As some of you know, I love doing things I never imagined doing, and Sunday, I’ll get another chance. Maria and I are Bronx Zoo members; we love to drive down there and visit some of the animals.

It’s also an excellent place to see my daughter and meet up for a few hours with my granddaughter, neither of whom I get to see too often in person.

You may recall that Maria and I exchanged Valentine’s Day gifts centered around the zoo. I bought her the naming rights to a Hissing Cockroach from Madagascar, and she then surprised me by purchasing a half-hour with a penguin (and five or six other people) for a half-hour at the zoo this Sunday afternoon. And yes, I will surely be bringing a camera.

We’ll stay over at a motel on the way back and have ourselves one of our fun micro-vacations. We’ll be back at work Monday morning.

My friend Carolyn Smith, who is very well-traveled, sent me this photo she took of penguins on Paulet Island, a tiny island east of Dundee Island, off the north-eastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of its vast and famous penguin colony, it’s a popular destination for tourists.

I don’t know what kind of penguin I’m getting to meet, but Carolyn wrote that these were “Adelie penguins doing their mating dance/song. What an odor! What wonderful creatures. They like pebbles, for building their nests. I can’t say I spoke to one, though. They were far too busy doing their “thing.”

I look forward to hearing about your meeting on Sunday.”

Me too. People have been messaging me all week, giving me suggestions about what to talk about – fish, snow, having kids. I tried to explain to my granddaughter Robin how it came to be that I am getting this quality time with a penguin at the Bronx Zoo. But I gave it up.

Perhaps I don’t need to talk with the penguin; he’s probably used to visitors by now, we can just look at each other and communicate through body language. I can waddle if I have to, and make funny noises. I do it for the dog all the time.