41 • Sweet

Sweet

Wouldn't it be divine to feast all day long on the sweet nectar of flowers. You are delicate, stunningly beautiful, and your only care in the world is to find another beautiful blossom on which to daintily perch and sip. Especially after starting life as a belly-crawling, dirt-in-your-fuzz caterpillar, worried moment to moment that you'll be stepped on or snatched by a winged mom eager to feed you to the half-dozen upturned crying beaks that wait for her a million miles up in a tree. The two weeks of "old age" as a butterfly seem like a great way to conclude one's life -- especially compared to how most of us humans will struggle through ours.

50 • Playtime

Playtime

Stefanie wasn't quite sure what to make of this playful, thousand-pound polar bear, who we watched swim with a small ball for 10 minutes this morning. The size of his padded paws, flattened against the water as he swam, was awesome. He would hold the ball close and swim to the bottom of the tank, and then release the ball and try to catch it again as it raced to the surface -- humorous, since he seemed to be purposefully giving himself the workout over and over. Until, that is, he decided he was done, at which point he gracefully exited the pool with a quick shake of wet fur, and ambled off out of sight.

49 • Not Photoshop

Not Photoshop

The dolphin show today was filled with the usual splashes and clap-to-the-beat music. I hardly remember taking this picture -- juggling two nap-ready preschoolers at 2:30 after a liturgy and several hours at the zoo put my picture-taking on auto-pilot. But looking at this now it doesn't look like it could possibly be real -- except for the trail of water droplets as evidence of her quick ascent out of the water just a moment before I snapped the photo. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction :-)