Thoughts from the last few days.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted! Sorry.



Our view for lunch

I have been very busy since I last wrote. On Thursday last week we took a 5 hour boat cruise all around the San Juan Islands. It was great! The weather was really nice (PTL) and we saw some amazing things. On our way out we saw some seals and the fin of a minke whale. It was so cool. By about 11:20 we had reached a small island where we did about a 5 min hike to the other side and ate lunch. It was beautiful! It was sunny and there were sailboats and I was with friends. I wish we could have stayed longer, but there was more cruising to be done!




A cute little lighthouse we saw along the way



We cruised for another few hours and then we saw the most amazing thing: a killer whale pod! Being able to see a pod of the huge, amazing, beautiful creatures in the wild was fantastic! They were so elegant. It was also kind of sad though. There were a lot of whale watching boats around, but no coast guard or bay watch. This meant that none of the whale watching boats followed the rules about how close they could get or what they could do around the orcas. There were actually boats speeding through the pod at full speed! It was so sad that they were harrassing these animals and I wish there was something that could be done. Since we were following the rules, unlike everyone else, I didn't get any good photos with my little camera, but my friend Christina did and I'll get them off of her some time soon. :)

Friday was just another lab day waiting for my crabs to hatch to no avail.

On Saturday, we all went to the Anacortes Farmers Market. That was a lot of fun and I got some great fresh produce, including huge sugar snap peas and some local raspberries. Then, on Sunday, a group of us went out to a Thai restaurant in town. It was tons of fun and I got some great pad thai.

When I went into the lab today, I was greeted by the sight of crab larvae! On of the crabs had hatched her eggs over night! I quickly told Anna-Mai and Dr. Sulkin. They were both excited, too, but there weren't quite enough larvae for me to begin my experiments yet. Instead, I used this brood of larvae to practice moving the larvae around one-by-one and feeding them. It was fun. Even though I accidentally stabbed myself with a glass pipette that I was working with. I'm ok - just a little scratch.

On a side note, I have been constantly reminded of God's presence in these last few days. Not only have I been immersed in His creation in nature, but I have experienced His faithfulness in the group of people that He brought here. I keep thinking about how grateful I am that He brought this specific group of people together. They are all very kind, but some have different views than me. It is a nice challenge to stay true to His word while other around me don't. But despite their views, they are really interesting and kind people that I am glad I know. That doesn't really sum up well the way that I am feeling, but thats where I'm at right now. Wish I could articulate better.

Beautiful mama and baby deer that were less than 5 feet away from us! They were so cute and were washing each oter.