Eocene Exhibit and Education

American Museum of Natural History, New York, Eocene Exhibit ~ 

May 5, 2009

When I have time, I'm still adding images from my photo archives to the pages of the store web site. In this case, the Eocene category page.

Sometimes I feel as though this work is just for my own fun, plus window dressing plus search engine optimization. I also know it can be educational, but sometimes I forget how much the educational aspect may be needed. This is a true story: 

The other day Lee was at Starbucks talking with a barista. She said she was attending community college and wanted to be a veterinary assistant. He asked about her interest in animals, and she said she loved all animals, large and small. He asked if she liked mammals, but she didn't know what the word meant. He mentioned primates and vertebrates, and got equally blank responses. Having gone through school in the 1950s and 1960s, I can't even imagine this lack of understanding about basic biology, but there's a lot I don't know about the way the world is today. I'm grateful that I had good teachers and the climate of the times valued learning. One thing I know for sure is that if visitors can learn something from my website, I'll feel that the "extra mile" I've enjoyed adding to the site  has been worth while.

My Web Page: Tapirback.com

Was it only last night?

Here's a pic I took as we were leaving New York's JFK airport last night. That's the skyline of Manhattan in the background, of course. We'd had a really wonderful week, and a fairly exhausting last couple of days, especially walking when the weather warmed up and got humid. This trip and New York were really special, and I'll be posting more when time permits - but I wanted to share this one photo of the skyline in the sunset.

May 5, New York City (Day 2): Escape from Pteranodon Island

We were in the Natural History Museum, and this person is apparently scuttling across the frame trying to stay out of my photo. The result? Kind of funny and surreal. Escape from Pteranodon Island?

I really love how they filled in the rest of the indricotherium with wire. Also called baluchitherium or "beast of Baluchistan," this extinct giant of the rhino family has always been one of my favorites. Here's an idea of how big the real ones were. I'm sorry that my best photo of it has a narwhal or some early version of it diving through the animal's heart. I really enjoyed the museum. It has to be one of the best Natural History museums in the world, although it's clearly lacking in tapir material! I'll post more on the tapirs later on the tapir blog. Even with several hours, there were many rooms we never got to see, so it's possible we'll go back since we have the visitor pass. We spent the rest of the day walking toward the bus route in the drizzle, seeing one small bit of Penn Station, riding the bus up to the museum, seeing lots of animal-related displays and also the planetarium, having carrot cake in one of the museum cafes (yumm!), discovering a market packed with delectible goodies (thanks to Stephen), eating, and taking the bus back down to our hotel. It felt like a big day. Central Park was absolutely gorgeous and green in the spring foliage and spring rain, but we only hovered on the edge because our goals were elsewhere today. Tomorrow I hope to see a lot more of it. It was a wonderful day, and we're truly loving it here! It feels soooooo different than when I was here in the late 1960s, and I like the changes.

First night in Manhattan

We've had a long and interesting day, and one thing is for sure: we're not in Oregon tonight. We were enchanted by the old buildings of the Murray Hill district - looking, looking, always looking - mostly up - taking lots of photos, wiping drops from the lens. About the only thing that's the same is that it's raining here, too.