Pittsburgh Zoo: 2015

My trip this week was predicated completely on a visit to the Pittsburgh Zoo.  The Zoo has been promoting a new area of exhibitions called "The Islands" which feature a group of 5 endangered species from various tropical island ecosystems.  I love the idea.  The promotion promised something really special.  But first, most of the rest of the zoo.  A zoo I have visited before.  

 My visit begins with the African Lion, Panthera leo.  This picture seems to be of a single male, but ....

 ...a different angle proves it to be a pair of males.

 Oh, the lazy, cuddly joys of summer....  Eh?

 A pair of the half dozen or so of American Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber.  So beautiful.

 Another large cat (which was the theme of the visit in the end), Amur Tiger, Panthera tigris altaica.  It was a damp, overcast day around 75˚ with the same humidity level.  Not hot, but clearly lazy hazy!

 A highlight were the Amur Leopards, Panthera pardus orientalis.  A pair of siblings that were so happy to play chase for visitors.  (These are Asian animals, but the Pittsburgh Zoo website places them among their African savannah animals--I should have been suspicious....)

 Beautiful cats.

 The male Dama Gazelle, Nanger dama, was pretty frisky and occupied by being stalwart and aggressive.

 He and his mate were joined by a little herd of Springbok, Antidorcus marsupialis.

 This one little Springbok reamained a way off from the others.  His twisted horn an obvious difference from the rest of the herd.

 The Pittsburgh Zoo is home to 3 African Elephants, Loxodanta africana.

 Two of the four Plains Zebras, Equus quagga.

 The Pittsburgh Zoo is also home to 2 Masai Giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi.  Most zoos keep Somali or Reticulated Giraffes.

 One of the creations that the Pittsburgh Zoo publicizes is their Tropical Forest exhibition of Primates.  Their website displays 16 primates in their collection.  The Primate house on this visit only had 5.  Four were lesser monkey species: The White-faced Gibbon, the Blue Monkey, the Howler Monkey and the Capuchin Monkey.  The other inhabitant was a single Orangutan.  The space looks lovely, but it screams abuse of the larger primates.  I felt so sorry for the Orangutan--held in a sterile, faux natural, but made of concrete cell with dimmed lighting and no vegetation in sight.  The poor animal was just sitting in a corner lifeless.  I cried.

 Here a White-faced Gibbon, Lars gibbons, is enchanted by a maintenance worker.

 Four Cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus, wasting away the day!

 This is the introduction to the new (million dollar) "The Islands" exhibition.  The reason for my trip...  I have never been more disappointed.

 The female of the pair of Philippine Crocodiles, Crocodylus mindorensis, the rarest of all crocodiles.  Native to a tropical jungle, now relegated to a sterile concrete pen without even the possibility of natural shade.  Why?

Next exhibit was a pair of Galapagos Tortoises, Geochelone nigra.  Their pen was like a 4-H project with plywood and bamboo reeds!  I was flabbergasted by any claim of special or unique.

The worst of all was the pen that housed the Visayan Warty Pigs, Sus cebifrons.  These are animals that live in thick under brush in tropical jungles.  Now they are here with mulch and dead trees and concrete.  It was disgraceful.

The final exclosure features a pair of Clouded Leopards, Neofelis nebulosa.  At least, they seemed curious and engaged in their "home."

 One of the animals that the zoo still champions on their outdated website is the bear.  The zoo is one of America's oldest, and during the Great Depression, it was the recipient of CCC work efforts.  The Conservation Corp constructed a series of four beautiful enclosures for bears.  Well, friends, they are NO MORE.  They are filled in with dirt and allowed to grow over with weeds.  What a disappointment.  False advertising even...

Another major construction and exhibition is called, "The Water's Edge".  This is the home of Polar Bears, Sea Otters, Penquins...BUT NOT on the day I visited.  Nothing.  Nada.  No animals en casa...

On the whole, for a trip all the way from DC, this was a HUGE disappointment as zoos go.

Seven Postcards From The Pennsylvania Turnpike

Happy Birthday Wyoming

This is not a day late--thanks to a glitch on its part, Blogger was "unavailable" to me yesterday.

Happy Be-lated Birthday Idaho!

My bad!  I missed it.....

Cucumber Flowers

I love the blossoms of cucumbers--they hold their own against any flower in the garden.

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ July 5th to July 11th

Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye

Went to the National Gallery of Art today to see the new exhibition, Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye.  I have long been a qualified fan of Caillebotte.  When he's on, he's 100% on, and then when he not...ugh.

The best aspect of this exhibit for me was the education of exactly who Caillebotte was and how he used his talent to express his understanding of the world around us all.  And there was the prominence of paintings from Private collections--over half of them are not on public display.  No wonder I didn't understand this artist better.

The Floor Scrapers, 1875 ~ Musee d'Orsey: Paris, France

The first grand work was this one.  It holds a degree of beauty that is transcendent and celebratory of the male form like Michelangelo's David in Florence, Italy.  He used only one model over and over again--perhaps the reason there's only glass of wine in the composition?

private collection

This is a lunch in his home not long after the death of his father. The figures are his mother and servant and his younger brother Rene. Within 2 years Rene would be dead and shortly there after his mother, too. The light through the glassware is amazing.

private collection

It stood out to me today, how often he chooses to paint people from behind. He loves to create a sense of intimacy by structuring his compositions from a perspective that is participatory. It's not just that you are seeing a thing. It's that you are standing or sitting right there in that moment. Can you feel the humidity? The heat of the harsh sun, the slight respite in the shadow of the awning? And don't you just want to step up a little closer to see what the gentleman is looking at?

The Pont de l'Europe, 1876 ~ Association des Amis du Petit Palais: Geneva, Switzerland

What the modern eye fails to comprehend in viewing Caillebotte's paintings is their radical depiction of modernity.  His paintings of this bridge are so cutting edge and demanding of a response by his contemporaries.  I just love the addition of the dog.

Private Collection

A radical perspective for a painting in his time and really a beautiful composition.

Man at His Bath, 1884, Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, USA

This painting was hung on a feature wall dividing the largest of the 6 galleries. When you turn to enter it this painting slaps you in the face! While sitting in the previous gallery listening to audio tour, I noticed a family of tourists enter with others. The parents where mundanely engaged and the children were bored--listless. As the departed there was a sudden excited outburst of laughter. I turned to look into the next gallery and saw this painting there for the first time and both the kids were beside themselves with childlike reaction to it. Now, wouldn't that just have made Caillebotte's day?

As he approached his 40's, Caillebotte left Paris for a home in the country.  He bought a home in Petit-Gennevilliers.  He continued to paint even as he pursued his love of rowing and sailing and cultivated his love of gardening.  These paintings come from that period.

L'Yerres, Pluie, 1875, Indiana University Museum of Art: Bloomington, USA

Isn't this wonderfully unusual as a composition?

A Boating Party, 1878, private collection

One of my long standing disappointments with Caillebotte's work is his lack of accuracy in depicting the human form. He really struggles with this. And he fails at times in a catastrophic way that diminishes the composition in its entirety. Worst of all is his awkward portrayal of perspective. And that is why this painting, made toward the end of his life is so astounding a triumph to me. There was no hint of who the man was in the audio annotation. But I think it was Caillebotte himself. Look at the last image I include. The man on the right in that boat is thought to be himself. He is wearing the same shirt. It's certainly a reasonable conjecture.

Two later paintings in private collections

Smithsonian Folk Life 2015: Peru

Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2015: Suckiest one ever. No fault of the subject; Peru, or the participants. It was just wildly truncated by a massive make-over of The Mall. The exhibits were extremely limited, the move to a new location was difficult to get to from the Metro. It was the most disappointing overall festival in the past 20 years. Sad. Having said that, here are some of my photos from today's visit.

 I suppose they were going to do something with this at point.  It wasn't clear and so it was just there.

 One musical performance.  I watched through two songs.  Never got info on what the music was about.  Usually there are 2 to three stages and dancing, too.

 Peruvian Artisan weaving a strip of fabric.

 Amazing ponchos.

 Design detail.

 Sources of dies.

 This is the number one die for all things red in the whole world. Artists have used it since the 19th century from Homer's watercolors to Van Gogh's oils. It makes red pop red and twizzlers, too! It's made from ground up beetles.

 Showing a young William Tell how to shoot an arrow?

 Ceramic arts and icons.

 An impromptu performance--again no context or description.

 I assume this placard is related to the structures below, but it wasn't clear.

 Another indigenous Peruvian artisan.

 Lovely moment, the two women on the right. One was blind and the other was describing the exhibits to her and guiding her to interact with them tactilely.

 There were three choices for food.  I chose Kikiriki because it was the most indigenous of the three.

 What would you choose?

I got the Papa Rellena and Inca Kola.  Delicious.

Random Quote #200

Yellow Squash Corn Hot Dish

Tonight I just made something up. Lets call it Yellow Squash Corn Hot DIsh!--just because I think that sounds fun.

I fried up two large yellow squash and then used them to form layers. I filled the layers with yellow and white corn, jalapeno pepper, celery and scallions mixed with an Alfredo sauce. And cheddar cheese. I layered it like this: 1-squash, 2-corn mixture, 3 cheese, 4-squash, 5-corn mixture, 6 cheese, 7-the remaining 7 medallions of squash. Then I ground a little fresh black pepper on top. I baked it for an hour at 350. You could probably do less. I intended 45 minutes and loss track of time. The extra baking time didn't seem to hurt the outcome.

And when I say that I fried the squash that means that I breaded it and sauteed it in olive oil first.