10 Questions About…

Spring sprang late last week. It was so nice and we celebrated with a trip to the Como Zoo. We had not been to the zoo in at least a year. Somehow we managed to miss the opening of the Polar Bear Odyssey last year (darned summers in Ireland). I love the Polar Bears. I could watch them in their old space for hours. One bear pacing in the corner; the other swimming tiny laps in the pool. Really he just glided into a back flip turn and back again. So I was very excited to see what the new space was like.

The space is nice. Apparently they built the space for more than four bears, although there are currently only two. There are two outdoor space for the bears. One includes the nice underwater view that we’ve always had at Como Zoo. There’s also an indoor space where they are started to do training with the bears.

But despite all of the new space – the bears are the same. One paces back and forth; the other swims his laps. It made me a little sad, until I spoke to one of the zookeepers. It turns out that the pacing (in and out of water) is not a sign of boredom or tension or insanity. It’s just a natural habit for the bears. It’s a habit that bears maintain in zoos everywhere. The Polar Bears in Como Zoo are actually twins. One (the pacer) is more dominant. And it turns out they don’t pace/swim the whole time. While we were there we saw some of the Polar Bear training. The trainers open the doors to the various segments of the exhibit and the bears roam to the training area and both outdoor spaces. The zookeeper told us that at night, the bears are able to get even more space.

So we left bigger Polar Bear fans than we arrived.

But we didn’t just see the Polar Bears. We saw Sparky the seal practicing his summer act. That was kind of a thrill. Most of the close seats are blocked off. Nothing is announced so it feel like s sneaky peek, which of course makes it much more fun. We don’t want to give away the show, but we sill say that Sparky looks prepared.

We made out way through the tropical area. We actually saw the sloth move. I’ve been there loads of times but never seen the sloth actually move – more than an inch or two. He seemed to stretch. We also saw the ugliest toad I have ever seen – the Surinam toad. It looks like a deflated whoopee cushion with tiny arms and legs.

We rounded out our trip with seeing the big cats, the giraffes and zebras (hoofed animals) and seeing some of the flowers in the Conservatory. If you want a quick blast of a springy future – breathe in deeply at the Conservatory. It smells amazing!

I just had to share the pictures of Lily on the motorcycle – she is actually on her way to a babysitting job.

So the time we spent earlier this year roller skating turned out to be a good use of time. Aine was invited to the same roller rink for a Girl Scout gathering and we were pretty comfortable on our roller skates!

Our Chicago cousins came for a visit over their spring break. It didn’t feel very spring-like because this is the year of the never-ending winter. So we thought we’d do something a little different. We went to the State Capitol. We got a private tour of the Capitol! We didn’t really intend on a private tour, but it just worked out that way.

It was fun to learn about the ins and outs of the building. It was one of the first buildings in Minnesota with electricity. We saw where the legislators vote on issues. We saw where a mouse is hidden in the paintings and we saw a few of the hidden gophers. We also got an up-close look at the big chandelier. They had taken it down to wash it; apparently that doesn’t happen just every decade. It’s kind of cool, so if you’re thinking about a tour and want to see something unique, now might be a good time to visit.

Sadly we didn’t get to climb up to the horses at the top of the Capitol. It was a rainy, yucky day so I didn’t even ask. But that leaves us something for next time.

The weekend before the St Patrick’s Day parade was the Day of Dance. Aine had a good time participating as a dancer. Patrick also had fun directing a show as part of the festivities.

St Patrick’s Day was beautiful this week. It was chilly – but chilly in a year where anything but cold and snowing was good. We all went and marched in the parade. We marched with the Irish Gazette, which is always fun. We caught the older girls trying to appear as parade watched for a while, in the hopes that they would get some candy or necklaces. Aine on the other hand was happy to give out newspapers throughout the march.

I have to admit that the St Paul parade really doesn’t compare to the parade in Dublin – but it is always fun to see folks we know and that happens a lot more in St Paul.

During the spring break we went to see the King Tut Exhibit at the Science Museum with Uncle Billy. It was Way better than the Dead Sea Scrolls. Nearly everything was an original, not “just like the one” used in ancient times. We watched the Omni movie too and it was a particularly good one. It recreated the discovery of the tomb.

It’s kind of amazing to see the work of the kings back in the day – and to think that they started planning for their own tombs so early in their lives. That was a little strange.

We were all impressed with the amount of gold in the exhibit. And of course we enjoyed the rest of the museum as well.

For those who don’t know, I am a big Deadliest Catch fan. It started when we lived in Ireland. I don’t love Irish TV. (Those who have seen Killinaskully will understand.) And mostly Patrick’s mom had programs that she watched, which was fine. But on rare occasion, I got control and would always watch Deadliest Catch – the show about the crab fisherman off the coast of Alaska.

It is the best. They fish in all weather. Often you see that their shift starts by chopping a foot of ice off all of the equipment on the boat. Then they scoop up the big crab traps from the ocean. The traps are huge – big enough to trap hundreds of crab (on a good day). Can you imagine working with soaking wet everything in the dead of the winter? The mortality rate is frightening.

One of my favorite episodes is when the Time Bandit (a boat) sees a fisherman from another boat go overboard. Somehow they manage to get close enough to pull him from the freezing water and save his life. But you could see that the outcome is not always so happy with that sort of situation.

So you may wonder why I’m bring all of this up – well I met the Captain of the Time Bandit at The Liffey. We were out with friends celebrating Kathleen’s new job. We had a nice dinner and then moved over to the Liffey for a few drinks. I saw the guy right away but didn’t place him. Really I just figured I knew him from Billy.

Eventually I looked closer and mentioned that I thought he looked like the guy from Deadliest Catch. Well someone else at the table knew he was in town for the car show. Then I realized he was wearing a Time Bandit hat. So I went up and said hello. He could not have been nicer. It was Jonathan Hillstrand – the Captain of the boat who saved the guy who fell overboard.

I barely said hello with the camera when he was ready to pose and came over to talk to the whole table. I think he liked the idea of a table of folks from Ireland and Scotland – and that was our company that night. He was telling us about his friend and fellow fisherman who had recently died. But he also shared some salmon that his brother had smoked. He was great. Luckily for him I wasn’t able to corner him with all of my super geeky fishing questions. (Note: fishing is like cooking for me – purely a spectator sport.)

The funny aside – TMZ, the trashy entertainment news people were there too. I was very careful not to pick my nose or dribble, just in case they got a shot.

Last night Aine hit the stage of the O’Shaughnessy Auditorium at St Catherine’s University. It was her Irish dancing debut. Aine started taking Irish dance lessons in the fall. It’s been quite a production. I’ve learned that Irish dance is about half dance and half glitz. We may be stronger with dance.

Aine was very excited and not at all nervous about dancing in front of hundreds of people. She did a great job. We opted out of the wig, which meant I had to curl her hair. We made Kate’s day by buying a curling iron. Then everyone was very impressed to see that I knew how it worked.

Luckily I was there is capture the rehearsal earlier in the day. We were in the nose bleed section for the real show. I posted both views below.