May 07 2008
Skinks
Today I accompanied Gabe on his second grade class field trip to the National Zoo. We had visited the zoo during Spring Break and this time I drove the correct way. On our first visit, we were unable to walk through a number of the exhibits, because we ran out of time. Gabe was determined to see what he had missed. Luckily for him, today we saw a myriad of snakes, spiders, lizards, and skinks. “Wow, Mom, look at this! Wow, Mom this is cool!” He even spent some time looking through a microscope at dead beetles. I, however, turned down the request to have a look at that, and must admit that snakes, spiders, frogs, and hissing cockroaches are far from my ideal creatures. At the exit of the invertebrate house, there was a small butterfly greenhouse. We walked in and I just stopped. I love butterfly exhibits. They are peaceful and lovely and call to me to just “set down and rest awhile.” Dale’s Mama, Johnny loved butterflies. She collected butterfly things. One year, we took her to the butterfly pavilion at the New Orleans Zoo. It was the most beautiful place. We walked all around the zoo, but Dale’s Mama stayed in the butterfly house. She told us she would “set down and rest awhile.” Gabe was unwilling to let me rest however, for there were more strange and odd creatures to look at like naked mole rats and shrews. Gabe may tolerate my butterfly, bird, and panda gazing, but there’s no standing around when there is a skink to see.
When I was about 8, a family friend took my sister and I to London Zoo, as there would not be much time we had to pick an animal we would like to see the most.
My sister being four at the time wanted to see the Pandas, whereas I being my typical self, insisted I wanted to see the bird eating spiders.
Suffice to say I got to look at that exhibit by myself.
What’s a skink?
A skink is a smooth, shiny lizard having a cylindrical body and short legs.
Juliet, you have chosen a good locale to foster your love of spiders.
Oh I never said I loved spiders LOL