Welcome to the working week

This nyala at the zoo has the right attitude.

These antelopes have every possible kind of distinguishing mark, and end up looking as though some of the children giggling over the fence at them used them for a fingerpainting project.

Snow leopard

Here's an animal that never has to worry about anyone saying "Ugh!"

Ugh

That was my first reaction, and probably yours, to this really unattractive giant rat. There are those whose love of animals extends even to the rodent and the reptile, and God bless them. But I've lived in New York too long to think that seeing a rat can ever be a good thing.

Except that it's not a rat, and despite a strong resemblance, not even a member of the rodent family. This is a rock hyrax, and they are more closely related to elephants than to rodents.

And viewed from the right angle, they're actually kind of cute. But still nothing like an elephant.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Just a fine and fancy ramble to the zoo

A peahen at the Bronx zoo.

The forecast promised cooler and less humid weather than we've been experiencing recently, and after a week that was more than usually Sisyphean (if you replace the mythological boulder with a set of email folders that I created and deleted and recreated and deleted and recreated) I was desperate to break the routine and get out of Manhattan for a while.

So I took the express bus up to the Bronx, and spent a pleasant couple of hours taking pictures of animals instead of windows and ledges and taillights.

I have mixed feelings about zoos. I hate to see animals in captivity, even if it's really protective custody, but at least they're much nicer environments now, and not the miserable animals on the other side of a concrete moat I remember from my childhood. And the children get so excited at seeing lions and tigers and baboons, maybe they'll grow into adults who think they're creatures worth saving.

Sunday bird blogging

A house sparrow directing traffic on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan.

Saturday reflections

More than usually hallucinatory -- I like the way the church tower seems to be waving back and forth.

Urban poetry

Angles and curlicues in overlapping fire escapes on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.

The circle on the side of the balcony is unusual; I haven't seen another fire escape like that before.

Welcome to the working week

Another photo from the weekend -- the revolving door in my office building, spinning into an colorful abstract of light and reflection.

Alas, it's not a magic portal, and there are no rainbows or unicorns in the modern Levittown of Cubicle Nation, but that moment of light skimming by in gold and blue is still beautiful. Sometimes, if no one's looking, I spin around a second time before going inside.

The journey not the arrival matters.

Sunday bird blogging

I don't think this starling is a juvenile -- too colorful -- but the fuzzy head is quite youthful.

Editorial comment

After spending many hours this week troubleshooting urgent software issues with engineers in Chicago and a developer in India, while a baby cried endlessly in the background half a world away, all I wanted this weekend was repose and silence.

But my remote connection wasn't working for some reason, and I had three days worth of emails to slog through, so I dragged myself most reluctantly into the office (mood nicely represented by the photo above.)

But at least I could take my time getting there and could take pictures of some of the wonderful windows I pass by every morning in a rush and always promise myself I'll come back to. I love how the photo on the right came out, so on balance, I'm going to call the day a win.

Saturday reflections

A little change of pace -- reflections in a window in the Garment District in Manhattan.

This is kind of a Photography 101 image, but I like it because the building pediments and window in the reflection seem so much more solid than the mannequin behind the glass.

And of course, I love the pigeon sitting in the middle of everything.