What a blast! We hit the Botanical Gardens today, and that was a lot of fun. They have the Butterfly Experience going on. Step into a greenhouse full of heat and moisture and incredibly beautiful butterflies, and just hang out as long as you can stand it…
Bly took a picture of a gorgeous moth as big as my hand. Hope got jealous that one landed on me three times, but when she finally got around to standing still, one landed on her. Truly awesome.
The rest of the Garden was no shakes either, that place is amazing. It’s right off Alvernon, but still a thousand miles away from Tucson. Cool and green and aromatic, yet with local plants. Tucson seems either sere or unnatural, it’s hard to believe the beauty they’ve created there. Want to see birds nesting inside a saguaro? Want to dig earthworms or see composting in action? Want to explore an herb garden, or locate a jumping cactus (cholla) safely? That’s the place to go.
In the evening, I put Hope to bed and Bly and I enjoyed some porn and chocolate. (in joke) (not really) Okay, we watched Ai no Kusabi. Which is supposed to be this awesome anime classic that happens to be yaoi (there is a difference between an anime classic with yaoi, and a yaoi classic, honest) but we were not impressed. The story is SF, about a “mongrel” (human un-improved by genetic manipulation) who is taken as “pet” by a “Blondie” (superior race) who falls in love with him, and how it leads both to tragedy. Only the story was completely gutted. It started after Riki, the mongrel pet, was returned to his own kind, and it never explained much of anything.
Anyone who’s read this blog for long, knows I have no objection to the occasional Porn Without Plot. The problem with Ai no Kusabi was it had plot, but not enough–and porn, but not enough. It needed to be one or the other–or, more joyously both–and it failed to be much of anything at all.
On the plus side, Bly and I had a great time mocking it. 😀