Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

I put up a generous handful of zoo photos to finish out the Janaury visit posting. There are cute ducklings and happy peguins as well as more excruciatingly cute snow leopards and a bunch of tiger photos. Trust me, the penguins were happy. (Check out the happy honking penguins too!)

I think I’ve chosen a scanner too. The Epson Perfection V700 will probably be mine once my tax return comes in. Oh and once I figure out where the heck it’s going to live in my office. I need to do some massive spring cleaning and then some I think. And after that my next major photography purchase will probably be either an IS lens to replace the one the came with my camera or a proper macro lens of doom. But first, organizing the office is required. I should really dump a bunch of my old technology detrius… but you never know when you might need a 100MB Zip disk!!!
The Flower Show on Saturday was… frustrating. I did get some good photos, but they used more gels in the lighting than I remember from last time I went. Oh, and going on the preview day is actually a Bad Idea. Too many people. The Legends of Ireland theme was lovely and there were some very creative displays… I just couldn’t get close to many of them without being rude or without someone bumping me while I was trying to take photos. Next time I’ll just take Monday morning off to go or something. I did buy a whole bunch of tiny little shrubs and trees for bonsai and a fresh supply of training wire! Retail therapy! I also picked up a brochure for a Bonsai studio, Rosade Bonsai Studio, that offers classes and workshops. They had a gorgeous exhibit that included a bunch of hand-made rocks (which they offer a class for of course!).

After the the “adventure” that was the Flower Show we hit Reading Terminal Market, where neither mshireman or myself had been before. It’s a pretty nifty place! I love urban markets like that - lots of stalls of cool stuff, almost all food in this case. This market has been up and running for over 75 years! Despite being closed in, the fish smells from the many seafood vendors didn’t permeate the market - total bonus. There were some amazing baked goods (we got cookies), chocolates, specialty kitchen shops and oh the cheeses! We had a late lunch at a diner in the market and I had the best BLT I’ve tasted in years. Words cannot describe how incredible it was, so I won’t try, just trust me. I’d like to go back on a non-Flower Show day and see more. Unsurprisingly the market was also packed but considerably less scary probably because people were moving. For my next trick, I’ll make it to the Italian Market.

tags: amur tiger, bonsai, duckling, food, gardening, humbolt penguins, penguins, philadelphia flower show, philadelphia zoo, reading terminal market, scanners, technology, tiger