“Somethin’ tells me it’s all happening at the zoo
I do believe it
I do believe it’s true”
(Paul Simon, At the Zoo)
The elephants wanted to play hide and seek. But they aren’t very good at it.
So you have to pretend you are playing with them. It’s just for fun anyway and the elephants don’t even notice you are pretending to play.
It calls to mind a poem that I was supposed to memorize when I was in elementary school: Eletelephony by Laura Elizabeth Richards.
One little girl (no doubt being a papagayo herself and imitating the question she is asked constantly) in her playground voice kept asking the elephant: “Are you having fun in there?”
Actually, my trip to the Cincinnati Zoo was just therapeutic for me. Trying to regain any stamina and desire to do something. Since the lung cancer surgery and chemo, energy levels have been low and I have a hard time making myself to get out and do anything. So once again the camera helps with the motivation a little, to go on a photo safari at the zoo.
Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant?
We may in fact experience reality, and know it truly, but it just might not be the entire picture. Wisdom. We can know the truth, but it may be about only a small part of reality and the much bigger picture is beyond what we can see or know.
The crab apples and many other trees are starting to blossom. In so many ways, fireworks remind me of tree blossoms – a temporary beauty which explodes upon the scene, giving color to the sky. Nature does it so much more quietly than humans, and with a much nicer fragrance!
Looking back through the years, I can see from my Flickr webpage how much more frequently I used to take my camera out and go for a walk somewhere.
Cancer and chemo have taken their toll on me, but life goes on as the unfolding tulips reveal. The colors are all the show to my eye, but those colors aren’t the main business of the tulips – the species is more interested in its survival but like so many flowers they do it in such a spectacularly beautiful way.
The big cats remain a favorite animal of mine. I did get to see the cheetah on a chase. The Cincinnati Zoo’s new cheetah run and Africa exhibit are worth seeing.
The above photo for some reason to me seemed like a picture post card. Just needs to have AFRICA emblazoned across the photo.
The big cats are just beautiful and carry themselves so majestically – at least when they bother to get up. Cat nature seems to involve a lot of sleeping.
I didn’t go look at the insect exhibit, but this tulip’s anthers reminded me of a spider. Beauty, I guess, is in the eye of the beholder.
You can see all the photos I took on the photo safari at My Zoo Safari.
The Lowland Gorilla is relatively speaking a close genetic match to humans, though the differences are pronounced. The structure of the Gorilla’s hands and arms are still such that they can function like a foot and leg.
The wide-eyed Lemur makes it appear to be very alert. Another distant relative of humans in the genetic tree of life.
The Montane had a showman’s personality and seemed to like the attention of the camera. Many of the Lorikeets seem to have facial expressions, or at least it is easy to anthropomorphize and project onto them personalities.
These three Golden Conures seemed to be up to something by their expressions.
The Parrots colors and markings were so eye catching. God made a beautiful creation which we can simply enjoy if we take the time and aren’t totally consumed by utilitarian thinking.
The bee on the Rattlesnake Master flower was itself being buzzed by a tinier bee or wasp. I have often noticed that each flower is often a microcosmic ecosystem with its unique inter-dependency between flora and fauna. You often see specific insects only on specific plants. They survive and thrive only with each other.
The Pica Bella Coneflower’s petals are delicate rays of a purple sunburst. “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You made them all.” (Psalm 104:24)
Fraternized 