The "kid" here is my friend's 5 year old daughter. We were in a subterranean viewing area to see the polar bears, and one large bear was swimming laps around the pool. She perched on the windowsill in rapt attention for about 15 minutes.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Watching for polar bears
What's more fun that going to the zoo as a kid? Going as an adult with kids along. Being able to experience everything through their eyes adds such a rich dimension to the day.
The "kid" here is my friend's 5 year old daughter. We were in a subterranean viewing area to see the polar bears, and one large bear was swimming laps around the pool. She perched on the windowsill in rapt attention for about 15 minutes.
The "kid" here is my friend's 5 year old daughter. We were in a subterranean viewing area to see the polar bears, and one large bear was swimming laps around the pool. She perched on the windowsill in rapt attention for about 15 minutes.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Giraffe tongue!
More from the zoo trip...
We headed over to the giraffe exhibit in time for the 2pm feeding. For $2, you can buy a handful of lettuce and go out onto a special balcony that overlooks the giraffe pen. All three know when it's close to a feeding time and come right up to the balcony to snatch treats out of your hand. I took this shot before the feeding started, but after the giraffes had already gravitated to the walkway. This one was trying to reach some new leaves on a palo verde tree (obviously stripped as far as a giraffe tongue can reach).
We headed over to the giraffe exhibit in time for the 2pm feeding. For $2, you can buy a handful of lettuce and go out onto a special balcony that overlooks the giraffe pen. All three know when it's close to a feeding time and come right up to the balcony to snatch treats out of your hand. I took this shot before the feeding started, but after the giraffes had already gravitated to the walkway. This one was trying to reach some new leaves on a palo verde tree (obviously stripped as far as a giraffe tongue can reach).
The world's largest pigeon
No, I'm not exaggerating :) Here's a resident of one of the Reid Park Zoo's aviarys:
The first thing that struck me about this bird was the fluffy mess of fine feathers on top of its head. It was preening and kept shaking its head so fast that the feathers would blur into a kind of corona. It's about the size of a small turkey and, while shy, came right out onto the pavement when the zookeeper came around with food bowls. It never occurred to me that this might be a pigeon until a friend identified it for me. Now I can't help but see the resemblance. I see hundreds of regular city pigeons around downtown every week - this is just a grossly exaggerated version. Fun to be able to get so close to such an exotic critter.
The first thing that struck me about this bird was the fluffy mess of fine feathers on top of its head. It was preening and kept shaking its head so fast that the feathers would blur into a kind of corona. It's about the size of a small turkey and, while shy, came right out onto the pavement when the zookeeper came around with food bowls. It never occurred to me that this might be a pigeon until a friend identified it for me. Now I can't help but see the resemblance. I see hundreds of regular city pigeons around downtown every week - this is just a grossly exaggerated version. Fun to be able to get so close to such an exotic critter.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A trip to the zoo
On Saturday, my friend and I took her daughter to the zoo. It was pretty hot in the sun, so we took a break by the koi pond to cool off for a bit. After a while, the koi got interested in the handful of food pellets we were tossing into the water, and we got a good look at the wide variety of fish in the pond. This one was my favorite - it had long, fluttery fins and looked downright ghostly as it rose through the water. Reminded me a lot of Cleo, the goldfish in Disney's Fantasia (the original 1942 edition).
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Desert in bloom
A couple of weeks ago, I was housesitting in a place on the far east side of town. While I was there, every cactus on the property burst into bloom, and the desert was a riot of bees and color. I'm not sure what kind of cactus this is, but I think it's related to the cereus. It's a fat, ground crawling variety that puts out enormous, colorful blooms. These flowers are as big across as a large human hand - wrist to the tip of your fingers. This particular cactus is in a shallow depression in the shade of a mesquite tree. It was a breezy day, so the petals were fluttering and the shadows were dancing across the face of the flower. Perfect conditions for taking a photo tour of the property!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
About that Rush show...
Deviating from my standard photo form factor for a moment here...
I snapped a series of shots with my little camera phone while at the Phoenix show. Due to the camera's, ahem, limitations, these are best viewed at a smaller size. They look great on a phone screen - not so hot on a computer :(
The concert was AMAZING. One of the best Rush shows I've ever seen, and a great, engaged, audience to boot. While I have a few quibbles with the setlist (can we break up the Snakes & Arrows block, PLEASE?), the setlist hit most of my favorites, and even the tedious bits passed quickly. This year's tour featured a set of rotisserie chicken cookers on Geddy's side, and a gaggle of Barbie doll "fans" on Alex's side. Geddy also had a little scale model of Neil at his kit - you could even spin the drumstick in his upraised hand.
We had a great view from section 203. I think this is the first time I've ever had an unobstructed view of the entire stage. The folks in the rows ahead of us sat for about half the show (yay, unobstructed view!), but even when they were standing, I could still see everything I wanted to. What a lovely change from the standard "sir, could you please move your big, fat, head?".
I'm sad I'm going to miss the Red Rocks show this year, but the Cricket Pavilion show was wonderful enough to give me my fix of live Rush for another year or so. Here's hoping the wait between tours won't be too long!
I snapped a series of shots with my little camera phone while at the Phoenix show. Due to the camera's, ahem, limitations, these are best viewed at a smaller size. They look great on a phone screen - not so hot on a computer :(
The concert was AMAZING. One of the best Rush shows I've ever seen, and a great, engaged, audience to boot. While I have a few quibbles with the setlist (can we break up the Snakes & Arrows block, PLEASE?), the setlist hit most of my favorites, and even the tedious bits passed quickly. This year's tour featured a set of rotisserie chicken cookers on Geddy's side, and a gaggle of Barbie doll "fans" on Alex's side. Geddy also had a little scale model of Neil at his kit - you could even spin the drumstick in his upraised hand.
We had a great view from section 203. I think this is the first time I've ever had an unobstructed view of the entire stage. The folks in the rows ahead of us sat for about half the show (yay, unobstructed view!), but even when they were standing, I could still see everything I wanted to. What a lovely change from the standard "sir, could you please move your big, fat, head?".
I'm sad I'm going to miss the Red Rocks show this year, but the Cricket Pavilion show was wonderful enough to give me my fix of live Rush for another year or so. Here's hoping the wait between tours won't be too long!
Rush tour!
Meant to post this last week, but things got hectic, and it slipped. In 2004, I met up with a bunch of folks from the rushtour.com message boards to catch Rush's two-night stay at Radio City Music Hall. On the day of the show, we met up in front of the theater, chatted up fellow fans, and took an insane amount of pictures. This is one of the early shots, while group members were still trickling in. Having just come back from seeing Rush, again, in Phoenix, this photo brings back extra special memories. I hope the old gang catches a bunch of shows on the current tour!
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