A Maunderer's Wanders

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Zoo Day

This is a post with a lot of photos. Today, I didn't have school or work so I took my son and my camera and we went to the zoo. We spent a lot of time there, we saw a lot of things, and I think that we all had a good time. Here is a chronological selection of 50 of the photos that I took. I included photos that I really like and I am going to number them so that you can let me know in the comments which one(s) you really like of these. Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing along. Please, take your time and look through these. I think that you will enjoy them. Really, I wish that you could have been there with us, and I promise that I was thinking of you most of the time.
me

1- We always go past the big cats first.

2- For some reason, there is a Red Panda in the area with the big cats. Technically, it is in its own area, but it is still there with the cats. Maybe a better name for this would be to call it a Red Raccoon.

4- Snow Leopard. One of my favorite animals at the zoo.

5- As you may or may not know, I really like flowers. I love photographing them, I like having them around, I would like to live in the tropics to be around flowers all the time. Some flowers have a lot of personality - Venus Fly Traps, for example, or Tulips. Maybe all flowers have personality; I don't know. But I do know that Magnolias are one of those flowers that has a lot of personality. Everybody knows that they pop like over sized popcorn in the summer, but this is what they look like in the spring - sort of phallic (which may be why they burst later on). Anyway, this was the first real flower that I came across. I have a lot more flower photos below.

6- I like the nest.

7- The light in this photo is amazing. I took a few photos of this little guy and this one is just so much better than all the others. I don't know if it was the camera, my angle, or the fact that this little goat moved a little but whatever the reason, I really like the texture that shows up on the fur and the crispness on the horns.

8- It was some sort of K-2 school's day at the zoo, so Gabe had a lot of kids to play with.

9- Gabe, holding up traffic.

10- While he was playing, I was looking at the weeds nearby.

13- As you may be able to tell from the pictures, today's weather is somewhat improved over what it has been recently.

14- Not a zoo animal specifically, this little guy (it is actually about 5 or 6 inches in length) ran past us and up a wall. Gabe yelled to me to "Catch it, Daddy!" so I caught it on camera.

15- This way he could reach.

16- If I was a flower, I think that I would like to belong to the lily family - not to sound lily livered or anything, but sea grass and many other aquatic flowering plants are closely related to lilies. I think that onions and garlic are also related to the lily, but I could be wrong about that. Either way, I really like the flowers that onions and garlic produce.

23- In person, it looked even higher than this. It is my fault that I didn't include more of the structure that this post towers over. I am not afraid of heights, but this would make me sick. It was REALLY high. He just climbed up there, hand over hand, and took a seat.

24- "Why can't we all just get along."

26- Do you see the nest?

27- One of Gabe's favorite animals. We came back to this guy more than once.

29- (I think that this is one of MY favorites of this group).

30- I love this bark.

31- :)

33- I love the little flowers that weeds make.

34- Flowers at this stage almost makes me feel like a peeping tom. It is like they are still getting dressed or something.

35- It was raining petals.

36- I think it is magic that makes this kind of rain. Really.

37- What a great smile!

39- Him looking at me looking at him.

40- I love the not-zoo animals at the zoo.

41- A couple more magnolias.

42- These are actually outside of the zoo. There is a huge park adjacent to the zoo.

43- Gabe went one way around the pond, I went the other way.

44- Did you notice the turtles in this photo? I did not when I took the photo. They are in the one above this as well. I had no idea.

45- These turtles I did see, however.

46- Feeding the fish some "crickeries" that he found.

48- A "crickery" - I think it means "prickely" or "prickery".

49- Lots of tadpoles.

Thanks again.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Can you see it?

Does anybody else think that this looks like a dragon? I don't know, maybe I am the only one. And, no, this is not some part of a dragon obsession. I haven't had a dragon obsession since I was maybe 11 yrs old and at that age I think that it is actually a sign of healthy development - that or the fact that that was about the time that I read The Hobbit. For years after that I considered JRR Tolkien to be my favorite author and I read everything written by him that was available at the local library. Now, I don't know. I have read a lot more and I appreciate the differences that different authors offer. I just finished Don Quijote for the first time (I read the entire first volume in Spanish and most of the second volume I read in Spanish as well, but I have an English copy of it on my phone so I did read some of the chapters that way - and I can tell you, it loses a lot in translation). This week I also read La Numacia by Cervantes. I have huge appreciation for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was one of this planet's great artists. Anybody who has read Don Quijote and never read anything else by Cervantes is really missing out. It is unfortunate that so few Americans venture out beyond English and American literature. Among my favorite authors I would have to include Jorge Luis Borges really high on the list. I think that there is enough of his work that has been translated into English that I can recommend him to anyone who reads this blog. Miguel de Unamuno is another author that I like enough to recommend but I don't know if you can find a lot of his stuff in English - but, then again, I have never looked for his work in English. For many years now, I have been a big fan of Pär Lagerkvist. I first read Lagerkvist's book The Dwarf in a high school literature class. I recommend his book The Sibyl without hesitation and I think everyone should read his book Barabbas at least once. Curiously, the American author that I might enjoy the most right now is Stephen King. I love his stuff.
So, to conclude, can you see the dragon or do you just see storms?
And who do you really enjoy reading? And, what work of his or hers should I start with? I am done with school for a little over two months now - so come on, give me some homework.