Ostrich, Oryx, and Octopus

My cousin Ivy's son Calvin is here visiting us for a month.  We are enjoying his visit.  

Calvin loves animals, and he gets very enthusiastic about anything we do with animals, so each day, we have been showing him some of the sights of Cape Town. 



Daniel had enough enthusiasm for all of us. 

Rhodes Memorial was another
day.





Yesterday we went to The World of Birds in Hout Bay.  I hadn't been there since our kids were little and I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about it this time because the weather was more "sit by a fire and read" weather, in my mind.  It was cold, rainy, and windy, but Calvin has one month here, and it is going fast, and we're trying to get him to see and do as much as possible, so off we went.

It was certainly well worth getting away from the fire (especially since we rarely, rarely make a fire) and out to see those birds!  We went from one to the other, exclaiming over funny feet, amazing colors, brilliant beaks, extreme ugliness, and owl eyes. 

These two looked like I felt when we started. 

Daniel and I agree the Cockatoos are the best because they are the friendliest.  We had encounters with an owl that put him as my second favourite.

I wouldn't have dared just let him on my arm without my winter coat on. 

 

 

 

 

Daniel and I had a chat about the birds.

 

Me:  Do you know who colored the birds?
D: The manses.  (men)
Me:  Who made the birds?
D:  Jesus. 
Me:  Yes, God made the birds so He's the one who picked the colors.
 
I wanted to wax eloquent on how He must like bright colors and even eye shadow and eye liner because of the way He decorated some of these birds, but a 5 year old can only stand so much chat when there are worlds to conquer and big cousins to keep up with.  I think God's object lessons are way better than my speeches anyway.

Eww!  The owls left a bit of their lunch lying around. 



It's good to have all your ducks in a row.  Calvin and Daniel are
cousin's cousins which suits them just fine. 



This owl made me feel better that I wasn't the only one having a bad hair day. 



We also got to hold monkeys!  He had to know what was in Calvin's pocket.

 


They are trusting little creatures. 




            This lion really wanted to play.  He followed Calvin back and forth several times, until of the workers asked Calvin to quit "aggravating" the lion.  That was sad, because the lion was enjoying it too, though I doubt his idea of play would have been quite what ours would have been. 


See the works of the Lord! 




                PS  As to why I called this Ostrich, Oryx, and Octopus, we've been trying to serve Calvin some foods that are new                to him.  Ostrich is normal for us, we have it nearly every week, and octopus is Calamari which we got a                        seafood shop with French fries, but the Oryx/Gemsbok was a first for all of us.  We decided it tastes like turkey.