I’ve discovered a few things recently that I find surprising.

Playing with flashlights and long exposures is fun.

Dinosaurs frolic amongst the fence posts. They frolic with Santa, too, but Santa didn’t show up until after I took these photos.

Giraffes in captivity lick everything — each other, trees, fences, everything. And they drool like crazy.

My shoelaces look like tasty worms.

Pigeons can be scary.

The shadow of my upper arm is freakishly skinny.

My nephew is fearless.

And the thing I find most surprising of all? That on a sunless rainy day like today…I feel happy and contented.