With a world famous zoologist.

And we’re back. What a weekend! So many good things. So many shitty things. So much to talk about, but I want to do this thing right. Let’s start with the outdoor adventures of Saturday and go from there.

The hiking trip was excellent. J-Bird and I took a lot of photos and had blast in the woods. At some point I assumed the roll of Dr. Gerhardt von Schirmer, the world famous zoologist and expert on all things related to bears. This was triggered by an over-heard conversation about a man in California who, apparently, had a heart attack in his back yard and was then drug off by a bear. Dr. von Schirmer explains this here:

That pretty much summed up the trip. I’ll have photos for you soon.

I, unfortunately, was brought back to the world of technology by the sudden and rather shitty death of my beloved grandmother, Nanny. I, and my family, are fine. She had been sick for a couple of years now and more than anything, we are all feeling a little relieved that she isn’t suffering any more.

This is the part where I would normally put a photo of me and my Nanny standing in the kitchen baking something or goofing around playing dominoes at a card table. But I don’t have one. I realized at some point last night that my grandmother did a pretty excellent job of hiding from the camera.

So, since I can’t insert a photo, I’ll tell you a story.

For the majority of my childhood, I would spend my spring break with my grandparents. This also happened to coincide with, roughly, my birthday. So, every year Nanny and I would bake me a birthday cake. It was always a German chocolate cake with the coconut glaze icing. Every year. I naturally just assumed that that was my favorite kind of cake from when I was a small child, so asked no questions about the choice of cake. At some point I, stupidly in hindsight, got too cool to go to my grandparents’s house on spring break. And the cake baking stopped.

It wasn’t until a few years ago, when my birthday rolled around and Teacher Sis asked what kind of birthday cake I wanted her to make for me, that I actually reflected on this. My first instinct was German chocolate. Duh. It’s what I’ve been eating for my birthday as long as I can remember. But, then I realized that I don’t really care for German chocolate. I like it just fine, but it’s not my favorite by any means.

It was in this moment, that I realized the true brilliance of my grandmother. It was her favorite cake. And if she was going to slave away in the kitchen making a cake, she was going to enjoy it. And what did I know? I was a little kid. It could have been any flavor of cake and I would have eaten it.

So, of course, I went ahead and had Teacher Sis making me a German chocolate cake. Because that’s what I have for my birthday. And I always will.

I’d also like to take a moment to offer my condolences to K over at Ars Brevis. Her sweet baby cat Beethoven was killed by a car yesterday. Be sure to send her a note to let her know you’re thinking of her.

On a brighter note, literally, in the midst of the chaos of getting back to city life and leaving to go to Mt. Ida yesterday, I got to meet up with Jitterbug and check out the photography lighting equipment she was hoping to sell me. I had expected an amateur lighting set-up, but I was sorely mistaken. She had a very badass professional set-up. I say she had one, because I now have one.

One step closer to the studio being a functioning art space. I should be getting some of the last equipment in for the letterpress tomorrow as well. I am hoping to print something by the end of the week.

Speaking of doing stuff, I have a half-assembled Lego set that is calling my name.

See ya’ tomorrow.

More soon. ~SC