Crazy Stable

or...why a Saturday Allocated to Paint-Stripping Turned into Lizard-Spotting, Brunch, and a Nap.

Bright and early, the Child and I met Spouse at the American Museum of Natural History, where Channel 4's weather reporter gamely shot a live remote stand-up at the opening of the museum's new exhibit, "Lizards and Snakes: Alive!"

 The squamates in question delighted us, particularly this guy, the Green Tree Monitor, who exuberantly danced around like the Geico Gecko on crack when the kids came up to the window of his vivarium. This is one party lizardo; I refuse to believe he is a relative of the repulsive Komodo dragon.  (Hey, we all have relatives we'd like to disavow.) The actual geckos mostly stuck to the walls of their tanks, but were incredibly cute, and one (which I named Frodo, for his spunk) snarfed down a live cricket as we watched. 

Which reminded us that we were really really hungry, having arisen at an ungodly hour for these frolics. So,  I bedecked with a new $3.50 lizard necklace and the child toting a finely wrought plastic Rough Green Snake, we headed over to Good Enough to Eat, the brunch spot beloved of bloggerpal Terry Teachout, for waffles, eggs, Biscuits with Sausage Gravy (my passion) and other goodies; we were too full to try their exquisitely homey-looking baked goods or, dear Lord, homemade coconut ice cream.  (Next time, next time.) After this Upper West Side diversion, and the requisite trip to the Grand Army Plaza greenmarket (where the peaches were in but we were too late for any but the bin-bottom squishers), we crawled back to the CrazyStable and slept like engorged Burmese pythons.

Upon waking, I learn that a neighbor, the energetic and accomplished president of our block association, is up to her ears in exciting exterior roofing and siding renovation; then, checking in online with the tireless housebloggers at the Devil Queen, I read about their staggeringly labor-intensive rehab of their interior beadboard walls (involving cases of caulk--I didn't know caulk came by the case).

Hey, we saw geckos and ate waffles. Tomorrow is another day!  (A day on which I plan to try out my cool new bicycle...and then strip paint, lots of it...)

Photo credit: (c) AMNH, Denis Finnin