Friday, June 03, 2005

Peacock


Peacock
Originally uploaded by Martina.

There is something about peacocks that just makes me happy. They are so pretty with their vibrant colors. I've loved them since I was a girl. One of my favorite places to visit when we'd go to see my grandparents in the summers was this place called Pfaueninsel(peacock island), which was home to a small castle built by Friedrich Wilhelm II for his mistress. The island was crawling with peacocks.

My other favorite peacock-filled venue is Maryhill. I heard somewhere once that they were actually installed to help keep down the snake population, but even if they didn't drive away the rattle snakes, they would be a welcome addition to the grounds. Being used to people, they are pretty unperturbed by visitors, which makes them easy photographic targets. Some of them are downright bold.

Once K. and I went on a picnic there, and they were mooching grapes from us. One of them apparently decided that the wait service was a bit slow, because he started just helping himself from the cooler. Needless to say, he did not leave a tip!