Sunday at the Gardens

The botanic gardens have a corpse flower named Stinky that is expected to bloom in the next week. The last time that happened, the wait to smell it was hour along. They are expecting it to bloom again in a about a week. I have no desire to wait in a line like that, but I was interested in seeing it. So we decided to go to the gardens today.

Our first stop was the orangery where Stinky was front and center. It is huge! After we took a look, we went strolling through the rest of the gardens. One of Marina’s favorites is the Japanese garden. She likes looking at the bonsai trees and koi fish.

Nearby was a pond that was full of blooming lily pads. It was very pretty! We also walked through a garden that was full of edible plants. We saw some cabbage like plants that Marina and I thought looked like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

We went through the American gardens where Marina walked up a small hill by a waterfall and told me it was her favorite place there. The rose garden was absolutely spectacular with roses of every color blooming. I couldn’t remember a time when I have seen the botanic gardens looking so beautiful. Not only did we see flowers of every kind blooming, we also found berries growing in many places.

It was a hot day, so we decided to walk by Stinky one more time and go home. We walked through the tropical greenhouse on our way. That is always fun to see.

Mermaid Masterpiece

We took our first class at a paint and sip store about a year and a half ago. It was a tougher painting than we expected and Marina got a bit frustrated. I asked her if she wanted to try again with the mermaid painting they had scheduled tonight. She said yes. So I signed us up.

When we arrived at the studio, I was surprised to see only two canvases set up. It turned out Marina and I were the only ones signed up for the class. That seemed a bit strange, but it turned out to be great. Marina was much more comfortable than in the big class we were in before.

Marina chose to hand sketch her painting while I had the instructor do it. As we went along, Marin added her own touches to the painting. She changed the mermaid’s hair and fin colors. We all had a fun time and overall we were both happy with our pictures.

Animal Adventures

We decided to go to the zoo this afternoon. It was a beautiful warm day. We were fortunate to find parking easily despite lots of people being there. We went right inside. We stopped to watch an animal encounter were Marina got an up close look at a scorpion that glows in the dark. We moved on a looked at the water buffalo, rhinos and kangaroos. When we arrived at our favorite restaurant, we stopped for lunch.

This time we decided to stop at the Lorikeet Adventure so Marina could feed the birds. As we entered, some people who were leaving offered us half a cup of nectar. We were grateful to receive it. It took a few minutes, but we found a bird who she could reach to feed. After that one was done, she found one above her head to feed. This one wanted to take the paper cup away from her!

We went through the Asian Animals and Marina was disappointed that the Fishing Cats weren’t on view. We did see the otters napping though.

Marina wanted to go through tropical exhibit this time. We hadn’t gone through that exhibit for a while. Marina enjoyed looking at the various frogs, snakes and fish. She was especially interested in the Komodo Dragons. As we passed the sea lions we heard them barking at each other. We stopped for a while to watch three of them chasing each other around and playing.

We saw that the youngest giraffe was right over next to the new observation deck. So we went for a closer look. We hadn’t seen him that close before! Marina wanted to see some of the big cats before we left, but none were visible. So we decided to go home.

The Scottish Play

This evening, I was assigned to judge a production of Macbeth. I wasn’t sure this would be a show Marina would enjoy, but she was excited to see it.

We left early in anticipation of heavy traffic. Despite our hopes, we were in rush hour most of the way there. When we finally arrived, we found that the location was right at the foot of the a nationalpark. Since we were a bit early, we drove into the park. We wanted to get out and look around a little bit, but we couldn’t find a place to park. So we decided to go to the show.

The theatre was actually a tent set up in a historic park. Around it were historic buildings, a covered wagon and the park in the background. It was stunning. Marina and I were both impressed by it. Near the tent were food trucks, a woman playing guitar and singing as well as an acrobat. Marina was impressed with the acrobat and spent most of her time before the show watching and talking with her.


We went into the tent for the show a bit early. While it went on she seemed to be following along the whole time. She said she felt she understood the story and she really liked the three witches. After it was over she said she really enjoyed the show.

We had a long drive home. I thought Marina might sleep since she’s had to get up so early, but she ended up talking with me for the whole trip.

There's Something About the Woods

Into the Woods is one of Marina’s favorite musicals. So she was happy to see it again  this summer. To make it even better, a friend of ours was playing Cinderella. Marina thought about wearing a Red Riding Hood costume, but she ultimately decided to wear an outfit inspired by Cinderella. She even experimented with false eyelashes. For her first time using them, she did a good job putting them on.

We went downtown early We got drinks and went to our seats as soon as the house opened. The show was presented in the round – I hadn’t taken Marina to see a show in this format before. We both enjoyed the actors coming and going from various places throughout the theatre.

The show was wonderful. Marina was very excited each time Cinderella came onstage, especially if she was near our seats. It was designated as a “sensory friendly” performance. So instead of clapping the audience used the ISL sign for applause. It was a new experience for us.

After the show we waited in the lobby, hoping to talk to Jenna. While we were waiting, we saw the actor who had played Prince Charming. We had met him after Jekyll and Hyde about four years ago. He said he remembered us and spoke with us for a while. When our friend came out she greeted Marina with a big hug. We also talked with the actress who played Little Red before we headed out. We had a fun evening!