lunchtime

My sister is in town and I took her to the zoo so she could try out a new camera that she had bought for one of her daughters. It was a beautiful sunny winter day.

On our way out, we stopped at the sea-lion pen just as feeding time was about to begin. The sea-lions were frolicking in the water, as if their internal clocks sensed the event that was about to begin. As the woman who was going to feed them unlocked the gate, the sea-lions all went and assumed their fish-eating positions. I noticed that one of the sea-lions had taken position away from the others, on a rock, eyes closed, head swaying left and right--looking as if she was doing her best Stevie Wonder impression. What the heck? It was mealtime and why wasn't she bobbing up and down in the water with the rest of the sea-lions? I pointed out my observation to my sister and questioned whether the sea-lion was blind.

It was entertaining watching the keeper toss each sea-lion fish, making sure each one got a portion of the meal. The sea-lions would catch the fish, flip it in their mouths, and then swallow it. Even the one on the rock would do this, eyes closed and all. Occasionally, a fish would slip beyond her reach and fall to the bottom of the pool.

After the feeding, the keeper asked if there were any questions. My sister asked if the sea-lion was blind. Indeed she is blind, and has been for two years. Nothing traumatic or exciting to cause the blindness. Just age-related, something the twenty year old sea-lion was experiencing.

Here is a sequence of pics showing the blind sea-lion catching, and eating her meal. I swear, in the last pic, it looks as if she is smiling at the camera. Could life not be greater?

Here comes the fish! You can see it flying in on the left side of the pic.

Searching under the water for it...

...finally grabbing it under water...

...the above water flip...

...a perfect catch, and down the hatch!!!

SMILE ☺

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."

~Frederick Koenig

Elvis

This is Elvis, a Bactrian camel. He lives at the zoo. I took this picture on an incredibly freezing day when there were were only a handful of visitors I encountered on my walk. Actually, I bypassed this exhibit because there was some strange perv-looking guy leaning on the fence watching me as I passed by. When the man left, out of my peripheral vision, I could see the camel watching me as if to say, "Hey, quit looking at those stupid zebras. Come over and take my picture." So I did.

"Do not free the camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel." ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

To which his response was to perform this odd pose captured in the photo below...I hope it wasn't some nasty mating pose or something!

This entry is in memory of my mother who died six months ago. In her pre-cancer days, her walking group would meet and walk around the zoo. I remember her telling me the story about when she learned of Elvis' name. Almost like a child recounting a school field trip to the zoo. After that day, she would go say hi to him whenever she was at the zoo. In fact, she would ask me if I saw Elvis whenever I would tell her that I went to the zoo...and since nobody else was around when I took this picture, I did say hi to him.