Colors!

I've been wanting to do this post for a while, because I've been struck by the variety and vibrancy of colors that God has made. And I'm kind of in awe and thankful to be able to appreciate them. They don't ever turn out as good on camera, but I wanted to share as best as I could.

This is a negative stain from my microbio class. The dye has a negative charge (like bacteria) so it is repelled by the bacteria and adheres to everything else but them. Anyway, it looked even cooler under the microscope (like Saturn!) but I couldn't get it to focus. So use your imagination. . .

This is the wall of dyes that we use for microbio. They have all sorts of interesting names: crystal violet, methylene blue, congo red, malachite green. . .And they are so so beautiful. And also carcinogenic apparently. But I like this wall of dispensers. Microbio lab ended up not being so bad.

More pretty microbio colors. These are agars that we used to do our swabs with.

The next few are of food. *winces* But I am still amazed at the natural colors of some of the stuff we eat.

Salad with purple cabbage, carrots, lettuce and almonds. Yummy and attractive.

And a smoothie. No coloring added. Just berries and maybe cabbage!

Speaking of natural colors. . .this is my leg:

(When I went to pilates class with Stephanie yesterday--still sore--I got "that's a shiner hon!" from the instructor)

Ready for the cause of injury? (Not pilates)

SURFING!

Finally got to go on the Poly Escapes surf trip that I missed last year because I broke my arm. It's run by the student organization here and $15 for transportation to the beach and surfboard rental and lots of friendly instruction! As one of the girls who drove with us said: it's one of the few things on campus that's a really good deal. Haha. Kind of true.

And Dylan came too :) The day was gorgeous as you can see. And wetsuits are fabulous inventions. They really do keep you warm.

That there on the right is Jacob, one of the many trip leaders. I would like to commend PolyEscapes for this trip. There were plenty of leaders on the trip, enough to give everyone ample individual attention, and all really helpful in teaching. And not just helpful, but personable as well. Like, striking up real conversations and not just I-must-fill-this-awkward-silence conversations. Plus they brought us cinnamon rolls on our lunch break.

And Tiffany (another leader) kindly took this picture of us.

Dylan got the hang of it almost right away. Which doesn't surprise me. :) But we both realized how exhausting it is. You have to be constantly fighting against the waves to get out into the surf. My bruise is in fact from getting in front of the board *facepalm* and having a wave slam it sideways into me. But it makes for an impressive bruise. And better than a broken elbow. The only thing I would change about the trip would be staying longer. I felt like I was just starting to get it when we had to leave. I didn't quite get to standing up, but I think if we had stayed just a little longer. . .But I had fun and I'll just have to try again. And I was at the beach, with the sun, and the salt and the water, which just makes me supremely happy.

A good day.