a laurie life: June 2012

"Lightning Crashes"

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
her placenta falls to the floor
the angel opens her eyes
the confusion sets in
before the doctor can even close the door

lightning crashes, an old mother dies
her intentions fall to the floor
the angel closes her eyes
the confusion that was hers
belongs now, to the baby down the hall

oh now feel it comin' back again
like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
this moment she's been waiting for
the angel opens her eyes
pale blue colored iris,
presents the circle
and puts the glory out to hide, hide.

To Laurie and Steve, a beautiful great-niece, Layla Grace. Born 20/6/2012 at 0547 hours. Weight 4kgs (8 lbs 8 ozs).

Congratulations and love to Matt and Emma.

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It has taken me 12 days to write about the zoo. I knew exactly why but it might be a bit hard to express.

From the time we left the motel on Friday, until we returned that night, it was one big, long, exciting adventure. Now this may be just me. I've always become very excited about certain events and have possibly made them appear more exciting than they are. (I encourage you to heartily dispute this!) We own what we feel and we can all feel very differently about the same event.

The first thing I discovered was that Sydneysiders were extremely helpful. Because there was no car parking at the station, Steve drove me down and dropped me off, returning the car to the motel and walking back to meet me. I found a machine that provided tickets but not knowing the train line, I was having trouble. Three people saw me staring at it and asked if they could help. I could say, cynically, that they wanted me to hurry up and get off the machine, so that they could use it but that wasn't the case. There were other machines and many people didn't buy their ticket on the day.

After I had begun to feel nervous, a very flustered Steve arrived. He had got lost when he was driving back to the motel! We calmed each other down and made our way to the correct platform. Steve found painted lines and writing on the ground; these indicated that when the train stopped at that point, we would be able to walk straight on, with no steps, and wheel the walker in too. Brilliant!!

We got off at Circular Quay Station and had a croissant breakfast whilst waiting for the ferry. I was very taken with the method of slipping our ticket into a slot, which opened the gates. We were both thrilled with our $2.50 all day Pensioner ticket that took us on trains, buses and ferries. WOW!

The ferry went through the choppy water on a dull, misty day. We took a photo of the Opera House on the way over and again on the way back, when the sun had come out. Two very different photos!

The ferry landed right at the Zoo, where a bus was waiting to meet us. The bus driver was very helpful with information. I said that I wanted to ride on the cable car and he suggested to take a ride down and back. As the Zoo is built on a large hillside, the idea is to start at the top and work your way downwards, to meet the ferry.

On the trip down, I was marvelling at the shape of the city, the beauty of the harbour and the thick green of the trees around us. It wasn't until we were coming up again that I noticed the animals!

And this is where I became stuck in talking about them! I was overwhelmed with the beauty, power, majesty, colour, vibrancy, behaviour, quirkiness, smell, and what I imagined they felt towards me. I had it in my head that if I tried to write about the day, I would somehow diminish the animals. I had a sort of guilt that they were inside the enclosures and I was outside, being a sticky beak. I had to remind myself that we were ensuring the continuation of their species by protecting them and through strong breeding programs.

Nevertheless, I'm writing, with apologies to the animals and apologies to all the people who asked about the Zoo trip.

Although we were there for over 6 hours, we didn't see everything. I knew that we wouldn't, so we picked out what we liked best. I particularly love the Apes and the Elephants, Lions and Tigers, and although they are very different, the sweet little Meerkats.

The lions and tigers had a glass wall in front of them and I couldn't get any photos. They slept a great deal, huddled together on a high wooden platform. I was distressed to see a bedraggled snow leopard pacing, pacing, pacing on a well worn path. A keeper said that it was in season and needed a mate. Judging by the path, it must have been in heat for 6 continuous months!!!

There is little majesty from sleeping lions and tigers, so I felt that the giraffes took over this role. I normally don't have a huge love of giraffes. They seem like the ballerinas of the animal world, the temperamental, shivering divas, whose fragile legs could break mine with one light kick!!! I think they lack confidence because they are embarrassed about their height. I would have liked to see a rhino or hippo. Never mind, I can watch The Zoo 5 nights a week on Gem.

The elephants were brought out and given some jobs and tricks. Half of me felt upset by this and the other half was glad that they had a role. They seemed genuinely pleased to carry logs around. During their demonstration, they lifted one foot in the air when they had finished an item and we were instructed to applaud. When the show was over, the small elephants were put away and only the older elephants were left to wander around. People drifted away but Steve and I remained watching them. After a while, they began to pick up wood and do a few tricks, on their own, without a keeper in sight. We laughed and clapped and they lifted up one foot....the reverse of their previous demo! Those elephants taught us to clap!!!

The day was over and I was filled to overflowing with happiness. Well, I thought it was over. We arrived at Central Station, (by getting lost again) and wondered why so many people were gathered at Custom House, eating and drinking outside. It quickly grew dark and Custom House was lit up ---- there were flowers of all colours, streets of little cars, comic strips about a man going to work, all sorts of imaginative things. Eventually we found that this was all put on by