Life As Performance Art 92

Recently in Stanley Park, by Lost Lagoon, an Asian man (Korean, I think) with his wife were photographing one of our many raccoons, and like an excited kid he said to me, "look! A raccoon!" I didn't want to rain on his parade, but I probably did anyway when I replied, "Oh, yeah. I see them all the time." I'm like that about squirrels. Coyotes and skunks too. We have them everywhere. And don't get me started about our iconic shit machines, the Canada geese! It isn't that I don't care about our urban wildlife, and I actually like that they have so cleverly adapted to our toxic human presence and dominance. There was also a time, before critters started to make themselves so at home among us, when the very novelty of seeing any one of those creatures of our God and King made us all gape and ooh and ah like enrapt little school kids still untainted by YouTube and computer games (do they exist anywhere?). How quickly and how easily the novel, strange and exotic become for us like ambient wallpaper in three tones of beige. We become totally used to it. Familiarity breeding contempt, and we simply continue losing ourselves in our little phones and other tech toys. Well, not me, anyway, since I don't carry a phone with me, and I like to focus on my surroundings. But maybe this also suggests that I still have what people used to refer to as a soul (a word still in my own common usage, Gentle Reader.) I am a Christian and all you born again atheists out there can wipe your butts with this for all I care! and I hope my blog gives you all hemorrhoids! Nice, fat, itchy, bloody ones! It really is amazing what we take for granted. And what we don't. Birds, for example. Outside of crows and seagulls, no one really seems to notice them. Starlings and English sparrows, maybe. And, of course, our own feral street pigeons, those beautiful iridescent birds that everyone loves to hate. I think it's because no one really goes out that much, except maybe to jog or bike ride. And when you're moving that fast, you are not going to notice very much. As much as I appreciate bikes for being environmentally friendly, I do take exception with some of the people who ride them. DOW's I like to call them, or, Dicks On Wheels. But very few people seem to appreciate what we really have for a rich diversity of bird life in this city. Have a look on Uncle Google, if you will, Gentle Reader, for such beauties as the Northern Flicker (red-shafted), or Steller's Jays. Now look up, if you will, the American (also Canadian!) Goldfinch. Try now, the House Finch. The Varied Thrush. The American (and Canadian) Robin. The Black-Capped Chickadee. We also have ravens, bald eagles, and different species of hawks and falcons, not to mention woodpeckers and ducks. This city is full of beautiful and awesome birdlife. If you are really serious about learning where they are and how abundant and beautiful they are, then please go out for some long contemplative walks in our quieter and leafier neighbourhoods. Walk, don't jog, don't ride a bike. Go slow. And most important, leave your goddamn phone at home and also your personal listening device, otherwise, you are not going to notice anything. If you can suffer through the withdrawal pains, then you are going to be simply amazed with what you are going to see out there. And don't forget to smell the roses. If you're heading out between mid-June and early July, you will notice the overpowering perfume of the two species of linden trees that are abundant in many neighbourhoods and in bloom this time of year. Try it. I dare you to try it. Learn how to live. For a change. You might even grow to enjoy it!