WESTWARD FLORA

I thought I would add some pictures today from our camping trip. These were flowers I was particulary drawn to.

 

I love these little flowers. I don't know what they are, but they always remind me of tiny Chinese lanterns.

 

 

Flowers at Soap Lake.

 

I've always loved sunflowers. Every year I tell myself I will plant them, but I haven't yet.

 

 

 

I love the colors in this Oregon Grape. I might have to watercolor these!

 

Kevin and I had white daisys and pink roses at our wedding. Any time I see anything remotely like a daisy, it makes me smile and remember that day (almost 30 years ago now!)

 

 

Washington Park

Kevin and I were able to get away camping last week. This was one of our favorite views. It was taken from the south bluff of Washington Park.

These were some catipillers that had a giant webbing on a rose bush. I saw them a few times. They aren't making cacoons ~ so does anyone know about this species?

A watercolor entry in my journal about the Columbia River Gorge.

The Swinomish Reservation where we camped on the Puget Sound. Stunning.

All in all we had a wonderful time together!

 

 

Family Visit

My brothers came to visit for mom's 86th birthday.

My friend Barry took pictures of the family,

then we went to Dockside for dinner (Couer D' Alene Resort).

 

Below are some pictures from Manito Greenhouse...

 

Gone Away

It's been 20 months since my last confession blog entry. Dad passed away February 9, 2012 and the months before his death were filled with caretaking: the months since filled with sorrow ~ and figuring out a new normal without my dad.

 

 

When reflecting on my dad, I think of the things he taught me:

 

He taught me how to ride a bike. . .

     how to sew. . .

          how to swim. . .

              

But most of all, he taught me how to love learning. For that I am eternally grateful.

 

Miss you dad.

 





More Zoo Pictures

Poor tired bear. Don't you feel sorry for him?

This beautiful African Elepant is an elderly female whose left tusk just fell out one day. The keepers say she has not suffered any ill effects and they have no explanation for the loss.

Colobus Monkey






How are Flamingos like Whales? Both flamingos and baleen whales are filter feeders. Flamingos use their tongue to pump water into their math, then squirt it out past rows of spines and ridges. This filter traps the food inside their bill.

This flamingo was building her mud nest to prepare to lay her eggs. It's a very laborious process!

Beautiful Jaguar.

It was such a great week at the zoo and I look forward to returning soon!

Moonlight Paddle

Kevin and I decided we needed to break our date night routine of the bookstore and decided we would wait for a full moon to go for a special lake paddle date. Tonight was the full moon: Lake Williams past Turnbull Wildlife Refuge.

and just at sunset. . . stunning.

Zoo Day Two

DAY TWO AT THE ZOO

Here are a few of my favorites from today

This orangatan was particularly engaged with the visitors. "Orangatan" means people of the land. Their habitat is disappearing for the development of Palm Oil Farming. Conservationists are working on making "corridors" between primary forests (never disturbed) and secondary forests (recovering) to avoid populations being isolated and therefore causing issues with interbreeding and lack of acreage needed for each animal.
He looked right into my eyes for several minutes. I do wonder how they are processing these "visits" from people.

Who says we are the only ones with opposible thumbs? His hands fascinated me. It seemed he held them in certain poses throughout the day.

Reticulated Pattern on Giraffe

Sleeping Lioness

Tapir: a member of the undulate(hooved stock) family (which includes animals like antelope). There are even toed undulates and odd toed undultes, which are less common.

The Tapir is an odd toed undulate like the pig or a horse.

The foot of a Komodo Dragon. I thought it looked very prehistoric.

Hippopotomus.

Overall we had a wonderful day observing, studying and learning about Inquiry in a zoo setting. I am learning so much and can't wait until I can implement some of these things in the classroom. One thing I learned about this morning was something called community mapping. I challenge you to look it up. It's a pretty cool thing that people are more involved with now that we have technology like Google mapping!

A Birth-DAY at the Zoo

Today was my first face to face time for my Master's of Zoology program. This time is spent at the zoo and deals with how to teach scientific inquiry to students of all ages. We spent part of the day observing the animals so I thought I would share some of my favorite photos of the day.

This gorilla is in honor of my mom. She loves all of the greater apes and it was fun to be able to get so close. In fact this primate was only about three or four feet from where I was standing! He seemed to enjoy entertaining the crowd and had a stare out with me for a few minutes.

This giraffe is named "Olivia." Sarah loves giraffes and I wanted to get some video, but they were being fed in their barn, so Olivia was on her way to dinner! :) I hope to get a chance to feed them this week.

This Malayan Bear is from Borneo and is endangered there. Our class was able to prepar the "enrichment" you see him playing with there. Inside were peanuts, dried apricots and grapes. The keeper also gave them (there's also a female in the enclosure) a whole watermelon which they loved! Enrichment is not just for nourishment, but also to stimulate the animals' sense of play. (It was fun for us too!)

I had to take about 20 pictures of this tucan before I could get one that wasn't blurry. He seemed to know I wanted to get a "still" picture of him.

Wolves are one of my favorite animals. Gray wolves actually come in different colors, but are still called "gray." When I was growing up in San Diego I was called up to the stage during an animal show. A wolf came out and actually knocked me over and licked me on the face! That said, keep in mind that these are NOT dogs and should never be treated as such.

I throughly enjoyed my birthday and even though I am alone in a hotel room, I was warmed by all of the sweet messages on facebook. I feel loved. I'm living my passion. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Rainy Welcome

Rain welcomed me to Seattle for my week at the zoo. It may be raining outside, but I'm feeling pretty sunny about the week ahead!

Six Months in Fast Forward

Over six months and no Blogging. So what's happened since my last entry??? Here's the fast forward version: Dad's Bladder surgery, Kevin's biopsy and cancer diagnosis, Kevin's surgery, Dad 911 call #1 (Feb 14) two day admission, Dad's 2nd 911 call (Feb 17) 3 day admission, Kevin's recheck ~ cancer free but still dealing with side affects, I submit application for zoology scholarship, women's retreat, Dad's 3rd 911 call (April 28th) and 3rd admission 2 days, transfer to VA extended care, back to Sacred Heart for several more days, back to VA, I'm notified I was granted the scholarship, ended another successful spring quarter, went to Oregon Coast alone with Kevin, started first online zoo class and then 4th of July in Montana with Kevin's sister. TA-DA!

Next big thing: Zoo week in mid July!

Family Pictures from September

The Parks Crew

Mom, Dad, Carole, Kevin, Sarah & Matt

Who's dumb idea was this??? :) Oh~mine!

Mom ~ 83 Dad ~ 86

September 2010

We should have got pictures of them getting in the tree!!!

Sibs

Thanks to our friend and photographer, Barry Moses for tolerating all of our sillyness during this photo shoot at our local private university ~ Whitworth. These pictures were taken during Matthew's post army visit in Spokane. We had a lot of fun even though it was kind of thrown together at the last minute. Thanks to my kids too for tolerating all of the "creativity."

Micro-Scapes: Mushrooms

Mushrooms were a curiosity during a recent visit to Priest Lake. We were there for a women's rereat, but during a lag time, I was to be found on my belly under a tree taking pictures of these tiny "forrests." What a great time I had getting these pictures and learning about my Sony CyberShot at the same time. This first picture is my personal favorite!
A cluster of mushrooms.

Upon reflecting with my photography friend, I would have moved the grass out the way before shooting this one.

I never thought I could shoot into the sun, but this picture proves that I was wrong about that.

I love the texture of the pine needles on the ground juxtaposed to the texture on the underside of the mushroom!