Sunday, June 17, 2007

sunday afternoon lethargy

I think when I have far too much to do, there’s some short in my brain and I can do absolutely nothing but loaf around, surf the net, and take naps. It may just be over tiredness from yesterday—the Brookfield trip, five hours of walking in hot weather. Also, the GIANT and swarm-like cicadas I was dodging and trying not to freak out about (though I swear some were as big as a small child.) It maybe that I’m getting sick, a little feverish and my throat hurts on one side. Or maybe I’m just really lazy with the heat and humidity. While yesterday morning before we left I was buzzing, printing covers & chaps, making collages and folding laundry, today….nothing. I managed to get up, make iced tea, eat eggs for breakfast, check e-mail, read a little of Larissa Szporluk’s new Embryos & Idiots (am loving it.), then fell asleep for two hours with the fan on me and only got up because I’m expecting my groceries to be delivered at some point this evening. Am trying to focus long enough to look at poems in the second section of in the bird museum in the meantime, but not having much success. No progress on assembling Alluviums or andromedas. Hopefully, I’ll get a second wind tonight.

Th zoo was fun, despite the unofficial wildlife. Got to see a dolphin show and fondle a stinggray. Also spent about twenty minutes watching the new baby polar bear play with its mother. Also watched said mother bear jump half out of the water and trap a black bird, cat-like, that landed on the rocks beneath her paw. I was amazed how fast she moved, lumbering as she was. While I thought I might see a little unwanted carnage, the bird flew away when she moved her foot and disappeared into the mote. I never, however, saw it fly out.

The zoo always reminds me of fifth grade field trips and makes me happy that way, though I like the selection of animals better at the Lincoln Park one. Brookfield has a bigger, better habitat for the primates and the aforementioned dolphins (one of whom has been there as long as I’ve been alive), but LP has more big cats and a bigger, better more eco-friendly habitat for the bears as well as underwater viewing. The worst zoo, but also the best in this regard, is the Madison zoo, where you are practically on top of the animals, but you know that’s not nearly enough room for them. Last time, there were four lion cubs, and despite a big fence and a good five feet, you were right there next to them.