Theo and I were not the only ones visiting the Museum of Natural History last week--Christmas vacation--what was I thinking! The place was mobbed! The Museum sent me an email thanking us for our visit and asking how they could make our next visit more pleasant. Well, how about making everyone else to stay home? That's not really in the Christmas spirit so we did our best to get along.
We met at our favorite bench with an old friend and took the A Train to 42nd and changed to the C. The subway platform at 81st Street was so crowded we couldn't stop to see the mosaics so we'll go another day when that's our only plan--viewing the subway art.
You don't get a sense of the teeming throngs in this shot but for a brief moment I had a clear view of the elephants.
I always thought the Rhino was a loner but this looks like a happy family. Nice horns.
Doesn't this look like I'm standing on the plains? Don't you want to start singing Home on the Range? I love the bird sitting on the big guy's back.
Seeing the well-preserved dead bodies of these gorgeous creatures always stirs my ambivalence; I'm grateful for the chance to view them close up and standing still but I cringe at the thought of shooting them, especially the babies. I've written about this in the past and you can read it here;
Theo and I had some interesting conversations. Did you realize that every single odd number has the letter E in its name? Count to ten and see for yourself.
We left the Museum and I bought him a giant pretzel at a hot dog stand and he shared it very nicely, then we went home and had pizza with Arthur, Jessie and Molly. It was a very New York kind of a day.
I almost forgot! The absolute high-light of our day was the movie, showing on a giant screen, "Blue Whales, Return of the Giants." Whales were on the brink of extinction but now, just as in New York Harbor, they're making a comeback, returning to the Seychelle Islands and the Gulf of California where lately five babies have been spotted. We learned how the whales are re-invigorating the waters by diving to the very bottom of the ocean to eat krill then coming to the surface and re-cycling it in the form of poop which then fertilizes the water and grows stuff for all the other sea creatures. Isn't that amazing? And isn't that good news? We're big fans of the whales.
Remember this masterpiece by Gary Larson?
Moving on, I ran across a poem by Grace Paley that reminded me of something my brother Larry told me years ago. He said, "So, I'm walking down the street and I see this woman with her kid and she's speaking Chinese and I think to myself, 'How's the poor kid supposed to understand her?'" I want to make it clear that he told this on himself, with a Homer Simpson Doh.
Here's the poem;
Children walking with their grandmothers
Talk foreign languages
That is the nature of this city
And also this country
Talk is cheap but comes in variety
And witnessing dialect
There is a rule for all
And in each sentence a perfect grammar
Grace Paley
This was my corner at 8 am January 1, 2024.
Happy New Year!
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