Good Enough: At the Zoo

Showing posts with label At the Zoo. Show all posts

The Usual Suspects

>> Friday, May 24, 2013 – At the Zoo, Ginny, Places We Go, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun

As I said, I did take pictures of the usual suspects yesterday.

Yes, that is Ginny with her head stuck in an elephant's ear.

Garden at Grassmere

>> Thursday, May 23, 2013 – At the Zoo, Ginny, My Green(ish) Thumb, Olivia, Places We Go, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun

We went to the zoo (again) today with a big group of friends and it was wonderful, as always. It was the most perfect day. There were things in bloom around every corner, and the air smelled like honeysuckle rather than... well, you know. I did take pictures of the usual suspects, of course, but I'm sharing, instead some that I took in the vegetable and herb garden at The Croft House.

It has been a long time since we visited this part of the zoo, but I love it. I love the big farm horses and milk cows and chickens, but somehow I don't think I'd ever walked through the garden before. Maybe now, with a garden of my own, I am just more interested than I was before.

Someone said it was like Mr. McGregor's garden. And so it was. Onions and cabbages. Overturned pots, under which to hide from cats and rake-brandishing farmers. A bit unkempt. A little rustic.

We all lowered our voices when we stepped through the gate. In my case it was, at least in part, because I realized that Olivia had fallen asleep, but that wasn't entirely it.

It felt a bit sacred, somehow. Things were alive. It just seemed like a place where things happen, because the caretakers let them happen. This is clearly a carefully tended garden, but not a manicured one.

Everything is just a little wild. Free. Natural. Beautiful.

Some Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

>> Tuesday, February 19, 2013 – About me, At the Zoo, Ginny, Miscellaneous, Olivia, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun, Things Mommies Do, Words I Love

When I pulled into my driveway this morning after taking Ginny to school, I had to sit in my car for several minutes because this song was on, and I can't walk away from Elton John and Billy Joel. Again with the bar songs. Seriously, what is my problem?

I started making coffee in my French press and right after I poured the water in I realized that both of my presses were in the dishwasher, which was in the middle of a wash cycle. I poured the coffee through a mesh sieve into my cup and it worked fine. I really feel like I dodged a bullet on that one.

I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the last 30 minutes of the Downton Abbey season 3 finale. Julian Fellows is a bad, bad man. That is all.

A few weeks ago, I signed up to start receiving emails from Fly Lady again. The relentless positivity (which apparently is not a word) is mildly oppressive, but I need someone to boss me around when it comes to getting things done around my house. I do not shine my sink, per se, but I have been "swishing" my toilets and "swiping" the toothpaste drips from the bathroom sink pretty much every day, so that's something.

I really, really, really want to take the girls to the zoo, mainly because of these -- two of my favorite animals to visit.

Design Seeds

Olivia just woke up from her morning nap and she's talking to herself. I wish I knew what she was saying. She sounds very sincere.

I'm attempting to wean her, starting with daytime naps. She is not down with it.

It's Homecoming at our Alma Mater this weekend, and we're planning to go for the first time. I hope it's fun. I wonder if it'll just be us and the Class of 1963. Ginny's really excited because there is going to be ice skating. She's been simply dying to go ice skating. I'll let you know how that goes.

In which we go to the zoo... again.

>> Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – At the Zoo, Ginny, Places We Go, Stuff I Love, Stuff we do for fun

What, you ask, could bring such a look of delight to a little girl's face?

Meerkats. And baby ones, at that. We had hoped to see them sooner, when they were still tiny, but even adolescent meerkats do not disappoint in the cuteness department.