Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Nefarious hung out with reptiles and amphibians today, with many animal visitors coming to her camp.

I dozed off a bit at first, but I did still go to the park and do a little writing this afternoon, and after I picked Nefarious up from school we went and got her friend Cassie and went to the park to have some ice cream and play. When they got tired of the play area we went on a loooooonnnnng hike through the forest, on particularly overgrown and steep paths.   …more of that continues after the break…

We saw still-green raspberries in the forest, but after leaving the forest we walked through one of the communal gardens, checking out the many, many different vegetables that have been planted and are awaiting picking. The sign said “don’t pick anything unless you’re REALLY hungry” but I don’t know how serious it was…

Walking further down the road, I was amused to see that someone had made small slices on many of the poppies that are growing wild along the road. I guess they were praying for opium to come seeping out… No such luck though.

Our actual destination on this hike had been the park, but when we got to the top gates, we discovered that it was closed and the gates were locked shut, presumably because of the city workers strike. Nonetheless, we climbed over the fence and found that in the absence of visitors the normally shy wallabies were all sitting right next to the pedestrian pathway.

The other good thing about the zoo keepers being on strike is that no one has been there to collect the peacock feathers, which were strewn about their enclosure. Thanks to Nefarious’s skinny arms being able to fit through the holes in the wire mesh she managed to retrieve three beautiful prizes.

By then it was almost seven, so we all headed home, got a pizza, and watched Coraline — quite likely the best stop-motion animated movie I’ve ever seen — which Nefarious and I read some time ago. It’s quite surreal but they were both glued to it. I think it could be scary and disturbing for some kids, but I would recommend it. Bookwise, right now we’re working on the much lighter Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which she’s enjoying immensely, as she did the similar Roald Dahl book James and the Giant Peach. We’ll watch the movie when we’ve finished reading the book.

And I think tomorrow we’re going to head out of town and see if we can’t find ourselves a nice beach and do some swimming. Gotta be back for 10PM though — I’m looking forward to UFC 100. My money’s on Lesnar, St. Pierre, and Henderson. Speaking of fighting, the next Ultimate Fighter TV series is going to be a good one, at least if you enjoy the freakshow element of fighting… It’s all heavyweights, and heavyweights at the top end — 265lbs — of the scale, many with solid pre-existing fight records.