Noticing the Year: 01/01/08

[urbpan]

I noticed the zoo is beautiful when it's snowing.




I doubt that it ever snows in the places where emus are from, but their shaggy feathers seem well-suited to it.


There were lions in Europe as late as two thousand years ago. The Romans were harder on them than the snow would have been.


And the coating of snow on this saltwater croc slowed him down enough for me to photograph him safely!

It was a very picturesque snow: big wet flakes that stuck to things in clumps. It actually got warmer as it snowed, and it's all gone now. We just walked the dogs and I was delighted to be walking on the sidewalk, and not the unpredictable mix of substrates that have been there for the past several weeks.

I'm already kind of sick of the word "notice." I was thinking about this post and repeating the phrase in my head: "Today I noticed x, today I noticed Y..." It made me think of the episode of Futurama where Fry has the Lucy Liu-bot and she tells him "It's amazing the way you NOTICE TWO THINGS."

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

Until I read your caption, I thought the last photo was of a crocodile statue. It looks unreal with the snow on it.

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Crikey! You're lucky that croc didn't get you - she looks cranky! Did you wrestle her? Was she a Code 1 or 2? :P

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

There are possibly some emus in the south-east corner, where Australia does get snow at higher altitudes in the winter. Not 100% sure though. And indeed, they are more of a desert species.

[agelena.livejournal.com]

Mike says the crocodile wants you to believe the snow slows him down. Don't fall for it.

[sin-agua.livejournal.com]

The first photo looks like a Chinese manor house! Wonderful!

That croc looks made of stone. I would've sat on it (and died).

I think emus are from Australia. Any snow in Australia??

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

"I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is." -David Byrne in True Stories

Notice doesn't bother me, but if it's throwing you you can call it conscious observation, living consciously or simply being aware. If you want to get Socratic you can call it an examined life.

Now that I think of it, I like simply "Being There". You can do worse than referencing the intersection of Kozinski and Sellers.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Also, somewhere there's a picture Doc took of a crocodile statue while he was on a trip south with mom before I was born. They walked by the statue a few minutes later and it was gone. I remember hearing the story and saying "If I'd been there, you'd have had me posing on the damn thing and my nickname would be 'Lefty' if I was lucky."

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

Occasionallty. less than we used to, to the endangerment of some of our alpine mammals.

And we even get snow onto bushfires in summer, but I think we can put that down to a fundamental breakdown in reality. Or a Matrix glitch.

[gribley.livejournal.com]

wow, that croc photo is awesome. I too would have sat down on it. How cold can they handle? I wonder if he's cursing the Boston weather.

"...notice..." might sound repetitive quickly, but you could abandon it entirely and just make statements. "The zoo is beautiful when it's snowing" has the same point, and we all know that it's coming from something you "noticed". I suppose you could find a way to make that a little more explicit, like titling things "noticed, day 3" or just tagging them "noticed". or something. Looking forward to the notices, in any case.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

Aw I would worry about the poor croc! Don't want him to get too cold...:)
What gorgeous pictures, how neat...:)

[uneko.livejournal.com]

Perhaps rather then using notice, you should adopt a word that has more.... presence then that?

Rather then "I noticed".. perhaps "It is" or maybe "Today"--"The Zoo is Beautiul when it's snowing", "Today, it snowed. The Zoo Was beautiful."

Or perhaps something a little more dramatic, rather then simplisitic.. . am implication of stopping to smell the roses. Or looking down the road less traveled. Of opening one's eyes and seeing, rather then looking. Something complex enough that it's a TITLE, not part of your opening sentence... like a kid with a list of spelling words that he needs to write sentences for. :)

that said, the bird house is lovely, as is the snow, and I am on the list of people being slowly eaten by the croc as well ;)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm pretty sure that crocodile is a statue. Otherwise it's in a pretty easy-to-escape enclosure (post and ropes that are higher than its head.) Bronze perhaps?

[(Anonymous)]

Well you know that the rope and pole is the croc statues natural enemy......