Anna Maria Locke

let the rain fall down

AnnaComment
If I had an extra $700, I would buy this camera...

In the meantime, I will just have to make do with my trusty little point and shoot (until B wins the lottery and can buy me things like a yacht).  It can actually produce some fine art creations:

Not bad!
$3 walgreens print+$10 walmart frame. Thanks, wal's.
I took the picture on a run in NC. Even though people look at me like I'm crazy, running and taking pictures, I don't care.  Hey, it's less touristy than walking around and taking pictures.
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 I had a fun Tuesday working in the Vegetation Dynamics Lab (or at least as fun as it gets).  The name of the lab sounds fancy, but it is just a couple of cluttered rooms with expensive forest chopping and wood-working machinery and random logs and parts of trees... which make it smell like a pine forest when you walk in (mmm).  I'm helping another grad student take tree cores (that are bored out of live trees and are about the size and shape of a drinking straw, which they are stored in) and "date" them, comparing the rings to known years of growth (wet year) or not much growth (i.e. drought year or some kind of supression) and doing tons of other measurements.  It's cool to be able to look at a tree's rings and interpret a story of the forest, going hundreds of years back.  I have a plot of trees that all grew like CRAZY for a few years when they were babies, then suddenly stopped growing for another decade. Why? did they all start to outcompete each other? or was there another population of faster growing tree or shrub that overtook them and stole all the light? i don't know...
SAVE ME! I'M TURNING INTO A TREE-GEEK!

Today was drizzly and chilly; which could be interpreted as either DEPRESSING or PERFECT RUNNING WEATHER! Since my hip has been completely normal for the past few days I decided to take my chances and get outside, and had the best run in as long as I can remember! A loop on a trail that goes around the golf courses, finished in 35 minutes (including only two 1 min. walk breaks...go me!) I LOVE running when it is in the 40's/low 50's. It is so invigorating.  The run made me feel awesome but exhausted. I am getting a little bit of a head cold (congestion) and hoping it doesn't morph into the dreaded Swine Flu haha. 
Oh well, as Coach Fred used to say, running in bad weather won't make you sick/er as long as you take a shower right afterwards.  And also, if you are too congested to breathe, just run harder and breathe through your mouth, because it gives you 85% more oxygen than your nose anyways! 

And with those little inspirational gems, I am headed off to get cozy and do some reading.