Dear Mr. or Mrs. Great White Shark,
Please stay in Mass. waters till I can get there. I really really would like to see you.
Love,
Debra Kay
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Wouldn't that be delicious irony-to see one on the "other" coast? I have seen one, a little one, in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a fabulous little creature, and quite obviously a formidable predator even as a baby. Still, it was clearly a baby and instead of great awe and reverence I was flooded with all these warm cosy feelings.
Yeah, size matters, but so do other things.
Diego's face is softer than his sister Frieda's, and even though Diego is twice as big as Frieda, I think of him as "cute" and Frieda as a real predator. I can't base this only on appearance, Diego is just really laid back and Frieda is a little fireball, she makes it clear she's a predator.
At a little over a year old, Diego is about the size of a yearling boa, nothing you would notice as particularly large. A normal burmese python would be pushing 6 feet at the same age. Frieda is even smaller.
Speaking of small, I baked a cornish hen today (Saturday) and gave Mr. Bird a leg bone. It's been rainy today (Saturday) and very low key and poor Oliver was almost out of sorts because no one was moving or doing anything exciting. But that all changed when he got his leg bone and then Jamie Oliver was the challenger on Iron Chef; Alton Brown kept saying "Chef Oliver". Oliver got so beside himself with self importance that he actually spoke directly to me while I was in the room.
When that happens I try to respond but not freak out with joy or begin to stare at him-I want him to feel more comfortable with speaking, not less. Right now he's dozing on his perch while I finish this up-then I'll carry him down the hall for his night night. He loves to be "tucked in" and coo'd and cuddled to. Sometimes in the morning he'll wake up saying whatever I said to him the night before. It's a good reminder that words matter.
I gave Prissy a little dish of hen and potato, and gave the others some potatoes. The carcass of the hen and the remaining meat are sitting in a pot ready to become the backdrop for some gluten free matzo ball soup. (Yes, it's going to be cool and rainy tomorrow).
All in all, a nice day, very fallish-although the A/C still kicks on. Oklahoma Fall.
6 comments:
hey Deb, I heard 3 great whites have been spotted on the Cape! I hope at least one waits for you :)
Sounds like you and the kids had a nice day yesterday. I love the part where you said words matter.
I hope today is just as good!
Since I am terrified of sharks, I hope they GO AWAY! I won't even put my foot in the water if they are around. NO SIR......!!!!!!!
But Mim, isn't it too cold to get in the water now anyway? We could sit on a high bluff and watch them eat seals or something.
It has to be a pretty good day Lolo-I have the matzo ball soup to look forward to.
That matzo ball soup sounds tasty, Debra!
I hope you get to see a shark. They are amazing creatures and much maligned. I've seen small ones, hanging around a fishing boat I was a crew member on. They look (to me) so soft and velvety!
They are actually kind of scratchy-there was a little leopard shark in a petting tank in Vegas (Mandalay Bay has a great Aquarium exhibit). The little shark would thrash around on the surface until I scratched his head. When I stopped, him swim around and thrash again until he got his head scratched!
It was pretty clear to me that it was not random behavoir, and there was only one little leopard shark in the tank, so it was the same one coming back for a rub.
I've always been fascinated by sharks, but that moment of connection changed everything for me, and come to think of it, has probably helped pave the way for me to connect on similar levels with the snakes.
Oh, and fear not Mim, I would never go in with a GW unless the situation were highly controlled. Unless YOU fell in, and would go in after you.
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