures! Including an excellent one of some ants.
( Read more... )

Here's one of the shots from my big macro frenzy last Sunday. It's a close up of a purple sea urchin skeleton.

I had a very excellent day yesterday, full of friends and inspiration. As a result, this morning I awoke with a magnificent Prozac high, and successfully whipped myself into a creative frenzy. Not writing, though that would have been nice, but with my macro photography. I've had this obsession with form and details for a long time now, starting with my Photoshop art, and moving on to macro photography. I'm gaining a better understanding of my obsession.
Spending yesterday and this morning reading about Dali, Picasso and Marcel Duchamp aided this frenzy, which I've just forced myself to come down off.* I'm post some of the results later, when I'm more rational.

I'm pretty sure this is a byproduct of my self-diagnosed ADD. Being able to unconsciously maintain a focus on something for any period of time is a tremendous experience. Like sex, seriously. But it also takes a lot of energy. I'm going to be such a wreck later. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend the rest of the day on my own in my lair.

*When I started to feel like I was visually violating a seashell with the constancy of my shots and penetrating gaze, I knew it was time to take a break. Feeling like a rapist of an inanimate object isn't terribly rational.

My travel was surprisingly smooth and perfect. No delays, no annoying people on the plane. Just the minor irritation that American Airlines makes you pay for food. There was a brief panic when I realized I hadn't printed out my bus ticket. (I wandered Logan airport trying to find a printer. I gave up, and then when I was talking to the guy standing beside me, he asked, "do you have any paper?" and I said, "Why, do you have a printer in your bag?" And lo! He did. But I didn't have any paper. It turns out, I was able to get it printed at the downtown bus station. So all was well.

The ferry ride was gorgeous. The water was smooth, and the sky clear (though just foggy enough that the ship's spotlight made a glowing fuzzy beam.) It wasn't too cold, either, so I sat on deck and stared at the Milky Way for 45 minutes. When I arrived, Steve Gould picked me up, using a lovely scrolling sign on his iPad. We went straight to the beach, where the others were looking at the stars and glowing jellyfish. It was even darker than the ferry, though the effect was spoiled by cars which frequently drove by. Still, I don't think I've seen the Milky Way since Writers Weekend 2008.

The lone picture of Day Zero, which I took as we flew over the Cascades at sunrise. It doesn't properly capture the feel of the mountains as islands poking through the clouds, but it's still pretty.

Adventure, Phase 2 was nice and (mostly) low key, spending time with friends and watching movies and getting some writing done. (I'm basically trading writing advice for baby care) I say "mostly" low key, because there were a lot of babies to help with.

But I also managed to watch Unforgiven, followed by part of Taken, which is an interesting movie to watch after Unforgiven. They both deal with the themes of "Man must return to the wild ways of his badass past." It's a good movie on it's own merits, but it's black and white enough to highlight the insanely nuanced way that Unforgiven tells its story.

Today, we took a drive through Wahkiakum County. It's a part of the state I've never visited, but I've got a couple friends with ties down there. It's a beautiful area, and kenscholes knew a couple interesting nooks and crannies. Among these were an old church with an interesting outhouse behind it. It was wooden, with the requisite crescent moon carved in the back, and two doors. Each was labeled "man" or "woman" along with a foreign word. Finnish, I assume, based on the local ethnic content. Inside the woman's side was a seat and tank, along with a cute shelf holding silk flowers and Purell. Inside the men's side was a broken wooden seat with no hole or tank, and a wasp's nest.

I drove around Puget Island. Yes, me! With my driver's permit! It was the perfect place, because it was mostly flat and straight, and there was like two other cars on the road. All involved in this endeavor survived.

This is the longest amount of time I've been away on non-writing/family business for a long time. It's sort of thrown me, I think. Entering my front door, I was swept away by the distinct feeling of reverse culture shock. Hopefully, a good night's sleep will cure that.

I'll leave you with me (in the loud skirt I bought with calendula_witch in a San Francisco thrift shop) in front of the Historic Grey River Covered Bridge.