My Funny Valentine

mona the camel
Originally uploaded by plainsight

On Valentine's Day, I was heading back to Seattle from Friday Harbor and we finally got to see Mona, the local island camel (apparently a rescue from Ebay). Mona was an especially friendly camel--I normally wouldn't get so close to any old camel as they are wont to spit or bite.

I have a special fondness for camels--as a kid I collected camels of all types--figurines, stuffed animals, jewelry. My Syrian grandmother, "Sitto" started my collection, and over the years I received camels as gifts and occasionally found some myself.

When I was accepted to Connecticut College, I found out that their mascot was also the camel, so I brought some of my collection with me to school.

Of course, these days I have more contact with camel cousins--bumping into llamas and alpacas at sheep and wool festivals and using their fibers in my crochet and knitting. Still, it was nice to have some "face time" with Mona. You can find more pictures of her on flickr.