Beauty and Chaos

Flowers and a fencepost

2010-09-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not terribly creative with titles.

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Bark

2010-09-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

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Vine

2010-09-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

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Vivid Red

2010-09-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

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Butterflies

2010-09-05T19:26:00.001-07:00

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Figures on Dogwood

2010-09-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

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Lovely Mo

2010-08-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

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Sinking Ponds

2010-07-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

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Milo and Blue

2010-07-25T17:03:00.001-07:00

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Smoothies!

2010-07-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

If you know me well, you know that I love smoothies. I love drinking smoothies, talking about smoothies, asking people what kind of smoothie matches their personality. So this past Saturday I invited friends over and we made six fabulous concoctions and rated each one. Below is a photo of our Strawberry Carrot smoothie, which came in third place.

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On the roof

2010-07-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

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Seagulls

2010-07-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

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Babe

2010-07-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

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Afternoon in the Suburbs

2010-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

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Morning in Chicago

2010-07-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

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Carrion Flower

2010-07-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

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Wax plant

2010-07-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

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Happy Fourth!

2010-07-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

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Bromeliad

2010-06-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

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Chicken

2010-05-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've been house-sitting for my boss and taking care of her dog (Leena) and her chickens. I was worried this one was going to peck my face--or, worse yet, my camera. Thankfully I got this shot before it got too close.

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Leena

2010-05-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

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Dogwood

2010-05-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

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Summer Sun

2010-05-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

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Flowers and polka dots

2010-05-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

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Finals!

2010-05-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the irregular posts. These past few weeks I've been busy, busy busy, and I struggled to find a balance between studying for exams and seeing friends who are leaving for the summer or graduating. As of today, I'm finished academically. I only have to process one more sample in the lab I work in, and then I'm done! Hopefully I'll be able to get my camera out sometime within the next week. My roommate left today and her side is completely bare--it makes me feel lonely already, so I think I'm going to be spending less time in my room and more time outside. It's beautiful here anyway--being outside is never a bad thing.

Today I'm posting a photo I took this past fall, in a place on campus called the bamboo forest.

Bridge

2010-05-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

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Iris

2010-05-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to my Mum!

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Sticks and Stones

2010-05-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

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I'm getting bored, taking photos of the same place. I think this coming week I'll try to focus on people, which I've never been very good at.

Bambi

2010-04-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

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Knots

2010-04-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

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Purple Veins

2010-04-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

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(Plants don't really have veins.)

Trees, trees, trees

2010-04-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

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A painter

2010-04-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

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Gate

2010-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Yum

2010-04-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I want this cake!
But in the shape of my Kodak Z8612, instead.

Picture found at Fresh Pics.

Strangle

2010-04-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

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Today's post is my 100th post!
Also, what do you think of the new layout?

Dogwood trees

2010-04-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

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Bunny!

2010-04-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

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The White Barn

2010-04-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

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Red Bud

2010-04-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

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Checkerboard

2010-04-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

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Stars in her eyes

2010-04-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

I saw the patterns and couldn't resist.

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Petting Zoo

2010-04-10T04:11:00.000-07:00

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Turtle pond

2010-04-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today I'm posting the one-hundredth photo of my series!

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Brilliant Blue

2010-04-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today my co-workers and I went to the Western North Carolina Nature Center, and saw a male peacock attempt to impress a female. He was unsuccessful. The rest of us, however, appreciated his brilliantly colored plumes, and he turned toward us long enough for me to snap a few shots.

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Momma bear comes to town

2010-04-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

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Sage Cafe

2010-04-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

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Leonard

2010-04-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, meet Leonard.
He's my very own pet slime mold! Plasmodial slime molds are wicked cool--they are many, many single-celled organisms that combine to form one moving body. Here, Leonard is dying and getting ready to form fruiting bodies. The white "lightning bolts" used to be yellow, but now they don't have any cytoplasm in them and are therefore dead. The black bodies surrounding the yellow fans on the sides of the petri dish are fruiting bodies (which will produce spores) and the pink gunk in the middle is likely a bacteria colony beginning to form.
This is so beautiful!

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Plasmodial slime molds like dark, damp places, and scientists have taken advantage of this--a robot used this kind of slime mold to control its movements. When the slime mold shrunk away from the light, the robot sensed the movement and scuttled into a dark corner. How cool is that?

Piggies

2010-04-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

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Campfire!

2010-04-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I did trail work in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a group of my classmates. Below are photos of the fire we made (and one of the most delicious s'mores I've ever had) after a day of working in the woods.

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Plumeria

2010-03-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

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There's a plant in our greenhouse--a stick, really--that's been sitting in the corner for a while. A faculty member brought it back from Hawaii, but we had no idea what it was, so we called it the Hawaiian Stick. All winter we thought it was going to die. Then, a single leaf popped out of the top. Over the past few weeks it produced a green mass at the top of the stem which turned out to be buds, and finally it bloomed. Turns out, the plant is a Plumeria--the same plant that Hawaiians make leis out of. Ours is beautiful, and smells equally as delicious. Below are some of the photos I took for the greenhouse identification book I'm working on, as well as a photo of my wonderful co-worker Zoe!

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Walking Iris

2010-03-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

All of the walking irises bloomed while I was on break!

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Fontana Dam to Walker Gap

2010-03-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

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Locust Cove to Cheoah Bald

2010-03-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

On day 2 we set out from Locust Cove Gap again, but this time we went in the opposite direction. We climbed 1500 feet in elevation over about 2 miles, and crossed the snow line. The weather changed drastically, and suddenly the mountain and trees were covered in an icy, wind-blown snow that reminded us of feathers. The hike was steep, but we were rewarded with a beautiful, panoramic view of the Smokies once we reached the bald.

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Locust Cove to Stecoah Gap

2010-03-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

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Appalachian Trail Maintenance

2010-03-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

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I just got back from the AT! I spent spring break in the Nantahala National Forest with eight of my classmates and a few members of the Blue Ridge Hiking Club, cleaning up parts of the Appalachian Trail. Apparently this past winter was the worst the area has seen since the seventies--there were blow downs along much of the section that we worked on, and hikers were getting injured trying to get up and around everything that had fallen in their way. In some places the trail was nearly impassable. We worked for four days and our group collectively cleared 30 miles of trail.

Going on this trip made me realize how difficult hiking the AT can be. Many times we had to climb 2,000 feet in elevation in just under a mile, carrying chainsaws, loppers, and backpacks full of gear. We were on our feet an average of 7 hours a day. Every day was intense, and every day we all sat down to dinner exhausted, our muscles and bones aching. But every day we got a little tougher, closer to one another, and more appreciative of the woods. We met through-hikers who told us stories about the trail and who thanked us for making their 2000 mile journey a little easier. And every day I became more confident that I would eventually hike the AT myself, from Georgia to Maine.

I managed to snap a few photos, and will be sharing them here throughout the coming week. Below are a few that I took along various parts of the AT.

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Marinated mango

2010-03-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight I decided to try a new recipe. I marinated mango slices with balsamic vinegar and honey and popped them in the oven. I tossed them with salad, drizzled an olive oil/balsamic vinegar/honey dressing over top, and here's the final result. Beautiful! Next time I think I'll add some crumbled pecans and feta cheese. This would be a great served with salmon and a white wine.

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I'll be on the Appalachian trail this coming week for spring break, so I won't be posting anything for a while. Hopefully I'll come back with some photos to share. Have a wonderful week!

Blooming

2010-03-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

A sampling of what is currently blooming in the greenhouse! The first flower is a Phalaenopsis, the second is a Slipper Orchid, and the last two photos are Bromeliads. I think the Slipper Orchid is my favorite.

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Sentry

2010-03-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

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Vines

2010-03-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

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Sugar coated

2010-03-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

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Burgundy leaves

2010-03-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

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Narnia

2010-03-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

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Stump

2010-02-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

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Fluorescent yellow

2010-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

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Sky

2010-02-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

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Glow

2010-02-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

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Shadows and Sun

2010-02-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

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Hole

2010-02-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

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Spring?

2010-02-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

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Black and blue

2010-02-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

This is the same tree seen in my vivid blue post. It's interesting how different the colors of the bark are depending on the weather.

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Sea shell

2010-02-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

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Orange fungi

2010-02-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

I love the texture of the fungus--it reminds me of seaweed or rouched ribbon.

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Stained glass

2010-02-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

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Ain't got no hair

2010-02-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

Photo by Eva Huston

When I was young, I saw an actress who had just shaved her head. I was stunned at how beautiful, strong, and feminine she looked despite her lack of hair. As I grew older, I wanted to know what being bald felt like, and I wondered if I would ever have the guts to shave my head.

After years of talking about it, I did it. I finally did it. Last week I took scissors and buzzers to my hair and found that I had a surprisingly round head and a good amount of confidence.

It feels wonderful. I don't have hair in my eyes or hanging near my neck. I feel cleaner, softer, fuzzy and adorable. I don't have to spend money I don't have on shampoo, my hair doesn't freeze into icicles if I walk outside after a shower, and I have an excuse to wear fabulous hats. I feel fierce. When at rowing practice I felt so badass and clear-headed that I actually cut my best erg time down by a few seconds. Ironically I also feel more feminine, probably because my other features are now thrown more sharply into focus, and I've been told that I'm stunning and gorgeous. People that I've never talked to have come up to me and told me they admire what I did. I hadn't anticipated such positive reactions.

I love how it looks and feels. I'm considering shaving it before I hike a bit of the Appalachian Trail with my dad this summer. I also wanted to do Bald for Bucks (to benefit Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo), but this all happened so quickly that I didn't get a chance to plan it out. Maybe in the future I'll do it again.

Photos by Kaitlyn Marie.

Scales

2010-02-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

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Sun and snow

2010-02-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday about half a foot of snow covered Swannanoa. Everything was cancelled, including rowing practice, which was great because I was trying to get over a cold. I sat in one place all day and watched Lost--great for my body, but horrible because now I'm addicted to the show. Anyway, today I got outside while the sun was still up and took this week's set of photos.
Enjoy!

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Mushroom

2010-01-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

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Vivid blue

2010-01-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

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Contrast

2010-01-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Though the trail yesterday was dismal and grey, the bright beech caught my attention. I love the water droplets clinging to the branches.

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Paper Leaves

2010-01-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

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Stretch

2010-01-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

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Twisted

2010-01-22T07:04:00.000-08:00

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Branches

2010-01-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

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Green channels

2010-01-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

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Coagulated amber

2010-01-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Notice the shades of indigo, red, and amber. This tree was by far my favorite to photograph this week.

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Speckled

2010-01-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

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Tree Bark

2010-01-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

I love taking post-rain photos--the world becomes more vivid, trees and leaves and dirt become saturated and ripe with color. This week I focused on tree bark.

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Orchid

2010-01-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

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East River Trail

2010-01-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

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Old home, new home

2010-01-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

I've made the transition from Buffalo to Asheville again. Now that I've moved and have hooked up my internet, here are some photos from campus:

The flowers of the noxious plant Mother of Millions, Bryophyllum delagoense, in our greenhouse

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The Desert Rose, Adenium obesum

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Blue Trees

2010-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

When I was little, my Grandma and I would paint together. One day, I was frustrated because my painted watercolor trees didn't look real, so Gram told me to add a little blue to the trunks. I was skeptical. After covering a few canvases with trees and experimenting with color, I was shocked to discover that she was right. After that day, I saw reds, orange, even purples on objects that should be just brown, and I learned to look for color in unexpected places.

Today's pictures are from my backyard. Here are some blue trees for Gram:

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Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

My Dad set out early this morning for his New Year's Day bike ride. Here he is in our driveway, sporting his festive new hat.

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Brain MRI

2009-12-31T22:46:00.000-08:00

Look how beautiful my brain is!
This is bizarre, to think my head looks like this underneath it all.

To any zombies out there... hands off.

A year in the mountains

2009-12-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

Last year, I wrote about my disdain for resolutions, rigid and unattainable goals, and unrealistic expectations. Instead, I said I would "look at the New Year with optimism, not limitations.
I am anticipating my tennis course and possibly getting into salsa.
I will focus on my physical health.
I resolve to stop making short-lived, unrealistic, superficial, and empty promises to myself. To allow myself to make mistakes and grow without forgetting the big picture."

This past year I found my place in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I got in shape! I started playing tennis, began running on the river trail (and met my goal of being able to run 3 miles at a time), and joined the rowing team. I bought my first pair of spandex pants and fell in love with them. I hiked more Wilson trails, from Jensen and Christmas tree hill down Muir, onto the East River trail, around Owen park, back to the West River trail and up Dam Pasture trail to the dam. I explored the trails behind Dogwood, Suicide Ridge and the Soccer Field trail. I took pictures on Dogwood with my new camera and went sledding with friends.

I auditioned for the Vagina Monologues. We put on a fabulous show and later had an Easter picnic behind Dogwood, complete with sun-warmed jelly beans, homemade jam and biscuits, Matza, and guacamole. Despite disliking ice-cream, I've become obsessed with Ultimate Ice Cream. I learned how to play mandolin. I discovered Antony and the Johnsons, Beirut, Lady GaGa, Berlioz, and MGMT. I got a job on the Bio crew and got to know my coworkers through a river cleanup, work parade (involving the creation of our huge paper-mache whale mascot, Moby), Dodge ball against Chemistry, the Holiday party, and the epic war between Bio crew and Chem crew.

Over the summer I completed an Herbarium for my independent study. I photographed plants from Western New York and gained an appreciation for common "weeds." I found the few people from high school that were actually worth staying connected to. I was proud to stand up for my sister at her wedding and got to spend time with her throughout the summer. I finally stopped biting my nails.

I survived two semesters of Chemistry, learned how to study efficiently and how to retain information, and appreciated my memory after losing some of it. Going to see Body Worlds, watching autopsy videos, and doing a dissection of a baby pig (that died naturally on the college farm) allowed my perception of anatomy to change. Once I got past disgust, I began to see how intricate and complex organ systems are. I saw the small heart, snipped the bright red aorta with my scissors, held the small dark pump in my gloved hand. As we juggled the small intestines, we found two small structures attached to dainty, curled tubes—ovaries and fallopian tubes! We followed the digestive system from beginning to end, found the liver and green gall bladder, and cut into the skull to find brain pudding—a result of the soft tissue becoming damaged by ice crystals after freezing. My first dissection surprisingly turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had in class this year. After interacting with slime mold, rotifers, liverworts, and pig guts, I had fallen completely head over cankles for Biology.

My favorite quote this year: "Anatomical dissection gives the human mind an opportunity to compare the dead with the living, things severed with things intact, things destroyed with things evolving, and opens up the profoundness of nature to us more than any other endeavor or consideration."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Despite difficulties with school and health this past semester, I’m pleased with how this year turned out. Writing out this long post has helped me realize how comfortable yet engaged I am when I’m at Wilson, and that I have found my new home. I’m sure this coming year will be stressful and fantastic as well.

My school has a 100 hour service requirement for graduation, and as I've already done my hours, I haven't done any service this past semester. My original goal was to do 300 hours by graduation, so I can try new projects, get off campus more, and think about someone other than myself for once. In 2010 I hope to find at least one new non-profit to become involved with. I also want to be more present, use my camera more often, and blog more frequently. To do this, I'm starting a photo series--one photo each day--on my blog. Hopefully this will be easy enough to keep up with during school. Wish me luck, and Happy New Year!

Wilson Winter--pedestrian bridge

Tailgaters: Do you follow Jesus this close?

2009-08-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Ironically, this means we're almost at Warren Wilson.
Oh, West Virginia.

New camera!

2009-08-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have a wonderful new Kodak Z8612 IS to take back to the Blue Ridge.

Carnivorous plants

2009-08-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Check out this article from the BBC.

Giant 'meat-eating' plant found

A new species of Pitcher plant was discovered in the Philippines, one that sets the record for the largest carnivorous plant known to man. This newest species not only digests insects, but can also down small rodents. Also discovered was a new species of the sticky and carnivorous sundew (one of the plants I found at a local acid bog), pink ferns, and brilliant blue fungi.

The news of organisms that have not been affected by human activity is encouraging and exciting.
Hooray nature.

Pickles

2009-08-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

I peered into the damp crate. Is it... alive? With gloved hands I reached into the dark and pulled out a round, blue, squishy lump covered in pockets of hair and discoloration. I groaned. It moved.

I've never seen so much mold in my life.

I once did a school project on mold--I intentionally grew it on oranges, bread, and leather, to see what kinds grew on what, differences in color, form and function, and how long it took. I looked at it under the microscope. I kept each specimen in a closed container, away from my nose and mouth. Yes, I intentionally grew mold, watched it, encouraged it to grow bigger. And yet I had never seen as much mold as I did today when cleaning out the back cooler at work.

Drip, drip, drip. The vent leaks in one corner. Lilies, probably from March, quietly rot next to oranges that had cemented themselves to the back of the shelf. I smell pickles, but I'm not sure where they are. Perhaps there are some cucumbers hiding somewhere in the dark.

I start with the trays of pots on the ground. Their contents have been shriveled up for far longer than I've been employed here. The soil on the top is bone dry, yet when I take the foil off the pots I find wet mush in between the pot and foil. Forgetting that I recycle everything, the entire tray, pots included, are placed carefully, slowly, into a garbage bag, so as not to splash mush on my face. Trays and trays of plant slime mingle with opened, half-chewed brownies from June, muffin wrappers, and expired bags of opened chips. I toss it all out. Garbage bag one, bag two, bag three.... Water bottles are scattered across the floor, strewn about the moldy pots, and some have rolled to the backs of the shelves. I hold my breath and dive in after them.

I sort the remaining empty pots, trays, and baskets that I was able to salvage. I sweep the ground and discover a cement floor under a thick layer of dirt, dried petals, and wrappers. The garbage bags go out to the dumpster, and I look at an empty and (mostly) mold-free room.

I run to the front of the store, breathe, and tell everyone I can that I'm done I'm done I'm done. I take someone back to validate my work, walking proudly to the back. I open the cooler door, smell the putrid air, and stop. I never did find those cucumbers.

Body Worlds

2009-07-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

"Anatomical dissection gives the human mind an opportunity to compare the dead with the living, things severed with things intact, things destroyed with things evolving, and opens up the profoundness of nature to us more than any other endeavor or consideration."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This past Tuesday I saw Body Worlds & the Story of the Heart at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Body Worlds showcases Gunther von Hagen's technique of plastination, or preserving living tissue with plastic. In the exhibit, entire circulatory systems are in tact, intricate blood vessels, and minute capillaries that look like thin hairs covered in red acrylic paint. Individual tendons, white and thick, stretch from muscle to ridged muscle, all knit onto a bone frame. From one body, just the nerves are displayed--parts we seldom think of. In the center of the rooms individual organs lie in glass cases. Healthy, functional lungs are placed next to blackened and tumorous lungs, diseased hearts sit next to healthy hearts and enlarged hearts of athletes. The physical effects of smoking and obesity are emphasized.

Despite the excellent preservation, the bodies do not seem as real or disturbing as I anticipated them to be. Each full body is in a different creative pose, cut and separated to show some aspect of our internal organs. One body, the Cyclist, is cut in three vertical pieces. Her ovaries and uterus protrude from one of the slices and leave a negative space on the other side, showing the organ itself, how snugly organs fit together, and the complexity of each intertwined system. As well as the Cyclist, the Javelin-Thrower was presented, the Kneeling Lady, and the Praying Man. In the hands of the Praying Man rests a plasticized heart. It is as if he is holding it sacred, holding the heart to a higher level of understanding, power, and wonder.

Along with the bodies hang photographs of living people with quotations about the heart by various artists and poets. The line between our physical and emotional selves seems very distinct. Then we turned the corner and saw the Juxtaposed Couple.

Their shoulders are turned in, they lean towards each other, their arms are gently placed on the other, and the woman's head rests against her partner's. This piece gives us a clear shot of the brain, spinal cord, and lungs, yet is so tender. The physical and emotional fuse, as the piece conveys something more than muscles and bones.

The idea that these bodies used to be living and breathing freaks a lot of people out. The show brings up the question: what makes us who we are? All that constitutes our personality is not the difference in the thickness of our blood vessels or the shape of our gall bladders. Our bodies are incredible machines. But without consciousness, without perception, without memory and the ability to sense and make sense of the world around us, our bodies are just vehicles.

Anatomia del corpo humano, drawn by Juan Valverde de Amusco in 1559, shows a man holding his skin. According to Wikipedia, "The skin's distorted face has the appearance of a ghost or a cloud, suggesting that [his] spirit has been separated from, or peeled off of, the fleshy inner man." Gunther von Hagen recreated this anatomical sketch in an attempt to show that the skin is the largest organ in our body.

I enjoy controversy. I welcome anything that makes me think. Of course, this exhibit has received negative attention because of the "grotesque" manner in which our innards are displayed, the way some of the bodies were acquired (supposedly all the bodies were from consenting donors, although the copy-cat shows have been accused of using Chinese bodies without permission of the person and their family), and in many religious contexts the body is considered sacred and must be buried after death. Antigone, anyone? People were also upset when two bodies were positioned as if they were having sex, and museum visitors were uncomfortable with a pregnant woman on view, as well as a few fetuses in different stages of development. The pregnant woman would have been fascinating to see, but she was not at the exhibit that I went to. A few of my friends that went to Body Worlds said that she was the only body that made them queasy.

This show was one of the best things I've done this summer. I am finally able to piece together what I've learned from drawings and lecture and I can visualize all of the gushy crap inside of us. The educational value of the show was reason enough to buy a ticket, but the artful presentation made each piece even more beautiful.

"The older I get, the more I realize that death is normal and that it is life that is exceptional," said Dr. von Hagens. "I hope this exhibition will encourage people to strive to live with inspiration every day throughout their lives."