So Labour Day fall on a different weekend in NZ. For me, it was a 4 day weekend since I do not work on Fridays at the moment. It was an amazing weekend. I gave myself permission not to work on the poster presenation and instead just said 'yes' to each social opporutnity that arose.
I had frisbee practice, joined a kiwi style lunch of grilled yumminess, a dinner party with a never ending stream of great conversation, clothing 'shopping' at a friends house, veggie market adventure with a person I met on the internet, and a few dates with Traveler...
I didn't fret about my ASHA poster presentation at all...
Normally I don't do anything, but painfully procrastinate.
Today I just got on with it..
---- well got on with not doing it:)
There was work to be done though:
I cleaned up the closet
and the closet room
and got my sewing maching working
and even made a fun fort in back out of the old lumpy futon mattress.
It completely reminds me of the hideaway in Marita's stairwell cupboards and bathroom fort as a kid. I've been doing a lot of fort stuff lately. I frequently throw my threadbared yellow blanked overmyself and yell out 'fort.'
Perhaps this says that I haven't grown out of the 'fort' thing yet... then again the best houses and places have a sense of hiden forts, and I think that's true for other people too.
After work, play is a good idea, and today Traveler suggested that it was time to go to the zoo.
I left my keys, wallet, and drivers licence and just brought my camera. Not having my wallet is so freeing for me - and annoying for those around me, but today he kindly let this be part of our zoo date.
The zoo has animals
servets - long legged cats
views
with Dr Suess trees!
and really really great signs.
they're not kidding! its quite a fall too...
Now there weren't signs for all behavior. Not to judge too strongly, but I completely approve of the boy climbing the trees, but am not sure what to think of the man leaning over the fence with sticks to remove porcupine quills from the enclosers. His kids thought it was really cool though...
The baboons here are on the opposite side of the fence from our last zoo exerience.
So is this lady reading the paper on her deck (she is a very small red dot on the deck). I wonder if kids come to her house and think how cool it is that she really has lions in her backyard!!!
After all those fun and games, my dearest friend Laura emailed me. So I immideatly emailed her back. soon we were IM chatting in the most inefficent way possible. But that is alright because I was able to email her a photo. Trav snapped this photo while I was racing about doing just that. 
Today I hope she got a sense of how grateful I am to have such an amazing postive person as my best friend. I'm honoured that she shares so much of her life with me and sad that she's so far away (yes I know Laura, that is ALL MY OWN DOING). She is one incredible human being - and I think she still loves forts too!
I must say I've never seen kangaroos look so much like rats as when I glanced at this cropped photo!
The highlight for me was the giraffe talk. The zoo now has 3 giraffes and after the talk they let you feed them. You stand on a very high deck and the giraffes amble right up to you.
Their tongues are a bluish colour and you certainly must hang on tight so they can rip the leaves off of the tree steam in your hand.
I also made sure that Laura got to view some 'traditional' non native animals....
But don't worry she got to see a kiwi bird (at the zoo) albeit it briefly and then a flock of pukeko birds
