Delicious Drinks!

For my birthday week I've treated myself to some truly delicious (non-alcoholic) drinks.

Thai tea!

Mango lassi

Strawberry Mango Lemonade

Olympia Washington

While in Washington my sister and I made a pitstop in Olympia. I thought it was interesting that on one side of the street was this beautiful building...

...and on the other side was this pit of despair known as the Greyhound Station. You might say it doesn't look so bad. But that's because you can't smell it.

Washington State Trip Pictures

A very difficult climbing wall in the Seattle Science Museum

At the base of a waterfall in the Quinault Rainforest

At the top of the Space Needle



Riding a stone camel in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum

Impromtu RenFaire on the Train! Just kidding, actually, here's how I got the flower crown: Me (to a lady on the train making crowns of flowers) - "That's pretty"
Lady "Do you want one?"
Me "...Yes?"
Lady "Will you wear it?"
Me "Sure!"

Wildcard Wednesday
Orion

Orion is my favorite constellation and is almost like a friend. He's always been there for me and used to look like he hung right over my apartment in Ohio. He makes me think of home and safety. My sister took this lovely picture, as I am not nearly so good with a camera in the dark. Click on the picture to zoom in and see it best. Orion is to the right over the trees. His belt (the three stars lined up) and dagger are most visible. The bright star to the lower left is Sirius, the dog star.

Photo Sunday
Bike Trail

The bike trail near our home. And possibly a quail?

Wildcard Wednesday
Photos!

Okay, sorry my Last Wish story got derailed again. I didn't have time to finish the section because I was too bust thrifting with friends. I'm sure you're all disappointed. But look, I got these awesome red leather boots! But other than a Mord-Sith costume, I can't think what to do with them... Bonus points if you know what a Mord-Sith is. Hint: It is NOT from Star Wars.

Photo Sunday
Walnut Bush?

My sister and I went bicycling today out on a trail by the river and we found this odd unidentifiable plant. At first we thought they were walnuts but most the trees with these things were squat and looked more like bushes which does not describe the walnut trees I remember. Anyone recognize it?

I cut it open the unidentified fruit or nut open with my key but it didn't help to reveal the mystery. It was rather soft for a nut but possibly wasn't ripe.

Here's also a blurry picture of a rattlesnake because my sister's smart phone doesn't have much of a zoom and there was no way we were getting closer.

Photo Sunday: The Ridges

Poking out of the trees on a slightly drizzly day in Athens, Ohio, the Ridges look like a rather innocuous building. The late nineteenth century architecture is even quite pretty. But what you wouldn't know from looking at the now cheery art museum that it is a former mental asylum. I took these pictures about five years ago while visiting my sister, who attended Ohio University. I don't know why I didn't also take pictures of the barred windows you can still see on the back of the building. But I had just bought my camera at the time, so perhaps it had run out of memory. In any event, these were some of the first pictures I took with my old Kodak camera, which I stopped using around three years ago when the hamster that lived inside it ceased to run.

The Great and the Small

I'm on top of the world!

I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about regular text blogging but I shall not let grad school defeat the blog! (Only make it sadly infrequent...) Anyway, when I was in California, I took lots of pictures but only five would fit on this post. I may add more later.

Now for a Cherie writing update. Since I have sent my first novel out to my awesome beta-readers, I've started writing in another novel that I started the first time I thought I was done with my previous novel.

Anyway, that means I can once again tell you how many fictional words I've written in a month! I know this is a feature you all missed and couldn't live without.

So for February that number is....3674!

But, since it I did start this novel previously, and I have the inability to be concise, in total it's currently: 52,618 words.

But if you're the type who doesn't find simple numbers fascinating, I'll also say this new story is a fantasy children's book that takes place in modern suburban America and explores real terrors of childhood through magical happenings. Some of my friends and family will know more, but I'm strangely paranoid about my writing even though I'm perfectly aware that I'm at the state in my writing career (this being the unpublished state) where self-promotion and having random internet users take an interest in my work could only be a good thing. It's also probably more likely that I'll be a famous author one day than it is someone will steal my idea over the internet and become that famous author in my stead.

It's just that the mere thought of the latter, no matter how unlikely, is enough to keep me awake at night.

And now for more pretty pictures from the hike my sister and I went on in the Auburn State Park. It was cloudy, but still beautiful. If only I was in better shape!

A naturalist in her natural habitat

I thought that I should pay as much attention to the small wonders like this leaf...

...As I did this amazing vista.

Sometimes even people are small