Easter

This Easter, Mom, Grandma and I went to Chase Mountain - a place we used to go when I was young to see the wildflowers. This year, with Easter so late, and the weather even later.. there was lots of things out, but not really what we expected.

Johnny Jump-up (Fritillaria pudica)

Glacier/Avalanche Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)

Arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata)

Shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)

The Raw Shark Texts

 The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall

From Amazon: "Not since Fight Club have a I read a book that sizzled with such fierce originality and searing vision as Steven Hall's electrifying debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts. It's a twisting, trippy thriller that tears through the landscape of language, revealing the lurking terrors uncovered in every letter of the written word. Steven Hall swims in the same surreal waters as pop-culture pioneers David Lynch and Michel Gondry, and The Raw Shark Texts deserves to be shelved somewhere between Trainspotting and Life of Pi. It pulls you under like a riptide, leaving you exhausted, exhilarated, and gasping for air."

D read this book, who passed it to R, and eventually to me. I really enjoyed this book - I wouldn't call it a thriller as the Amazon reviewer did, but more of an adventure tale with some seriously bizarre things. This book was slightly confusing in some parts, but it's not the first, and I'm sure it won't be the last time that happens to me while reading..


I'd recommend this to anyone who can handle a sci-fi adventure with a bit of romance thrown in.

Cupcakes for Sparks

It's been a long time since I've posted anything..

I've finally finished all of my undergrad requirements, exams, presentations and projects. It feels good to be done, although I'm sure it hasn't entirely hit me yet. Commencement hasn't happened yet either, so maybe then? (Or when I get my grad pictures back?)

Last week we had a birthday party at Sparks, and E and I made cupcakes for them.

For this, I used Joy the Baker's Vanilla Cupcakes.. and a regular buttercream vanilla icing. Next time, I'll go with something more bold on top.

We decorated 19 of these before we ran out of icing.

 

Crazy, but cool looking. The girls loved them! 

A dozen for the girls..

Now that I'm done school, maybe I'll be able to bake more, and figure out these decorating techniques on my own, without a cake decorating course, which I seem completely unable to take.

Meet Charlie

This is Charlie.

He likes to hang out in the alders, amongst the other gardens and on the lawn. I'm not entirely sure what he's doing, seeing as herons typically live closer to water.. but oh well!

 These are caterpillars, walking in a line. So cute and tiny!

 

 Even baby tent caterpillars like to make tents..

This is the sky on the day that I got sunburnt. 

.. Just another day as a work-study student!

Spring is here :)

Today at work with H at Totem, we saw tons of robins, dark-eyed juncos, European starlings, a few bald eagles, and a beautiful hawk that just chilled out for about 15 minutes. I wish I had my camera, and was better at identifying it! I think it was either a Cooper's, or a Sharp-Shinned.. but I'm really not sure. Hopefully it's back later next week :)

It makes me happy to have my field guides out again! Identified creeping Charlie as the mint that covers a lot of the ground underneath the alders..

The Body in the Library

The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie

From Amazon: "Her old friend Mrs. Bantry has called Miss Marple in again. It seems that the body of a dead blonde lies on the library floor, much to the chagrin of the servants. Miss Marple is only too happy to help, as there's nothing she likes better than nosing around in other people's business."

This summer was the first time I'd ever read an Agatha Christie book. I fell in love, and ended up reading quite a few over the summer. They're quick to read, but definitely have lots of twists in the plot. This one had a lot of characters with similar names, and I definitely got lost with that, but the ending was definitely not what I was expecting!

I'm looking forward to another few of her books before the end of the school year.. :)

What the Dog Saw

What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell

From Amazon: "What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20^th century?"

This is the fourth of Malcolm Gladwell's books, and although they are on a variety of subjects, I've always enjoyed them. This is a collection of some of his shorter newspaper articles, so they are based on different things, including ketchup, the Pill, why pit bulls are banned.. to name a few. His writing style is captivating, if not slightly bizarre. I think there are enough topics covered in this book to make anyone happy!

I'd recommend it, as well as his other books: The Tipping Point, Outliers and Blink.