Spent the last week in Fresno painting my sister’s laundry room a very pale Caribbean lagoon turquoise. Interesting thing about color; in a room the light bounces from wall to wall picking up and reflecting the color, thereby intensifying it. When we were done with the job and looked into the room from the kitchen, the whole room looked like an ice locker and I half expected to see clouds of icy fog come rolling out. A visual phenomenon which might be useful in Fresno in the summer. Save on air conditioning; just stand in front of your laundry room door and peer in and shiver.
And when we were done, we went to the Chaffey Zoo to feed a giraffe or two, who took the leaves so gently in their great long, long black tongues.
And then bent low to snorkel around to see if there was more shrubbery available.
Then it was off to peer into the huge aviary to spot the HUGE Andean condors with their 10 – 12 foot wingspans. The zoo has a mated pair and ever-hopeful keepers wishing for baby condors.
But the most spectacular exhibit was the newly installed Sea Lion Cove, a huge salt-water lagoon complete with underwater viewing station. There you could sit for hours watching the sea lions swooping, turning, hovering, or dozing in the flickering Caribbean blue pool the exact color of my sister’s laundry room.
One of the sea lions was nearly blind, but that didn’t interfere with her ability to swiftly navigate the pool flawlessly, coming without hesitation to within inches of the wall or glass barrier before effortlessly turning.
And we finished up the tour with a visit to the impatient Malay tiger waiting for his mate to arrive. The courtship will take some time and involve many nervous zoo personnel standing by and crossing their fingers since tiger matings can be lethal to the female since she deliberately seeks out the most aggressive, strong, healthy male she can find to mate with and the courtship battle often gets out of hand, alas. It’s behavior not unknown to some human couples, but one that is worrisome to the endangered tiger population that can’t afford to loose too many of its ladies.
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6 comments:
Wow! Great shots Ann! They kinda overshadowed the interesting paint color story, but that's OK, I can just go back and read that part again.
Maybe I need to paint the inside of my house red as it is cold most of the time in LO. That, or replace those 2 air-leaky doors. Had to stuff the bottom of the worst one with tin foil to keep the mice out. Speaks to only buying pre-hung doors which the previous owners failed to do...... Sometimes "square" is good!
I still have to see Joan's laundry room, but very cool pictures from the zoo. And now Joan is ON the Internet! LOL. And let me know next time you want to visit the zoo here. I can get you "backstage".
Terry
The San Diego zoo may be world class, but I've long thought that the Fresno zoo is a hidden gem - a diamond sitting in a field where you least expect to find it.
Terry: hahahah, yep, we finally got her "on" the internet.
Stan, Cheyenne: Actually, when Chaffee was director, he turned it into a world-class zoo for its size and brought huge innovations. An amazing guy. Fresno should rightly be proud of its zoo. The Sea Lion Lagoon is stunning. And they're working now to expand another huge "veldt" type area for the larger African critters to roam around in.
Toonces: You'd be amazing what color does for you psychologically. For example, they use a warm, rich medium-pale pink in prisons and mental wards, anywhere "agitation" and anger is running high; apparently acts as a calmative. Wouldn't reccomend bright red in that kind of situation. Which reminds me, have you seen "UP with Chris Hayes" on MSNBC on Sat & Sun 8 a.m EST? (The most civilized and informative round table discussions you've ever heard). Anyway, their set is done up in the most beautiful BLAST of yummy red ever. Livens up the place, that's for sure.
Funny, in our travels, we decided the first home improvement when we get home is going to be color inside the house. We have one wild orange-red bathroom and some yellow in the kitchen, but the rest of the house is a very blah-white. (A knee-jerk reaction to some truly vile paint colors and faux finish techniques when we bought the place, and I hope the former owners are not reading this. Sorry if you are, but Pepto-Bismol green is NOT my favorite shade.)
I have to say thanks for the reminder on paint color! It really can make a room or wreck it! have not even heard of the Chris Hayes show (probably because I would be last in line to be called a morning person), but will make a note in my calendar to look next weekend - there is a TV in the bedroom here where we are renting and my phone has an alarm clock!
Hey - if you want to see a good zoo, go to Guadalara. We ended up there by mistake several years ago. It was beautiful, and underused The animals had lots or room to roam. Zoos are inherently bad. But sometimes - it works!
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