... after several months of staying fairly close to home, other than those exhausting trips made in one day to Valdosta and back, tending to the business of guardianship of the Auntie. For several years I have enjoyed monthly visits to Chattanooga, and taking the time to drive to TN and hang out with family. We put our heads together over the holidays or early in the new year along with freshly minted calendars and pick a weekend each month when I can take time off and make the drive to visit on a weekend. Some of the trips will entail a specific event or project, while others have no reason other than being together, time spent enjoying being with entertaining people.
We went to the Tennessee Aquarium last night for a special event. If you are out in the retail world at all, you are aware that this time of year is Girl Scout Cookie season. Young Scouts will be standing near the entrance to shops, stores, eateries, commercial enterprises by folding tables laden with the current assortment of cookies available for purchase. You should always ask these girls what they plan to do with the funds they will receive after expenses are paid, and how they are going to use these resources for the betterment of their group or the world at large. The girls are expected to have well-thought-out answers, and concrete plans for how their plans will be implemented. Part of cookie sales is the training to handle finances, considering how they will use the profits after they pay for the goods, and what they can do to make the world a better place with the resources they have available.
The event last night at the Aquarium 'Cookie Creations' was an opportunity to sample foods that had cookies as an ingredient. A local catering firm was hired to provide the goods, making up recipes that had one of seven types of Girl Scout Cookies. From shrimp that was baked with a cookie coating, to meatballs incorporating cookies and waffles with cookie crumbs in the batter - all good eats. Then we went on a tour of the fishes, where there were cookie and beer parings! I am not a beer aficionado, but determined to not miss out on anything: willingly sampled every offering. Admittedly the cookies provided at every stop were the best part, I did taste a variety of new beers I would have never otherwise tried.
I've not been to visit the fishes for years, and enjoyed walking through the exhibits. Some amazingly huge amphibians, interesting displays, fascinating turtle lore, creepy reptiles and huge tanks with large captive specimens, calmly swimming day and night. Really a treat to walk through when the place is not bursting with the pandemonium that accompanies small children, chaotic school tours, noisy conversation, rowdy field trip participants and bustling baby carriages.
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