Friday, August 13, 2010

August 12, 2010: Washington - Mystery Bones, Gorilla Family, Summer Squash






Today was a quiet day, with a fair amount of reading before I headed out in the afternoon to the zoo. I took my sketchbook and found a quiet spot in the education portion of the Amazonia building at a table with several animal bones, where I did a couple of drawings (two different kinds of vertebrae, although I'm not sure which animals - one is likely a giraffe as it's so long).

On my way back I stopped in to see the gorillas. The whole family was hanging out together: the silverback, some adult males and females, and a baby. One of the adult males played with the baby, which was utterly entrancing.

At home I looked up a recipe for a summer squash casserole, as I had quite a few from the farmer's market the day before. I'd never really made something like this before; everything was to be grated - cheese, squash, even the onion. It seemed like it might be a bit monotonous with everything shredded to the same consistency, so I added some sliced mushrooms and tomatoes before putting it all in with the egg and flour mixture (okay, it was actually Bisquick, not flour, but I've got a limited amount to work with here in my temporary kitchen). But it turned out quite well, although a little more cheese would have been nice - maybe some feta dotted on top.

Photos: one of the adult female gorillas; one of the male adult gorillas plays with the baby; after playing the baby sits alone, contemplative; sketch of a vertebra (species unknown, but I suspect a giraffe!); sketch of another vertebra (species unknown)

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