From Komodo with Love

I could have stared at this beautiful Komodo dragon all day. It's hard to get a sense of scale from the pictures--I'd say she was at least five and a half feet long. She was sitting pressed up against the glass when we first saw her, just inches from us, but there was too much glare on the glass to take decent pictures.

Here are the rest of the photos from the Christmas Eve my family and I spent at the zoo.

I also could have sat with this sleepy panther all day.

Anyone for croquet?

And here are some pictures with no animals in. I don't think people understood why I was taking them. I just love the weird, twisty plants in the area around the zoo. And the complex shadows they create on a sunny day.

We had lunch at the zoo, a nice restaurant in the middle of the park where I was pleasantly surprised to hear Marlene Dietrich singing "Little Drummer Boy".

Twitter Sonnet #579

The mulched holly paints the land with ribbon.
Dislodged toy men wait in a candy fog.
Santa's map curls in his darkened cabin.
On the corner is an elf's brandy nog.
Koala lumps snort Santa's espresso.
Mutating holly waxed kaleidoscope.
Styrofoam Frosty cracked under lasso.
Candy cane antennae smoked periscope.
Unexpected Marlene sings Drummer Boy.
Liquid peppermint sterilised the hand.
Alien sheriff can fix any toy.
Boxes of red socks run the shoe land.
Snowflakes melt on seasoned soya buttons.
Christmas lights illume splendid new glutens.