We have friends in town for a few days and, given the weather and the Family Day stat holiday, the Bloedel Conservatory was a perfect place to visit. For us it has probably been five or more years since visiting. For them….decades.
It’s a nice place to visit at any time of the year, but particularly so when the weather has a chill in the air and there is rain in the forecast. You can wander the path, breathe in the warm and tropical air, and peer through the vegetation to find some amazingly cool plants. The serenity of the place is somewhat overshadowed by the bellowing of big birds, and also of small children, but it’s a place that is always worth a visit.
The blue and gold macaw reminds me of a long ago job in a pet store where the resident blue and gold macaw, named “Goofy”, and I had a hate-hate relationship. Lots of funny memories of that bird, including a night I had to go to the shop at midnight because the alarm had gone off. I went in through the front door, through the darkened store tot he back, before realizing that I’d just walked all the way through the place not knowing if there was actually anyone inside other than me. I froze for a moment, turned to see Goofy peering at me in the gloom, and opened his cage, pulled him off his perch and carried him around the store…held out in front of me. Normally I’d have never been able to pick him up….there was only one person who could do that and it definitely wasn’t me. But int he moment I think we were both just so surprised that he didn’t attack.
If I’d encountered anyone hiding between the shelves I had every intention of throwing a big, mean, parrot with a 3½ foot wingspan directly at them before making my escape.
Perhaps not my finest moment, but I’m pretty sure it would have given me the leverage I’d have needed. Luckily it wasn’t necessary.
