Can I Keep It?

Lighten Up

Time to lighten up.  Ease my flow.  Change direction.

Lots of things cause my lips to curl up on the edges. The small bits are what I take the most delight in.  Things like this.  Meet Estela:

 
Zooborns had this to say about her:

Estela the Spider Monkey is now on view in Melbourne Zoo's Primate Nursery with her grandmother Sonja. Estela was abandoned at birth by her mother Sunshine, so Primate Keepers stepped in to provide 24/7 care to pull the tiny newborn through since her birth on January 17th.

 

Primate Supervisor Jess McKelson explains "Because Sonja didn't feed Estela, the baby didn't get the crucial protection against infection that comes from the colostrum in mother's milk. So the baby has been very prone to infection, and we have needed to keep her under quarantine conditions at times. But we have still placed a major priority on getting her acquainted with her grandmother, Sonya, so she can learn the behaviours that are natural to a Spider Monkey."

 

Ahhhh.  Nothing like a tiny monkey making it through diversity to put a fresh spin on your old wounds.

Everybody send a wave of good vibrations to my sweet husband, Hud, today.  He really could use some of the blog love, too.  Thanks for all of it that you sent my way.  Like my friend, Virgina said," It's like finding an extra cookie when you think you've reached the end of the box!"

*Go to the Melbourne Zoo's site to see updated pictures of little Estela!

I have no idea why the link won't work above so clink it down here, 'k?*

Voo Don't

After the parade, Hud and I were standing by Tom's truck de-frogging ourselves.  Hud was in a hurry to get some red beans and rice and flung webbed frog paws at my derriere.  The party lasted way past our bedtimes.  But oh! The fun we had.  I even got a chance to dance with the queen.  Then the party spilled over into the Bayou Liberte home.  It was early in the morning when I finally climbed the spiral stairs to bed.

 

You know how anxiety can be so overpowering that it is palpable?  As if it exasperation has a scent?  I awoke the next morning, drenched in the feeling of hopelessness.  Hud had his back to me.  He had torn apart the room.  "What's wrong?" I asked, rubbing the party from my eyes.  He didn't even turn around.  "I lost my ring..." he sighed in a small voice.  I jumped to my feet, assuring him that we would find it.  Since losing forty pounds, his rings have been loose.  All during the tossing of the Moon Pies at krewe, he had been paranoid about them, wishing he had left them back at the house.

Downstairs, Tom was getting breakfast and Charlotte was beginning to stir.  I asked her to keep an eye out for it.  Then I remembered the frog paws.  Charlotte said to get in the car and let's go look for it immediately. 

We drove into town, trying to remain hopeful. But, as we made the corner and headed for the parking lot, the three of us gasped.  A farmer's market was setting up on the very spot where I thought the ring might be.  Surely, someone had seen it and gotten a pretty special Mardi Gras trinket this carnival.

I ran to the gravel beside the place where we had parked and saw...nothing.  The gray of the gravel was like looking at a field of clover.

But the Furry Godmother has many talents.  One of them is finding four leaf clovers.  I can find bouquet of fourteen or fifteen in a single sitting.  I circled the patch of gravel and...there is was!  Face down so the carat diamond wasn't sparkling in the sun.  I snatched it up.  It was perfect!  No car had rolled over it.  No shoe had ground it into the sharp edges of the gravel.  Slipping it around my index finger, I held it in the air to cheers of disbelief. 

The ring is one I had made for our fifth anniversary.  It is a wide platinum band.  The top has a center carat diamond surrounded by sapphire baguettes and triangles of pave diamonds on either side. Inside, I had the jeweler engrave our family motto, Adeunt Etiam Optima.  The best is yet to be.

Voo Doo?  Witchcraft?  Or plain dumb luck.  It's all the magic of Mardi Gras.

 
*The Krewe of Zulu gives out different coconuts every year.  This one, signed Ellis is from 1985.*

*All photographs by Hud Andrews!*

 

 

What I've Been Doing On My Summer Vacation

Repairing and reupholstering the office is what I've been doing!  Not lounging and snoozing like the Pappies.  Exhibit A:

Simone, Zali, the Doppleganger and a random snake toy foozing it up on the newly covered dog bed. Under a silk screen with hand painted sparrows and quails from China. I know.  Who knew there would be an animal theme?  Next to the china cabinet Hud's mother gifted us some years ago that Hud displays vintage camera gear.  I keep my Boris and Natasha bobbleheads in there for fun as well.  Just in case you were thinking that I only have a fetish for animals.

Going waaaayyyy outside of my comfort zone, I chose to color the walls a deep saturated blue.  Normally, I lean towards shades of food --greens, melons, red.  Lots of red.  It's Hud's favorite hue, too, so we've got our money's worth of red at the Hudarosa.  The railroad desk on the left is where I paint ceramics.  Ruby's by the window.  She matches the drapes now.  Her green, yellow and blue ensemble with a bright red cap are the perfect compliment.  Yes, I got the fabric because it matches my finch.  Shut up. Don't pretend you're surprised. A Bert Sharpe concrete wall sculpture is resting on top of the mantle.  I'm too chicken (!) to hang it anywhere.

Yes, the furniture in this room is standing at attention around the walls.  This is not only my office, but the Romper Room.  It is generally littered with toys.  The middle of the room is clear in case some dog breaks out into spontaneous wrestling.

Way to rock out the fooze, Simone.

My computer desk, a tiger oak trundle table from the turn of last century, is home to the Hammies.  I like to watch them while I work.  Sometimes, when my lap is not full of cat, it is being perched upon by a tiny little dude.  The budgies are constantly squawking loudly in the aquarium behind me.  Floyd cannot get enough of the sound of his own voice.  Mozelle and I however, have had plenty.

I should have taken a shot of the fabric graphics.  The red *surprise* background has frolicking lions and monkeys.  I know.  Animals.  Shocking.

And that is what the Furry Godmother has been up to so far this summer.  Maybe now that's complete, I can find some time to get out of this room and into the studio.

A girl can dream...

Tickle Your Fancy

This is from ZooBorns last week, but it was just too sweet not to share.  I opened it up and laughed out loud again this morning.

In May of 2009 we brought you the story of a baby gorilla named Hasani who had been abandoned by his mom but was adopted by a surrogate mother, Bawang, at the San Francisco Zoo. Today we check back in on mother and baby to find that they are doing very very well. In the first pictures, mother Bawang is tickling little Hasani.

 Photo credits: Marianne Hale

This last picture is actually Hasani with Aunti Nneka but you get the idea.

Random Acts of Photography

The Hudarosa is enjoying a fabulous three day weekend.

Yeah.  That about sizes it up.  Thanks www.zooborns.typepad.com .

Busy Busy Busy

Oh!  You'd think things would let up and a girl could get some rest, but nooooooo rest for the wicked.  After attending a birthday party last night, Hud and I awoke with a late start remembering that we had made an early appointment to take all of the kids to the veterinarian.  Yes.  All of them.  Zali.  Simone.  Carmen.  Zoe and even Aida, who just loves to be carted around to have strangers probe her anal regions.  Not.  She bit the Doc so hard that it was determined that it might be better to give her a little happy gas for the remainder of the examination.  It was the first time that cat had shut up since we left home.  I asked if we could get a prescription, but alas, that is frowned upon by members of the veterinarian community.  Dang.  Simone tackled two cats and a rather large pit bull who was having tummy trouble.  She's nine pounds of sheer terror, I tell you.  Of course when the vet held her she trembled so mightily that her teeth nearly fell out of her head, but otherwise she was fierce.  Angry.  An attack Papillon.

My nerves are wrecked.  I turned to www.zooborns.typepad.com for comfort.  This is what I found:

A baby cotton topped Tamarind!  There.  All better now.

All's Well...

...That ends well.  This is an update on the adopted baby orangutan I posted from www.zooborns.typepad.com .  She just gets cuter by the minute.  Warning:  If you are diabetic, viewing these images may cause coma.

Two weeks ago we brought you pictures of baby Kali at the Kansas City Zoo. The little female orangutan had been abandoned by her mother but found a happy life with new surrogate mom "Jill." Today we check back in on baby Kali who is reportedly doing great.

 

I think I'm feeling faint...

New Mother

This little cutie was rejected by her mom, but now she has a new one!  I think these photos say it all...

Kalijon, a 5-month old baby orangutan, is now in the care of a foster mother at the Kansas City Zoo after five months of being nurtured around the clock by humans. Kalijon, seen here with Jill, her foster mother, was rejected by her mother.

It's nice when nature works its magic on the universe.  From www.zooborns.typepad.com .