Happy National Dolphin Day!

May 2014, Outer Banks, North Carolina

Happy National Dolphin Day!

Dolphins are probably the one animal that we can all agree are absolutely the cutest. I’m so lucky to live on the east coast and see them often, swimming along the beaches, in their natural habitat, as well as the few times I went on boat cruises specifically to view dolphins (and whales). Seeing them always makes me feel happy. Even seeing a dolphin in a picture or on a piece of jewelry makes me smile.

Dolphins symbolize: friendship, playfulness, harmony and gentleness.

I wish everyone the happiest dolphin day ever!

Drawing by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta, 2005

The Animal Bucket List

I hear so much about “bucket lists.” I decided to come up with one of my own.

While I started writing my bucket list, I realized my “must do before I die” list has everything to do with animals. Those who know me will not be surprised, as I’m the one who prefers having ground hogs in my backyard to a garden; the one who stops to pet each and every dog I meet in passing;  the one who longs to someday live on a farm; and the one who always has cat hair on her clothing.

So, here it is — My Official Bucket List (with the ones I’ve done already striked through!)

Ride a camel

Hold a koala bear

Ride an elephant

Own a ball python

Hold a baby pig

Swim with a dolphin

Own a pocket-sized poodle

Own a Chihuahua

Own an Italian Greyhound

Own a ferret

Come face-to-face with an eel while snorkeling! (which is why I no longer snorkel!)

Ride a horse on the beach with my husband (how romantic is this one?!)

Milk a cow or a goat

Eat frog’s legs (didn’t like them, tasted too much like chicken)

Hold a monkey

Watch a cat give birth

Watch a dog give birth

Hold a baby squirrel

Pet a baby tiger (make that “pet every cute baby animal there is on this planet!”)

Smuggle a grasshopper from Florida to New Jersey (I did that when I was 9, and the grasshopper lived in New Jersey until the end of the summer!)

Ride a horse, English-style, Western-style AND bare-back!

Teach a pet a trick (make that an impressive trick, I don’t think teaching a cat to go crazy for Super Goo counts!)

Continue to treat my cats with such love that they live until at least 20! (They are 16 and 18 now!)

And a few things that weren’t on my animal bucket list, that were not so cool 

1. Got bit by a pig

2. Got bit by a squirrel

3. Got thrown from a horse

4. A pony stepped on my foot when I was 10 (a pony !! and it hurt like hell!!)