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January 21, 2013

Day 58: Letters from Camp

When my mother was but a wee Girl Scout camper, her younger brother Craig wrote her a letter from home, keeping her apprised of the latest home happenings. It’s a lovely letter—especially when he tells her about all the pets who either died or ran away in her absence (namely Snoopy, the rabbit).

Here it is:

Dear paula
Are you having fun without
Two Brothers to Bug you around.
The Bird Died Monday,
I miss you to.
The porch is pretty.
The fish and gurbles are ok
Snopy is gone.
Jove
Craig

In the spirit of camp letters, here is my letter from camp (Australia) to my friend Michelle, who is watching Brian Boitano for me while I travel:

Dear Michelle,

Australia is great. I’ve met a lot of nice people and eaten lots of mangoes. I also touched a jellyfish (accidentally) and a turtle (purposefully). I’m okay.

If Brian dies while I’m gone, don’t worry. I’m sure it wasn’t something you did.

Love,

Ashleigh

P.S. I swear that jelly came out of nowhere.

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January 20, 2013

Day 57: The Turtle

Today, a photo from the Whitsunday Islands in Australia.

This is me as a turtle. And below me is a real turtle all jellied out (turtles get a little stoned on all the yummy jellyfish).

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January 18, 2013

Day 55: The Forts

On our massive Wednesday hike, Ciara and I also wandered up through “The Forts,” a winding trek that gave us some insight into Australia’s role in WWII.

During the war, Maggie Island housed a command post, at which Australian soldiers stood watch over the water, looking for Japanese war ships. The guns kept there were precautionary and were never actually used. And little did we know that some of the boulders we hiked over were actually fake and were built as camouflage.

The ammunitions building felt a little more like a creepy jail. We took some photos and got the heck out of there.

The soldiers had panoramic views of the water from their watchtower.

The gun post seemed like an obvious place to take a senior picture.

One of the buildings was off-limits, but Ciara is pretty adventurous (we turned right around after this picture).

I saved the best for last. This is a wild koala taking a snooze in a tree near some of the fort buildings. You’re mostly seeing his cute little butt, wedged between the branches.

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January 16, 2013

Day 53: Skink and Drink

Here is a fact about the Blue-Tongued Skink, an Australian critter: the vividness of their blue tongues often startles potential predators away. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a tiny bit of this little guy’s tongue. He was pretty quick with it.

Here is a fact about my vacation so far: I’ve had to drink more water in the last three days than I’ve probably consumed in the last three months. It’s unbelievably amazing here, and equally as unbelievably humid. My brain has slowed down to the pace of the air, and I’m going to have to keep this particular blog short and sweet (speaking of sweet, there’s an unending supply of delicious fruit smoothies in Queensland… even without all the other amazing perks, the smoothies alone make the trip worthwhile).

A beautiful tree and some gorgeous non-drinkable water.

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January 9, 2013

Day 46: Cats and Dogs

I started a super cool new contract position at a creative agency yesterday, and will be spending the next few months learning more about cats than I ever dreamed I would know.

Yes, cats.

In the process, I’m sure I’ll learn a bit about dogs, too—but mostly cats. In perusing the brand voice files yesterday to learn more about a particular cat and dog food company, I came across a really interesting chart about the differences between cat and dog pet owners, and how they view their relationships with their animals.

Which made me curious about the differences between my cat and dog-owning friends.

If you have a cat or a dog, why did you choose the animal you chose? And how do you view your pretty pet? As a friend? A child? A sibling? What were you looking for when you found and/or adopted him or her?

I realize the relationship distinctions above require thinking of your animal in human terms; but thinking in human terms is how we make sense of all of our relationships, so it’s not that strange. I freely admit that I view Brian Boitano as my independent roommate (except when he needs food or clean water—then, he’s my little buddy). He’s my company when I come home and he is decidedly not warm or snuggly.

If my lifestyle supported a furry friend, I always imagined I’d run around with a dog. But with all the interesting things I’m learning about felines, I can no longer be sure. I’ll have to discuss it with my new four-legged co-worker, Waffles (pictured).

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Category: Animals