A word with Laurie: effervescence

the water’s

effervescence

and the sunshine

on the gull

give a California splendor

to our world

we walk along

the waterfront

and smile

at one other

then the California sun

sets—

as we stroll

Laurie, of the writers' group Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, posted a word challenge for Friday the 13th today, and the word she chose was the 13-letter word effervescence. She suggested, therefore, that we try to make our poems 13 lines long as well.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Su !

The country of China is working hard to prevent the extinction of its iconic furry creature, the Giant Panda. To that end, China has loaned breeding pairs to approved zoos where the staff will work equally hard to raise young pandas to send to China. The San Diego Zoo has "returned" two zoo-born young adults to China already, and now plans are being made to send 5-year-old Su Lin to the pandas' homeland as well.

Su Lin is "my baby panda", the only panda youngster I've seen personally, so I'm trying not to get overly emotional about "losing" her, but it isn't easy.

Dick and I took these pictures when were in San Diego for the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. They show Su Lin when she was 6 or 7 months old, an age when wild pandas spend most of their time high up in trees for safety, while their mothers look for food. So here, silhouetted against the California sky is 'Super Panda' Su, dreaming of leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

See the sky from many other points of view, also, this week at Skywatch Friday.