nostalgicB A C C H U S
The Greek god of why don't
you read a fucking book
Tonight I head back home, eastward. I have had a great time but am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed once again. That will not be until tomorrow, however, as my flight leaves just before midnight and lands, five hours later... or is it eight hours later?
...but for now...
In order to avoid causing your browser great pain, Mark and I created thumbnails of the pictures I took for the following entry which link to the image proper. You can click on any of the outlined thumbnails for the full-size picture...
S W A S H B U C K L E R
on the West Coast
Part VII
THE CACTUS
A N D
THE OCEAN
Flora
On Saturday we went to the Huntington botanical gardens, which was gorgeous. One of the museums there had an exhibit on Eastman Johnson's sugaring-off paintings, an interesting area of the artist's work. Johnson illustrated both the process of making maple sugar and the social relevance it had to New England, although his paintings were of methods that were quaint and somewhat outdated at the time. There was also a political statement being made as well: maple sugar was created by a community of free peoples, while cane sugar was made by slaves.
In the Gardens
The Japanese Garden
Karesansui
Dry Landscape Garden
The patterns raked out in the rock represent water and islands. The picture on the left shows the rock, the picture on the right shows the plants. The effect is quite serene. This style evolved in Zen Buddhist compounds during the Muromachi Period (14th - 16th Centuries) adjecent to the hojo.
Bamboo Forests
Desert Garden
These plants look so angry! Especially the Aloe!!!
These are Lithops -
- "Living Stones"The next day, we went with
amorpoeta and Mack to...
Sharks
A skate from one of the shark-petting tanks.
Lorikeet Erotica
These colorful birds can be quite friendly, landing on people from time to time.
aerolyndt has some pictures of them sitting upon Mack. These two took an interest in my sandles.
Then they started what appeared to be scrapping. I found out when I asked the zoo keeper about them that it was mating season, and that this was a courtship process. Yup, these two little birds are snogging!!!
Geraldine
This octopus is very intelligent, and enjoys playing with rings, different textures and dog toys. She surprised us with a rather exhibitionist show of herself, spreading along the glass tank wall and climbing around. Some octopi, such as Geraldine can adjust their skin depending upon the surface that they are clinging to.
Sea Horses
Clownfish
(Yes, like Nemo)
Sea Dragons
Once again, thanks all around to everybody involved on these journeys, with special thanks to Raz for letting me borrow the camera, and very special thanks to Mark for working with me on getting the pictures presentable.
