Wherein I Hugged an Emu

Hi, Dear Sillies,
May you be safe and well.
Last weekend, I traveled to wine country (Geyserville in Sonoma County) for a friend's birthday gathering.We celebrated at Isis Oasis retreat center and animal sanctuary.
There, I took photos and cozied up to an emu.

The California grapevine. How could I resist plucking and eating one? or two? I couldn't. Ssh.

I don't know this emu's* name. It's approximately 5 foot 8 inches tall -when neck is outstretched- and weighs 140 pounds. That woman? She basically birthed this emu - I didn't get (or want) the explicit details. But when he was a wee wee one in an egg, the egg needed to be incubated for a stretch of time. She took care of that. It's kinda her baby. [Note that I have all sorts of questions. Did she sit on the egg? With panties on? Did she breast-feed once it was born?...] They did appear to be very, very close.*Emus originate in Africa and are the world's second largest bird. First is the ostrich, but you knew that.

Who'd have thought a white peacock would be so beautiful?

                                                                                               silkie

Funny how outgoing all the creatures were. This parrot was ready to pose for (very) close-ups.