Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Flora, Fauna and People

This photo commemorates our trip to Victoria, specifically Sidney's Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. This is an octopus and marks the first time I have ever seen this creature at all, let alone up close and personal.

The octopus filled the tube over our walkway at times or maneuvred its way from tank to beautiful tank, all for our amazement. Ron, Beth, Chelsea and I loved it. Below are more colourful examples of the aquarium's sea life.

And you have to realize that the colours are not plastic reproductions floating among the fish, but real sea creatures themselves. I could have sat there on a chair and watched all day. So calming.

In Arizona I accompanied Beth's family to the zoo one fine morning. The sea turtles were busy lumbering from place to place in their enclosure. I liked how close all of the animals were in this Phoenix zoo.

These lovebirds showed their tails for us, a jubilant splash of colour among the green leaves.

It seemed to be a day of butt pictures. Chelsea liked these camels and I did, too, although none of us were inclined to climb on. They were very smelly, a state I've been told is their natural one.

These sea otters caught my attention as they dashed in and out of the hollow logs in their enclosure. I love the soft green water accenting their wet, dark fur.

A highlight of our trip was feeding the giraffes, with the help of a knowledgeable volunteer. What a great thing for seniors to do. We all fed the hungry fellow, except Chelsea, who was more content to watch closely.

These are some kind of cows or cow relatives but I liked the red plant in the foreground. Thought it added some kick to the pic.

Javelinas! Up close and wide awake for us. Reminded me of my encounter with them on one of our walks in Tucson when visiting Aunt Nancy. These were less scary as they were penned up.

Arizona sunsets are spectacular and we saw quite a few during our three weeks there. This overlooks our timeshare from our balcony.

You'll probably notice there was no picture of shopping, which fact tells you we much prefer nature although some of the shopping areas are pretty beautiful. The best scenario is lots of nature to enjoy with my best people.

4 comments:

Sharon Bernas said...

How beautiful, Elaine. I'm with you in loving nature. I hate shopping. Your under the sea photo's reminded me of one of the most profound experiences I've ever had--snorkling at a coral reef in the Bahamas, not much beats the beauty and serenity of that.

Elaine Cougler Author said...

Hi Sharon
Thanks for visiting my blog, and thanks for your comments. I, too, had a memorable snorkle session in blue waters with multi-coloured fish. So calming.

Sue G said...

Lovely pics.
Now I am not much of a zoologist, but I'm pretty confident those camels you and the volunteer are feeding are actually giraffes!

Elaine Cougler Author said...

Hi Sue
Thanks for the update on my lack of animal knowledge. Actually I had a brain bleep and have now fixed the error.
Also thanks for reading my blog so faithfully, sis!