Sunday, April 14, 2019

Dinosaurs With Feathers

There was a horrific story about an elderly man in Florida who was killed by his cassowary. No one could call it his pet cassowary since they aren't subject to taming, but the 75 year old man fell down and then was attacked by the bird.

Years ago when I went to Australia to swim in a meet I was fascinated by the variety of wildlife. It isn't just in zoos or wildlife parks either because Sydney has a park near the ocean and Government House that has all sorts of critters both walking and flying around including ibis and fruit bats. I think the park may be more than one park as I know the Royal Botanical garden is there but there is a much less formal space adjacent to that. Some locals told me the ibis were major pests, more or less like big pigeons begging for food and pooping everywhere, but I was mesmerized. Just sitting on a park bench and this three foot tall bird comes up and looks me in the eye as if to ask where I had hidden the food and watching the fruit bats drop out of the trees to fly away when the sun goes down is an unforgettable sight. It would have been unforgettable if they were the Mexican bats I am used to but fruit bats are bigger than my terrier so seeing hundreds of them fly out over the harbor is mesmerizing.

Anyway, I took a tourist trip on a bus out to the Blue Mountains after the meet was over and it stopped at a wildlife sanctuary/petting zoo.  In addition to holding a baby kangaroo and petting a koala, I saw my first real wombat (way bigger than I expected) and my first cassowary. I called my husband and told him I had stood right next to a dinosaur. Even with a chicken wire fence between us I was cautious. Those feet are pretty much what I always thought a meat eating dinosaur's feet would look like and certainly looked like lethal weapons.

It's too bad I was too busy to seek out quilting stores since Australia has such a thriving quilt culture. I did bring home some aboriginal art but other than my tourist bus trip I didn't have time for anything besides the swimming and the business of being on the board of directors of the FGG. I did get to attend a couple of events at Government House and the Sydney Opera and ride a ferry out to Bondi beach and of course I did get to swim in the wonderful Sydney Olympic pool in the same lane that Ian Thorpe starred in.  

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