Wild Kingdom

Two weeks ago, Sydney and I met my dear friend Melinda and her offspring at the Indy Zoo.



I'm really just friends with Melinda because she is so well-connected. Hence this behind-the-scenes photo of us and the elephant. (I pirated the photo from Melinda's Web site. Hope you don't mind!) Actually, our friendship started with an ad in the newspaper ...



Here is the same elephant getting a bath. There is a zoologist on the right washing behind the pachyderm's ear. Too cute. (Note to self: I should wash behind Sydney's ears once in a while.)


Forget animal watching. We watched these gal pals entertain themselves. Hopefully, Miss Lilly and Miss Sydney will be lucky enough to be such great friends like their Mommies.



I'll call this image: Ham meets Ham. Melinda's son Lucas is a riot. What a cute kid. And, Sydney just loved his material. Anything he did was hilarious and she imitated most of it. Perhaps there is such a thing as a rent-an-older-brother.

Ramblings ...

Like most zoos, the Indy Zoo promotes animal conservation and environmental preservation. Even the seats on the train have soundbite messages such as, recycling one aluminum can can power ## light bulbs.

I heard a story on NPR about a woman who conducted a two-week 'garbage' experiment. During this two-week period, she carried around any garbage that she could not recycle, reuse or compost. Could you imagine? I have. What would I do with the straw wrappers and straws for my occasional Coke from McDonalds (I usually recycle the cup)? My mascara containers. (How many mascara containers have I contributed to our landfills?) The annoying little plastic ties that restrain any kid toy in its packaging. The list can go on and on ... We try to recycle everything we can. I'll even tote plastic bottles home from places where recycling is not available. Just look at our recycling bins every other Friday. I wonder what our neighbors think ...

We don't recycle everything. And, I continue to deposit my mascara containers in the bathroom trash every two months. But, we do the best we can. And, we talk to Sydney about reduce-reuse-recycle. (I also believe babies are the worst thing ever for the environment, but that's another day's ramblings ...)