Adventures

Fuzzy photo

I took this photo with my phone on the bus yesterday. I was quite a few rows back, and i was trying to be surreptitious about it, which is my excuse for it being so fuzzy. The woman had a rather elaborate floral headdress on, the pink flowers of which matched her top quite nicely.

What made her extra interesting, besides the obvious, was the way she acted. She was eating something like nuts, and she looked up like a squirrel every time someone walked past her. Bright eyes, quick head movements, etcetera. The design of the headdress meant that most of the flowers stuck straight out at the sides of the woman's head, rendering her actions even more comedic.

In a crazy bus lady kind of way.

Question

Why does the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle have an exhibit of an east African village?

From a Zoo press release (February 2001):

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation generously funded African Village, which opens this May. The exhibit will immerse visitors in a representation of a rural village in East Africa. The village will contain both traditional (thatch-roofed) and contemporary (metal-roofed) structures, including a community pavilion (palaver hut) for educational programming and special events, a primary school house, a teacher's house and a traditional Kikuyu house. The Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya.

At least there aren't any actual Kikuyu on display.

Photo credit: windflowers43

Hello again

Let's see, what do i have to report?

Well, my job is going well, Andy's job is going well, Sofia's doing well in school. What else? Oh, right, i fell off a 12-foot wall last Saturday.

I was at the top of a climbing wall about 12 feet up in the air, and i fell onto a 6-inch pad, which was on a cushioned floor. Not bad, right? Nothing broken anyway. My back is killing me though, and that cushioned floor and mat? Felt like a rock. I was actually really scared at how much it hurt when it happened, and i was in tears until i got home and took a really hot bath. I frightened Sofia and Andy like you wouldn't believe.

We were at the climbing gym, because we are encouraging Sofia's current rock climbing mania. She took a rock climbing camp over the summer and really enjoyed it; the instructors at the gym are impressed with her talent for climbing, and we feel like it would be really good for her to continue with it. She will soon be going on a weekly basis, once i get myself back over there to sign her up for it. I'm not sure if i will be trying climbing again.

On Sunday we met up with Joe, our wedding photographer, to have our family photo session (he offers a free engagement session with every wedding package, so we opted to use it for a family session instead). The three of us met him down at Gasworks Park, and we all felt really awkward being photographed by a professional in public. We should have the proofs from this session and the wedding by the end of this week, and i can't wait to see them.

That's all i can think of right now, so i will leave you with some pretty pictures i took a couple of weeks ago at the Ballard Locks (AKA Hiram M. Chittenden locks) -- as always, a few more photos are available on Flickr:

Now to start building some semblance of a normal life...

Hi! I'm back!

The wedding went really well; i'll post some pictures once i have some. It was great to see family and friends after so long away. Honeymoon shots can be found here: Flickr (as usual, you need to be on my friends/family list in order to see our smiling faces, but there are plenty of scenery photos too).

We went to Mayne Island, British Columbia, for the week, where we stayed at the Oceanwood Country Inn. There is almost nothing to do on Mayne Island except walk around and relax, so that's what we did. It was a much-needed break for both of us.

We got back on Saturday and celebrated Sofia's 9th birthday on Monday with cupcakes (because we have become addicted to Trophy Cupcakes, who did our wedding cakes).

I start my new job on October 13, so next week will be taken up with desperately trying to learn how to use Lego Mindstorms. I will leave you with a photo of the needle felt hedgehog i made while on vacation (from a Woolpets kit)...

Busyness

Golly. Starting a whole new life is tiring. I don't have time to answer my emails let alone read all the blogs i usually do.

Anyway, i got the job i alluded to last time, so starting in October i will be teaching robotics in an afterschool program on the south side of Seattle. Yes, robotics. Putting that Masters in medieval history to good use.

Plans for the wedding are coming along fine, but i'm starting to feel like i'm running out of time (only 11 days to go before the big one).

Sofia had a sleepover at a friend's house this past weekend, so we had the chance to go see a movie. Andy had been asking me to see Tropic Thunder since i got here, and i had been less than enthusiastic about it. Turns out it's hilarious. I totally recommend it.

I'm including a couple of photos of a rattle i just knitted using a pattern from the Purl Bee. It's for my new nephew-in-law, Max, who is about 1 month old.

You know, when i was composing this post in my head it had a lot more depth; i just can't seem to get that onto the page. Sorry. I'll check in again soon, although it may not be until after the wedding :)