Heaven's A Little Closer In A House By The Sea

Wheeling seagulls!




Sun glinting off crashing waves at sunrise!

Kai swirling above the breaking waves in the afternoon wind!




Barking sea lions!

Golden hued Jacob's ladders streaming through the clouds at sunset!


Ships' lights on a dark night!


 Home!

The Dancing School of Silvery Fish

I was mesmerized!  I have always loved aquariums and had just spent a perfectly lovely day walking through what was then the very new, very smart, very over-the-top Manly Aquarium in Sydney, Australia.  The developers of what was described as "an underwater viewing stage" had created a stunning jaw-dropping aquarium.

One of its headlining features is the underwater tunnel through which aquarium patrons glide along on a moving walkway while sharks and all manner of other fish glide overhead allowing fish and human up-close-and-personal encounters.  This was the first underwater viewing tunnel I had experienced--and indeed was only the second in the world to exist! It was nearly too amazing to imagine!   New Zealanders Kelly Tarlton and Ian Mellsop, had built the first for their native country in Auckland just two years earlier.  (Today I read that the company Tarlton and Mellsop began, Marinescape NZ Ltd. is a leader in aquarium design.)

Yes, the walk-through tunnel aquarium was astounding, but the most marvelous, most memorable aquarium display I have ever seen in any aquarium anywhere in the world, was an astoundingly large tank several stories high and many feet wide.  Comfortable benches placed in a semi-darkened room facing the wall of shimmering crystal clear water beckoned to this tried aquarium visitor.

I sat down hoping for a quiet respite from the eager crowds being moved through the "shark tunnel".  Upon relaxing, I became aware of Vivaldi's Spring Concerto floating through the pale blue room. Ah, music to soothe the soul, and a bench on which to rest.  Perfect!  Ah....but that was not all.

There were fish--tiny shiny silvery fish in that shimmering water!  Hundreds or maybe even thousands of them!  Dancing!  Cavorting!  Slipping through that silky water in perfect unison!

Painting the music of Vivaldi for all to see!

Unforgettable!

The Animals of a Pan

Hwange National Park, near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe was where I learned that the word, "pan", had several different meanings.  In that part of Africa, it is understood that a "pan" is a watering hole for animals.  During that drought-stricken summer I was in Zimbabwe, locating a pan that was not a dried circle of mud was a challenge. 

Leaving the our lodge early one morning, with our driver negotiating the nearly non-existent roads or choosing instead to go cross country bumping over dry and dusty terrain, we were on the quest to find a watering hole that actually had water.  Finding that treasure would mean we would see animals--animals of all kind and description--animals I had seen only in zoos prior to this African adventure. 

Hwange National Park had a system to help out in the years of drought when the watering holes became drier and drier and animals had to walk further and further for water.  In this huge national park, there were several wells which supplied water via pumps to a select number of pans.  It is for these pans that our driver headed.  However, too often we found that the machinery was not well maintained resulting in yet another dry pan. 

On our trek between pans, though, we did see animals and a lot of them--from giraffe eating away on the tops of acacia trees and graceful gazelle to scampering baboons and wandering zebra.  Oh, and did I mention huge herds of elephant? 

But it was at the pan that the wildlife congregated.

A giraffe bent in half with legs splayed and neck reaching to the water far below

A massive crocodile pulling itself through the soggy mud bank

A mischievous baboon cavorting about

A herd of zebra creating a dizzying black and white pattern

Two ostrich primping their feathers

The nostrils of a hippo appearing in the middle of the pool

Birds and more birds


And, splashing and trumpeting -- those most majestic of all beasts -- elephants!