The long Seattle weekend

I've been building up a whole wonderful and unfortunate weekend's worth of writing, which due to my leaving many camera supplies and the lab, will have to wait until tomorrow to be fully illustrated.

On Friday, the students all hosted a potluck for the staff, in return for having us and for the potluck they gave us in our first days of being here. The kitchen in the commons was crazy the night before and the morning of, with shuffling in ovens that somehow got everything done. I put together a green salad and helped load food into Sarah's car to take it down the hill to the lab. I think we'll have to do another one during final presentations, as some of the staff wasn't able to make it or just didn't know about it.

Afterward, Umi and I hit the road to go to Seattle for the weekend. Bryce flew in from Idaho on Thurday, A Sense of Gravity had a concert Friday and my yearly family camping trip was happening Saturday. Some of these things went smoother than others.

We got into Seattle around 5 and got Bryce in Capitol Hill. I was happy to switch drivers for the city, and the three of us went to Glazers Camera.Umi was totally giddy at all the cameras and wall of film refrigerators - I could barely keep up as his did laps around the island of gear display cases. Sometimes my lack of technical knowledge is a blessing. He ended up with a new (relatively speaking) 50mm Zeiss lens.

We parted ways after burgers at DeLuxe so Umi could visit his housemates and we could go to Brendon's show. The concert was at Studio Seven, a little place in SODO where most of the audience was upstairs in the bar. I think people really enjoyed them and David's ridiculously fast playing for his mic checks.

Not A Sense of Gravity, but there's what Studio Seven looks like.

Saturday, I had an early morning photoshoot with A Sense of Gravity at Discovery park. We got together at 7AM so everyone could still get to work on time. They were fantastic to shoot and I look forward to going through them. There was a lot of yelling and frolicking involved.

As Bryce pulled back into the visitor center parking lot to drop of Pete, the dummer, our car turned off before we had stopped moving but as we were slowing down. Strange. He tried to start it again, and the engine was turning over but never starting. Pete had to run to work but the rest of the band came to see what was up.

Many phone calls later and us staring blankly at the engine, a tow truck was called. Not a bad place to be stuck, even through we had yet to eat breakfast. Everyone had gone off to work by now, so Bryce and I wandered the park eating thimble berries.

We got a ride to the Toyota dealer in the tow truck, making some some kids' days in the process. I was worried about our driver - no seatbelt, on the phone,  talking about speeding.. and about his kids. We made it in one piece though. The car wouldn't get looked at until the end of the day, so Brandon, the keyboardist, was kind enough to give us a ride back to Brendon's to wait out the verdict.

No one was home so we went on a nice walk, getting a smoothie and buying art supplies at Dick Blick. I'm now ready (almost) to screen print.

Brendon picked up ingredients for a lovely dinner, as a thank you for photos and because of our dying vehicle. Thick basil pasta, fresh and cut at his work, roasted tomatoes and thick cut bacon with nine different kinds of cheese and fresh bread. He's such a wealth of cheese knowledge.

We made desert which was vanilla bean ice cream with canned cherries, sliced bananas, condensed milk, slivered almonds and chocolate shavings.

Sunday, Brendon and Bryce cooked breakfast - french toast, bacon and hashbrowns. In order for Brendon to be able to visit longer, he drove to his work at Pike's Place with us in the car too. Once at a red light in front of the market, Bryce and Brendon both ran out of the car and switched drivers as he ran off to work.

I crawled into the front seat and we stopped by the car dealership to get our remaining things out of the trunk. I was hoping they would finish late Saturday and we could pick it up the next day, but it required ordering parts that wouldn't be in until Tuesday.

We had a nice lunch at home with fancy cheese, bread and fruit. Eventually it was time for me to leave, so Bryce and I went on the long walk downtown to find Umi and our bus stop. My car being kaput was really unfortunate for the fact I gave other people a rides too. We decided to catch a bus to Everett and then Forrest was nice enough to wait around for us there (he lives in Everett) and give us a ride home.

I was sad to miss family camping. At least my car broke down in a park and not in downtown or on I-5. On top of this misfortune, my phone is MIA on a bus in Everett most likely, so if you call me, try to figure out who has it.

Hiking and Outreach

Yesterday, I made my first big cyan with Kailey. Oyster shells, which worked fantastically. Ten minutes seems to be a good exposure time on these sunny days we've been having lately. It was a lot of fun running throught the lab to get to the washing tank in the student lab. It's just more fun and exciting if you run.

 I also took Forrest's photo - probably my most colorful yet. He had a wonderful turquoise shirt on, holding a flask of neon green algae and  in front of a burnt-orange wall outside of the lab. Fingers crossed about developing.

Annie invited me to Washington Park as I came up to the dorms but I passed for the time being. After I set my stuff in the commons, I decided that actually sounded like a really nice idea, so I ran to catch up and found her at the end of our gravel road.

She took me along her running route, which is a beautiful trail on the hills above the bay. The dirt is worn away, leaving a smooth rock path. We stopped at some rocks looking over the water, perfect for laying in the sun and shimmying down to the water. Annie decided to go for a jump in the water and I lay enjoying the sun and water. I see why it's her favorite spot in Anacortes.

Unfortunately, you'll just have to imagine this lovely spot, as I forgot my camera as I ran up that road. She took a few photos for me, which I'll post when I get.

Soaking up sunshine.

Dr. Bingham's talk on presentation do's and dont's. Presentation is everything.

Kailey's finished cyan!

Forrest.

Today, I made two big cyanotypes with Shad and Umi. They probably both need to be redone, as their materials were very light and I didn't have a big sheet of glass to press them flat onto the paper. The images turned out with only a few white areas and are somewhat difficult to read. I'll be getting glass soon to try again.

There were a bunch of members of the Board of Trustees visiting today, so Denise set up the outreach tanks in front of our building. I was eating lunch outside, so I jumped in to help her move creatures and collect algae for the tanks. It's really fun getting to tell people about organisms and watch them learn or feel something new.

The rest of the day at the lab, I helped Shad record numbers from measurements he was doing with his anemones. He was recording their responses in direct sunlight, and how open they were on a scale of 0 to 4. We then tested the florescence of their cell with at flourometer, the "diving-PAM". Pretty much, a $20,000 instrument that tells how much light is being reflective and overall very awesome and space-age looking. And completely waterproof. I got to operate the machine and record the readings as Shad held the light at the proper place by the anemones.

Umi, Shad and I made stuffed burgers for dinner: they had cheddar and mine was blue cheese, which was fantastic. They were pretty huge burgers. Things were very silly in the commons tonight. At one point Shad started juggling the balls of meat until one ended up on the floor a few seconds later. Totally salvageable.

There was also a new puzzle going on and an empty bottle of wine from just a few people. Kailey and I had to hold things together in the final moments of the puzzle, but it did get done. I think this puzzle made me even more tired of looking at idealic pastoral scenes and perfect little cottages. Now we have a shiny new Thomas Kinkade painting on our table.

Leather Star.

Shad, his anemones and the flourometer..

Anemones!

Setting up shop

I spent the morning setting up the darkroom for hanging large coated paper for cyan. It's a nice little room with two doors to get in and is also where all old samples are stored. I like having a space to just sit and work in the dim orange light, listening to the lab bustling around it.

I made a sign for the door, warning people about the sensitive materials I'm drying. Also, to advertise my project. I'm hoping to make some large prints with a few people tomorrow. The paper is ready to go! I hope it doesn't get destroyed trying to wash those huge sheets. Gene is letting me use a large shallow fishtank for washing, which even has a drain on the side, originally for hooking up to sea water. I think I'll just let the tank drain continuously as a let a bit of fresh water in.

Grocery day and I was a fool. I realized, as the checker told me my total, that I'd forgotten to grab my debit card from my desk. Oh. She was able to suspend my transaction and gave my bags to customer service, then I ran out to the van. Christina was amazing covered my bill, with exact change too. I'll be getting cash tomorrow to fix this..

We also played with camping gear in the commons today, as Anne was testing the tent she bought at shipwreck days. We should really have a sleepover in that building. We also had the pleasure of deflating her new air-mattress so it could actually fit in the tent. Supposedly it has a slow leak, but you probably wouldn't find out until morning.

My den.

Let's make art!

Looking for the sun

Cyanotype day today! Or, at least testing my chemistry. I have some left over from the photo lab I was checking before I mixed up my own kit, and it seems to be going strong. Umi and I coated paper -- I bought Strathmore 400 drawing paper, and I was a bit worried about it falling apart in the water since it's only an 80lb paper -- then Sarah, Shad, Anna, Umi and I went out to make some prints.

There's a nice porch off of the library and every though it was overcast the exposure looked good after 15 minutes. Shad printed with the diagrams of his anemone's movements, which looked like constellations. It's going to make a beautiful large scale print. I'm planning on doing 18"x24" prints in the end, with each person's portrait.

I'm probably going to have trouble keeping my large prints from wrinkling as they dry. Where's a giant stack of sound board when you need it?

Waiting for that sun.

Surprises I get when I leave my camera in Umi's reach.

Washing out their prints.

Shad getting all the unexposed iron out.

Homeward for the Weekend

I had a lovely weekend in Kitsap County, leaving me with three days worth of posting to do!

Friday:

I took Josh and Elizabeth's photos, two people I'd been meaning to track down. It was nice sitting with Josh for a while before his photo, since I hadn't gotten much of a chance to hear about his project. Telling me he "feels like the Hitler of Fucus" was a pretty good one.

I took Elizabeth's in front of an open incubator (like a giant fridge) so I hope the light doesn't blow out too horribly in the photo.

That evening, a group of us went to the Donut House (a 24 hour donut shop) then "cosmic bowling" downtown. I managed to get a strike amongst many a gutter ball. I think my Stallone in the Night tanktop was powering me.

I was also going to Kitsap that night for a random weekend home, so Sarah and I (who was going to Bothel) left at 10:30 to head south. It was really nice having someone to drive with. I dropped her off with her sister and continued on my way to the last ferry of the night. I missed the 11:45 by 15 minutes so I had to wait until 12:55. It was a long night to get to my bed at 2:30.

Slugs love it here. They should be careful climbing up the steps though.

Cosmic Bowling in Anacortes!

Anna and I.

Saturday:

Marilyn, Mom and I went to Bainbridge in the morning to catch the farmer's market and a fancy rummage sale. I drove so they just chatted on the drive, which was probably a nice break. It was a good morning for a drive and going to the market.

The sale we went to was pretty sweet. It was an old house that had lots of different vendors inside and out -- I guess this is a yearly event. I talked to a man with a table of antique radios and told his about Bellingham's radio and electricity museum. If you haven't been, it's awesome.

 We went to the Bonomi's for a barbeque that night, with Mom and Ryan. They've all been exchanging work. I graduated high school with their daughter Sophie, so it was nice getting to catch up with someone you know but never really got to know well. She's also studying photography, but at the Northwest College of Art and Design. I ended up staying later than mom - I just couldn't pass up dessert.

I missed the lake.

Flowers at the Bainbridge farmer's market.

We also went to a sale at a house with lots of different vendors.

BBQ at the Bonomi's with Toby too.

Sunday:

Lindsey, Eric and Caroline came over for a crepe breakfast. We had a great spread of fruit, yogurt, nutella and a yummy quiche Lindsey made. It was great getting to see them all and how big Caroline is getting. Shad came over in the afternoon to get a ride to Anacortes. He was visiting his Aunt and Uncle for the weekend, who happen to live right across the lake! We didn't realize or else he could have gotten a ride down as well.

I showed him around the house and yard, and the lake felt so nice I decided a swim before we leave was just too unbearable not to do. We both got on bathing suits and went for a dip. It was so nice! Being in the water again and the temperature.

One we got dressed and on the road we headed for a 2:30 ferry. I guess Sunday is a popular day, because we got stuck in a line that started at least a mile out of town. Missed the ferry, and the next one, putting us on the 4:00 boat. At least we made it to the waiting lot a bit after 3 so we could get lunch. Another long travel day, with Sarah also, who we got at the same drop off, getting us to Anacortes at 7.

Breakfast!

Caroline is getting so big and technically savvy. Or she just loves seeing how the photos of herself turned out.

Riding the ferry with Shad that we waited almost two hours for.

Diving and Campfires

Yesterday was a very exciting but exhausting day! After editing photos all day in the lab, we had a "Discover Diving" workshop in the pool that evening. Everyone got to go to the pool downtown and get a taste of SCUBA, or practice skilled if you were already learned in the ways of breathing underwater.

We were there from 7 to 10, hence the lack of writing yesterday - I just went to sleep when we got home.

Trying SCUBA was an amazing experience. It wasn't as strange as I imagined. I already love being in the water, so having air just removed the frustration of having to keep going to the surface. Nate taught us some basic skills and swam around the pool with us. We learned how to take of then keep using our regulators underwater and how to get water out of your mask underwater. Seems like that wouldn't be possible, yet it was surprisingly easy. You just blow air out of your nose as your tilt your face up. When Anne, a dive intern, was teaching us skills later, she completely removed her mask then fixed it while on the bottom of the pool. It was amazing, and us four noobies we all able to do it!

I loved being in the water again. I miss not swimming yet this summer and I spent some time swimming the length of the bottom of the deep end. Hopefully someone got a picture of me in the ridiculously big gear, even though it was one of the few smalls. I forget how miniature I apparently am but everyone kept reminding me as I tried to find gear.

Riding in the Death Van, full of air tanks.

The pool.

Jenna and Kasey, SCUBAing for the first time!

Lovely view.. of the refinery.

Today I tromped around at the low tide with Umi, collecting algae samples for his research. In our attempts to read a large sample, we both went over the capacity of our boots, ending up with one wet sock each. Of course there was a closer sample just a short ways down the beach.

I worked on my computer for a while, one shoe and sock off, trying to find a good printing service for making final books of my images. I'll be making lots of phone calls soon.

I watched Elizabeth work in the lab for a while today, doing predation studies with plankton. They told me next week we can look at some of the slides with the epiflourecent microscope again, of water samples from around the area. They said the Sound has amazing biodiversity and interesting critters to look at. I also arranged doing a portrait with Elizabeth tomorrow - one more down!

Anna-Mai, Shad, Umi and I made dinner together again: pizza! We each topped our own then shared them. Mine was baked potato, which apparently many people had never had. Green onions, red onions, bacon, sharp cheddar and red and russet potato slices.

Our whole group, or most of us, finished the day with a trip to Washington Park for s'mores and a nice fire. The sunset was gorgeous over the islands and the treats were good too.

Bucket of Science.

Feeding predators.

Pressing algae for soon-to-come cyan!

Yum!

Washington Park is so pretty.

Trekking Allen Island

Went out with the divers again today and successfully took a portrait! It was the smoothest yet, even on a boat. I got my camera all ready while they were still in the water and Kailey was my text subject for focusing. I took a photo of Annie, then her and Anne together. It was their first dive on their own today (14th dive in the program) which was a pretty big deal.

Nate, the dive safety officer, dropped Kailey and I off on Allen Island so we could play on the shore while the dive was going on. It took a few tries of easing the boat toward slippery rocks, but we both scrambled off in one piece.There were loads of tide pools to explore, and isopods went running as we walked along the rocky beach.

Getting back onto the boat was more challenging, but we finally managed to hope on without the boat banging into the rocks.

This evening, we did our weekly Tuesday-night grocery run then a few of us played two games of Clue. Another game Kalia had never played. This is a good summer for board games.

Bye divers!

A chiton hiding in a tide pool.

Kailey's waterproof camera doing its job.

Isopods were everywhere on this beach.

Just a portion of what a van full of people's groceries looks like.

Dusting

Edited out dust all day in the lab today. It's pretty torturous after a few hours so it's nice when people stop by to chat. I showed Shad about cyanotypes, which I will be doing once my paper gets here and we get some sunshine, which lead to looking at my photo-a-day project. It was two years ago now, and I realized with writing this blog, I'm now doing way more than one a day. For some reason it's less of a chore, perhaps it's being away from home and a new experience.

I got a letter today, from Kia (thanks!). It was very cute.

Lasagna for dinner with Anna-Mai, Shad and Umi - we made the "other cooking group" of people that happened to be home / not in the first cooking party. I'm sure people with float around and it's nice having other people to make dinner with. Cooking for one person, and being able to eat all of your food on time without getting sick of it, is a challenge.

In other news, the mushroom on the way to the lab popped open over night! It's gigantic now, and there's baby ones near it that I expect will do the same thing. Fungi are amazingly speedy growers.

Looks like it ripped part of its cap from growing so fast.

Mail!

Yummy and so many leftovers.