I brought home a new friend tonight as a pick-me-up for a miserable day (or week… or year…).
Isn’t he cute? He lives in a bowl (for now; hoping to get something bigger later) on my computer desk. He keeps me company while I work. I’m calling him Morimoto, which was a suggestion from by boyfriend’s brother. I thought it was funny. (Ya know, as in the Iron Chef?)
I had gone to a local aquarium store, Buzz ‘n B’s, first to look at fish, but they were all out of bettas. So I stopped in to Petco on the way home and they had a huge selection, which really surprised me. I knew they’d started carrying crowntail bettas a while back, along with the “standard” veiltail. But now they also have halfmoons (which mostly were more like deltas, really), plakats, and double tails. (Morimoto is the latter, if you couldn’t tell.) If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out these articles about betta tail forms.
Incidentally … did you know there’s an organization called the International Betta Council (IBC) that is to bettas what the AKC is to dogs? Seriously. (I’m a former member … Yes. I AM a super-geek.)
This past Saturday I went with Mike, his dad, and Little Man to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
I hadn’t been there since a school field trip, probably 15 years ago now. (Hard to believe it’s been that long!)
The exhibits were lovely: majestic big cats, a huge array of primates, and even an aquarium! Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we got to see The Rainforest, so we’re going to have to make a trip back to see that.
They have an exhibit with animatronic dinosaurs displayed right now too. Little Man found them a little intimidating, especially when they roared, but he had so much fun exploring and seeing everything else!
My very favorite exhibit was “Flutter!“, the butterfly greenhouse. The foliage and butterflies are just stunning. I happened to wear a green t-shirt, and I had butterflies hitching rides on my shoulder every time I turned around.
I also noticed that people wandering through the greenhouse seemed universally in awe. I think it’s humanly impossible to be anything but happy and delighted when surrounded by butterflies. Amazing such a tiny, delicate creature can elicit that type of reaction in people.
Wish every weekend could be like this…
