"Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege even to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is.
Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!"--Tasha Tudor



Thursday, April 23, 2009

At The Aquarium


Yesterday (Wednesday, "Earth Day,") my daughter Laura and I decided to visit the Maritime Aquarium in nearby Norwalk, Connecticut. The Maritime Aquarium is devoted to protecting and teaching about our wonderful Long Island Sound. One of the wonderful things about homeschooling is that you get to act on spontaneous and delightful whims. The local advertisements for the African penguins that arrived a few weeks ago proved too much for us to resist. Here are a few photos of some of the exhibits we saw.


Up close and personal. (yikes!)

(Who needs TV? It's always "shark week" here...)

Gigantic tanks behind the aquarium


A very 'New Englandy' type quotation on the wall heading toward the Imax theater.

We saw The Wild Ocean film. It was great.




There were quite a few of these rays, stingers removed, in a hands-on exhibit. I really didn't want to, but the docent insisted that I roll up my sleeves and 'pet' the slimy creature and I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I did. They were eerily friendly in a slimy fishy sort of way.
Jellyfish

Lots and lots of jellyfish.


A gecko.
I tried to ask him about insurance, but he was a little snobby and stand-off-ish.

Here are three little videos I took with my camera. Before you play them you may want to pause my 'blog music' by scrolling down to the music sidebar on the left and hitting the pause button. (It is the one that looks like a sideways = sign.) Don't you just love the old song "Calypso?" It was written by John Denver as a tribute to his friend Jacques Cousteau and his marine research vessel by that name.

Back to the videos. The first one is the big aquarium with the sharks. I swear one was staring at me like it wanted to have me for lunch. You can hear a very nervously excited little boy in the background. He was clinging to his father for dear life and saying something about "kicking the shark's butt" should the glass wall disappear.




This is seal feeding time. It is a little hard to hear because there are lots of excited children surrounding the little area that the seals swim into when it is feeding time. At the very end of the clip you can see one seal jump on the rock near the woman and if you watch till the end of the clip you will see the seal put her 'flipper' on the woman's knee the way one of my Corgis puts her paw on my foot when she is waiting for a cookie to drop. Very cute.



This one is only a couple of seconds long but shows their cuteness.



Here is Laura headed toward the outdoor penguin exhibit.






We decided that this mug in the giftshop gets
"The Unfortunate Mug Of The Day Award."
The coastlines disappear when you put a hot beverage into it.

(Note to self: not a gift for friends on anti-depressants.)

Better.
Much better!



Have a happy day my lovelies! -CS ^..^

7 comments:

ocmist said...

Looks and sounds like you had a great day out! You took such beautiful pictures and made a lot of good memories and that is always special.

I still remember about 24 years ago when we took our kids to San Diego Sea World, and my son, who was about 3 at the time bent over and put his little nose against the thick glass of the whale tank and the female killer whale that they were weaning from her baby came over and put her nose on her side of the glass and you could hear her whistle/talking to him... Makes me cry everytime I remember such a wonderful memory!

Chatty Crone said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful day. What a great place. Nice day with your daughter - making memories.

I enjoyed the eduation complete with pictures. Awesome. Thanks.

I loved John Denver playing in the backgroud too.

A happy good feeling time visitng your Blog.

michele said...

Your comments about the stingrays made me remember when one of my friends insisted I swim with the stingrays in the Caymans. I was absolutely terrified, but they were like big puppies that nudged up against you until you gave them some dead fish. Nice, but never need to do that again in case one decides to sting me.
Love the photos of the penguins - my absolute favourite animal! How cool to be able to home school.

^..^Corgidogmama said...

John Denver music would be perfect in this setting!
Such a good post....but the pic at the end took the cake! Loved the corgi adaptation of doggie's day out at the aquarium!
Perfect ending!

Roseann said...

Loved your choice of music for this entry. It was perfect! I haven't been at this aquarium since chaperoning elementary school field trips in what seems like a lifetime ago. Thanks for the memories!

ro

Anonymous said...

What a weird experience looking at all those sea creatures through glass. They probably think the same when they look at humans through the glass!! I love the penguins and the stuffed toys are amazingly real. What a fabulously memorable day out to celebrate Earth Day.

dana said...

Happy Saturday, Cathy!! Oh, what fun you had at the aquarium!!! My husband is an aquarium nut--we've been to the Shed(d?) Aquar. twice in Chicago (and we live in KC, MO!) and when we were in San Antonio, we visited the one at Six Flags. He watches every sea life show he can find on TV!!! I love them, too, but not as much as he does!!! We are so fortunate to have so many amazing places like that in our country to see the wonderful sea life.

I LOVE your bunny Lola!! Hope she's doing OK. Your paintings of Corgi's with marine life and bunnies are terrific!! So are YOU!!

I've been crazy busy lately with LIFE--my blogging and blog visiting have suffered. I'll be glad when my time to do such things on a regular basis returns! Dana