Insubstantial

Back to ants today. Yesterday I showed up at school physically, but not mentally, but was present enough to get set up for the next round of painting and observations (two more rounds to go!). There's too much to think about right now.

This pair of nests is twice as large as the last pair, which is already crazy-making. It took five and a half hours to count and paint the first nest (2078 ants), so methinks I will wait until tomorrow to weigh/count/paint the second nest. This will draw out the experiment by a day, but to judge by the protestations my back is making, a day is worth it. Hopefully I can shuffle things around to be available for our bicycle delivery tomorrow, and be able to prepare for our fiesta.

Tomorrow is the Burgle Benefit Bash, so I baked the first set of cupcakes this morning--the lime ones with prickly pear icing. The lime flavor takes a good day to develop after baking. I'm excited about the lavender cupcakes because I'm trying something totally new (to me), infusing cream with lavender and then using a recipe from the Joy of Cooking for the cake batter (Whipped Cream Cake). I'm not sure about the frosting yet, or the overall flavor/effect, for that matter. But it seemed like a fun thing to try.

Whew, I'm tired. I picked up a mild cold somewhere between Seattle and Portland--just enough to drag me down a little.

Just a few more snaps

Although I now have a camera, I am tempted to continue with the drawings. I have a few more ideas. The two drawings I managed to draw up in Seattle aren't stellar. Oh well. I was a little busy doing other, more important things.

I have decided that there is one occasion when Bob Marley is acceptable--while making jam. You can guess which song. I have been getting it stuck in my head every time. Here are the jars of raspberry-rhubarb jam that my father and I made. Delicious, precious stuff. Jamming is addicting.


Next up, a latte from E.T.G. (Espresso To Go), one of my favorite Seattle-area coffeeshops. I did not make it to Cafe Allegro this trip, so things feel incomplete. I might try to sneak home for Thanksgiving this year. We shall see. If I plan things out right, I might be able to make it home from Thanksgiving through the end of December.

The perspective in this drawing is odd, so I shall 'splain a little--it is of the cup-holder on the arm of a chair, looking down towards the ground. There's a bicycle towards the top of the picture (pedals, seat, seat stay).