Busy Day

Yesterday was a busy day for me; busy but fun. I started the morning with the international coastal cleanup.


I did not find anything really weird this year. I think the strangest thing I found was a flip-flop, but I did manage to collect over 2 pounds of trash in an hour and a half. In the back you can see what other people collected. It was kind of sad, because the largest pieces of trash I collected (aside from the flip-flop) all washed into shore while I was standing at the water's edge. Trying to collect all the trash that was washing up while we were doing the cleanup was a little like holding back the tide. But it was great to see all the people who participated, and see the truck of trash that was taken away from the beach.

Then it was off to pick up my husband to go to the annual marine biology association party. I got there before he got off work, so I gathered my courage to check out the spider pavilion near by.

I was expecting to see normal-sized spiders chilling in the trees. What was there was three inch long (excluding the legs!) monsters... There were five types of spiders present, I only found three. The above is a golden silk spider.

There were giant webs strung everywhere, even above the walkway, which made me really nervous. Especially with those giant spiders sitting in the middle of them. The webs didn't look like the would be able to support the weight of the spider (although I know they could). I was expecting one to drop on my head at any moment. It was cool, but I don't think I've conquered my fears with that visit.

Then it was on the the party itself. It was held at my favorite aquarium, so in between chatting with people and eating nibblies, I got to see what was new at the nursery.

What was new was two day old octopuses and day old squids. They were so cute! The octos were about an inch in diameter (including the tentacles), and the squids were 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch long.

To top it off, I won a nice octopus picture from the raffle. What a great day!