Treats and Tigers

Only a few more days to go to my surgery, and today was a day full of treats.

We decided to go out for a meal to one of our favourite restaurants so that I could have a final steak until goodness knows when! We were getting ready to go out when the delightful Indian lady who with her husband owns our local corner shop rang the bell and presented us with some samosas she had just made, still warm from the fryer! How very kind. We were unfortunately not able to eat them while they were so fresh or we’d have had no appetite for lunch, so saved them for this evening.

We had a wonderful meal – we both had steak, my hubby had salad with his, and I had vegetables, and both were served with chips and sauces. My hubby had cheese and biscuits to follow, and I had a crème brulee served with Baileys ice cream, a shortbread biscuit and garnished with three raspberries. It was all exquisitely served, as always, and quite delicious. We always enjoy eating there, and who knows how long it will be before I am fit to eat out again?

They took quite a long time to serve us as the place was busy, it being Saturday, so we didn’t leave till getting on for mid-afternoon. This meant that we had very little time at the zoo, which was our next destination!

I said to my hubby that it would be great to have a tiger fix before I went into hospital. I have always loved tigers. You can read about the pages I made in my Recycled Mini-Album last year on the subject of the tiger cubs my dad operated on, back in the 1950s, here. Here is the tiger picture I painted in my little leather art journal (I used a scanned version of this picture in the mini-album):

After I scanned it, I edited it to remove the fold down the centre:

and this was the finished mini-album page:

We had very little time at the zoo so we went straight past the lions and found the tigers! It was quite a steep climb, and we were glad that we had arranged to hire one of the zoo’s buggies for me – it was  quite similar to my own, which is too big to go in the car. (We have paid the deposit on a small folding one which we will be able to take with us for outings such as this.)

Here are the pictures I took.

Then my hubby took a photo of me looking at the beautiful tigers:

It was amazing being able to get so close to them.

As we went further up, we came across a couple of display boards, the first giving the details of the tigers. They are Sumatran tigers, and in the wild, these magnificent creatures are on the verge of extinction, being trapped in a horrifically cruel fashion by poachers who sell their bodies for Chinese medicine and on the black market.

The work of our zoo, and other zoos around the world, helps to preserve the tigers through breeding programmes, and also through education, and fund-raising to provide wardens in the jungles of Sumatra to fight the battle to save the tigers.

Here is the board with the tiger’s footprint, and a plaque for brass rubbing.

Aren’t they the most beautiful creatures? I have always loved them.

Here is a picture of my own little tiger – sadly no longer with us. She was Phoebe’s sister Chloe. lying flat out and displaying all her beautiful tigeriness. I think she was the most beautiful kitty we’ve ever had.

We had to make a fairly quick dash back to the reception to return the buggy 15 minutes before closing time, but managed to get the following pictures on the way. Here’s my hubby with a peacock.

The peacock made his way towards me.

You can see how nicely the zoo is laid out, with walkways and landscaping and lakes.

Ducks on the lake.

The main zoo buildings. The further one is where the reception and shop are situated, and the nearer one is the restaurant. We have been to a wedding reception here – a really fun place for a wedding! They have excellent facilities inside.

Opposite the buildings is the railway for the little train. After the reception, the wedding guests all had a ride on the little train that goes round the entire zoo complex! You can imagine all the wedding guests in their finery, taking their seats on the train for the tour around the zoo!

Some interesting tangled tree roots.

We had a quick dash through the tropical house – entering this hot and humid atmosphere, our glasses, and my camera lens, instantly steamed up!

No time to take photos in the desert house which led off the tropical house, but I did manage to catch a quick shot of the flamingos on the way back to the reception.

You can see what an overcast and dull day it was today. It was also very cold, but we were fortunate that it didn’t rain. We are going to return to the zoo when the weather is better and hopefully in the sunshine, when I have recovered from my operation, and when we have got my new light-weight buggy. We will spend more time there, and hopefully get lots more photos – we saw very little today but at least I got to see my tigers!

Finally, I have at last managed to get my hubby to take a photo of my new hair colour which I had done at the end of February just before I was originally due to go into hospital!

Altogether we had a brilliant day out together. After a quick cup of tea at home my hubby left to go out for the evening, and I have spent the rest of the evening on the recliner, watching TV and being on the laptop, enjoying my samosas, sorting my photos and thinking about this special little oasis of time that we have been granted, to rest and relax without Mum in the house, and to prepare for Wednesday when I go in for my surgery.