Saving the Turtles with Gumbo Limbo

My nephew (the most adorable child in the world, although I may be a bit biased, as he's my nephew) turned one this weekend, so I've been in Florida to visit my sister and her family for his birthday party. Apparently, its a tradition in Jamaica (where my brother-in-law was born) for the father to smash cake into his kid's face on their first birthday (just the first birthday, not any of the rest of them). I rather think that my nephew would have ended up with cake all over his face anyway, as he's not the neatest eater (nor is any child of that age), but it was still funny to watch my brother-in-law shove cake into his face and then my sister try to clean him up as best she could in a sprinkler. I have got pictures of this, but I won't be posting any per my sister's request.

The next day, after everyone had a chance to rest up a bit (we were all knackered after the party), my sisters and I took my nephew to a sea turtle rescue place called Gumbo Limbo in Boca Raton. Technically it's the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but they're best known for the sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation.

Right outside, there are several stone turtles of varying species that you can pose with for photos. They were a bit sandy and wet when we were there because of the on and off stormy weather that we'd been having since I arrived, so we had the turtles to ourselves (after we wiped them down). 

The outdoor area (which was most of the place) was closed at first due to lightning strikes in the area, so the entry building was rather crowded. There were quite a few kids there, several playing with interactive exhibits and one crying in Spanish to his parents about wanting to see butterflies. We headed to the gift shop for something to do, which ended up being a good thing, because my sister found a book she wanted for my nephew (about a narwhal who loved music but was actually rather bad at it and was therefore jealous of the other sea creatures, at least until he learnt to find something that he could be good at - conducting everyone else in an orchestra). 

Shortly afterwards, they announced that the lightning strikes were no longer a threat and that we were free to explore the rest of the nature centre. So we headed outside and then down a path to an area with several tanks, each with a turtle in it. Each one had been injured (mostly by fishing nets) and then rescued and rehabilitated by Gumbo Limbo. They had names, usually with some kind of theme (there was Violet of the flowers theme, and Buckbeak and Crookshanks of the Harry Potter theme) and signs describing what their injuries had been, how they were recovering, and when they could be expected to be released back into the ocean. There's one turtle who has actually been a repeat customer of Gumbo Limbo - she apparently likes to hang round the pier and therefore keeps getting caught in fishing nets. She's been at the centre three or four times already, although she'd been re-released to the ocean by the time I visited.

The employees were incredibly knowledgeable and really cared about the work they were doing. We spoke with one next to a tank of baby turtles that hadn't made it out of their nest and would have died if the centre hadn't rescued them. He told us all about the plans for releasing them into the wild as soon as they were strong enough to survive on their own. I thought it was wonderful that they were able to rescue so many, as the number of baby turtles that makes it to the ocean is generally very small. 

They had the baby turtles separated into different sections of the tank based on how strong they were and how well they were eating, so that the stronger ones wouldn't take food at the expense of their weaker siblings. There was even a little white one, although we were told that it was leucistic, not albino, as the turtle hadn't got red eyes. Leucism involves reduced pigmentation, usually with normal pigmentation in the eyes, while albinism is a complete absence of pigmentation and red eyes.

While Gumbo Limbo is best known for its work with turtle rehabilitation, the centre has also got a boardwalk through the woods (palm trees and other tropical plants), aquariums filled with fish and other sea creatures (including sting rays, which my sister and her family have a mild obsession with - my nephew was particularly taken with them), and the butterfly garden that the child had been crying about when we'd first arrived.

There weren't actually many butterflies out when we were there - a few monarch butterflies and one bright yellow one - and the ones we did see were flying around so that I couldn't get a good picture of any of them. I can imagine that it's lovely when more butterflies are out. It didn't take long to walk round the entire place (which was good, as my nephew as due for a nap shortly after we left), but I could easily have taken much longer with the turtles that were recovering and awaiting release.

The nature centre seeks out turtles in need of help, takes them in, and then releases them back to the wild when they're ready. You can actually adopt a turtle if you'd like to help the conservation efforts - ($50.00 for a turtle and $25.00 for a hatchling) and all proceeds go towards conservation and rehabilitation. I see online all the time news reports of turtles who get injured from straws and plastic rings from fizzy drinks, not to mention the fishing nets that injured most of the turtles at Gumbo Limbo, so it was really nice to see what was being done to help them. Since so much of the modern world harms other creatures, including the turtles, it's important to do everything we can to protect them.

Panda Quest

My boyfriend and I are on a quest. The goal is simple - to see pandas. Until we can take a trip to China to see the Panda Kindergarten at the Chengdu Panda Base, we'll have to settle for seeing as many at zoos as we can.

The Ueno Zoo in Tokyo had pandas when I was there, but my time living in Japan predated my interest in pandas, so I never made the time to see them. Because I missed out on the Tokyo pandas, we've been trying to make up for it by seeing all of the ones we can. Since we currently live in North America, that's where we've started.

Last year, my boyfriend and I went to Washington, D.C. and, naturally, at the top of our itinerary was the National Zoo, to see the pandas. The National Zoo actually has got a fantastic panda cam and I'd been watching it when Bei Bei, the then-cub was born. By the time I visited, the tiny baby panda that I'd seen learn to walk and climb trees was as big as his mother.

The entire zoo was lovely - it was entirely free, the only charge was if you wanted to purchase a map, which we did - the zoo is not so confusing that you can't get round without one, but it was nice to have and the proceeds went to support the zoo.

This wasn't my first time seeing pandas in person - I saw them first in San Diego, but I'm never going to complain about seeing more. They're adorable and I'm so glad that they're finally off the endangered species list. They're still vulnerable, but that downgrade from endangered is thanks to all of the hard work and time put in by people who truly care about them. Hopefully we'll see a return of pandas to the wild someday as well.

I promise there are pandas in the photo with me - they're in the shade, trying to escape as much of the early autumn heat as they can.

A Trip to the Past

My boyfriend's company holds a summer picnic every year at a different location round the city. A few years ago it was at the art museum. This year, it was at Connor Prairie, a historical village set in the 1800s that uses preserved buildings from an actual family that used to live there.

Personally, I preferred Colonial Williamsburg, as I felt that Connor Prairie was more meant for children. There were loads of educational activities - there wasn't just a loom, there was also a smaller version for kids to try out, for example. So, while that may make it a bit less interesting for adults, it's absolutely fantastic if you have children.

There's a whole section on the American Civil War where you can see how the soldiers lived and details about some of the battles. There was also information on local Native Americans and their relations with the settlers, namely the Connor family. I did like that Connor Prairie focused so much on the one specific family - it was a different perspective from other similar places that focused on more general history.

The part I actually liked the best was the barn, where they had animals that you could pet. I'd never touched a sheep or a goat before and now I've pet both. They had a week-old lamb out with its mum as well. I was surprised by how soft the wool on the sheep was, given that pure wool products tend to be rather itchy.

Overall, it was a fun day, but I don't know that I'd feel the need to go again, at least not without a child with me. Perhaps when my nephew is a bit older I can bring him here.

Spring Tulips

Now that the weather has finally turned warmer and it's spring in more than just name only, I went with my mum to the Holland Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan. Of course, it was a gloomy day, with cloudy skies threatening rain, but I thought this was fine - I like the rain, it wasn't too hot, and I didn't get sunburnt. And it didn't actually end up raining, so it all worked out in the end.

Holland, as its name implies, was founded by Dutch Americans (in 1847) who emigrated from the Netherlands fleeing poor economic conditions and seeking religious freedom. Today, there's still a large population of people with Dutch ancestry and the town celebrates that heritage every year with the Tulip Festival and other Dutch-themed attractions that bring in loads of tourists.

It was rather appropriate that I was with my mum, as it was actually Mother's Day in the US the day we went. It was lovely to have the day to spend with her. Since we don't live in the same place, having that kind of mother/daughter time isn't possible as often as I would like.

Obviously the main thing I wanted to see was the tulips. The city has tulips planted all over, so you can see them any time when they're blooming. They line the streets and there's a park in the centre of town where there are loads of different colours and varieties planted all in the same place.

The flowers were lovely. I don't know a lot about them, so their names didn't mean anything to me, but it was nice seeing all of the different kinds. While we were eating lunch (traditional Dutch food, including croquettes, which I'd tried before in Japan, but had never known their origin), there was a speaker talking about how to properly care for the flowers. My mum has much more of a green thumb than I do (I tend to kill plants - except my lucky bamboo, which I've actually managed to keep alive so far), so it was more practical information for her, but still interesting to listen to. I never knew so much went in to caring for plants (probably why I am not good with them).

Tulips weren't the only part of the festival. There were stalls selling Dutch food and souvenirs, a windmill park, a Dutch village (for children), and a parade. People dressed up in traditional Dutch costume, including wooden shoes. There was even a band performing in the parade that marched in clogs.

Now I need to go to the Netherlands. My mum's been there with my dad, but I've not been yet. The Netherlands is actually my first stop on a trip with my boyfriend this autumn, but since the tulips are a spring flower we won't be able to see them in Europe, so it was nice that I still got to see them this year with my mum, a little bit closer to home.

Birthday Cake

Normally, my boyfriend makes me a cake from scratch for my birthday, but since this year we're both trying to eat healthier and in past years, we've ended up with so much leftover cake that we were eating it for weeks, we decided that this year we'd just do single slices.

We decided to visit the Cake Bake Shop in Broad Ripple, since it's won awards at the Cake & Bake Show in Earl's Court, London, been featured on the Food Network, and on Oprah's O List. Even though the cake slices are rather expensive, we thought we'd give it a try.

The shop itself was surprisingly thoroughly decorated. I've been in plenty of bakeries round the world and they're generally a counter and a glass case and maybe posters or paint to a theme, but nothing like this. There was stuff everywhere. Flowers, china, chandeliers, and it was all very, very pink. There were photos on the wall by the door of all of the celebrities who had eaten there, including Matt Damon and Josh Gad. It was rather posh and I felt a bit under-dressed in my jeans. Even the umbrellas in the outdoor seating area had pink flowers.

Of course, I had to try the chocolate cake that won at the Cake & Bake Show, which is now named Gwendolyn's Famous Earl's Court Chocolate Cake, after the venue. I'm not normally the biggest chocolate cake fan - I often find it to be a bit too rich - but I couldn't come all the way to the Cake Back Shop and not have the one that won. My boyfriend wanted to try the Oprah's 'O' List Mint Chocolate Chip Cake, but they were out, so he had the lemon cake instead. No fancy name for that one - it's just called Lemon Cake.

Personally, I preferred the lemon cake over the award-winning chocolate one, but I always prefer fruit-flavoured cake over chocolate. My requested birthday cake every year is strawberry with cream cheese icing. The chocolate cake I ordered was delicious to be sure, but I'm not the best judge of chocolate cake quality - it was very rich and even though I drank an entire glass of milk I still felt very thirsty afterwards, but the cake slice was so big that I was too full to really drink anything more, so it was a bit uncomfortable for a while. I ought to have eaten less and saved the rest for later.

If we go again, I'd like to try either the Raspberry Champagne Cake or the Carrot Cake - and hopefully my boyfriend would get to try the mint chocolate chip that he'd wanted.

Wookiees and Droids

A few weeks ago, I attended Indianapolis Comic Con, my first-ever con. I'd heard a lot about conventions from my best friend, who's been going to them (and telling me all about them) for the past ten years. Considering how much nerdy fun they are, I can't believe it took me so long to go. There were panels with celebrities (and I actually know who they are!), booths selling all kinds of things from nerdy stuff to my favourite books, comic books, action figures, and more. Plus, there were people dressed up in costume. Some people have to travel a long way for a con, so I was lucky that I live in the same city as this one.

I was most impressed by this Wookiee costume - at first I thought it was Tarrful, but then I watched Revenge of the Sith again and now I'm not so sure. Either way, he's not Chewbacca. His beard is too long and is the wrong colour for Chewbacca. I know the names of all the obscure Star Wars characters, but recognising them in person is another matter, apparently.

I saw Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, Hera Syndulla, Bastila Shan (couldn't get a good picture of her, unfortunately, as we were in a rather quickly moving queue for the James and Oliver Phelps panel), Bob Ross Deadpool, and an actual moving and beeping R2-D2.

One of the coolest parts was getting to meet Timothy Zahn. He wrote the original Legends' Thrawn trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn duology (some of my favourite Star Wars books) and is still writing Grand Admiral Thrawn books for Disney's canon. I got Vision of the Future signed (I had to pick just one - I couldn't bring all five books with me, sadly). I also bought the new Thrawn book in hard-cover and he signed that as well and was willing to take a picture with me.

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn is my favourite Star Wars villain, so I was happy to see him brought into the canon and even show up in Star Wars Rebels. It was cool to meet the author who wrote Thrawn. I was a bit nervous, because my last meeting with a favourite author (Terry Pratchett) had resulted in him asking me 'you have got a name, I presume?'. It wasn't really that awful - he was just joking with me because I hadn't heard him properly when he'd asked me my name and had responded with 'what?'. The meeting with Timothy Zahn went a bit more smoothly, at least.

I attended two panels while I was there - one with Sean Astin and then later James and Oliver Phelps. Sean talked a lot about New Zealand and how much he loved the country, which was cool, since I went there a few years ago and made it into a rather nerdy trip and saw all of the Lord of the Rings film locations. James and Oliver were asked a lot of odd questions about twin magic and whether or not they could read each other's minds, but they were good sports about it. I can imagine that would get rather annoying after a while.

At the James and Oliver Phelps panel (which we chose to go to over a Villains Who Suck panel - too bad they were at the same time, because that would have been interesting), we saw a bloke cosplaying as Prince Robot IV from Saga. I wanted to get a picture of him, but by the time I was close enough to, he'd taken his TV off so he could watch the panel. Sadly, I didn't see him again after that.

I was rather proud of myself that I didn't spend all of my money - I bought the books and a necklace and that was about it. My boyfriend bought several comic books (I looked, but they hadn't got the ones that I wanted), since he's been collecting different covers of the Saga comics. All in all, a productive, fun day and I would definitely go again.

Sakura Matsuri

So, I used to live in Japan. After university, I didn't know yet what I wanted to do with my life, and I'd been studying Japanese, so I decided that moving to Tokyo to teach English was a great plan. And it was - I met my best friend there, got to experience living in a new country, discovered a love of language and linguistics, and more (trust me, I'll be writing about Japan quite often).

Every year in Japan, the major sign of spring is when the cherry blossom trees bloom. The blossoms are only there for a few weeks before they fall, so the entire country goes rather mad over them. Desserts become cherry blossom-flavoured, everyone does hanami (literally 'flower-viewing', but this involves picnicking with food and lots of alcohol under the cherry blossom trees).

I never actually did hanami when I was in Japan and felt like I missed out. It doesn't seem like a lot, to have skipped picknicking under some trees, but it's such a big deal in Japan I rather regret having not. Of course, I didn't miss seeing the trees themselves - they're everywhere and are impossible to miss. And the sakura-flavoured ice cream is surprisingly good.

The cherry blossom trees are rather symbolic of the ephemeral nature of life - their beauty and transience is associated with mortality - a sort of 'all things pass' idea that's rather intrinsic to a lot of Japanese culture. The song in the video below is even entitled 'Sakura' (the Japanese word for the cherry blossoms).

So, cherry blossoms are a big deal. When I was there, I rather thought that sure, they were pretty, but did they really justify the huge fuss? The weather channel in Japan even provides a forecast on the cherry blossom front, just like you'd report on a cold front coming in, telling people when to expect the blossoms in their area. At the time, perhaps I didn't quite understand how important they were to Japan, but now that I've left Japan, I really miss them.

My boyfriend knew this and tracked down some trees in our city and took me to see them as a surprise. They weren't blooming yet that first time we went, so, naturally, we went back two more weeks in a row to catch them in full bloom. It was rainy and still a bit chilly, but the cherry blossoms were blooming and were beautiful. Our trees are much younger than most of those in Japan and so didn't blanket the entire river like they would have in Tokyo, but they were as beautiful as I remembered and brought back a lot of memories of great times in Japan.

 I said I'm not the biggest fan of surprises, but not the way my boyfriend does it. He does find the most wonderful things to surprise me with. We live in Indianapolis (I've lived a little bit of everywhere, though, so expect a variety of spellings and wordings from me) and it was the last place I would have expected to find cherry blossom trees. But here they are in White River State Park along the riverbank.

Next year, if it's warmer, I'd like to try to do hanami (except without the sake - I'm not a drinker) with him. We can bring a blanket and food and sit under the trees and can bring bento and dango to eat and enjoy the transient beauty of the trees. It won't be quite the same, as there won't be the crowds that there are in Tokyo, but I certainly won't mind having them all to myself with my awesome boyfriend.

Panda Surprise

If you'd asked me a few years ago what my favourite animal was, I definitely wouldn't have said pandas. Obviously I knew about them, mostly about how they were endangered, but I hadn't really thought too much about them beyond that. At least I hadn't until I met my boyfriend, whose favourite animals are dogs (he's year of the dog and so feels an affinity) and pandas.

It didn't take much for him to convert me - a few YouTube videos of baby pandas acting adorable and I was hooked. I was actually the one to discover iPanda, the YouTube account with a 24-hour live panda cam directly into the Chengdu Panda Base in China and almost daily videos of pandas (usually the babies!). It's been a nightly ritual of ours for several years now to watch a few panda videos before going to sleep.

This morning, he told me that he had something he wanted to do today, but wanted it to be a surprise for me. I'm not the biggest fan of surprises, so normally I would have pushed for more details, but he really wanted to surprise me with this one, so I decided to let him.

And it was definitely worth the wait! It turns out he'd booked tickets to the new IMAX film Pandas (narrated by Kristen Bell) in 3D. I couldn't have asked for a better surprise. It was so sweet of him and we both thought it was adorable. The baby pandas are just so cute.

I loved the film - it's not the first panda documentary I've seen at the IMAX. The first one had talked about releasing pandas back into the wild but had been focusing on pandas who had more recent connections to the wild, such as at least one parent who had been captured wild. This new documentary focused on ways to get completely domesticated pandas to learn the natural instincts on their own that would have been taught by their parents if they had been born in the wild and the special panda cub, Chen Chen, chosen to be the first for the project.

It was wonderful to see that there was a long-term plan to not only increase the numbers of wild pandas but to also expand their habitat, since a lot of it had been damaged or destroyed by humans. They're no longer considered endangered, thanks to the efforts of the Chengdu Research Base and others around both China and the rest of the world, but they're still threatened, especially in the wild, so it was really heartwarming to see all of the efforts of people who really care about these adorable bears.

If surprising me with a panda film wasn't enough, my boyfriend had also found out that we have yoshino cherry trees in our city. We went to see them, but they weren't blooming yet. We could see the buds, though, so we'll try again next weekend when they're (hopefully) in full bloom and I'll write more about them and why they mean so much to me then.