30 June 2011

Flamingos -- Finally!!!

Arles is on the north edge of an enormous (thousands of acres) marsh -- in which herds of black bulls and white Camargue horses run free -- along with flocks of flamingos.  I’ve never seen a flamingo -- except for the ones I put in very x rated positions in my neighbor’s yard-- for years.  Lots of years.  Until he moved.

So secretly, when I didn’t need to pretend to not care about being cool, but of course caring, knowing that that not caring is the essence of coolness . . What?  Secretly, ahem, I really really really wanted to see some flocks of flamingos.  And today I did! 

We saw some on the marshy coast, then went to a wildlife preserve ( 10 acres on the edge of 1000s of acres of wilderness).  The preserve had paths --- and bathrooms.  So we paid.  Went in.  And it was actually WORTH IT!  I’ve never been within 5 feet of a flamingo before.  I know that for sure, because, as mentioned above, I’ve never actually seen a non-plastic flamingo before.  They are much paler than I would have guessed -- almost white.  But, when they spread their considerable wings, they reveal a variety of pinks, bordered with blacks that are tres Moulin rouge!  Gorgeous.    There were also blue herons and . . , and many other . . . pretty little birdies.

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