At The Zoo

9:30 a.m.
The Memphis Zoo, I think, has the most elaborate and striking entrance of any zoo I've visited. Not only are there a dozen or so huge, white silhouettes of wildlife greeting the visitor in front of the entrance, but immediately inside you confront a towering obelisk covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics, and several columns plastered with them as well. Egyptian hieroglyphics, in Tennessee? That's not as wacky as it seems. It turns out that the town was originally named "Memphis" by its founders (one of whom was Andrew Jackson...the $20 bill Jackson) after the name of a "once-thriving metropolis" on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. I've never heard of Memphis, Egypt, but then again, my knowledge of Egyptian history would never take me far on Jeopardy. So there you are.
Just past the obelisk we spot our first animal, a sleek, diminutive cat that looks something like a cross between a cheetah and a housecat. It's a serval, from the grasslands and woodlands of Africa, and with those long legs it looks engineered for speed.
9:55 a.m.
Still in the Cat House, and it's fascinating to see how a cat's shape is irrefutably linked to where it lives and how it captures its prey.....how it makes a living. During my years as a park ranger at Grand Canyon I was often struck by the fact that any organism - squirrel, raven, condor, bighorn, sagebrush, pine tree - looked the way it does because that shape is linked to its survival, and I used to encourage visitors on my nature walks to ask the question "How does its shape help it survive?", when encountering any kind of wildlife. And as I sit here and look at the Snow Leopard, I'm struck again by that fact; the Servals, Ocelots, and Cheetahs have long, thin legs and sleek bodies, perfectly adapted for chasing down prey in the open. The Snow Leopard, though, is squat with short, stumpy legs - and a body that abounds with a thick coat of fur....a perfect design for surviving and hunting in the deep snows and frigid conditions of the Himalayan mountains.
10:30 a.m.
Into the night. Or rather, into the Animals Of The Night exhibit. It's a pretty nifty place. Designed to look a bit like you're inside a cavern, with dim, moonlit lighting, it showcases quite a few nocturnal animals. Intriguing critters, one and all. Like a fluttering swarm of fruit-eating bats from Africa and South America; like an enclosure full of Vampire Bats; like the Springhass, a weird amalgamation of rabbit and wallaby - or so it seems; like the Armadillo; like the Ringtail cat, that I first saw raiding my backpack late at night along the banks of the Colorado at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And like this mound of mobile fur called a Wombat - looking like an impossibly large guinea pig - that I'm watching waddle about it's enclosure just now.
11:15 a.m.

Our Trip To Memphis - Day One

Dear Family and Friends,

It's Spring Break, and we decided to use it to explore Memphis, Tennessee. It's only about a 3-hour drive from Murray, but we've never been back since passing through during our move from Flagstaff to Murray.

This cold, cloudy morning, then, we left Murray and drove down to Memphis, a city on the Mississippi and on the Tennessee/Arkansas border. We went directly to the Children's Museum:

Wendy loves these places, and this was a good one. She found lots of interesting and educational things to do:

After the museum, we drove out to our motel.....a Radisson that is right on the grounds of the Memphis Airport, just below the control tower. I never realized that FedEx flew so many planes!

The neighborhood's a bit noisy....there goes another plane now....but it's safe, anyway!

After settling in we followed our GPS to an Ihop (can't get these in Murray), and enjoyed a tasty breakfast/dinner. Wendy especially enjoyed her "Build-A-Face" pancake:

And then it was back to the Airport, a game of "Zeus On The Loose", and then to bed. And so ends day one in Memphis. G'Day, mates!

If I Only Had A Heart.........

Well the results from the auditions are in. Sharon will be an Ozian in the Emerald City - and maybe a tree, too, - Wendy will be a Munchkin - and maybe a Snowflake or Poppy or Jitterbug, too, - and I get to be the Tinman! Performances will be at the end of February and the beginning of March. Rehearsals won't really get going till after New Year's. Should be tons of fun, but now I've got to learn all those lines. "Do you think the Wizard will give me a heart, Dorothy?"
Randy

Off To See The Wizard?

All three of us - Sharon, Randy, and Wendy - auditioned for parts in Playhouse In The Park's upcoming production of The Wizard of Oz on this icy cold night. Sharon sang "You're Just In Love" from "Call Me Madam", Randy sang "If I Only Had A Brain" from "Oz", and Wendy sang "The Wind Began To Switch", also from "Oz". I fondly remember Wendy's very first audition, as a 3-year-old for "The King And I", in Flagstaff.

Speaking of Flagstaff, at the audition we met another couple who had brought their children to audition, and who said that they had just moved to Murray from Flagstaff! Turns out he's the new offensive coordinator for the Murray State football team....who was filling a position opened when the father of one of Wendy's good friends was released as offensive coordinator last winter. They have since moved to Pennsylvania.

Wendy would like to be on the Munchkin Committee (someone who says or sings a line), Sharon would like to be the Witch, or Glinda, or Auntie Em, and Randy's top choices are the Scarecrow, the Tinman, or the Emerald City Guard. But we'll wait and see what happens....ah, the delicious uncertainty of theater!

Wendy Appears On Local Television

Because she was honored for outstanding citizenship in the fourth grade at Murray Middle School, Wendy was asked to appear on the Rotary Telethon on November 10, which was broadcast live from the campus of Murray State University. She was interviewed along with a few other students from the Middle School who were being honored in such areas as enthusiasm and tolerance. She was a bit nervous, but did a fine job. And weren't Mommy and Daddy proud!


To see more photos from this event, click on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/RAWaltrip/WendyAppearsOnTheRotaryTelethon#

The Wildcats: Undefeated Champions!

November 1, 2008. A lovely morning at the Bee Creek Soccer Fields. On Field 7, it's the Wildcats vs. The Heat...and it's the last game of the season.

Would The Heat - fresh off a tie with the tough Mustangs - upset the Cats, or would the Cats win one more match, and become the undefeated, and undisputed, champions of U-10 girl's soccer?

Happily, ladies and gentlemen, I can report that when the match ended, it was the Wildcats 7, The Heat 2. Yes, the Wildcats had done it....they had finished the season a perfect 8-0!

They were the Champs.

Mallory, Linda, Sarah, the Kat, Olivia, Pres, Blayne, Chesley, and Wendy Lou - what a terrific assortment of talented, good-hearted, and fun-loving girls. It wasn't always easy, but they never gave up, and they never lost a game. It was an honor to coach them.

They all played their hearts out in this final match, but it was Wendy's shining moment. She was absolutely tenacious when she had the ball, and scored 6 of our team's 7 points, a personal best. She led the team in scoring this season, with 16 goals in 8 games. Mallory was second with 10 goals, and Blayne third with 7.

Here's a smattering of photos from this last game. I apologize for the quality; there was a smudge on the camera lens. You can click on any photo to enlarge it.

The game begins. Wendy and Blayne begin the game on the bench, like tigers - or Wildcats - waiting to spring.



Blayne enters the game, and finesses the ball past an opponent.

The Cats in action.

Wendy and Chesley take a rest.

Blayne and Olivia wait to go in.

Hannah of The Heat turns the ball, and the Wildcat defense springs into action.

The whistle blows....game over. And the Wildcats are the undefeated champs!

The Champs.

Wendy's Halloween Party

This afternoon, not long after our final soccer game of the season, we threw a big Halloween party for Wendy and her friends. Interestingly, there were 6 Wildcats and 3 girls from The Heat among the attendees. Other than a few nailbiter moments trying to get everything ready in time (including a complicated scavanger hunt that had 3 groups looking for 13 clues in different orders), everything went well. The weather certainly cooperated; it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with a high of 73 degrees. We had a costumed version of Farmer In The Dell, a Broom Race, bobbing for apples, the scavanger hunt, an animal relay, and a fortune teller. And plates full of goodies. Here's a shot of a motley and highly suspicious group of mothers (click on photos to enlarge):



Here's some of the goodies:



And here's the kids in serious and crazy pose:






All in all, a sweet and colorful bash!