2001-08-07 - 9:27 p.m.
there once was a man from Peru
whose limericks stopped at line two.
Today we went to the Imperial Palace grounds in another part of Tokyo. Very impressive place. I was fond of the wildlife--more HUGE koi in the outer moat, sea-monsters the likes of which I hadn:t seen outside of the Steinhart Aquarium. There were also some very elegant swans in the moat. We admired one for a while, and it swam towards it. My dad said, "It wants you to sing it a swan song." My mom, not to be outdone, stood on the raised stone of the pathway and declaimed, "The swan can swim whilst sitting down..." My dad joined her, and they recited the rest of the poem (if memory serves: "For pure conceit she takes the crown/she looks in the mirror ovah and ovah/and claims to have never heard of Pavlova") (Ogden Nash) without a hint of self-consciousness. I love my parents.
We had been at the same spot yesterday, when one swan was swimming in the moat, and my mom said, "A swan in the moat... [pause] They... know how to float. [pause] Oh well, that wasn:t really anything." This was my reply:
A swan in the moat.
Mom tried to make a haiku;
She did not succeed.
My mom dug that one.
The grounds were pretty cool once we got in. The main attraction was a big garden area with lots of interesting flora and fauna. My dad and I came practically face-to-face with a crow made bold by contact with humans--lots of people eat their lunches there and generally walk around and enjoy the scenery. We got pretty close and watched the crow hop around and eat for a while. My dad said, "Crows not only look intelligent; they always look as if they know something that you don't."
It hopped over a little stone bridge, down the path and out of sight. We marveled at how bold it was to get so close to people. My dad posited that it knew nobody would dare mess with it here in the Imperial Palace. Maybe it used to be somebody, I speculated. It sure walked like it owned the place. Definite swagger on that bird.
The koi in the pond inside the grounds were of a more reasonable size than the moat-monsters, and of truly dazzling colours.[1] I was especially fond of an elegant silver one with a particularly long, flowing tail. I spotted it right after the crow had moved on and pointed it out to my dad, saying "See, she used to be somebody."
Hmm. I should really be getting back to the hotel; we're getting up pretty early tomorrow. Stay tuned next time to hear all about whatever we accomplish tomorrow, plus today's trip to the Tokyo National Science Museum.[2]
[1] "Beautiful plumage."
[2] Teaser: My new favorite science fact is that the scientific name of the gorilla is "Gorilla gorilla gorilla."
I believe in yesterday --- I love ya, tomorrow
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