Snow Day Activities

This is the story of a snowman.  This snowman's name is Fernando Gonzalez and he is a Mexican skier.  A fantastic Mexican skier actually.  This is his story; taking on the Ski Jump of Peril.  (For the record this is my first experience building a snowman*)  Fernando not only has but rocks a toupee, and has personalized hand-made ski poles.

The day Fernando chose to make his jump was absolutely beautiful.

Fernando gets his skis.

The Jump of Peril, staring into the face of our competitor.  Remnants of skis and other jumpers before litter the edge of the jump.  One of the other skiers who tried the jump and failed was an Ecuadorian rival Luis.  The night before the jump the two rivals had a run in with each other over a girl named Daisy.  She was stringing them both along, pitting them again each other.  Some blame Fernando for Luis' failure....

Fernando stares down the jump.  Gearing himself up for what is to come.

The face of a champion.

*Just so everyone knows Fernando was not technically my first snowman.  There has been one other.  However he was no as well established as Fernando.  Anton (the friend who helped create Fernando) graciously agreed to provide some context for my first snowman.

Back to Being 7 Years Old

As a kid, and in to my high school years we traveled a lot as a family.  We were always going places to see family but we stopped at lots of the national parks and things in between.  We also used to listen as my mom would read Roadside Geology of the United States.  This book tells you all about the surrounding geology given what road and mile-marker you are at.  It's really fascinating.  I never wanted to be a geologist, but I loved loved loved learning about the geology across all the states we went through.  I remember a small bit about going to Carlsbad Caverns the time that we went (although I learned when we went this time that part of my "memory" was really about somewhere in Mississippi or Missouri... oops!) and I remember loving it.  But that was back when I was small and I had been thinking about it a lot.  This Christmas break Abbey and I had the joint idea (chicken and the egg kind of thing for who actually gets credit...) to go back when we're all older, her kids might remember, and her husband could see.  I was ecstatic when my mom agreed.  And that was when I turned back into a little kid again....except this time the little kid has a camera!

My picture excitement started when we pulled into our hotel and the sunset was awesome.  I needed to get a picture of the dog's ear as well, those always fascinate me.

It was the next morning that we went to the caves and you drive up onto a little plateau to get to the entrance. Looking out across the prairie was gorgeous I thought.  Well gorgeous in a "ugly desert spiky ocatillo" kind of way.

The entrance to the visitor's center.

We decided to hike down through the natural entrance then we thought we would take the elevator back up at the end of the day.  There is this warning at the beginning of the hike and I thought it was hilarious.  Hilarious because you're hiking downhill.  Maybe they want to put that on the other end of the 1.2 mile trail 750 vertical feet down in the ground.

 This is the natural entrance to the cave.  Well the close up version.  If we had come in the summer I would have forced my family to go back at sunset so we could see all the bats come teeming out of the cave for the night.  But sadly, the bats winter in Mexico.  Gorgeous though right?  The amount of detail that is entirely etched by water and wind.  Mind boggling.

These are called draperies, and it's what happens when water and sediment drip down the side of the cave wall.  The caves we were in weren't really "living" caves, which means that they're dry for the most part, so the draperies, stalactites, and stalagmites aren't still growing.  There were so many caves behind caves, and caves through holes.  I couldn't quite capture it, but I tried really hard!!

It fascinates me how all these things can grow and be shaped and still be their own entity.  They're all entirely separate even though they're formed in the same way.  In this picture alone you can see stalactites, stalagmites, cave popcorn (the bumpy stuff on the right side), and draperies.

When a stalactite and a stalagmite grow together it forms a column.  They are the most beautiful imposing things I've ever seen.  This column was about 4 feet in diameter.  Ahmazing.

This is my favorite picture of the trip.  Sadly it doesn't even capture the things that I could see in person.  But it's still my fav.  The stalactites look so delicate, and yet they're made of rock!  And they're completely untouched and as natural as anything.  I can't even explain how much I want to gush about how cool it is to witness something so amazing and natural and know that man had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.  We were 750 feet directly down into the earth and still this stuff forms.  Absolutely amazing.

This is my tribute to some of the photographs that were taken when the caves were first discovered.  The man who discovered them, Jim White, couldn't get anyone to come see them until he dragged a photographer down to take some pictures.  My tribute would be much better if I had a tripod but I will settle :).  The black and white is pretty cool though and still manages to capture the subtleties of the features.

I was so excited to go to the caves and even more excited that I got to share it with my fantastic family.

Fall apparently passed me by...

The last time I looked it was the first of November.  It was then that I realized I have completely missed all of October.  And now I realize I've already missed an entire week of November!  What is that all about?  I guess I missed all this time in blogging too since it's been a month and a half since I've written something.  There's two reasons for this, both don't matter at all but I'll tell you anyway.  First it really has been like I've missed the last month.  This semester has just been going by insanely fast which is good because I hate it, but also bad because I don't have any time to get my bearings!  The second reason is that I haven't been incredibly happy and writing when I'm not happy is not a fun experience for anyone.  But I think I've turned a corner there.  

For a little while I could see no light at the end of the tunnel.  I thought that the tunnel I was in had no end and people just went in it to die horrible claustrophobic deaths and no one would ever find their bodies.

Because of that happy sentiment I've had the opportunity to realize just how amazing my friends and family are.  Never before in my life have I had to lean so hard on the ones who love me.  They taught me something I have a sneaking suspicion I desperately needed to learn.  That is:  The value of Perspective.

Everything is in extreme focus when you're very close to it.

Such extreme focus that the rest of the big picture is severely diminished.

Sometimes that kind of focus can bring beauty to something you never noticed before.  Unfortunately it can also make you feel like you are a single solitary leaf being blown about by the wind and no one else knows how you're feeling.

This isn't exactly reality though.  There are many beautiful things that we can see if we widen our focus, and widen our perspective.  It might take a little longer to see (we have to lengthen the shutter speed), but it's still there.  And the colors can be amazing.

Basically the thing I learned about perspective is that there's always light somewhere.  It just might not be where I'm looking at the moment.  So if I don't see any light, I just need to look somewhere else.

And it's always the darkest before the brilliant sunny dawn.

*If you couldn't tell, I get picture happy in the fall.  It turned out to be one of the main things that made me happy this past month.  I have so many more pictures I wish I could put them all up so that I could look at them more and more.

Presentationing and Vacaytioning

I was on vacation (ish) this past week in sunny humid Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  My purpose in going was to present a paper I'd written at a technical conference.  But my advisor graciously allowed me a few extra days before and after the conference.  So as a result I was both insanely busy with the conference and being scared out of my mind for my presentation, and also loving the very essence of life because I could walk with no shoes along the beach for hours on end.

First I'll get work out of the way.  I mentioned earlier that I've given presentations before, but this one had me really nervous.  The reason for this comes all the way down to the field I'm in.  This field is really only 40-50 years old.  This kind of seems like a lot but when you look at it in terms of technical conferences, it means that the same people who started the field, the ones who invented the concepts I'm researching, are all still attending these meetings.  So I'm presenting my research with my one year of grad school to back me up, to people who invented the field.  I admit it.  I was intimidated.  There were two days of conference before my presentation and while I didn't go to much of the conference (I was glued to my computer and power point) I did get to know people better, and they became more people like rather than the pedestal-sitting entities I had made them out to be in my head.  So that made me less nervous.  And I also got more familiar with my presentation and realized that what I'd heard really was true; "No one knows more about my research than I do."  I also get much more comfortable after I start talking.  So while the beginning of my talk was a little rocky (my dad said I was "tense", I'm hoping he's the only one who noticed), it got much better towards the end.  I was actually really proud of myself because every time I practiced I was only about 16-17 minutes long (I was supposed to take 20 mins), but when I gave it, and I got more comfortable, and started pointing more things out, I was within 20 seconds of the time.  Small successes!!  So it went well.  The questions I got I could answer them all and I think they'll help me with my future research.

Now the fun part (and also the reason I haven't been able to bring myself to put on real shoes since I've gotten home)!  The first day we were there my prof took us kayaking up this river.  He does this every year because if you go at the right time, low tide, you get to see the dolphins that come up river to eat fish.  And also a plethora of birds.  Here are some of the highlights of that fun trip :).

This cute little buddy was not so sure about us...

One of the two dolphins we saw.  So dang cool.

And then my personal favorite and what made the ENTIRE trip for me:

I adore otters and this one was SO cute.  Right before this pic he was eating the oysters out of the oyster bed there.  I wanted to die he was so cute.

During the week we also spent massive amounts of time on the beach, and in the sun.  And one morning we even got up early enough to go sit on the beach and watch the sun rise.  It was fantastic even though it was 6 in the morning (basically that whole week I didn't get more than 6 hours of sleep a night and averaged about 4..).  Just beautiful though.

This was the beginnings... about half an hour after we got to the beach.  It was cloudy so 'official' sunrise wasn't when we actually saw the sun.

And then it fully up, and what made me want to live on the beach.  I realized I could walk on the beach for hours and not get bored.  I don't really ever go in the water (we were night swimming and something large definitely grazed up upper thigh......) but just walking in the sand right where the waves barely reach is pretty much heaven.

And the last fun thing we did was parasailing.  It's so peaceful I love it (have to say it was better in Mexico though because the water there was clear).

Such fun such fun.

Lucy is now Betty

I liked my sisters name much better than Lucy so I'm changing her name to Betty.  I finally got a picture of her!  She is getting more used to me.  I actually had a party at my house last night and she stayed on her nest the entire time.  I was impressed she didn't get scared with the number of people going in and out.  She is so cute.  She's now up to 9 or 10 eggs.  I'm so amazed that such a tiny duck can have that many eggs!!  That's the only update I have for now though.  More to come!

Lucy's Story

Take a look at this picture.  This is what I see when walking directly out my door.  It is my neighbor's flower garden.  Looks beautiful right?

Okay this is really boring honestly.  It's just green, there are no flowers yet, and honestly I hardly ever notice their plants.  Yesterday was completely different however.  But before I give it away let's take a closer look at the bushes there.

See anything interesting yet?

Now do you see it?  Just the hint of it....

This is, and is going to continue to be the story of Lucy, my new pet.  Yesterday morning I walked out of my front door and quite suddenly had a run in with a very surprised duck. (I have since learned it is a mallard duck after an hour long conversation with my momma)  I was quite shocked to see a duck right outside my front door as usually they are outside my back door (I live on a lake).  So me being the curious person I am I started looking around from where the duck came from.  And what should I find but:

That's right!  My adorable little duck is going to be a mama duck!  This picture was actually taken today and there are 7 eggs today, yesterday there were only 5.  Apparently mallard ducks lay anywhere between 10 and 15 eggs then sit on them for about a month before they hatch.  I can't wait to see little baby ducks!!  I don't have a picture of Lucy because she is a little afraid of me.  I came up on her today sleeping but when I opened the door she woke up and left.  She apparently thinks I'm sketchy.  But I'll try and describe her.  She's very small actually, the smallest duck I've see that's full grown.  And she's a pretty tan and brown.

So for the next month I hope to periodically update on Lucy and her future ducklings!!

Tulip Love

As it was just Mother's Day it is quite appropriate and fortuitous that this post is a dedication to my mom.  There are many things that my momma taught me to love, not the least of which is a love of flowers.  I can definitely remember planting and watching flowers grow pretty much my entire life.  I remember most vividly the roses and the hollyhocks.  These were the prettiest and best of all the flowers we grew I thought.  I adore rose bushes and never minded dead-heading them or taking off all the aphids.  They're just so gorgeous!  The colors that flowers can achieve is ridiculous.  You can't even come close to capturing it on camera, which is unfortunate but even more awesome because you have to get out in them to really appreciate them.
Here's the thing though, we never had tulips.  I remember planting them once and then watching these d*** (but cute) rabbits come up and eat the entire flower in one bite.  So disappointing.  I don't know if that is the reason I never really cared for tulips or what, but basically I thought they were boring.  Just not a very interesting shape I guess.  I always could draw them pretty well though hahah......

And then I went to Chicago and realized that tulips could be fantastically colorful, but still I was not overly impressed with them.  I was more impressed with the fact that Chicago had them ALL over their city.  They really were working on the beautification and it was awesome.  Brilliantly colored flowers with fog was just awesome.  This resulted in a lot of pictures but not a love of tulips.  And then my friends, I went to Holland.  Michigan that is.  Which is apparently the tulip capital of America or something insane like this.  I was in Holland for their annual tulip festival and spent only about 3 hours there, and yet I came away with about 75 pictures of tulips.  The colors were the most amazing things I had ever seen, I wish I could describe.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds and shapes and color combinations of tulips!!  Gorgeous.  Pure Gorgeous.

So in honor of my mother and in honor of a new favorite flower here are some inadequate but still amazing pics of the tulip.