October 12, 1998 I think I understand what guys get out of reliving fishing stories now. The one that got away. The one that was bigger than my dog. The great catch. I don't know about using a rod and reel, but catching them by wading around with a net--hoo boy! It really is fun. And often frustrating, so that when you do finally catch one, it's very exciting. I realize that being outsmarted by a fish is perhaps not the most, er, prestigious sort of sport, but it's fun. The last fish sabotaged our draining operation last night by blocking the hose with a leaf (yes, I know the fish didn't really do it), so the water level hadn't went down as much as we'd hoped. And the last fish was the fastest and the wiliest. We chased him for ages. It was warm and sunny out and I had a blast. However, we slowly began to lose hope of ever catching it before draining the pool more. And then I got him! After a zillion near misses and long periods of waiting in between to spot the fugitive koi, it was struggling in my net. Gotcha! We transferred him to the basement and I bounced around reliving my victory.     Then we went to the zoo. Peacocks wandered around loose in many areas, and we watched the sea otters swimming upside-down under water. There was a reptile and fish aquarium building with lots of really ugly fish in it, but also a column with jelly fish and wild turquoise light which looked like a giant lava lamp. That's going into the Moon Palace somewhere, along with the fountain outside that had a huge marble sphere supported just enough by water pressure to slowly revolve. (It was going sort of top to bottom, but diagonally, so it couldn't have been turning mechanically.) We saw penguins and primates and birds and a polar bear and so on. (We didn't see everything because they closed pretty early.) There were walks surrounded by trees with all the leaves turning yellow and red. It was great. Mark says we should have penguins in the pond during winters. (Mark was not serious.) Right now I'm exhausted and am going to slurp turkey noodle soup and watch t.v. with our wild felines.       Fun with the Rainbow Snake Wand         quote "The only mystery about the cat is why it ever decided to become a domestic animal." --Sir Compton MacKenzie   Small Pleasures As a child she had clutched the strays to a skinny chest begging to keep just this one and was always denied. Now shafts of sunlight catch random cats curled on antique quilts or on windowsills between the ruffles of curtains. She smiles small smiles and sighs small sighs of contentment, makes another cup of tea and ignores the cat hairs in the sugar bowl. --Pamela Kosted

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