Leaping Lemurs!

It has been another week of sub zero temperatures, with us being greeted one morning to - 6C, so we didn't have much planned for the weekend except doing our best to keep warm.

Then I saw that the Five Sisters Zoo was allowing non reactive dogs in as part of thier "we're allowing local folk in for free to have some exercise, please please donate on your way out" policy. This was an opportunity I could not allow to pass me by. We pegged it for the weekend in a "when the best gap in the weather comes" space. 

Saturday was a write off. More snow. Sun zero (again) and, despite my best efforts, my arthritis was kicking in with a vengeance and I was hobbling about. We ended up doing the food shop and got a new fleece jumper for Missy (which I plan on using as a template to upcycle some jumpers with). 

Then Sunday arrived. It was above zero! And the snow was melting, meaning the ice now had a lovely wet slippery film all over. Glad we had no plans to drive today! And the #leadthewayatoz letter? L. Could the fates not have smiled on us more? 

We wrote a hit list of all the animals we could begining with L and hit off lucky pretty quick when the Lar Gibbon (second photo) came down to say hello to Missy. Content that my goal was a success, we carried on. 

It was interesting what animals were curious of her. The monkeys all came to investigate. The cats - fisherman's (above) and Scottish Wild Cat (sorry the snow leopard was to far away to make the cut for the photo challenge) would watch and follow her, then hide away if she looked at them. I know from past experience birds of prey dislike dogs, so we kept away from them, but the song birds, parrots and emus were completely disinterested. 

The bears and lions were asleep, as was the Fossa, although his enclosure smelled divine to Missy who would not leave it alone. We stayed clear of the badger in case Missy wanted a rematch after meeting the wrong end of one many years ago. Then the wolves, which were fascinating. They wouldn't approach Missy, but instead followed us all around thier enclosure. They stopped when we did, and casually moved away into the undergrowth, and would then come back out anew when we moved on. 

It was the only time people made comment about Missy, to marvel at this strange dance where the wolves, clearly unthreatened by her, where still making sure she would not cross into thier territory. 

We finished at the lemurs. And what a show we had as first the brown lemur came out to curiously watch her. He bounced back and forth, singing away whilst the rest of the family curiously watched from the door of thier bedroom. We moved on before Missy could be accused of taunting them, and had the same song and dance with the ruffled lemur. Ring tails stick as a pack, and decided to observe this strange animal from their indoor enclosure. Like with the Gibbon, there was no defense or caution, and instead they moved in closer to figure out this strange new breed of spectator. 

What a day we all had! 

As a final note, I want to take an aside, and point out the first photo. This was the real objective of the day. 

That old, half tailed lemur is Stumpy, who my sister very fondly remembers from a summer placement at Edinburgh zoo almost 17 years ago (I had the pygmy hippos!) And yes, we have verified, that Stumpy, is HER Stumpy. Everytime she visits, she has to go see him. And cries a little bit. I think he is a rare tie in the world to her of the sunny memories of that summer, rose tinted from a time when we were safely protected from all the world by our youth and yet it was the first time we were free of our parents to be adults, and invent ourselves anew to become the people we are now. He doesn't know how special he is, and is simply older and wiser, the Great great grandfather of the bachelor pad he commands.

So I had to. I had to get a photo of Stumpy and all he means to her, with Missy and all she means to me. Past and present. Creatures unaware of the live they have captured. 

And I know it is special only to us, but isn't that the wonder of life and the stories we weave? 

So, on that warm fuzzy note, I will leave you all until next time.