More from the Island

We have had a Sad Event. Queenie the Banana Slug, having been displaced from her position under the picnic table by a group of students dissecting starfish, got too hot in the sun and expired. A few salty tears were shed.

On the other hand, Little Stuff now has her very own touch tank, courtesy of by-catch and all sorts of donors who turn up with cute little living critters. She is enjoying it thoroughly, especially when the starfish pigged out on salmon this morning (they evert their stomachs to eat -- too much information?) and is now hiding under a kelp strand, doing the starfish equivalent of burping a lot and dosing on antacids. Little Stuff says that she will return them all to the ocean before we leave, but that she is going to leave them with a supply of salmon to eat until they relearn how to find food for themselves. The kid is four, for pity's sake.

We also went out in a boat to look at seals. And the seals had a good look at us. They were bored; we had fun.

I have several dozen more sunset pics, but I'll spare you for now until I edit them, at any rate. I only get onto the computer when Little Stuff's mother doesn't need it and Little Stuff is otherwise employed. Since I am here to keep her out of her mom's hair, that isn't often. We are doing a lot of baking and flower picking and beachcombing, weather permitting. I have had her up to her neck in the surf and sitting in the waves, so I am quite pleased. The water is not exactly warm. In fact, b rrr.