Thursday, February 24, 2011

Little tiny bit o' snow

Oh, I was hoping for more, but I'm delighted by the pretty pretty trees dusted with snow.
This is what I saw out my bedroom window this morning:

Pretty, right? This was just prior to sunrise, hence the magical, mystical quality to the lighting. Love it.
The best part of the morning was the kids. I didn't tell them there was snow, I just let them discover it. Priceless! They ran from window to window to get the different view, exclaiming to each other. So fun to watch.

I eventually made my way in to work, where it's much more wintery due to the elevation gain.
Fortunately, I had a convenient summer concert-area walk through scheduled this morning, so I snapped a few shots along the way. Hard to imagine summer concerts right now...

 I kind of like the juxtaposition of lions in the snow. They are cozy on their heated rocks.

Enjoy the little bit of magic out there – I know I am!




Monday, February 21, 2011

Girlchild, processing her injury

Girlchild took a tumble down the stairs of her school chum, and unfortunately I was a good 40 minutes away when it happened. Needless to say, by the time I got there, the school chum was fairly shaken up as well. My heart aches for the poor Mama who had to deal with my screaming, bleeding child and also her own terrified munchkin. I have a bottle of wine for the Mama, but check out what the the girl made for her friend:
She called her socks "Naughty Socks" because she said of her fall, "It was all my socks' fault."

 Here's the picture she drew of herself in the hospital. The fish stickers represent the TV, which had the "Aquarium channel" playing.
The people in the room are (in order from L to R) me, Brian, Dr. Eric, Nurse Anna and Dr. Moorhead.
Yes, the surgeon's name was really Eric, and yes, the nurse was really Anna. I know ~ weird, right??
Anna was knocked out for the procedure, but not all the way. She was aware that they put a sheet over her face, so she drew it on the picture.

I have a whole other post to write about how brave my daughter is. I'm so impressed with her, I can hardly stand it. But I'll save that for another post!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Elephant Interactions

Oregon Zoo's amazing photographer was able to capture hours of interactions between some of the bulls with the herd of females. He edited it into this gorgeous and mesmerizing video. I keep watching it over and over!

Enjoy.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Fewer Than 40

Wow, I'm 40!
I've been saying I'm 40 for a few years, so the actual number doesn't actually seem so shocking. But I'm pretty sure that achieving this age is supposed to mean that I'm officially grown up. I'm not.
But there is something about 40 {or maybe it's all the master planning meetings we've been having at the zoo} that makes me think more about the future than I ever have before. In the last few weeks, I've been dwelling on what I need to do and who I need to be and what plans I need to make in order to get where I want to be in the next 25 years.
Yes, I am working on a 25 year master plan for myself!

But you know who doesn't have the luxury of 25 years?
Amur leopards.

photo courtesy ALTA, Amur Leopard & Tiger Alliance

© WCS / ISUNR

There are fewer than forty of them left in the wild.
Critically endangered.
Their biggest threat is habitat loss and encroachment of humans.
There is still time to save these gorgeous creatures, however. Even a donation of the price of a latte (why not ten lattes?) would help.
Oregon Zoo's Future For Wildlife Fund supports leopard conservation work in Russia

Here's how to help!
Go here and donate:
follow this link to ALTA to make your donation right now!
I just did this, and it took less than a minute. I chose to donate $40 because it's my fortieth birthday. Can you give $4? Or more? Every little bit helps.

In 25 years, I would love to know that we turned the tide for these animals.

Thank you.