Rainy Day Zoo Trip and Slow Irish Jam

 

This morning when we went to the Mass in the gym, we saw Cecil Markovitch's car parked across the street, so we found him and sat by him. Afterwards the three of us went out to brunch, so that was a fun surprise. It was a cool, rainy day, and we debated about what to do after bidding Cecil adieu, so Travalon suggested going to the zoo. He reasoned that it wouldn't be so crowded, and that we could duck into one of the houses if it got too rainy out. His reasoning seemed sound to me, so off we went.

The first thing Travalon wanted to do was go to the Children's Zoo and see the new red panda. They were inside, but they were asleep on branches, where we could see them. I'm not sure if this is the old one or the new one.

Travalon also took some photos with his phone, but he hasn't sent those to me yet, so maybe I will post them tomorrow. We also saw this little hornbill.

We also saw some flamingos.

The smaller, paler pink ones are Chilean flamingos, and the larger, darker ones are American flamingos. While in the Children's Zoo, we noticed the carousel was open but nobody was riding it, and the operators looked bored. Usually it's packed with children. We paid $3 each to ride, and Travalon rode what looked like a Florida panther while I rode the leopard next to him. Most of the way through the ride, I saw there was a cassowary on the other side of the carousel. Oh well, next time. We had a private ride, and the two operators looked gratified that someone had ridden the carousel.

We went through the whole zoo, and here are some more photos. First, the grizzly bears.

Then we went into the aviary, and the curassow was posing for us.

We saw other birds there too.

We saw the Bactrian camel and, right across from it, its cousins the alpacas.

The rhino was out too.

This is a porcupine hiding in a log.

In the primate house, we watched the ruffed lemurs.

There was also this funny little creature, the hyrax.

It may look like some sort of rodent, but its closest relatives are the elephant and the manatee. What??

Speaking of animals, I forgot to mention that as we were driving through the bluffs yesterday, we saw a bald eagle with a creature in its talons being chased by some crows. It happened too fast for Travalon to get a photo. I assumed at first that the eagle had a squirrel or rabbit, but maybe the crows were chasing it because it had a baby crow?

We also went to the Arboretum, because crabapples are blooming all over even though it's so early. Barely anyone was there, as I'd hoped, but by then it was pouring out so I only ventured out to sniff one lilac.

On the way home we stopped by the Willy Street Treasure Shop, now in the old Jamerica space, and I got a "Niko" bowl and some earrings. Photos soon.

Today being the fourth Sunday, there was an Irish slow jam. I thought most of my bandmates were going to show up (except Hardingfele, who had that gig in Spring Green), but only the guitarist came besides me. In fact, there were less musicians than usual, although still a good crowd with banjos, mandolins, guitars, concertinas, flutes, and of course fiddles. My Irish teacher came and said she had always wanted to learn the concertina, so I introduced her to the player who had been sitting next to me. I know nothing about playing these small button accordions, so I'd be useless to ask. I'm still playing the mandolin, still not feeling confident enough to bring the violin, but there is a pattern to these Irish tunes, especially the figures at the end of each section (they generally go AABB), so that my fingers seem to know where to go on some parts when I don't even know the tune. I've always preferred music that has patterns like that. I think that's why I can't stand Ornette Coleman, for example. Where is his music going? Who knows? I can't guess.

Famous Hat