Our Trip to Flamingo Gardens

Today I went to Flamingo Gardens, along with Ethan, Crista, Mom, Mrs. Buondelmonte, Vinnie and James. Flamingo Gardens is a large animal sanctuary and botanical garden. There were walkways through the gardens, and there were all sorts of amazing plants that I've never seen before. The animals were just as amazing. We saw many types of birds, including one called a spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill

and at least three different types of owls: barn owls, great horned owls, and barred owls. We saw a show called Wildlife Encounter where animal keepers brought out four animals for the audience to observe. All of the animals were injured or handicapped in some way and were permanent residents of the sanctuary. I'll describe them here:
#1: An opossum named Penny. Penny was hit by a car, and although she survived, she was permanently blinded. The keeper told us that she is the best-looking opossum we'll ever see; opossums in the wild want to look as dirty, disgusting, and inedible as possible, as they have very few ways of escaping predators.

 Penny the Virginian Opossum

#2: A barred owl named Whisper. Whisper fell out of his nest when he was only three days old and broke both his hips. Rather than have him euthanized, the people at Flamingo Gardens kept him, knowing that he would never fly. Whisper had been a part of the Wildlife Encounter ever since Flamingo Gardens obtained him, as he could never be released into the wild.
#3: A box turtle named Shelly. Shelly was a pet that was given to Flamingo Gardens. As Shelly had been around humans and fed by them her whole life, she couldn't be released into the wild, as all her instincts were gone. Shelly is only nine years old. She is not yet fully grown.
#4: A baby alligator. The alligator was one of the offspring of the two alligators at the Gardens: Elvis and Priscilla. Like Shelly, the alligator had come to associate humans with food, and therefore could never be released into the wild. Alligators that associated humans with food will come closer to developed areas where humans live. Alligators that do that are killed, because they are deemed too dangerous to live. The alligator's skin is sold as high-quality leather, their meat is used in soups, and their head and jaw becomes a souvenir in a shop. This is why there is a law against feeding alligators.

I came away from Flamingo Gardens with a sense of thankfulness that I had gone, as my time in Florida is growing short and I know that it is unlikely I will ever be able to observe animals in their natural habitat again.

MM&M

 To start, MM&M is probably is a weird title. But I like it (that's probably one of my weird writer quirks). MM means Memory Master, which I just finished by testing with our CC Director, Mrs. Kelso. I'm one of sixteen Memory Masters this year (from both our Tuesday group and our Wednesday group). Incidentally, I was the last Memory Master that Mrs. Kelso tested this year.
Another update from my world: M is for Moving. We are moving (again)! This time we're headed to Alaska, with a brief stopover in Oklahoma for Dad's pilot training. This development is a coin with two sides (I'll elaborate in a moment).
 For one, this is an adventure. I'll be visiting Oklahoma, one of the best areas in the west (in my opinion, of course). I'll be staying for about three months on an Air force base with planes flying over head all day (that's actually an asset, in my opinion; the sound of planes sooths me). Also, when we get to Anchorage, we'll be on the edge of wilderness--I think this might be a chance for me to get inspired for my novel(s). Plus, there's lots and lots of snow in Alaska, so it'll be a chance to cool down after our stay in hot, hot Miami.
 On the flip side of the 'coin', I'm not terribly excited about moving again. I kind of liked Florida, and besides, no matter how much I like (or dislike) a place, moving is always a huge hassle: we have to pack up personal belongings for the move itself. Then the movers come, and they have to pack everything in the whole entire house up and put it in boxes to take it up to Alaska. Then, once we find a house there (which also takes forever), we have to unpack everything and get it all situated in the new house--although getting a new house is one of the good sides of moving.
 So that's the update. As to novel news, I finished the first book and am about seven pages into the next. Things are going good, except for the fact that I'm feeling really insecure about the sequel (is that normal?)
 And that's all for now!