You can look at the experience of animals in so many different ways, and this week, one of the things I learned about myself is that I love animals and need to be around them. Here in Orlando, Maria and I hung around the turtles, the alligators and the fish in the hotel, and then went to Dolphin and Sea Lion shows at Sea World and then most of Tuesday at Animal World at Disney. We saw lions, tigers, gorillas, rhinos, hippo, giraffes and various birds, went to a bird show, hung around the moneys and bats.

Humans are endlessly fascinated, touched, challenged and stimulated by animals. We need them in our lives, as was obvious from the mesmerized throngs from all over the world who came to see them. It is definitely strange that it seems to take giant corporations to bring these creatures to us. I put aside the politics of corporatism and animal rights and various other sensibilities and just decided to enjoy myself like everyone else. I was struck by people taking images of one another everywhere – with cell phones, digital cameras, camcorders. Photos with animals were especially popular. I have not been behind the scenes at these places, but the animals seemed to me to be healthy and busy. Tomorrow I return to my own animals – the dogs, donkeys, cats and chickens.

Maria shares my love of animals, and we didn’t come near one that we didn’t stop and study. I shook hands with the Captain at the bird show.  It was 70 degrees today, it will be below 30 tomorrow at Bedlam Farm. My speech at the vet conference seems a long time ago. Maybe I will return to this convention, maybe not. We will see. I will definitely return to Orlando, a rich and strange and mystical place of the imagination for me, where giant corporations create alternate realities that people love. Me too. It will be good to see my own animals, and to continue to study and write about them, as they are endlessly fascinating to me. I want to work hard to understand them and to explore their thinking.