It’s pretty much every performer’s dream to be the focus of a media frenzy (especially for something positive!)…  I got to experience a bit of that this week, in a very unexpected and wonderful way. Walking home from a family lunch in our neighborhood, about a mile from DC’s National Zoo, we saw an extraordinary animal emerge from some bushes.  I recognized him almost immediately as a red panda – one of my favorite animals at the National Zoo and one I had often admired at our previous home’s wonderful San Diego Zoo.  What I couldn’t figure out is how he could possibly be just a few feet in front of us, alone, strolling down our…