Lavender

Have some lavender to brighten your day! I love the smell of it, and huge bunches of it live on the side of the road near my classes. I took this picture on my way home after my last lab of the quarter (whoo hoo!)

Summer at Gasworks park

Today was my first day of summer classes. I'm commuting to school with my mother, who is re-schooling right now (it's super fun). It got quite sunny today, but now as I'm posting this the clouds have covered up. So today's post is a bit of a dichotomy in two ways: a) it's about the end of last quarter as I start the beginning of summer quarter b) It's about the stretch of sun we received, while the current weather is overcast. Onwards!

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Right around dead week, we had a long stretch of beautiful sunny days (figures, right?). The Boyfriend and I walked to Gasworks park about a mile away, and I took a bunch of pictures. Here are a few:

This picture reminds me of a postcard or something. I really like the bright and varying colors of the house boats. The sailboat also adds a nice break to the craziness of the houses. 

There were fields of buttercups along the side of the paths. I tried to capture the silky reflection of the petals. I have memories of picking little handfuls of these along the hill near my elementary school with my brother.

A group of med-school graduates were taking their graduation pictures here too. They all wore a pink stethoscope in their pictures.

This little girl was climbing up the tall hill in the center of the park. The grass was so tall it looked like she was wading through corn fields or something. Look at her trek up it!

We need more sunny days like this!

Peonies!

This is incredibly late, but The Boyfriend bought me flowers! About a month ago. Heh. 

These pink peonies were beautiful and smelled wonderful. They made my little dorm room a nice little slice of heaven. Or at least smell like a field of flowers. Anyways, they were much needed during my finals, so I greatly appreciated them. And of course, took pictures of them too!

This is where they lived on my windowsill! They were a wonderful burst of color, as you can see.

I loved how the petals had choppy, uneven edges.

It's like a cacophony of  petals!

It had been forever since I received flowers, and I loved how he surprised me with them :)

Full Moon

Have you looked at the moon lately? This past week, it became a full moon, and walking back to my dorm on a warm night, I was able to fully enjoy its beauty. 

When I returned (safely) home, I was compelled to capture its brightness and the crisp circle of the moon as it diffused into a halo of light. I have never been able to photograph such a bright, clear picture of the moon before. This one was taken from the 7th floor, out an open window.

I like how you can see the bright ring drawing the moon's edge, contrasted with the darker center, and the light disseminating from it.

Goodnight, Moon.

UW Night Market 2014

Last night was the Taiwan Night Festival at the UW. I went with a close friend and we had a wonderful time. In between eating delicious food, we also watched music performances, one of which was her cousin, Fiona Dawn. It was nice night with blue skies, good food, and catching up with old friends.

Fiona played the Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument. She writes and composes her own songs, which are in English, Chinese, or both! I really liked how she managed to weave the two cultures together in the language of the lyrics, and sounds of the music.

I still need to figure out how to photograph at night :/ This picture below does not have very good clarity, and the bright lights overtake the lack of details. 

I like the composition of this picture a bit better, but it still doesn't have very good clarity.

Ducklings in the Sun

The ducklings in Drumheller fountain were basking in the sunshine this week! They were slumbering together on the duckling ramp the UW puts in the fountain every spring. Aren't they cute?

[I really like the composition on this one below, with the different horizontal stripes broken up by the ducklings (and their own stripes on their eyes and bodies!)]

Then they started waking up

And took a quick dip! With the mother duck keeping an eye on the spectators.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's beginning to feel a lot like...Spring!

It is finally feeling like Spring here!

Well, sorta. Last week was all sun and no clouds, so everyone on campus broke out the shorts and dresses. We all soaked up the sun, and got sunburnt and no homework done. But hey, when the sun comes out, we all emerge from our winter caves in Seattle. It is a holiday in itself.

But then of course, this weekend it poured (perhaps to make up for the suddenly nice weather?). So hey. It's April showers.

But here are some shots I took during those hot, muggy days (I'm a wimp in heat).

These first two were taken during a walk with The Boyfriend. The walk ended up lasting quite long, but the scenery was really pretty (if a bit hot...heh). We walked around a neighborhood nearby campus.

I know this second picture is technically the same composition of a previous one from Easter, but I couldn't resist. I really like the pattern of the shadows from the petals. And I think this new one turned out better than the first :)

You really know it's spring when ducklings come out to swim! This is in Drumheller fountain.

Because it was sunny for such a long stretch with no rain (3 days, oh my! haha), every slight breeze jostled off seeds from the trees on campus. I'm not sure what tree these are from, but they covered all the sidewalks and gutters. As you can see in the background of the last picture.

I didn't see that car in the background!! Oh well.

Have a wonderful week!