All I Lacked Was A

Lily Pad On My Head!

Anyone who knows me knows that I really don’t like nature at all. For the most part, I couldn’t care less about flowers and plants, etcetera, but I got a new camera for my last birthday with a “flowers in bright daylight” setting and I was curious about how the setting would work.

There I was crouched down to take a picture of this little variegated plant at the edge of the bog garden at the Columbia Zoo when my friend’s daughter gave me a shove from behind.

About 18” of land and a 6" high brick wall was all that separated me from the scum coated bog pond.

Needless to say, I went head first into the bog water! Soaked from head to toe through 3 layers of shirts and 2 layers of pants with green bog plants in my hair and a green leaf on my nose, the only thing missing from the picture was a Lily pad on my head! A well placed bathroom with an old World Dryer hand dryer was my refuge from the 35-40°F weather while I stood in an inch deep puddle of bog water trying to dry my shoes, shirt and pants.

A trip to K-Mart to purchase dry cloths and a pair of shoes and we headed back to the zoo to see the annual Christmas light display.

I’ve got a stiff hip, but so far no pneumonia or swamp fever or any thing like that.

The only casualty of the impromptu swim seems to be my camera. But I did get to take a couple of “flowers in bright daylight” pictures.