Thanks, Isle Dance, for the inspiration to try a "watercolor," which I've enjoyed so much on your blog!  I don't use Photoshop enough.  

I was trying to take a picture of my sister next to this llama, but the llama had other ideas. He wasn 't agitated at all, he wasn't spitting or anything, he just really wanted some tasty morsels.  The sequence speaks for itself. 

For the second week we were in New Zealand, we stayed on Waiheke Island, which is about a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland.  It is truly an island paradise, and is actually known world-wide as a place of healing.  It was gorgeous, and there were all sorts of birds there, including this Pied Shag with awesome webbed feet and its chick, who was drying itself by stretching out its wings. 

Two seasons in two weeks

I love taking walks in the woods, whatever the season.  I took the top picture this weekend in Big Lake, near Wasilla.  The bottom picture was taken a little over a week ago on Waiheke Island in New Zealand, where summer is in full swing.  It's funny how similar they look, aside from all that snow. 

Was I crazy to think these pigs were cute in their own special way?  They just stood their with their mouths open the entire time we were around.  They loved the pellet treats we had and couldn't get enough. 

Haven't posted a pic of me or a bird in a long time, so here's me and a bird.  Taken in Prudhoe Bay, summer, 2006. 

never-ending NZ animal pics, continued

I saw these two on our way out, and begged my brother-in-law to stop for "just one last picture, pleeeze!!"  It might be my favorite from our whole day at Deer Park. 

Here are some more lovely creatures from the "Petting Farm." You can probably get the idea that this is no ordinary petting zoo. I was obsessed with getting some "muzzle" pictures, which isn't always easy to do when the animals are behind a fence. With these guys, we had no barriers at all, which made it in some ways easier. And in some ways a little harder, when it came to the Yak with the wonky horns, who wanted to eat much more than he wanted to pose for pics. 

Bear with me, there will be a LOT of animal pics over the next few weeks, I predict! Here are adorable New Zealand donkeys. '

Here is a puppy friend we made yesterday on the ferry from Waiheke Island to Auckland. The ferry engineer was delighted to hold the pup for a passenger for a few minutes at the beginning of the trip, and he let us share in the babysitting duties

This was an amazing farm in Queenstown. Basically, you just drove in and bought a bucket of feed from a machine and animals came running from all over at various stopping points throughout the farm. This horse was one of the highlights but along the way we were visited by all sorts of creatures, so more pics to come as soon as I get a little sleep!