A sunny day
Jun. 7th, 2009 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgHad a physically if not mentally productive day today, which climaxed in a trip to the zoo. Husband was off gigging the morning tea-early lunch shift and I pottered around the house for a bit. My most productive domestic mode is the spontaneous see-thing-do-thing variety, so planning doesn't really come into it. Thus the front porch was swept, some corners were dustbusted, a couple of weeds were pulled, a neighbour was waved at, some things were filed and a few things tidied. The kitchen was pulled back from the brink. Laundry happened. In other words, the chaos was thinned a bit.
Lovely lovely Husband got home from the gig and suggested an outing. Discussions started with the zoo, which I regretfully rejected for spoon reasons having had such a busy morning. We toyed with a trip to the dog beach, or a drive up the freeway to the botanic golf gardens. In the end we went to the zoo for a short visit in the mid afternoon, and fulfilled an old plan to become Friends of the Zoo. For the price of three visits we get a year's worth of free entry plus sundry other minor benefits. We also have new photo ID.
I had never realised how stressful a trip to the zoo could be; at full price one feels compelled to see everything, and my old memories all seemed to be capped with sore feet. Freed by the concept that we could come back any time meant that we could specialise. I could ignore the animals I didn't like, concentrate on my favourites and not feel the need to traipse over the entire site and look at every single display. Yay.
Today I would be satisfied by giraffes and otters. The giraffe viewing platform is under repair and the otters were nowhere to be seen. Uncanny. In the end we saw quite a few animals, but it was insufficiently sunny for some (I'm looking at YOU lions, although you provided an impressive stench of lion pee).
We parked ourselves on a bench for a while to observe the red pandas, and spent a surprising amount of time with the koalas. We find koalas very entertaining, and get very excited when movement is detected.
We saw only a single chipmunk, but many willie wagtails. The two penguins had clocked off for the day. The greenery was very attractive and impressive, although dented from recent stormy weather.
You may notice a small furry animal theme here, except for the giraffes - I expect they belong in the horsie-shaped part of my brain. That said, zebras never really did it for me: zebras are lunch. Sorry guys.
Patricia the elephant made me sad. She just radiates unhappiness :-(
I conceded that a baby orangutan was indeed cute. A less cute adult appeared to be constructing a space shuttle from tyres, cardboard boxes and home appliances. Terrifying.
Although a sunny Sunday winter afternoon it was late enough to thin the crowds and we did not suffocate under the usual army of prams. I also didn't have to grudgingly sacrifice prime viewing points for small restless unappreciative people. Some sacrifices were made, but with more grace than usual: I can go back!
Being suckers for (CITES-approved) animal souvenirs we bought a surprisingly inexpensive and very cute red panda hand puppet at the gift shop (where we now get a 10% discount). I'm not going to pretend that it's for the purpose of child entertainment; we believe in simple fun.
I'm saving the nocturnal house for a rainy day, and I'll catch up with the rest over the course of the year. Except the hyenas, hunting dogs, and most of the large primates. I have my reasons.
My future holds more animal posts I'm sure. I may even do requests if anyone is particularly interested in my impressions of a particular beastie. I imagine I'll have to explain my Thing about primates too.
Lovely lovely Husband got home from the gig and suggested an outing. Discussions started with the zoo, which I regretfully rejected for spoon reasons having had such a busy morning. We toyed with a trip to the dog beach, or a drive up the freeway to the botanic golf gardens. In the end we went to the zoo for a short visit in the mid afternoon, and fulfilled an old plan to become Friends of the Zoo. For the price of three visits we get a year's worth of free entry plus sundry other minor benefits. We also have new photo ID.
I had never realised how stressful a trip to the zoo could be; at full price one feels compelled to see everything, and my old memories all seemed to be capped with sore feet. Freed by the concept that we could come back any time meant that we could specialise. I could ignore the animals I didn't like, concentrate on my favourites and not feel the need to traipse over the entire site and look at every single display. Yay.
Today I would be satisfied by giraffes and otters. The giraffe viewing platform is under repair and the otters were nowhere to be seen. Uncanny. In the end we saw quite a few animals, but it was insufficiently sunny for some (I'm looking at YOU lions, although you provided an impressive stench of lion pee).
We parked ourselves on a bench for a while to observe the red pandas, and spent a surprising amount of time with the koalas. We find koalas very entertaining, and get very excited when movement is detected.
We saw only a single chipmunk, but many willie wagtails. The two penguins had clocked off for the day. The greenery was very attractive and impressive, although dented from recent stormy weather.
You may notice a small furry animal theme here, except for the giraffes - I expect they belong in the horsie-shaped part of my brain. That said, zebras never really did it for me: zebras are lunch. Sorry guys.
Patricia the elephant made me sad. She just radiates unhappiness :-(
I conceded that a baby orangutan was indeed cute. A less cute adult appeared to be constructing a space shuttle from tyres, cardboard boxes and home appliances. Terrifying.
Although a sunny Sunday winter afternoon it was late enough to thin the crowds and we did not suffocate under the usual army of prams. I also didn't have to grudgingly sacrifice prime viewing points for small restless unappreciative people. Some sacrifices were made, but with more grace than usual: I can go back!
Being suckers for (CITES-approved) animal souvenirs we bought a surprisingly inexpensive and very cute red panda hand puppet at the gift shop (where we now get a 10% discount). I'm not going to pretend that it's for the purpose of child entertainment; we believe in simple fun.
I'm saving the nocturnal house for a rainy day, and I'll catch up with the rest over the course of the year. Except the hyenas, hunting dogs, and most of the large primates. I have my reasons.
My future holds more animal posts I'm sure. I may even do requests if anyone is particularly interested in my impressions of a particular beastie. I imagine I'll have to explain my Thing about primates too.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-07 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-07 10:35 pm (UTC)When you visit the birds section - see if the Green Amazon parrot is there - I once had a rather deep and meaningful conversation with that bird.
Oh, and check out the numbats. You'll have to be very quiet and patient but they do often show themselves.
Oh, and the chipmunks are Five-lined Palm Squirrels. I like the rumour that if you can catch one you can keep it.