Last week I stayed with the family in Adelaide longer than I meant; Hayden was laid low for 4 days with a really bad bout of tonsilitis, and there was a scheduled trip to the Zoo on Saturday, tickets already paid for. I stayed two extra days so I could go and help Shonny with the 4 kids.  Everyone was on their best behaviour, and we managed nearly three hours without any drama whatsoever. 

It was helpful to have me there, so that Shonny could take Thomas off alone and feed and change him and I could stay with the girls.  They had snacks under the shady trees by the pavilion, and we saw a beautiful Macaw flying over the grass while his keepers talked about them and what they ate.  The pandas were the favourite attraction, and the penguins.

Zoos are rather sad, some animals seem very unhappy, and others I guess are just happy that they aren't being eaten. Having been around animals since childhood I have trouble imagining what it's like to be a city child who has never seen an animal except on a screen.  At the area where the kids could feed and touch the animals it was sad to see a boy so terrified of a small goat that he was shaking.  Another boy clung to his parents in fright when a bantam rooster crowed, demanding to know what had made that noise. So zoos are unfortunately necessary, to teach children a little bit about the amazing animals that share our planet. 

I came back Sunday, glad to be home, but strangely unmotivated to do anything.  I've pottered around and tidied and washed a whole pile of shirts I got in Adelaide, but I didn't dive into my sewing room like I thought I would.

The worst thing about sharing my time between two different places is that I'm exposed to two different lots of germs.  And if I come down with a cold in Adelaide, I bring those germs back to infect the family here. Sigh.  I dodged the last cold that swept through the Pirie side of the family, and I'm desperately trying to avoid the plague that struck the Adelaide lot during the last month. Maybe if I keep moving I'll outrun all the germs.

I'm trying to get the ditch-stitching done on a quilt before I go back to Adelaide, so I'd better get moving on that.  The backing is pieced, ironed and loaded, the batting is ready, I just have to put it all together and start stitching.  This is turning into a busy year, but I'm enjoying all the activity.  Now if it would only cool down and start acting like Autumn!