Like grandmother like grandaughter?

I guess certain things can skip a generation.

I was a huge animal lover as a child. Unfortunately I lived in an apartment most of my life so dogs and cats were out but I had a series of hamster and gerbil pets. I got my first (bachelor's) degree in zoology and my job throughout high school and college was as a zookeeper at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. I used to tell the missionaries that nothing could have prepared me better for missionary service in the West Indies. The huge spiders and occasional snakes did not bother me at all (ok maybe sometimes they did - especially when one of those spiders appeared on my wall late at night when my husband was a thousand miles away).  I remember visiting an old fort in St Vincent with some elders. I walked off to explore and then noticed my husband yelling my name. I turned to him just in time to see a large snake zoom between my feet. I guess he had startled it and the frightened snake took off my way. First impression? to chase after and see what kind it was.

So - it was fun to see this picture of my granddaughter Grace



She had looked through one of my old photo albums a few weeks ago and seen this:



And was so excited to be just like Grandma!

She is quite a little animal lover - especially reptiles. She was fascinated by my 'lizard taming' demo when she and her family visited us in Tobago last year.



Here's the secret - Capture a lizard (the hardest part) and then rub its stomach gently for a minute or two. It will relax and go into some sort of a trance - quite impressive to grandchildren.

It's so much fun being a GRANDMA!