climb up my rainbow

Another beautiful day, another lunch with a friend, and a new twist on playing. Ted only had to work three hours this morning. We scheduled a last minute brunch with our friend, Sarah, whose friend from Atlanta was in town for a long weekend. When they headed out for the airport, we headed to White Plains, New York to go to the Container Store in search of a 48" airtight box in which to store a sword collection (it's a long story). We didn't find it, but we did find a few other things, making up for what I didn't spend at Christmas Tree Shoppe yesterday. We then headed up the Merritt Parkway back to Connecticut.

While enjoying the tree-lined drive, we were inspired to do something spontaneous that would, once again, allow us to enjoy the outdoors on such a wonderful day. I suggested the zoo, and Ted, once again, eagerly agreed. I have been to this zoo several times, as it is a regular activity any time a niece or nephew visits us. Any time I'd gone with the kids, however, Ted always had to work. So, he'd never been!

It turned out to be the perfect way to "do" the zoo! The weather was ideal -- warm with a light breeze, sunny with a few clouds. Every other time I'd gone, it was July and hot (or hotter). The crowds were perfect. That is to say, there were no crowds to speak of; only various Moms, Dads, and grandparents with children too young to be in school. We took our time, lingered looking at animals we particularly liked, read the information boards, and snapped some photos.

We saw boy peacocks in various states of showiness, startled into full plumage when a girl peacock ran noisily by. A California condor was walking in the old bald eagle enclosure (a seriously big bird). It's been a couple years since I was here. I wonder where the eagle went. Timber and red wolves. A family of Siberian tigers, with Papa in one enclosure, and Mama with two one-year old (basically full-size) cubs in the other. An Andean bear. A Canada lynx. Lots of turtles, piling up traffic jam style on a couple logs. Alligators sitting very still. Herons and wood ducks and egrets and all sorts of other birds flying around and preening in a walk-through aviary. River otters whose river wasn't running, so they frolicked in a water-filled basin at the top of the hill. A red fox. A white-tailed deer. You know, zoo residents.

In all, we were there for a little over two hours. I stopped at the gift store on the way out and procured a few more stocking stuffers. We got cold beverages from the vending machine before walking out the entrance just as they were closing it up for the day. It really worked out just right. We loaded ourselves back into the car, adding one more bag of goodies to the Container Store bag, and headed home. The fresh air, sunshine, and exercise conspired to lure us asleep. I napped so deeply (and for about 90 minutes) that I was a bit confused when Ted woke me up with dinner! He'd made chicken Parmesan and broccoli. Yum.

I'm really loving these great Spring days. Tomorrow, although we have plans for another trek (weather permitting), we do also have plans to actually do some projects, and will be working much of the day. But I'll have more pictures to post regardless.

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Song: None, believe it or not. It's raining, and I love the sound of rain. So the music is off, and the window is open.