The lab and the lake, the park and the pavement.

Another three sketches this week... 

Multicolour Flow-Cytometer. That's a bit of a scientist joke, or maybe just a me joke! The experiments run on a flow cytometer include labeling of markers with fluorescent dyes. The technology is called multicolour flow-cytometry. Here I depict a flow cytometer in multicolours in stead of the samples it is running. If you have to explain it, it really isn't funny - sigh.

Green Lake. This picture also comes with photos. Saturday morning my landlady dropped me off an I walked around Green Lake (about 2.6 miles). Lots of people were out using the water, there were canoe races, some crazy person was swimming, there was a small sail boat, and there were a few kayaks too. Oh, I just realised kayak is a palindrome, how exciting, that might help me remember how to spell it. I was accompanied on my circuit of the lake by a few hundred other souls lapping the lake by walking, running, running with a pram/stroller/buggy/pushchair (which surely must have a name because it is a unique form of exercise torture), jogging, rollerblading, cycling, and a few other odd mode of transportation. 

Flag Irises on the lake shore

Baby Canada Geese are really quite cute!

Natural rose arch

Blue Heron

Canoe races

Japanese Garden at Washington Park Arboretum. 

Saturday Afternoon I took two buses over to the Arboretum. I was impressed that it only took 35 mins, the joy of buses that just happen to arrive late but well coordinated. With in the grounds is a Japanese Garden. This sketch is of the "Kobe Lantern" given to the people of Seattle by her sister city Kobe in Japan in 1957. I loved the way it sits above these rounded boulder like shrubs. More photos of the Japanese Garden and the arboretum below. 

Japanese lace leaf maple (Acer palmatum)

Dry steam bed

Blue Listeria Trellis

View of the lake/pond from the North (ish)

Kobe Lantern

Koi in the pond. The visitors leaflet said the gardens are
often visited by a blue heron, I wonder why?

A turtle saying hello

Tea Garden

The Japanese Garden sits in the grounds of an arboretum used for research by the University of Washington. There are a few main paths but lots of others that just meander. I even found one slightly unofficial path that went through a 3ft high tunnel under some shrubs. I forget how nice it is just to wander and be led down trails that lead to somewhere else. To walk on loam and not concrete, how neat! The trees are not especially exciting for a non-botanist. The are arranged in family groups dotted around the grounds.

Entrance to Arboretum

A twisty tree

A Redwood from bottom-up

Not so Giant Sequoia, but still fairly large. The fence is 3.5ft ish.

A bee having a drink, incidentally whilst I was taking this
a mosquito decided to have a drink from me. I removed it
carefully without damaging it's proboscis, and the little blighter flew
straight back on to my arm to have another go - I must take good!

Last but not least. The Pavement...I know you were all wondering what that was about. I walk over a bit of new sidewalk every day, except this one had a few leaves drop in it whilst it set. Now I see the impressions every time I get off the bus, and I never fail to think how beautiful they are.

Modern fossilised leaf impressions!

A sketch a week, keeps the doctor oblique!

OK so I’ll admit I just googled words that rhyme with week and oblique is the best I could find. As a verb meaning neither at right angles or parallel to a line, a definition that seems fairly appropriate. Alternatively in describing something that is not direct in addressing the point – yep, that. I find most of my thinking is oblique.

Definitions of oblique aside the point of the title of this blog was a sketch a week. This is my new challenge to do at least one sketch a week, as a more exciting way of conveying some of the more mundane parts of my weekly routine. This week I’m putting up three sketches.

Sketch number 1 -  11^th May

The Easter Cross at Sandpoint Methodist Church. The cross is at the front of the church all year but the flowers and swags of cloth are an Easter addition. Contrary to popular belief just because I am doing something with my hands doesn’t mean I can’t listen so I have decided that on occasion I will sketch during the service. This week was Mothers Day in the US. Instead of the Pastor speaking we had a few words from four women in the church. I always enjoy hearing from other people in the congregation and these four were inspiring and it was good to hear from them.

 Sketch number 2 – 15^th May

Edgar. Edgar is the name of the flow cytometer I usually use, we have two the same so they have names, Edgar and Lou, but I usually work on Edgar. I have to change samples every couple of minutes so there is not much point trying to be productive, although I’m actually running flow whilst I type this! On Thursday I decided to sketch whilst I was working, which has the added advantage that I can watch the machine whilst doing something semi-productive. Today I am enjoying touch typing whilst I keep an eye on the machine and listen to the Belgariad (David Eddings). I’d say that’s productive. So now you can imagine where I am sitting at 9pm in the evening. I suspect there will be more  Edgar sketches to come, I spend a lot of time here.

Sketch number 3 -  17^th May

The Metropolitan Market in Sandpoint, from the Burke Gilman. This is my local supermarket, about 1 mile from my house along the Burke Gilman Trail. It is essentially the US version of a Waitrose. It is 1) expensive 2) generally good quality 3) has lots of organic veg and good quality meat. Slightly different from Waitrose it also sells a few products from around the world or predominantly the UK. I can buy a curly wurly chocolate bar for the princely sum of 1 dollar (currently 72p) or I can purchase Daddy’s sauce for $4.50. In theory I don’t shop here much, in practice I pop in frequently at the end of a walk or whilst walking home. This sketch was done on Saturday Morning with an apple fritter and caramel macchiato to hand.

Later on Saturday my landlady and I want to the University district street fair. This happens once a year. The U-district is about 3 miles from the house. The street fair included the local farmers market that happens each week. The rest of the fair (stretching along ‘The Ave’ for a dozen blocks) included lots of jewellery stalls, lots of food stalls and a smattering of art stalls. There were also representatives from the University of Washington, local hospitals, et cetera. We spent a happy sunny few hours looking around and trying samples of honey and fudge. I bought some fudge – cherry, chocolate, and pistachio. I also bought a few bits of interesting jewellery including a ring that used to be a silver spoon, and a couple of pairs of earrings that used to be tropical trees! A good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

The Psalms of Ascent

Pudget Sound; Spring 2014

Over the last few years I've spent patches of time meditating on the psalms of ascent (psalms 120 - 134) and memorising them. My lent project this year was to get them finally under my belt. Proof is below in the form of a video showing me reciting the whole lot (NIV version). I'm not perfect but I did get most of the way there. Also I've made some mistakes with the numbers of the psalms but they are in order. I've done them in  groups of four so the videos are small enough to fit on here...

He will not ask me why I wasn't Moses

Earlier this year I bought a new wallet. It bears the encouraging slogan "In a world where you can be anything by yourself". I am someone who is usually quite aware of my weaknesses even if I am unable to overcome them. This trip to Seattle has perhaps convinced me that I am slightly more capable than I imagined but many times over it has also reminded me of my failings and of what I am not and perhaps would like to be. This little slogan reminds me that I am a gifted individual and have the luxury of actually having many choices in front of me, it encourages me to seek ways of using my gifts as myself not trying to fit into someone else's box. 

The other fun thing about the wallet is the brief conversations it elicits with cashiers. Mainly just; "oh I like that little phrase". A few weeks ago however some one said; "Oh that reminds me of one of my favourite quotes; An ancient Rabbi once said that when he stands before God, God will not ask him why he is not Moses". So I looked it up accounts differ but all cite Rabbi Zusya (Susya/Zusha). 

In a world where you can be anything, be yourself. For when you stand before God he will not ask you why you were not Moses, he will ask you why you were not yourself. 

We each have a unique identify exemplified in our very fingertips!

Who do you say I am?

My next, slightly less, ramblings on faith go like this. I got to come home in April and visit my church in Bristol. I wanted to share something about God in my life and so was once again ruminating on the subject. For those of you who missed it this is what I said (or meant to say). This time I was thinking about the names I might give God from the past few months.

Dartmoor, June 2010

1) God the Sustainer...
Seattle has felt strangely familiar and I have been aware of God preparing the way ahead of me, not least finding me a place to live, but it hasn't been easy. Once again I think on Psalm 121 "I lift my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of Heaven and Earth."

2) God the re-arranger
As I walked around Yosemite and saw the waterfalls we talked about how they were formed. Glaciers cut through the river valleys and cut the paths of the rivers off at a sheer cliff. Now instead of meandering to the bottom of the valley the rivers crash over the side in the beautiful waterfalls we saw. It feels a little like God has done this with my life. Which is both disconcerting and exciting. In fact the whole California trip was a bit of a of a demonstration of God as re-arranger. My plan for my 30th Birthday was to go see the Panda at Edinburgh zoo. I actually spent the day in Yosemite and then saw Pandas in San Diego. God sometimes has more exciting plans for our lives than we do.

Psalm 127 says "Unless the Lord builds the house the labourers labour in vain, unless the Lord watches over the city the watchmen stand guard in vain"

Blaise Castle, July 2009

3) God the faithful 

Psalm 130 says "Out of the depths I cry to you, oh Lord hear my cry. May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Oh Lord, kept a record of wrongs. Oh Lord who could stand? But with you there is redemption, therefore you are feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Oh Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with him is unending love, and with him is full redemption. The Lord himself will redeem Israel from all her sins."

I wait for the Lord and in his word I put my hope.

God works all things together for good

Nature conservancy Puget Sound, Feb 2014

Written Feb 2014. When I was home at Christmas one of my friends from church said that next time I’m back she would really like a report on what God has been doing in my life over here in the States. Since then I’ve been mulling this over looking for inspiration. I am both an introvert and introspective. The art of sitting in a quiet room by myself pondering my life is second nature, it’s calming and renewing; unfortunately right now I have writers block. What has God been doing in my life? I’ve been coming up short; which isn’t to say God hasn’t been here, but it doesn’t feel like I have a tale to tell. I'm going with the dangerous option of just starting to write and see what comes out. This is what I think I know...

Dartmoor (?), June 2010

1) The same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God is the same here as he ever was back home and, to my annoyance, I am the same person here as I ever was back home. My relationship with God didn’t suddenly soar in to some super spiritual dimension, it carried on with the same steady trust I have acknowledged for many years. God is faithful. This is the truth. God is not changing, if my relationship with him is ever going to change it is going to me that does the changing. This isn’t to say I am toiling up the hill alone trying to reach him but rather he came down the hill to meet me and now journeys with me. 

2) Moving to another country is exhausting. 

Thank God for airplanes and that I didn't have to walk myself to my new country like Abram and Sarai did.

Blaise Castle, July 2009

I keep a diary/journal of letters to God, poems, songs, and bible passages. In the search for inspiration I have flicked back over the last 6 months. In that time I’ve managed 12 entries. My first entry on the 28^th July starts “I’m going to try to keep a better diary so I can look back and marvel at the works of your hand”.  That lasted about six seconds. On the 18^th August after two weeks here “It is actually painful to think!”.  A month in I had hit “When untangling a ball of string the fastest way not to finish is to never begin”. A week after that I had “Made it through another week and I am still mostly sane!”. I also started a bucket list. Six of my diary entries happened in November, which a Fisher’s Exact Test tells me is not more than I would expect by chance (p=0.193). The 28th of November stated "Oh God, its been a cloudy week, its been a cloudy month". At times like this I always 'speak' to God the most and listen the least. Thankfully the dawning of December bought a little more sunshine through the clouds and life seemed a little brighter.

Dartmoor, Autumn 2012

I have many favourite psalms, but psalm 121 has to be one of my favourites for cloudy days;

Psalm 121

I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watched over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Dartmoor, June 2010

I guess that pretty much sums up how December started. One of my favourite images from the psalms of ascent is from Psalm 126; "When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy". I can't imagine what it would be like to be an exile, or someone waiting for an exile to return home. I do understand that sense of longing for home though. I also understand that wondrous sense of joy on being able to return to it. 

 3) Thriving vs. Surviving.
Since Christmas this is a question I have been asking myself. What is the difference between surviving and thriving in Seattle? I haven't really got any further with answering that question but I carry on asking it anyway.

Tulips from Mt Vernon

The area around Mt. Vernon is used to grow Tulips. In April you can visit the fields but we went a bit later so we went to one of the gardens that sells bulbs instead. Enjoy the photos below. May have to buy some pretty tulips when I get back to Bristol. 

We particularly liked these ones with spiky petals

Some Irises just to confuse you