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"where there's a wall
there's a way
around, over, or through
there's a gate
maybe a ladder
a door
a sentinel who
sometimes sleeps
there are secret passwords
you can overhear"

from Where There's a Wall

by Joy Kogawa

No cabin but some critters at the Calgary Zoo.

"This land like a mirror turns you inward

And you become a forest in a furtive lake; 

The dark pines of your mind reach downward,

You dream in the green of your time,

Your memory is a row of sinking pines."

from Dark Pines under Water

by Gwendolyn MacEwen

On our trip thru the Canadian Wild we thought the wolves were pacing the confines of their cage, but it turned out they were stalking each other in a game of fur and shadows.

 

 

And now for something completely different.

The last post from our trip to the Calgary Zoo.

This trip we found ourselves knee deep in Peacocks

I never did figure out how many they had, they

seemed to be everywhere.

So a post in memory of Argus faithful servant of

Hera tasked with watching Io daughter of Inachus

( changed by Zeus into a heifer to fool his wife )

After Argus is slain by Hermes Hera places his

one hundred eyes into the tail of a peacock.

What I really tried to capture was the

variety of the feathers and the sheer size

and weight, a lot to carry.

And the object of everyone's affection.

"And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

The colors of their tails
Were like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind,
In the twilight wind.
They swept over the room,
Just as they flew from the boughs of the hemlocks
Down to the ground.
I heard them cry -- the peacocks."

from

Domination Of Black

              Wallace Stevens

“The real and proper question is: why is it beautiful?”  

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Annie Dillard
 

The Calgary Zoo announced a few months ago that they

are looking for a new home for their small group of

Asian Elephants. It is felt they would be better off as

part of a larger social group and hopefully they would

have a larger area that a couple of small dusty paddocks.

We noticed when we went to the DC zoo the elephants

had a huge area by comparison with lots of room to roam.

The search is expected to take several years to find an

accredited facility to take them. Even knowing that it

will take years I felt I was saying goodbye. And while

it is better for them, a bit of wonder will be lost from our lives
when we can no longer see them in the flesh.

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”

                  

from                  

                  Evidence

                       Mary Oliver

Another Calgary Zoo Post

I studied Anthropology at University. My main interest

was Archaeology but a number of the areas interested me

including physical anthropology (focusing on bones), early man,

and Primatology. Strange the study of still living people was not

big on my list. I settled on Archaeology and worked in the field

for close to ten years it was during this time I meet my wife. I also

developed a real interest nature and isolated areas since field work 

often takes place in fairly rural areas.  Finally we both decided

to do something else and a friend suggested we consider becoming

Librarians (thanks Tim ).

But I still maintain my interest in the subject and for me the

fate of the great apes is one of the most potent symbols of man's

inability to nurture and share our world.

"When you realize the value of all life,

you dwell less on what is past and

concentrate more on the preservation

of the future."

                   Dian Fossey

"Only if we understand can we care.

Only if we care will we help.

Only if we help shall they be saved"

                                         Jane Goodall

Saturday we went to the Calgary Zoo so I could take some

photos. I will be posting various shots for the next week or

so.

“I come down to the water to cool my eyes.

But everywhere I look I see fire; that which isn't

flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.” 

                          from

                         Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

                                     Annie Dillard

Midge, an old friend of yours.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare seize the fire?

                          from

                                  The Tyger

                                        William Blake