An Incredible Day

This morning has just been fantastic. A good friend of mine, Florence, invited Frankie to visit a special needs school that has a large percentage of autistic children. Frankie, Florence and I sat outside and several small classes (less than 10 children) were brought out to visit and learn about Frankie the sulcata. The children gathered around, asked questions about Frankie and everyone was allowed to touch his shell. Frankie did a lot of walking around, delighting the children with this large back feet and big front toe nails. Two particular autistic children who reportedly were normally shy and frighten instantly changed to down-right bold and awed at the sight of Frankie. No child left feeling frighten and none were disappointed in the visit. It was so very fun to watch how much children delight in Frankie.

Florence then took us the McWane Science Center where both her and my husband work. Frankie walked endlessly around the lobby, again, delighting children and adults alike. At one point, Frankie was visiting a line of children and adults waiting to see the IMAX.  They had so much fun with Frankie I was afraid they were NOT going to see the movie as they hated to part from Frankie. Florence's husband, Richard, was able to leave and have lunch with us, Greg was unable to go. We picked up some roll-up sandwiches and went to the downtown Linn Park. Again, Frankie delighted everyone present.

Several folks whose windows overlooked the park actually left work to see Frankie!  It was amazing to see how many people who saw Frankie from their offices came down just to see him up close.

Frankie doesn't need a pumpkin costume to draw a crowd. He is a wonder and delight to all that see him. Tortoises are something very special and I don't think that there are many other species of animals that capture the heart of people so very easily.