12:49 a.m. - 2003-07-02
Party Animal
Canada turned 136 years old today courtesy of the British North America Act. Mutual separation from the parent country with amicable ties remaining. So how do we celebrate? Low key mostly, fireworks and facepainting. Concerts on Parliament Hill and elsewhere. Citizenship ceremonies. Family time.
So what did I do? Number two son's birthday was last week - he turned 25. We decided we would get together today to celebrate. What did he want to do? Go to the zoo. 3 hours of walking in the hot sun. It was a lot of fun.
In honour of the day I dressed as a mom - white shorts, soft orange t-shirt with angel fish swimming across the front and sneakers, fit in nicely with all the other tourists. There were people walking around with Canadian flags and maple leafs (our flag's center) painted in all sorts of interesting places. A lot of "I Am Canadian" t-shirts just for good measure. Every other kind of outfit one could think of too from formal wear to a couple of buddhist monks in saffron robes.
I haven't been to the zoo in over a decade - one of the boy's field trips if I remember correctly. The teachers always used to give me all the difficult children to care for. I was in the classroom so much I could have been taken for a permanent resident. The little darlings couldn't pull any fast ones like they would have with the other moms. Besides they knew I wasn't beyond having a chat with their parent over tea the next day.
We walked through the North American animal exhibit first. It's the nicest area, I think. Outdoors; built into the side of a hill. Blinds built so one can view the animals without disturbing them. New feature was signs identifying the native plants growing all around, giving their medicinal properties as well. A strong scent of roses throughout; the wild rose is our official provincial flower. Buffalo in the paddock stirred up a scary memory for my daughter in law. She remembered her car being surrounded by them in one of our drive through animal parks. I remembered going to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump and seeing five buffalo outlined on the ridge above, even though there aren't supposed to be any around that region of the province. Funny how little incidents like that shape our perception of an animal - she finds them frightening, while I see them as bringers of messages.
Next up the rainforest and African Savannah houses. Timon (meerkat) and Pumba (warthog) in residence - Hakuna Matata - no worries. No scent of roses here - the movie (Lion King) was accurate. Had a Harry Potter moment too. I walked up to the display of a python in an enclosure very much like the one in the movie. The snake was buried deep in some grass and bushes - hard to spot. An elderly woman of Chinese extraction trying to find it. I gave her time, but then pointed to it for her. Didn't need to speak Cantonese to understand her, her reaction to it was universal. A stream of words spoken to me that clearly said she wouldn't like to meet the creature without the glass between them - too scary. My daughter in law ambled up wondering how I had managed to communicate with her. Some things just work that way.
Next on the Australia house, mate. Could hear the bats all through the "creatures of the night" exhibit. One fellow kept standing so that I had to bump into him no matter where I moved. If it hadn't been so dark I think I would have asked his wife to put a leash on him, but I couldn't see her to talk with her. Out in the daylight again hummingbirds zipping all over while we oohed and aahed at all the other exhibits.
In the conservatory - the butler did it. Well not really. A lot of weddings and formal functions are booked here and it is beautiful. Tropical rainforest, desert roses and everything in between. Even a butterfly room - songs and fantasy sequences filling my mind, never mind. Back out into the sun a male strutting his stuff - peacock that is. Stopped traffic in and out of the conservatory for a few minutes. Some parents trying to persuade their small daughters that peacock feathers were not happening as a souvenir.
On to the exhibits of asian wildlife. The walk is a scenic loop on the west end of the island with river on one side and the animals relaxing in their enclosures on the other. We had a bit of extended conversation with one of the Siberian Tigers on the way through. Lying in the shade she was, paws curled and pulled into her chest pretending to ignore us - except for her ears which kept turning in our direction as we talked to her, her tail forming letters in time to her thoughts.
Finally back across the swinging bridge and through the dinosaur park. Great plant life, but the Royal Tyrrell Museum in the Drumheller Badlands (desert and hoodoos) has the real thing - well the bones anyway. Ice cream and then home for a nap - those kids have no stamina these days.
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