“Who made these?” Hawkeye asked me today on the way home. “I think those are dog prints, honey.” I replied. “A dog made them.” “Nooooooo.” he retorted emphatically. “Not a dog!” “No? Then who? Was it a really big cat?” “No…” he said and paused for full conspiratorial effect. “It was a BEAR!” “A bear?…
We were at the zoo again yesterday. You might be thinking, oh my god, really? Yes, really. It’s the best place to kill a couple of hours if you’re in that part of town and you have an annual membership and a toddler with a constant need of diversion. It’s, frankly, better than television. You’ll…
One last snippet from the weekend zoo trip. We paid our customary trip to the gift shop to see what small animal we could add to Hawkeye’s collection. Normally I don’t bring him with me to avoid the begging and the inevitable tears and tantrums. He’s too young yet to understand why he can’t have…
Here is the slightly belated second half of our weekend Dublin Zoo adventure. Leaving behind the fossils and the cold-blooded creatures, we followed the path to the Kaziranga Forest Trail, which replicates the Asian rainforest habitat to house the zoo’s family of Asian elephants. The zoo has been running a very successful breeding programme, with…
The day dawned bright and sunny and presented a perfect opportunity to return to Dublin Zoo. Since the last time we were there, the Reptile House has been closed and the animals from there relocated to the newly opened Zoorassic World which, in addition to beautiful, new, and much brighter habitats for the living reptiles,…
Sometimes when you’re mind-numbingly exhausted, all you need to unwind are a fleece blanket, a cup of tea, and a purring puddle of fur.
Despite a rushed start to the morning, we were at Doolin Pier nice and early to catch our boat, The Doolin Express, to the Aran Islands. This boat did not have the most… interesting name of the lot. That dubious honour went to a boat named MV Happy Hooker. “That’s better than having an unhappy…
It’s amazing the difference that sunshine can make to a place. Monday was a bit of a mixed bag but yesterday was gloriously sunny, despite a few patches of rain. Instead of windswept desolation there was an endless expanse of deep blue sky and verdant green farmland. Instead of a dark echo of the past,…
This is the teeniest, tiniest, wee ickle snail I have ever seen. And it’s prompted all sorts of questions I’ve never asked before. Do the snails’ shells grow with them? (Yes, apparently) How are snails born? (From eggs, I think?) Are they born with a shell? Does it grow in later? (No idea) I showed…
^^ Two very important lessons there, kids. 1) Don’t make the animals sick. 2) The zoo has priorities and you are not it. Thanks once again to the Google Awesome algorithm for assembling the video clip without any effort on my part. Yes, those are mud-bathing ostriches in the second video. What’s a scorcher in…
“Amnials” is how Hawkeye says “animals” at the moment. Frankly, I find it adorable. I always have to bite my tongue not to laugh and I have to sternly remind myself to say it correctly in response, and not indulge my own whimsy at his toddlerisms. This past weekend we went to Dublin Zoo again.…
The Feathered Rose 