Category: Passing time

a second look, family, fun, kids, life goes on, memories, moments, nature, Passing time, perseverance, photography

Growing up orangutan…

naturecoastimagesblog

Of course I took four times as many pictures of the orangutans yesterday as I did of all the other creatures at Zootampa. The problem was that RanDee wasn’t presenting her three month old baby boy to the camera as nicely as she did last time. As usual she was huddled with her mother DeeDee, who seemed to be grooming her daughter and watching over her grandson. Those orangutans don’t just appear to be a close knit group, they are family, three generations together. Their interactions are so much fun to watch, and I know it’s not just me because the rest of the onlookers were delighting in the young ones at play and as they noticed the newest addition. Little kids loved watching them play also, but then they were ready to go see the elephants, or the tiger…

I didn’t ‘see’ this photo until the third trip through my images.
I couldn’t resist cropping it in closer also.
I’m usually happy to get a shot of this littlest of the big kids, but yesterday she was photo bombing my shots.
She didn’t sit still for long though.
A sweet kiss from mommy.
I always wonder what they are thinking.
Meanwhile someone decided that dousing herself in sand was a great idea. I distinctly remember holding my son upside down and rubbing his head so that we’d leave at least some of the sand in the sandbox. It’s hard to believe I did that when I look at him now.
This looks to me like a mother passing knowledge to her daughter. How much communication do they have I wonder?
Not a care in the world.
Just hangin’ around, passing the time.
'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, changing times, ducks, following the rules, fun, Just do it, life goes on, Nature's beautiful creatures, Passing time, perseverance, photography

Spending time, not money…

naturecoastimagesblog

I narrowed my choices for the day into cleaning out the inside of the car, or go to the zoo. I told myself that going to the zoo was my ‘saintlier’ choice since I’d be taking advantage of my pay-for-a day and visit for a year pass. It’s only a deal if you use it.

This little one was all by himself on the little waterway between the monkey enclosures. I loved the ripple he made as he frantically swam upstream, and had just wondered where his mother was when a posse of ducklings came into view.
This looked like a scene from a movie to me.
Something big must have been going on since there were all these guys in tuxes standing around.
Meet and greet with the Galapagos tortoises.
A possible bad hair day.
If you walked down to the viewing area you can get a picture of a rhino’s eye. From up above you can see just how close you can be to them. Judging by size this is the ‘baby’ white rhino.
I love how well they have landscaped around the primate/monkey sections.
I guess it’s that time of year since the planting areas had lots of new plants set in place, waiting to be planted. It will be pretty.
You can wear your heart on your sleeve but this guy wears his on his nose.
This house sparrow hangs out with elephants.

Another day gotten through. There is no goal in mind exactly, just to get through this whole, strange, time we find ourselves in. I’ve been wondering if we’ll know when it’s over, or will it just fade into a new way of living…

a second look, coping, facing facts, growing old, live and learn, losing it, Passing time, perseverance, photography, reality check

Staying sharp…

naturecoastimagesblog

I don’t mean to imply that I do Sudoku to keep my mind sharp. When I titled this post I really meant keeping the pencil sharp, which is the hardest thing about doing Sudoku. Or was, for a little while. I came across this old, yellowed, Sudoku book in a bin not too long ago, so I picked it up and started doing the puzzles again. In order, turning the pages as I went. I went merrily along, after I realized that having my glasses on was a must, and a sharp point on my pencil, and an eraser that actually erased the pencil mark without leaving a dark smudge on the paper. My drawer full of old, sometimes unused, pencils and pens wasn’t cutting it. And then I spotted what looked to be a brand new pencil. Three of them actually. Nice and fat, with perfect points and erasers that appeared to be unused, I loved them. It took me a few days to realize that these pencils were titled ‘My First Ticonderoga’, meant for little kids, or senior citizens with fingers that don’t work as well as they once did.

All was well until I turned the page to the next puzzle and found that I had started the ‘hard’ section of puzzles. They weren’t kidding. So I looked up Sudoku strategies online and I think I may have to go back to caffeinated coffee if I’m going to make heads or tails of what they are saying. Even a sharp pencil won’t help me with these…