I Should Be Writing, But...

[lydamorehouse]

I should be writing, but I've gotten to the end of revising everything I had saved up to this point. Now I have to write entirely new (but lost) stuff, and I'm feeling a bit discouraged. I thought I might feel up to going back to it after a short interlude on the Interwebs.

Yesterday, Mason and I went to the Minnesota Zoo with Eleanor, despite the heat. It was a lot of fun, as zoo trips with Eleanor always are, but we all got pooped out a lot quicker thanks to the brutal heat. Mason, at least, had his swim trunks so he could play in the sprinkler park by the entrance to the Grizzly Coast exhibit. The grown-up, alas, did not think to pack a change of clothes.

We saw some cool animals. I mostly refrained from taking many pictures, because I was enjoying just hanging out with Eleanor and Mason. But I did get this awesome shot of a wild turkey that wandered into the Minnesota Trail.



And, this amazing shot of a snoozing Amur leopard:



However, probably the coolest thing was watching the grizzly bear who was trying to fish salmon out of the pond. S/he walked along the bottom. Someone else watching made the observation that she seemed to be trying to kick the salmon up closer to her front paws, so she could grab them. Everyone wondered why she wouldn't just dive down and nab them, but perhaps she didn't know how (I think all the bears there were raised in captivity.) Anyway, it was utterly fascinating. Mason and Eleanor and I watched her for several minutes.

We also had an open house at Mason's school. Not much to report about that, except that Mason's new teacher seems like a winner. Fingers crossed for a good year for him in 3rd (and, because the school loops, 4th) grade!

Comments

[katya-s69.livejournal.com]

D'awwwww ... KITTY!!! I only managed to get to the zoo once during the 5 1/2 years I lived in the Minneapolis area, and that was during the late fall ... I remember particularly enjoying the bird house and the aquarium ... :-)

I had the same teacher for 3rd and 5th grade; during 4th grade the teacher who normally taught kindergarten got a wild hair and took my class, which drove her right back to kindergarten, 'cause my class was the "bad" class - we had way too many extremely clever, but very lazy, children in it and ... well ... when she got us back in 5th grade, Mrs. Johannes had to start us over where we had finished with her in 3rd ... Heh. *waves to Mrs. Johannes* She was the best ... it is due to her that I'm such a fan of fantasy and sci fi - thanks to The Chronicles of Prydain and The Dark is Rising - both of which she introduced the class to by reading a book from the series to us after lunch - daily reading to us was one of the favorites of the whole class.

[lydamorehouse]

I loved the Chronicles of Prydain. What an awesome teacher to read that to her class?!

I've been pleased that Mason has picked up and devoured those books as well.

[katya-s69.livejournal.com]

IIRC, I think she read two of them to us - I can't remember the titles right off-hand, but one was the one with the giant in the cave, and the other was the one where Taran first met the princess. It's been years since I've read them - at least ... *thinks for a moment* dang, over 20 years! But I still have them ... somewhere ... In a box in the other room ...

And, in fact, I just ordered myself a new, complete set of the Dark is Rising series so I could have it on hand; I think I gave my old set to my niece and, at any rate, it's in Montana and I"m in Georgia ... LOL