Just what the psychotherapist (would have) ordered

I am sitting at work, almost done with my lunch hour, watching shrimp swim. Yep, shrimp. Little teeny, tiny shrimp. As in the length of a fingernail tiny. My company publishes catalogs of promotional products, and the shrimp are from the company EcoSphere, which makes enclosed ecosystems as engraved gifts (the one on my desk is the smaller, egg-shaped on in the photo on the main page). The spheres are here to be photographed for an ad in one of the catalogs, and when they arrived this morning and I saw the itty bitty shrimp inside one of them, I just had to offer to keep one of the containers on my desk for safe-keeping until it’s time for their close-up. And I’ve not talked to the little guys today at all…no, I’d not do that…

I will bring my camera to work tomorrow and take a picture to post, but for now, here’s the info about them:

“The Original EcoSphere is the world’s first totally enclosed ecosystem – a complete, self-contained and self-sustaining miniature world encased in glass. … Inside each EcoSphere are active micro-organisms, bright red shrimp and algae, each existing in filtered sea water. Because the EcoSphere is a self-sustaining ecosystem, you never have to feed the life within. Simply provide your EcoSphere with a source of indirect natural or artificial light and enjoy this aesthetic blend of art and science, beauty and balance.

“Because the living resources within the EcoSphere utilize their resources without overpopulating or contaminating their environment, the EcoSphere requires no cleaning and only minimal care.

“EcoSpheres have an average life expectancy of two years. However, it is not uncommon for shrimp populations to be thriving in systems as old as 7 years.”

Given the insane amount of work I have to do this week—and for the next two months before a breather—this little egg-shaped wonder world is just what I needed. Now to justify the expense of buying myself one…