The Museum of Nature

When Tom and I returned from Kingston Merv was visiting. Monday Mum, Chuck, Tom and I took him to the Museum of nature. I hadn't been to it since the big reno/ glass addition.

I was happy to see that the entrance is in the same place so all visitors are still greeted by this friendly face. Seeing it again brought back quite a few childhood memories. 

This exhibit opened shortly after I left for Oz and it's existence has been taunting me ever since.  This is the skeleton of a blue whale. I have always wanted to see the scale of this animal compares to me.. but I don't really want to go swimming with one. So standing next to this fulfilled my life long dream.

Horse shoe crab. I recommend clicking on this photo and seeing it real sized. The texture and colour is fantastic. 

My favourite. A dried octopus. Look at those tentacles curl. 

There were three size comparison bronze statues. This one was the now extinct colossal squid. I really liked it's funny facial expression and plump shape. 

A baby pike. Great pout though. 

After I sated my whale appetite we found the mineral exhibit. Both Tom and I really liked the meteorite section. This is the description of my favourite one. 

And here it is. Absolutely beautiful. 

Foals Gold. I would love to have one of those big chunks of pyrite on my desk. So perfectly formed and shiny.

Some colour and pattern inspiration here. 

I can't remember what this one was, I believe it was a fossil.  Great shape all the same.

The coolest shell ever. Count on me to find some sea creatures in the rock section. Again all these are worth clicking on and viewing in close up to see all the detail.

This mineral synthetic Bismuth reminded me of gasoline and fractals. I got very excited when I saw that they were selling bits of it in the gift shop. I shall be making a return trip to get some eventually. 

Our last stop, the stuffed animals.  I don't remember these dioramas at all. The painting were fantastic too, and some good dramatic scenes.  One of my favourite animals the ferocious cougar.

I ended up taking portraits of some of the animals again. 

When Tom found out that we were going to the museum of nature his first question to the delight of my step dad was "Will there be any squirrels there?. For those readers who are not Canadian squirrels are like pigeons, totally mundane and frequently seen (though squirrels don't congregate in such large numbers). So Tom's fascination bordering on obsession with them is pretty hilarious to the rest of us. After walking through the stuffed animals and going back around to the last tiny little area that had only 4 or 5 dioramas of little animals I spotted one. The elusive squirrel.

And a skunk.