Robins - Photoblog

The backyard had a visit from two baby robins..

The older robins were watching from the roof line while the babies were getting the worms, just after the water sprinkler had finished.

Guess they are not old enough to understand the danger of letting humans come close.

Was very close to them and they were so busy with the worms that they didn't even notice me...







The backyard sure provides a lot of amusement for a few minutes every evening to take my mind off work and bring me back to house, kids, quiet, calm..

A big thanks to the baby robins and my babies who spotted them!


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Backyard, camera, action

They fought dearly for something..

The squirrel won!




The evening Chai was with some outdoor entertaining by the little friends.

A lot of serious and frivolous posts, all incomplete, as the mind wanders aimlessly..

Until something brings me out of this trance...


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Backyard Playtime.. Photoblog

Today was spent in napping, biking with kids (yes, Daddy got back on the bicycle for the 2nd time since the accident... and went on the main road as well!), taking pictures of the flowers, girls, squirrels, and birds in what was a great spring day.

The jasmines are in full bloom and the whole backyard smells divine!

Made some good chai and settled in the concrete steps..
















This look on the little one's face is what we refer to as the "theesa kalai".. she must have done something she wasn't supposed to do and that explains that look.. She was moving too fast and I had the camera in manual.

The girls surprise me more than the birds and squirrels...




Need more of these quiet afternoons to lift up spirits...


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Woodland Park Zoo - Photoblog

There comes a time in every mans life when he starts straying.. and gives in to temptation. You have been faithful and loyal to what you thought was a "vision to behold", the "apple of your eye" etc. etc. only to find by chance that sometimes you might just have missed out on a lot of fun.

Okay. We are not talking about my woman here, though god knows that Seattle women who come to the Woodland park zoo on a summer weekday can make you doubt your own resolve. That zoo can as well market itself as a pickup bar! As usual we digress, especially after a whole post has been dedicated to this topic already..

Now that you have guessed the names of all those animals from their butt shots, here are their portraits. But before going further, we have to clarify. The Canon digital rebel with the simple 28-80 (non image stabilized) lens is not exactly zoo material, except for low light shots.

The BIL has recently acquired a Nikon D40 with the works (body, wide angle, telephoto, tripod, etc. etc.). He had the 55-200 lens on his Nikon and in an impulsive move, I grabbed his camera to take a shot, simply because my camera couldn't zoom that nicely. Lo and behold, what a shot!

The rest of the zoo trip, would borrow his lens at every opportunity.

Love my Canon. This is not a camera limitation. If the old Tamron 18-200 lens was there, it would have done the job. There are no imminent zoo trips, so the wait for the lens will continue.


























































All shots taken with D40 except the snakes which were taken with the Canon.


Finally, our wild ones..







At the end of this trip when we were driving back, one thought kept crossing my mind. Human beings, inspite of all their flaws are the most fascinating of creatures.


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Mbuni's Mbuti's and Mbubi's all found in the Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

After a tiring and exciting adventure at the Olympic National park in Washington, a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo seemed to be the best option for the kids.

We have heard a lot about this zoo but never visited in our previous trips to Seattle. This time we entered when they opened and exit when they closed the park and must have covered every alley way in the zoo map (including a visit to every restroom and snack stall!)

This was by far the best zoo trip with the kids. Seattle apparently does not get that many days with such gorgeous weather. So people flocked to the park, even on a weekday and the animals were also well behaved. Chances are they don't get to see such nice weather either!

Zoo animals usually just show their behinds to show people how they feel about being in the zoo (which they did in plenty this time also), but for once they also came close to the people, fence, glass wall etc. to give the photographers a chance!

For some reason, the many women who visited consistently reduced the % cloth cover by about 50% compared to women outside on the street. These women were more scantily clad than women in California beaches or Disneyland on Memorial day weekend. Now, that must set the bar pretty low. The shorts that some girls wore made my shorts look like pantaloons!

Needless to say, the desi family dynamic in any place where there are way too many scantily clad non-desi women who constantly feel the urge to come tell the group that the embroidered salwar kameez with mirrors and chamki's is gorgeous, gives rise to some funny moments... (most of which are blog worthy, but will not be posted because my kids read the blog).

The menfolk, who are seasoned veterans, when it came to looking at cleavage that reminds you of the grand canyon, straight on and ignoring it effortlessly were checking the other men to see if anyone flinched. I think we should start calling it a game, aptly titled "vishwamitra". The first one to stare, gets hit on the head by his wife and the entire family.

To summarize, we saw,

Mbuni's : Mbuti's : Mbubi's in the ratio of 2 : 200 : 2000

not to mention the other animals.

You can use these photos to quiz your kids. Name the animal or bird by looking at the buttshots!




















































Sorry for the couple of x-rated shots there.. Must have been one of those "love is in the air" days in Seattle, and in case you are wondering...

Mbuni = Ostrich in Swahili
Mbuti = Woman wearing a shorts/skirt where ass cheeks are visible in Sundari
Mbubi = Woman clearly displaying bra or a clear lack thereof, again in the ancient extinct language called Sundari (a close cousin of Swahili)


You get to see the faces of the animals and birds in the next post, so do check back tomorrow.



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Birds and the bees...

A misleading title for this post!

This is a photoblog of the animals, birds, flowers from the recent Route 1 trip...

It was interesting to say the least...

Seagulls white, brown, Pelicans, Pelicans, more Pelicans, seals, sealions, bunch of cactus (have never seen these before)...





























































There were some other birds by the sea. Crmorants, falcons, slender legged birds with long curved beaks, too fast or too far to capture on camera!

I never knew there was this much to see. Realized that having your eyes open and seeing are two different things!


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