......

THIS WHOLE ENTIRE DAY, Reader Dear, was so frightfully filled with fits of stress that it led to flights of fancy: I will caper off with the circus and never again have to deal with moldy, mildewy problems in basements of old apartment houses (nor evermore need to concentrate on cranky cars or computer conniptions)!

Given further consideration, however, the circus seems a bit laborious for someone my age, and the flight of fancy rather cumbersome.

I've settled, instead, on a little trip of remembrance, Reader Dear, and the zoo is a perfect spot, with its animals and antics and...well...the fact that I actually visited there a few weeks ago and have never shown you more than a glimpse!

There were all the usual striped and spotted and furry and horned and feathered critters at the zoo, my very favorite being the little creature that voiced comments and made requests as we went along:

"Ride camel? Ride camel?"

Without that little creature, in fact, this trip of remembrance would hardly be worth taking, Reader Dear.

Out of all the species viewed,

his was the one whose behavior I found most fascinating,



his interactions with those of his kind most intriguing.



Without a doubt, HE was the tiny animal that most captivated me!

And, all-in-all, the day was so filled with the pleasurable

peering at and pondering of parrots and pandas

and seedpods,

it approached perfection!*

*Or at least, Reader Dear, this undampened memory of it was the perfect mind journey for today!
......





(Can you believe? There was even a backhoe!)