size matters glass is my friend

size matters glass is my friend
Originally uploaded by barbee.

June 12th 2005 (original post)



Still in Forth worth heading for the zoo, our Texas stay has been quite the long one so far. I am anticipating leaving despite the fact that I adore Amy and Brian and their kids. Christian is having fun playing with some kids his own age as well. They are just the coolest of people! Nonetheless I am getting ancy about heading west. It is a strange feeling to be out of civilization en mass, a tighter bond is created with your present community (family) and you tend to be prone to be happy together. I am happy with my family no matter where we are but when all the obstacles of society are removed, the TV, the radio…all of what modern technology has for us to “keep connected” you tend to cleave to one another for enjoyment. Those advances in our technological world tend to serve as distractions and separate us. The ability to just BE is much harder and the desire to DO is much stronger.



Later…



We left the zoo and just ate at Macaroni Grille. We had a wonderful meal and now we are all stuffed. The kids had some gift certificates that their dad had given them so it made eating for 5 and getting stuffed affordable…still on this blasted budget J We all were ridiculously hungry and thirsty after 1 ½ hours at the zoo. It is very hot in mid day Texas; I seriously wouldn’t doubt the potential of frying an egg on the pavement. I did get a lot of nice pics of the animals panting. They were so obviously hot. In one respect, it is awesome to have the wild so attainable and up close and safe from being in harms way. I was viewing the white Bengal tigers through the heavy Plexiglas, actually I was coming around the corner and saw the two tigers from a distance hanging out with one another. In something I would describe as a split second, one tiger had spotted me and came lunging toward the window. A moment ago it was wayyyy over there, the next, it was right in my face. I didn’t get the feeling that it was coming over to say “hi” or get it’s picture taken, this was a predatory lunge. I was saying my thanks to the wonders of thick Plexiglas or whatever separated me from emanate doom. I wasn’t freaked about it, just noted that this tiger was operating on an instinct… it saw me through the clear glass and was going for it. I am glad it still had that instinct and hadn’t been completely jaded to the zoo experience. Although having the “wild” so attainable it does sadden me that we have plagued the earth with such fervor that it’s other inhabitants have to live behind restrictive barriers and their natural ways altered for our convenience…. very similar to how we treated the Native Americans. It was bizarre to see the same inhabitants in the zoo that we did in the wild. I actually killed a baby scorpion that was crawling on Scotty’s collar, sorry fella… we don’t need no stinking scorpion bites and you were heading for the neck… R.I.P…. It seems we have been in Texas forever and yet is has been a week +. It is so incredibly large. the first day we headed out, we were in four states and now we are in Texas a week has flown by. It’s 106 degrees and it’s 7 pm, it was probably 120 degrees earlier today. We are heading to New Mexico tonight. Christian has befriended Amy and Brian’s kids and one of them is 8, as he is, and they have very similar personalities… they have dubbed one another as twins, interestingly enough Amy and I feel the same about each other.. who knew? We just pulled off the most phenomenal shoot of the four elements. It is another milestone achievement that I feel wicked cool about! For the record, Texas IS the land of donuts! I have never, in my life seen so many donut shops… kind of like coffee shops in Seattle!




for more pics go here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbee/sets/637921/