songbird's crazy world

 And the final post of the challenge. Z is for zoo. I am fortunate to live in the suburbs of New York City, where the  Wildlife Conservation Society  manages multiple facilities:  the  Queens Zoo , the  Prospect Park Zoo  in Brooklyn, the  Central Park Zoo , the  New York Aquarium  in Coney Island, and the  Bronx Zoo , by which I judge all other zoos.   When you become a member of WCS you have access to all of their facilities.  Drew and I are members.  I’ve never been to the Prospect Park Zoo, but I have spent time in all of the other facilities. Here are photos from the Queens Zoo.  It’s a small zoo, with an aviary, American wildlife and even a few domestic animals. Here are some photos from the aquarium.  It’s a small aquarium (the ones we saw in Mystic and Baltimore had far more extensive collections), but it’s right on the beach and adjacent to the amusement area. And the Bronx Zoo.  It’s magnificent, one of the best zoos in the country, if not the world.    If you want to see lio

  Promises, Promises Welcome to Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to  answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions! Saturday 9: Promises, Promises (1983) Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . 1) In this week's song, Naked Eyes lead singer Pete Byrne admits he believed his girl's promises, right from the start, but now he knows he should have been more careful with his heart. Do you consider yourself more trusting or skeptical? I’ve gotten more skeptical as I’ve gotten older.   2) He looks back on when he and his girl laughed like kids. When did you recently literally lau

 Y is for yarn Yarn is used in crochet.   I learned to crochet in middle school.  I made a few things —a hat, a scarf.  It was fun.  But I never pursued the hobby.   There are a few times I’ve tried to pick it up again, but never stuck with it. But I’m going to try again.  I bought a kit, it includes hooks, yarn and a few simple patterns.  I can’t wait to get started.

I thought this would be a hard one.  But …   Xenophilia or xenophily is the love for, attraction to, or appreciation of foreign people, manners, customs, or cultures. It is the antonym of xenophobia or xenophoby. The word is a modern coinage from the Greek "xenos" and "philia", though the word itself is not found in classical Greek.   I am somewhat of a xenophile.  I like reading about foreign cultures.  I enjoy travel, though I haven’t done nearly enough of that. I  speak a little Spanish, I studied Hebrew, I’ve always wanted to learn French.   And I really enjoy ethnic/foreign foods. Let’s go to that Italian place for some calamari, chicken Marsala, eggplant rollatini. Or do you prefer the Greek place?  Moussaka or  gyros, perhaps?  You had me at  tzatziki. Schnitzel at the German place?  Or kielbasa and cabbage at the Polish restaurant?   French?  We can get coq au vin. Tacos from the Mexican place or ropa vieja from the Cuban? Too bad the Croatian place closed.

 There were so many options for W, but right now the one that comes to mind is ‘wedding”. I am the Mother of the Bride.  Becca got engaged a few months ago, and we are in the midst of wedding planning. I can’t share details just yet, except to say it will be summer 2024.  She has a a venue, an officiant, a photographer, and she just said yes to the dress.  Jen, of course, is Maid of Honor.  Everything else will fall into place soon.   I don’t know my future son-in-law Brendan well, but I like him.  I’ve never seen Becca happier than when she’s with Brendan.   It’s an exciting time.   Drew and I got married on June 28, 1987.  It was a Sunday afternoon.  Our wedding party included my sisters, Drew’s sister, and a group of Drew’s friends.  Our first dance was to “Evergreen”, and when I danced with my father the band played “Sunrise, Sunset”.   The memories are bittersweet.  We were divorced 7 years later; we  have since reconciled. But it was a beautiful wedding. I loved my dress.  It was

 V is for Valentine My Valentine. That’s Drew holding the gifts I got for his birthday.  He’s always had a thing for Figment, a character from  EPCOT at Walt Disney World in Florida.   (And yes, that’s Duchess sitting on the stairs…)

Today’s word is “universe”.  I am fascinated by the thought of  outer space.   Back in October 2016, we visited the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  You can tell where you are even from the parking lot: Admission was expensive, but included a bus tour of the campus as well as all the major exhibits.  We paid an additional fee for a guided bus tour, which includes additional stops.  Our tour guide, John, gave us lots of insights into the comings and goings at Kennedy Space Center, as well as the projects that NASA and private contractors are working on for 2018.  We're going back to the moon!  And that will be the first step in going to Mars. Vehicle Assembly Building, as viewed from  the bus: Launch pad: And up close:           The various missions: The bus tour ends at the Apollo-Saturn V building, where it's 1968 again.   One of the best displays in this building has you seated in the control room during a rocket launch.  It includes news footage of the launc