While my friend Lisa was here visiting we did a lot of sightseeing of DC. (I have a ton of photos-better than these below)
One of the neat things we came across was this relic from the Guaranty / Prudential Building downtown Buffalo onChurch and I think Pearl . I used to work in this building before joining forces with Sam the Man.
The Views were phenomenal! The photos that I took of the bldg when I was there were not digital but film based and I have not scanned them into my digital library of photos yet.
But here is a link of some great shots of the majestic beauty!
And these below are inside the Smithsonian Institute...



I loved the location. Commuting downtown via the trolley train. Going to Market on Thursday afternoons! The live entertainment showcased by M & T in the Summer on the Plaza,Thursday in the Square just around the bend, etc...

Definitely Good Times! Oh and don't forget Pearl Street Brewery just a hop & a skip (no jump necessary) away!!!

I think it's nice to have a little bit of "Buffalo in the Backyard" here!!!

I wish I had my little babies in the pool today! They would have loved the cool blue water. Splish Splashin' all around and smiling!

This means I must start planning another visit to Buffalo soon to see my niece and nephew oh and my peeps of course ('cause I am dying to cut the rug with the true dancing machines up north!!!)![bgcolor]#00caff[/bgcolor]

being my first summer without the taste of buffalo, i must live through you guys on the site. so please post pics for the rest of us <insert sad, pouty puppy face here>
Thanks!
Here are pictures from yesteryear of My Niece @ her first taste of Buffalo!



...meanwhile, I will be lounging in the pool today.

the Giant Panda @ the National Zoo gave birth finally after several years of trying

The National Zoo's panda Mei Xiang gave birth yesterday to a squealing, squirming cub the size of a stick of butter, and elated zookeepers said she is giving it the tender care that befits its status as one of the world's most endangered animals.

Even as they rejoiced in their first panda birth after years of effort, zoo officials cautioned that the coming days are critical to the cub's survival. They praised the mothering skills of Mei Xiang, who was holding a rubber toy at the moment of birth and at first seemed surprised by her squawking cub. But she quickly gave it her full attention.
    

Dr. Suzan Murray, chief veterinarian at the National Zoo, monitors the newborn panda cub Saturday at the zoo.
Dr. Suzan Murray, chief veterinarian at the National Zoo, monitors the newborn giant panda cub via video Saturday at the zoo. (Ho - Reuters)
ABOUT PANDA CUBS

Taken from the National Zoo website:

1. Giant pandas reach breeding maturity between four and eight years of age; they may be reproductive until about age 20.

1. Female pandas come into estrus (heat) only once a year, in the spring, during a short period of two to three days.

1. When female giant pandas ovulate but fail to conceive, they undergo seudopregnancies, where hormonal changes and behaviors are identical to a true pregnancy, which makes it very difficult to determine if a panda is pregnant.

1. Panda gestation length ranges from 90 to 185 days, with an average pregnancy lasting 135 days. This two-month variation in gestation occurs because the fertilized panda egg usually floats free in the mother's uterus before it implants and begins developing. Once the embryo is attached to the uterine wall in late pregnancy, its development continues until a panda is born

1. A newborn cub weighs 3 to 5 ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter. Pink, hairless, and blind, the cub is 1/900th the size of its mother. Except for a marsupial (such as the kangaroo or opossum), a giant panda baby is the smallest mammal newborn relative to its mother's size.

1. Cubs do not open their eyes until they are six to eight weeks of age and are not mobile until three months.

1. Any baby born to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian would belong to China, and the National Zoo would likely return the cub to China when it's two years old, so that it could become part of the breeding population there.

1. The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Animals. It is one of the most critically endangered species in the world.

1. There are about 1,600 left in the wild. More than 160 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.

1. The Smithsonian's National Zoo is one of four U.S. zoos that exhibit giant pandas. The other zoos are in Atlanta, Memphis and San Diego.

"She looked kind of startled for all of about two minutes, and then she picked the cub up," said Lisa M. Stevens, associate curator for pandas and primates. "She picked it right up and began cuddling and cradling it. The cub responded immediately and settled in."

It may be weeks before keepers can get close enough to learn the cub's sex, because the mother will hold it close and they will not intervene unless something goes wrong. A photo released by the zoo shows the newborn -- which weighs perhaps a quarter of a pound compared with its mother's 250 -- resting on Mei Xiang's arm in an indoor den at the Panda House as staff and volunteers watch via closed-circuit cameras in a nearby room.Quoted from: Zoo's Pandas Produce First Cub, High Hopes

While out shopping with a friend of mine, I came across a pair of slippers that bore this tag:

((e:Twisted) (e:Southernyankee) (e:Lilho))
The pic is fuzzy because I didn't want to frightened the locals by taking pictures of merchandise inside a store. I'll take pictures just about anywhere else, but I guess I have to draw the line somewhere. But it looks like an (e:Paul) creation.


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