But I open the pane and pop out the flame just to see how the wind do blow

[sovay]

My niece was fascinated by the lobsters in their tanks at Fresh Pond Seafood. We had just picked up our order to go when a shipment of fresh lobsters arrived on ice. Instantly she did not want to leave; she wanted to watch them transferred into the tanks, she stepped up onto the low wooden rim of the flower bed out front of the store to get a better look into the crates in the back of the truck; when I explained what was going on, the lobster/deliveryman took one off the top of the ice and offered it for her to hold. She wasn't quite comfortable taking it herself, but she petted its cold shell when I held it and watched its antennae move and there was a slight mishap handing it back to the man, but I confirmed afterward that the lobster was fine. I am not sure she understands entirely that crustaceans in tanks, when encountered in a fish market, are not pets after the fashion of Gérard de Nerval, but she was so excited about them—she named several while we were waiting and declared an enormous blue one their leader, causing me to imagine a jailbreak or heist—and I love that the older man making the delivery responded to her enthusiasm in kind. Then we went home and ate fried clams and shrimp and rewatched the first hour of Ponyo (2008), after which it was bedtime just as Ponyo finished her ramen and passed out. Next week we are planning to take her to the sea.

Comments

[yhlee]

Aww, that is the cutest thing ever.

A couple years back we were at a Maker Fair held at the public library and Arabelle conceived an instant love for a pendant that was a metal cast of a crawfish shell. The creator of the pendant was so happy to see a teenage girl appreciate his work like that that he sold us the pendant for a significant discount (I would have been happy to pay full price but we hadn't brought much cash with us and they weren't set up to take credit card). She still keeps that crawfish shell pendant in her jewelry box. :)

[minoanmiss]

That is SO ADORABLE and reminds me of crab shopping with my aunt (the one I wrote about).

[lilysea]

If there were humans descended from mer-people, it sounds like your niece [and you!] would be some of them! ^_^

[kore]

Ohh boy your niece was Wee Moi the very first time my parents took me to a seafood restaurant in San Francisco (I think it was called "Sam's," lol) and I was fascinated by the lobsters in the tanks and wanted to reach in and play with them ("NO") and named some and....then they dragged me into the restaurant and I realized what the lobsters were there for. It was not a happy dinner.

(It must've been Sam's Grill https://samsgrill-sf.com/history/)

[troisoiseaux]

I am not sure she understands entirely that crustaceans in tanks, when encountered in a fish market, are not pets after the fashion of Gérard de Nerval

Not with that kind of attitude they're not!

(...actually, I'm sure there are reasons it's not feasible to keep a lobster as a pet.)

[larryhammer]

it was bedtime just as Ponyo finished her ramen and passed out

That is the perfect pause point.

[asakiyume]

she named several while we were waiting and declared an enormous blue one their leader, causing me to imagine a jailbreak or heist

--this would make a fabulous picture book if we could get a really good illustrator.

[watervole]

Candlelight fisherman! Love that one.

Children are very strange. I suspect she realises at some levels that clams and shrimp were once living, but they don't always connect the dots.

My seven- year old granddaughter makes comets out of pieces of wool, and they have amazing adventures while living in a clamshell at the bottom of the sea.

She also chats astrophysics with her grandad and is perfectly aware that real comets are balls of icy rock, but it still doesn't stop her play ones having babies....

[alexxkay]

Kes asks: Did you explain de Nerval to her?