At the Zoo

On Tuesday I entertained my visitors by taking my niece and my brother to the Woodland Park Zoo, where all of my photos came out overexposed.  I had just changed the memory card (to an old one) because the one I had been using developed glitches.  I hope that's the problem and not my camera.

Anyway, here a just a few pics that aren't too awful.

Blue-bellied Roller from the African exhibit:

Kitty cat:

Matt the Grizzly (or possibly Steve the Grizzly -- there are two, and they're twins):

How many monkeys are in this picture?

I take a photo of Crystal taking a photo:

Feed me!

We walked a LOT and saw every exhibit area there except the petting farm, insect house, and duck pond.

Later that same day, I took my brother and mother to "my" art gallery, where Mom bought one of my framed original paintings, and another painting had just sold to a tourist from Texas, so I got a nice little check from the gallery owner.

On Wednesday I got to drive my company to Ronald, WA, where we had met up so that Mom didn't have to drive all the way to Seattle.  I saw them off back to their home in Richland, while Truman and I got to spent the rest of the day and night at Michelle and Steve's lovely vacation home.

In Ronald we did some birding in the woods, and then had a long walk around nearby Roslyn, which is full of historic buildings that make for excellent sketching opportunities.  I contemplated going to Lavender Lake, which Michelle recommended for swimming, but it never got above 72 and was very windy, so the urge to swim never really developed.

At 2:00am today, Tru decided he needed to go outside to do his business, which initially annoyed me until I stepped onto the back yard deck and looked up at the stars.  Oh my.  In Seattle, on a clear night, I can see maybe six stars from my back porch.  In Ronald, I could see practically the entire Milky Way.  It was so stunning that I almost didn't want to go back inside.

I'll try to post a few pics from Ronald and Roslyn tomorrow.