Beautiful

I have always loved this song. I might even have the sheet music somewhere. I recently found this version played by Rachmaninoff, and it just brings it to a whole new level of depth.

Okay, I don't really know what I'm saying, but really, the song speaks for itself.

Listen:

Frederic Chopin's Nocturne in E-Flat Op. 9 No. 2

We've Made Our Turn Northward, Doctor-- We're Headed Back Toward the Sun!

Today is the first day of spring, and I am so very pleased! I have been waiting like seven months for this day (you know, since the last day of summer...) and it could not be better living up to my expectations (well, actually, I've felt very sick this morning, but even the sliver of blue sky I can see from my bedroom window has contented me). I love Spring because it's like Summer, only milder. And Spring here in Utah is a little closer to how Summer sometimes is back home. And my birthday is in the spring.

I'm also really excited because my parents are on their way up to Provo today. I appreciate their making the drive up here as often as they do-- I love it when they visit :)

Well, there's much to do today, and since I'm feeling a bit better, I'd better get to it! Happy Spring everyone!

P.S. Points if you know what the title is from. It won't be hard.

Hogle Zoo

Yesterday morning I went to the Hogle Zoo and met up with a few other people in my Biological Anthropology class to do our primate observation! I end with an exclamation point because even though it was a really long drive up and back for only being there a couple of hours, and besides the fact that I had to drive through an impossible snow storm on the way home, it was kind of fun to watch animals for a little bit, and to watch my classmates be so excited about the primates. Hahaha.

Anyway, I took some pictures, but they were all blurry because primates move around a lot apparently. I did take some videos though. My favorite actually is of the cougar they had, even though it isn't a primate. I passed their enclosure on the way up to one of the primate houses from my first observation and it was dead silent, the snow was falling, no one was around (seriously, who would be on a day like that?) and I saw the cougar pacing and went over to it and I could hear it chuffling and making small yowls or whatever cougars do. It was kind of a magic moment for some reason. I felt bad though, as it was pacing back and forth, that the tiny cage was all the space the two cougars in there had for their entire life. I go crazy if I'm in my bedroom just for a day. I can't imagine how awful it must sometimes be for these animals cooped up in there.

Anyway! Video time.

The cougar (turn up your volume):

The squirrel monkeys:

The ring-tailed lemurs (turn down your volume):

The gibbons:

There are descriptions on the Youtube website if you're at all interested.

Painting

I needed some art today, so I painted this. It's Point Loma.

I daresay I'm getting better at this :)

A Letter

Dear Home,

I just want you to know that I miss you. I find myself wanting to sit on the kitchen counter with three cats in my lap, to play through every song I know on the baby grand, to wake up to the whine of the tired old juicer squeezing out fresh orange juice, to stand by the pool and look up at the sky above the church on the hill and listen to the blue-domed bell tower chime six o'clock in the evening. I want to walk through the jungle and poke my thumb on a thorn of the silk floss tree. I want to do some shifting in the greenhouse, with tinny tunes blaring through the ancient radio, or even do some watering, my bare feet squishing in the mud. I want to stroll along Edgar's Bikepath and down into the eucalyptus forest. I want to climb the star tree in the jungle and stare out at the water tower from my perch. I want to hear the coyotes howling and the crows cawing and the shouts from the Jones' tree-chopping place, and I want your sunset burning red and orange over the trees. Don't forget me.

Thinking of you,

Shannon

Postcrossing

Today was an excellent day because I received my very first postcards from random people in the world via Postcrossing!

I sent out five of my own a few weeks ago, and two of them have arrived in their foreign destinations. I've sent postcards to Mexico, Canada, China, Luxembourg, and Germany. Tomorrow I'll be mailing out ones to Finland and Poland.

My map (only shows received postcards on both ends. Blue are ones I've gotten and red are ones others got from me):

Here are my two first postcards:

From the Netherlands (according to babelfish the front says something like "The cordial greeting from Zoetermeer!")

From France (if you don't read French, it says roughly "Receive all the friendship of the South of France")

I'm so excited to get and send more postcards. What a wonderful way to create amity throughout the world :)