The Adventures of Lonely Tree

Driving back and forth between Helena and Bozeman, I have learned that I can depend on a certain lonely tree to grab my attention. It's stuck out in the middle of a field, all alone - not even a stray cow to keep it company. Each time I go past, I want to stop and go see it, take pictures of it, bake it casseroles, send it Christmas cards, make it less lonely.


On Sunday night, I was driving my beloved back to his lair in Bozeman when we spotted the tree once more. He saw my wistful look, and, noting the camera in my bag and the fact that we weren't on a schedule, suggested that we pull over. Boy, is he nice or what?


We pulled off the highway and wandered back to the tree. It wasn't so lonely! It had a rainbow for a friend.


Ian found a friend, too.


We couldn't get much closer to the lonely tree, but that was okay.


We took a few more pictures,


said goodbye to our friends,


and headed on our way.

The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is... mmm, tasty!

Two birthdays in one week! Happy birthday Ian and Ashley! Okay, so it's a little late, but you have to forgive me for wanting to wait on getting the film developed:


Randi made not one, but TWO beautiful cakes in one week. The second first: Ian's delicious chocolate rum cake with the CERN logo on top. I think he just about flipped his lid when he saw it!


And Ashley's fabulous Dante's Cove cake. Yay for gay soap operas!

Chicago style is people.

I'm sure that this comic (click to see whole thing I guess?) could be better, but there's only so much improving a thing can do before it becomes a rainbow-colored, magical, cake-bearing unicorn friend. I've had to do a bit of Chicago for history classes and various other insane professors, as well as help my fellow students with its use. Having to list everything twice, in two completely different forms? Ridiculous. I feel completely safe in saying that Chicago is superfluously complicated and outdated.


marriedtothesea.com 1

Oh God, have they come so soon? I hear zip lines buzzing. Storm troopers are gathering outside my door now; I hear their boots, their arcane chatter... the red pencil dart guns will pierce my heart any moment. Goodbye my friends, and remember that I love youuuttvjdsflmv,clx;ghfgggggtfdgtyhajkdfshanve88hanvsa 2


1. Drew and Natalie Dee, chicago manual of style (Interwebs: Married To The Sea, 2008).
2. Caitlin Carroll, Last Words (Interwebs: Blogger, 2008), 97.

Sometimes when you expect something to happen, but do not expect that something to happen FOUR TIMES you make faces like this. My readers are aware that I got a new computer, one of the perks of which is that I can take ridiculous pictures of myself without giving the photo developer dudes a hearty laugh while I'm at it.



Ian and I had a good time trying out all the features. I feel as if he and I are Nancy Drew and a Hardy Boy discovering some horrifying entity here.



I've often said that Ian doesn't understand film; he makes funny faces just as I'm going to take a picture with my film camera, a behavior I have always attributed to ignoring the fact that I can't instantly delete photos. Well, Ian, I have wronged you with such accusations. It turns out that you make funny faces in otherwise nice photos ANYWAY. I still hate you for it, though. See, you flaunt the fact that you can control such things. I, on the other hand, lack the ability to CHOOSE to mess up a photo; I just do it.

However, I think that you are adorable anyhow. Especially in this one:



Randi was amused by the "emo MySpace" quality of some of my self-portraits, so she decided to make this one, which I forced her to set as her Facebook photo:



The prize for the best use of iSight, though, undoubtedly goes to Ian, who made this and didn't even bother to show me so that I could hang it up like a proud girlfriend on my refrigerator (ahem, blog).

Just call me De Daubier-Smith

Come to find out, one of the glorious perks of defiling my computer with - excuse me, running - Windows is having the indispensable program Microsoft Paint, a super-helpful widget that lets you create crappy, pixelated art like a pro. The only thing I'm actually somewhat decent at drawing is mountains, so the subject of this nature scene/ still life seemed like a natural choice. Look to see my first solo show up at the Met next week:



And, as all three of my readers know, I've been ever-so-gleeful about the other new gadget, an iPod Touch. Music! Videos! Pictures! But wait, there's more! Internet! Note-taking! Internet some more! OMGBBQROFLLOLFEMA! It's so magical.