Animals – The Bookish Mutant

LA and Sequoia National Park 2018

Posted on March 30, 2018 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi, everyone!

As I said earlier, the reason I wasn’t able to make another BRT this week was due to my vacation in California. I had an AMAZING time! Figured I might as well showcase a few of my highlights from my vacation. Enjoy!

Our first stop after landing was Meltdown Comics in LA. MAN, it was such a fantastic comic shop! I’m really sad it’s closing.

But hey-at least I got a few Meltdown stickers, as well as a B.P.R.D. trade paperback (which I held up like Rafiki holding Simba in The Lion King the entire duration of the visit). I ended up reading it at least six times. Yep.

Believe it or not, this is Sequoia National Park. Not Isla Nublar.

*Jurassic Park theme blaring* *T-Rex roar*

These two were taken at the Giant Forest, which houses many giant Sequoias. They were soooo beautiful! One of the park rangers suggested that we hug one of them while we were at the park, and described it as “like hugging a wall”. As it turned out, that was fairly accurate. 😜

These were all taken by Hospital Rock, which was fairly close to the park entrance. I swear, if there’s any place on Earth (*ahem* Orbona) that’s most like the Wandering Forest, it had to be there. I honestly wouldn’tve been surprised if some of the vegetation got up and ate a bird or something.

(Psst, anyone know the way to the heart?)

General Sherman, the world’s largest tree!

Lake Hume, in King’s Canyon National Park.

On a far weirder note…this monstrosity was in this tiny, sketchy town near Sequoia. The only reason we could think of to construct such a thing was to scare off them ‘squatches.

Who knows.

We visited the NHMLA after our visit to Sequoia. I had an amazing time, and I enjoyed a bit of geeking out and childhood nostalgia. Here we have the skulls of an Einiosaurus, Styracosaurous, and Triceratops.

SQUAAAAAAAAWK!

I forget what the thing on the left is, but whatever it is, it CRACKS ME UP. (Also, that poor lil Hyracotherium is in for a big surprise…)

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!”

Pakicetus, one of the first whale ancestors. I kinda had a mental freakout when I saw this guy, as I grew up watching waaaaaay too much Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. (Okay, technically the one they have is Ambulocetus, which evolved some time later, but you get the idea.)

I hope you’re all enjoying your spring break! See ya later!

Animals, Random

A brief bout of cuteness overload (and other stuff like that)

Posted on November 28, 2017November 28, 2017 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Over Thanksgiving break, my mom was digging through some old CDs, and found a bunch of old photos in the process. They were all from around 2007, when I was about four years old.

I had no memory of when we had gotten two of our cats-Anakin and Padme-because, y’know, I was really little. (They are both about 10 years old, cousins, and totally inseparable <3) So I was surprised when my mom uncovered these…

This is little kitten Padme!!! AAAH! HOW WAS SHE EVER THAT SMALL????? (She’s kinda overweight now, poor thing. Sorry, Padme…)

And here’s little kitten Anakin!!! This, along with most of the other photos, were taken on the day we adopted this little Sith lord. What a cutie.

Spending time with his loving cousin. Look at those eyes!!!

Um…don’t know what’s going on here…

…Hugs?

Along with the kitten pictures came a photo of me on Halloween when I was about three. I was Princess Leia, for the second time (I had been her when I was two as well).

Great expression, huh? So regal.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my unannounced slew of kitten pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing them. Meow.

Animals

Cat Photography Tips (with Hobbes the cat)

Posted on June 15, 2017June 15, 2017 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hey everyone! I’ve been meaning to do this post for months, and I’m only now getting to it (wow, self).

Since late October, when my family adopted Hobbes, I’ve learned a lot of little tips and tricks for taking pictures of cats. I just thought I might share a few with you!

1. Don’t use the flash (unless you absolutely need to)

Cat eyes are very unique-they have a layer of tissue on their pupils called the tapedum, which increases the amount of light that the eye absorbs, making their night vision outstanding. This is why cat’s eyes appear to glow in the dark. That being said, if you use the flash, the tapedum kicks in, causing your cat’s eyes to glow, and therefore make them look like they’re possessed by a demon.

Terrifying, isn’t it?

2. Take lots of rapid-fire pictures

Cats, especially kittens (like Hobbes, who is now almost a year old), are very active, and will not stand still for long. So, when taking pictures of your cat running around, hold the camera button down (for iPhones and other devices like that) or push the button down really quickly a bunch of times (for regular cameras). You’ll get a lot of blurry shots out of this, but some results are hilarious.

3. Use a toy to get their attention

Cats are not exactly the most photogenic creatures (Hobbes, I’m talking about you), and they, kittens especially, have kind of a short attention span. So, one way to get and temporarily keep their attention is to wave or shake a toy behind the camera. It works, and they’ll usually look really funny because their pupils tend to dilate.

4. Capture every moment you can

Cats pretty much look cute no matter what. Most of what they do is ADORABLE, so take lots of pictures to capture the personality of your friend. Sleeping cats look SO SWEET, cats in their “you may worship me now” pose are always hilarious, and meowing shots are always good for a laugh. So take advantage of this time with your cat, and take as many pictures…as your iPhone storage will allow.

Thank you so much for reading, and have a great summer!

Animals, Vacations

GRAND CANYON!!!!

Posted on March 30, 2017 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

I’m back, everyone! I hope you’re having a great spring break so far! I had SUCH and amazing time at the Grand Canyon. Absolutely breathtaking. The pictures don’t do it justice. BEAUTY!!!

Okay. I know what you’re thinking-HOW THE #$^& DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE GRAND CANYON? Well, we saw this on the drive to the Grand Canyon by a sketchy burrito place. Only in Arizona…

👌

The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I literally froze in place, I was so astonished!

Kinda-sorta-maybe panorama

Cheesy name, incredible view.

RESIST ✊

The next few pictures are..uh…a little weird, shall we say. Just a warning…

😂🤢

Why does death have to be SO ADORABLE AND FLUFFY?!?!?!?!?

I hope you enjoyed my GC pics, and have a great rest of your Spring break! I’ll be back on Tuesday with some more book reviews. Ciao!

Animals, Vacations

Aw Yeah Alaska!

Posted on July 4, 2016 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

As I mentioned in my last BRT, I went to AK for about eight days. I just got back here today, and I’m exhausted. But Alaska was so awesome! Here are some pictures from my camera.

This moose was in a small lake near our cabin in Talkeetna. We didn’t get this close- just the work of the zoom lense on the camera. Ha.

Some sort of rodent at Denali National Park. We never identified it. But hey, it’s still cute, right?

Me by Savage Creek (Denali)

The most dangerous creature in Alaska…Paco the chihuahua.

We went on a plane on Tuesday over Denali. This was taken shortly after the plane took off.

This was also from the plane. Awesome glacier!

The next four pics are from the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center, which I LOVED.

After Talkeetna, we stayed in Seward.

This eagle, along with three others, lived right near our cabin. It was really cool! We found three of their feathers, and in the evening we would often hear them screeching.

These last pics are from when we took an 8-hour boat tour through the Kenai Fjords. Definetly my favorite part of the trip!

The very first animal we saw- a sea otter!

A colony of Steller’s Sea Lions

We saw a pod of orcas!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEE! Anyway, this picture is an adult with a baby. One of the orcas also got really close to our boat! I squealed like a teenage girl at a pop concert when I saw them. Literally.

Harbor seals on the ice

Northwestern (or Northwest. I forget) Glacier. This was our final destination before turning around. You might be able to see a harbor seal in the middle of this picture!

“Amazing” and “awesome” just don’t do justice to this. This was the second or third Humpback whale we saw, but man, she was showing OFF. As well as the breaching, she showed her fluke, blew from her blowhole, and waved her flippers. Legit whale aerobics.

As you can see, this was such a fun and memorable trip. I hope you guys are having a great summer! Plus- I read some good books in AK, so my next BRT will be great. Bye!

P.S.- Happy early Fourth of July! 🇺🇸