A Day At The Aquarium

In upcoming columns, you can read about the amazing outreach being done by local organizations such as Rolling Thunder Chapter 6 of Long Island and its affiliates like Patriot Guard and Heroes Among Us, or the efforts of service organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion chapters faced with dwindling membership and financial struggles, or the incredible and quite literally, bootson-the-ground initiatives that organizations like Bravo Foxtrot United Veterans are establishing to combat homelessness among veterans right here in your own neighborhoods.

Follow Long Island Veterans Bulletin on Facebook (www. facebook.com/livetsbulletin) for regularly posted information from across both counties and occasionally from regional organizations which benefit Long Island veterans.

–Christy Hinko, managing editor at Anton Media Group and U.S. Navy veteran

Karl V. Anton, Jr., Publisher, Anton Community Newspapers, 1984-2000

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For circulation inquiries, email: subscribe@antonmediagroup.com sticks out the most, and is the hardest to get a picture of, would have to be the iridescent blue morpho butterflies. They often travel in pairs and small groups. But once they land and close their wings, you wouldn’t know of their bright colors because the exterior of the wings are a brown, white and yellow pattern. I said to my boyfriend, “it’s like a metaphor that beauty comes from within.”

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Besides the butterflies and my corny sayings, we also enjoyed a small exhibit of bugs from around the world that were preserved behind glass, as well as a live beehive that was situated behind glass.

After spending an hour in what looks like heaven, we crossed the bridge that overlooks a huge pond of various fish, as well as a turtle tank, into where a lot of the exhibits are. We spent a few minutes at each tank, taking a close look at all the fish we could see and being encapsulated by the corals and sea anemones. We even saw some clown fish hanging out in sea anemones, which reminded us of the movie Finding Nemo.

The shark tank is always my favorite. It’s not often you can be face to face with a shark in a situation that wouldn’t be terrifying. Staring at them, you can see they’re amazing creatures.

Something I’ve never seen at the aquarium before, because I never went to look, was the octopus.

Though this one was small in size, he sure was smart. I saw a child put his hand to the tank, and the octopus then reached out to meet his hand behind the glass. I was blown away!

We took time to watch the classic sea lion show, which echoes the shows I’ve watched as a kid when the aquarium was called Atlantis Marine World, and we got to see trainers feed the otters.

We were fished out at the end of the day, and traveled seven minutes to this cute restaurant Funchos. I got one of my favorite foods of all time... nachos. While the nachos were good, I wish the cheese was a bit more melty. But still, I’ll be back.

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Think back to your favorite memories. For me, it’s always been the family gatherings in my home, whether it’s in celebration of birthdays or holidays. The jokes we’ve shared, the heartfelt conversations, bonding over delicious meals, or bickering over boardgames - I’ve cherished these loving, joyful times with my family. Don’t we all wish for a long life filled with more of these experiences?

It’s not just about living a long life though. It’s about living a long AND good quality life. That means making sure that we have healthy, sound minds for our golden years.

Our minds are something we take for granted and too often, we don’t connect our future to the choices we make in the present. The foods we eat are a type of choice we make multiple times throughout a single day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks - these are all choices that build up day after day, and ultimately, they hold a lot of power in our lives. They determine our brain health now and for the future.

I want us to make choices that improve the longevity AND quality of our lives. Dementia and Alzheimer’s are all too common among seniors, and it’s time we