Mother's Day

The Jewish Museum of Maryland is quite interesting. Weekend admission includes a tour of the two very old synagogues that flank it -- one, the first synagogue in Baltimore, a formerly Orthodox congregation that became Reform in the late 1800s, and the other the Orthodox congregation that was created from people who left the first when it became less traditional. The exhibits at the museum for adults are mostly on local Jewish history and Ellis Island connections, but the kids' exhibits are wonderful -- lots of hands-on historical stuff (build your own pyramid, hunt your own wild game with wooden bows and arrows, design your own Ark of the Covenant).

From there we went to one of my favorite places within an hour of where I live, the National Aquarium, where for the first time I brought my camcorder and filmed the ray tank. It was not very crowded so late in the afternoon, and one of the marine rescue workers came over and talked to me about the turtle who's missing a fin and other things I never would have learned on a typical crowded day. Another aquarium employee found the sloth for us in the rainforest, hiding in a tree near the ceiling as usual. We saw the dolphin show, which gets better every time we see it; there are nine dolphins at the aquarium at this point because three of them had babies a little over a year ago, and they all seem more playful and more energetic; there's a lot more jumping and spashing before the show starts, and they seem to be interacting more with each other and with the people who work at the aquarium. I have mixed feelings about the dolphins there; on the one hand their captivity bothers me, and on the other hand I look at the number of people who are educated about wild dolphins every day at the aquarium and think it's not such a bad thing, particularly compared to amusement park dolphin shows and swimming-with-dolphins parks.

Then we went to dinner in Harborplace -- how fucked up is it that being in the aquarium always puts me in the mood for crab cakes and grilled salmon? My family got me the special edition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on DVD, meaning that I can indulge in Louise if I ever have spare time (not this week -- Bean on Inspector Morse on A&E tomorrow night, Smallville Tuesday, Enterprise Wednesday and catch-up Dawson's Creek and West Wing Thursday and Friday). My parents -- well, my mother I'm sure -- got me a couple of sweaters. And my children -- well, my husband I'm sure -- got me a rose. So I am content, and exhausted.


Dolphin and lighthouse, National Aquarium, Baltimore