Sunday, August 17, 2008

Vacation, Pt. 1

And now, without further ado: my vacation. Well, not entirely without further ado -- this is a knitting blog, after all, and I need to show you the awful case of Second Sock Syndrome that has befallen me. One toe up, one top down, two completely different socks. And I almost cast on a third, not in any way related to either one of the socks below!


Ahem. Anyhow, we went down to Florida to visit my mother-in-law. We did some family stuff on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday, Mr. Batty, my sister-in-law and I went to visit Homosassa Springs. I love manatees as much as I love bats, they are so big and cuddly-looking! The state park has several manatees living in it, and we visit them every time we're in Florida.

They are so cute. They have the most adorable faces, and all they do is float around and eat...


...and cuddle.


I wish people would stop tooling down the rivers in their awesome motorboats. These poor critters just want to hang out and enjoy life, and then some idiot with an enormous sense of entitlement runs them over with his spiffy boat. It's a horrible, horrible thing. Some people want to take the manatee off the endangered species list, but there are only so few of them left, and they are so wonderful. I think the world would be a less beautiful place without them.

On a less depressing note: there were flamingoes. Pink and tacky-looking, and more than slightly embarrassing. Standing around all pink with one leg in the air... they crack me up.


There were lots of other animals, and we had a great time walking around outside. Then, we picked up my mother-in-law, and we all headed out to this wonderful local ice cream place. Below, you see one of the reason for my impressive weight gain, given that we were there for only a week.

Chocolate face. Yum, chocolate.

9 comments:

Beverly said...

Oh, I love the manatee too. I've been to Homosassa Springs, but it's been a few years. They are lovely creatures.

Kate said...

"all they do is float around and eat..."

In my next life, I'm going to be a manatee. :-)

Bonnie said...

Manatees, flamingos, and ice cream - sounds like a great vacation. Welcome back!

adrienne said...

So cool! I want to see real live flamingoes someday!

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

LOVE manatees! I snorkled with them several years ago. Very cool.

Maybe you should just wear those socks together?

Kathy Kathy Kathy said...

I'm glad you're back. I was getting sick of cake for breakfast. Fiber Trends has a pattern for a felted flamingo. Someday I'll try it. Here's a link: http://www.fibertrends.com/viewer/patterns/221.htmI think you should knit the third sock. I'm thinking blue. Definitely.

Unknown said...

But it's still a pair!

Sounds like you had a great vacation. And it would be a great life to do like the manatees 'cept for having to dodge high speed motorboats, jet skis & the like.

BTW, chocolate is always good.

Maureen said...

Soundlike you had a lot of fun! Great pics too! Good luck on the socks!

Mary, Mary... said...

I agree completely about the boats vs. manatees. we lived in Miami for 2 years and I wanted to perform acts of violence on the all of the power boats. I once went swimming and thought I touched a rock. It moved and scared the livin' dookies out of me--a manatee enjoying a warm spot!