Missing Asia

Among the gifts I was given for participating in a tour of the Zoo for some visitors from the Taipei Zoo was this charming but somewhat odd tote bag, which really makes me miss Asia…not quite sure what this bag is supposed to depict. Clearly it involves a panda and a tapir, but what the tapir has done to the panda is not at all clear. 

Schuhschnabel

When I was a kid I loved penguins. Then while in undergrad at Bryn Mawr I started to love owls, which I have collected ever since…

Not much is more amazing to me than an owl in flight

A few of my owls

…but it was on a trip to the Zurich Zoo when I was living for a few months in Switzerland writing up my dissertation that I fell in love with the shoebill (even better, "Schuhschnabel" in German). I am pretty sure that the shoebill in Zurich stared into my soul:

Maryland Renaissance Festival

I had a great time at the Maryland Renaissance Festival on the season's opening day, despite some rather nasty weather. This is my third Ren Fest, having been to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire the past two years and to a similar festival years ago in Boulder, Colorado.

On our way to the Ren Fest, we made a photo stop at the Maryland Department of Agriculture, outside of which there is a statue of the Goddess of Agriculture and two cows, one of which looked like it was ready for the beach and the other that was dressed as a lumberjack:

Here are a few photos from the 2014 Maryland Ren Fest: