Seals! We gotcher seals, right here!

Get 'em while they're hot!

We took the baby to the beach today. Last time she went was when she was just a few months old so naturally she doesn't remember much.

There's a little podunky aquarium with a bunch of seals in a tank at the local Spring Break Mecca beach town. They are rescued seals who can't be reintroduced to the wild for whatever reason so they live fat and happy doing self-taught tricks to get tourons like ourselves to fling them bits of chum. Actually we did not personally fling any chum as it was a buck a pop and enough other folk were doing it that we didn't need to. The seals are quite sleek, and very cheeky, so clearly they are getting sufficient amounts without us getting our hands all fishy and gross.

Anyway once she warmed up to the idea Delia was pretty excited by all the honking and flapping and splashing. We failed to get really good reaction photos but did get some pretty good shots of an actual baby seal nursing. Evidently rescued seals reproduce pretty handily since there were three little fuzzy young ones in there laying around looking adorable. I had to hold the camera up above the wire enclosure so compositionally it's not the best shot ever, but I am pretty pleased with it since it's not every day I can photograph seals nursing. The two seals on the right side of the picture are the nursing mother and pup.



We walked along the promenade with her a bit also, in search of the ubiquitous salt water taffy. She'd heard that John Cleese has had a hip replaced and can no longer perform Silly Walks, so she practiced a bit so as to be ready to take up the mantle when she is of age:



Sadly, we did not have the video camera along to capture the full effect, but suffice it to say that we have a worthy candidate here. You should see her run! It's a wonder she locomotors at all, with all the flapping and non-aerodynamic-ness going on. Obviously she gets this from my side. I think my family name translates from the original Swedish as "Those people who fall down a lot and throw like girls."

So, it's been a week and thanks to my dissolute lifestyle (staying up too late, failing to drink enough, or any, water, etc.) I am still sick. Better overall, but still coughing and congested. It's been such a long time since I had a chest cold that it's taken me quite by surprise. I haven't gone to the gym in a solid week, or more I think. I understand they frown on patrons coughing up actual lungs while using their fancy equipment, as the other patrons find this off-putting. Bunch of weenies. Coughing is a form of aerobic exercise, right?