“Terra Incognito.” Unknown terrain. That phrase stuck in my mind ever since I heard it first on this mindblowingly fascinating BBC television series -Planet Earth. This is one of those DVDs that must adorn every home on earth. I wish relentless poachers around the world who scavenge an animal for its fur, tusks or worse would watch it. I wish that everyone who builds a car would watch it. I wish that everyone who walks down the roads of their own streets holding their children’s hands would watch it. And I wish that these children would be able to show their own children of the future the polar bear in the Artic not just on a TV screen as many fear…but free as it crunches ice under its feet.
And the mind is its own Terra Incognito. So much lurks in our minds that is unknown. Today was another lazy day. Hard to believe that it has been one week already since the holidays began. Last week at this time, we were on the flight to Sanya. Today, Ruby came over in the afternoon and we watched desert sands and icy glaciers on Planet Earth.
Dinner it was at “The Cheap Place,” and I am hoping that the noodles we had were really made in hot water and that it was not beef oil that I found floating on top. Well, ignorance is not always a bad thing as they say. Ice creams later, Ruby showed Birdie and I this new Xinjiang restaurant outside which they were making corn on the cob. Already, with summer on its way, I can see more tables outside and people having dinner under the shade of the skies. Today was also the day I realize that certain events in Birdie’s life are more in parallel with mine than I had even imagined. Not the best for Birdie – but then, if her life follows my own path, it is at least never boring.
