I hit the ground running this morning, after a half night’s sleep in my job as Monday overnight staff at a homeless shelter, racing to open the doors at Studio 858 for a personal photo lesson. Peggy, a retired opera singer was my pupil, and understanding Adobe Lightroom was the lesson. We had a great time talking about music, in-between saying poetic things in French and swearing in German. And we managed to fit Lightroom in between, to the great satisfaction of all. Then it was work on the entries to the Best of 2018 Photo Contest, go to REI to get some better socks for tomorrow’s outing (I would like to keep my toes attached through the weekend, at least), grocery store for Gatorade and chicken noodle soup (I’ve got a bunch of sickies on my hands) before weaving through early rush hour traffic to get to the Zoo. The animals were NOT waiting for me and neither were any store employees.
The exhibits in the rivers edge showed very clearly what Africa will look like when Climate Change moves the polar ice caps to the equator and Antarctica becomes the new Riviera. There was marked absence of the critters one normally finds there (elephants and hippos among other things), but there was ice everywhere. Maybe that’s why winter coats sell so well in Nairobi. Pretty soon they could be having temperatures in the teens and a light dusting of snow.
The hippo exhibit did have a lot of fish in it, and the waters were warm enough to have steam rising into the chill Saint Louis air. But though the fish in that tank looked like a typical summer crowd at the zoo (they were all overweight and wearing shorts and sunglasses) it was the only place there today that was packed. Elsewhere, I was by myself, and though I don’t mind hanging with me, I kinda like the company of other humans, even if they are total strangers. So I went to see some of my distant cousins in the Primate House, but did not find them very welcoming. The Toucan and Hornbill in the Bird House were a lot more receptive, but it was the pinnipeds who really rolled out the welcome mat. They jumped and frolicked, splashed and pirouetted, dived and dashed in their joy to have a visitor.
Thanks, fellas, I needed that!
Robby was giving me puppydog eyes.