There's a fish in my phone booth: Lumiere London 2016

First of all, it was really weird to write "2016" in that headline.

We've greeted the New Year rather slothly: three weeks of house guests, holidays, meeting new family and travelling meant we were excited to sit and binge-watch Parks and Recreation for several nights in a row. I didn't document that part, but trust me — it has been one big, poofy snuggle-fest.

As for new year's resolutions: I don't have one. BUT, I am trying to practice being present when I'm out wandering. It's such a temptation to take photos of eeeeeverything that I've found myself not actually looking at my surroundings; not being present. So, new rule: try to only take ten (good) photos. Then, put the camera/phone away and look at the world with my eyeballs. Todo el mundo is taking photos anyway. I'm happy to take a few of my own to share, but the internets will also be full of much better, higher-quality photos than I could take (case-in-point via Secret London). So my prerogative has become to let them do that, and let me-self enjoy the scene.

Also, wtf, "prerogative" has two Rs?? Since when?!

Last night we finally found some motivation: Lumiere London, a light festival around popular central London locations. I'm not totally sure why it's happening, other than to add some light into the dark and cold winter nights. (It's finally feeling cold here — nearing freezing temps — though still not as cold as the Midwest winters we're used to.)

We wandered over to Grosvenor Square, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus to check it out. The experience was neat, just because the major carriageways (er, streets) were shut down from traffic, and pedestrians flooded in to see the displays. Some of the displays were ingenious — I loved the fishy phone booth and the fishy lanterns... maybe I just like watching fish? — and some were kinda meh. There are still a few displays over by King's Cross that we haven't seen, so watch this post for updates maybe.

And, if you know him — or even if you don't — wish a happy birthday to the dude pictured below, in front of the elephant posterior! It's his birthday today, and I like him a lot.

Grosvenor Square:

Oxford Street/Regent Street:

Piccadilly Street:

Elephants!

Ten things I learned about elephants while at Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

1) Trunks have up to 140,000 muscles in them, primarily used for insisting you give him that watermelon. 

2) An elephant that looks pregnant might just be fat. 

3) In unnatural situations (I.e, forced breeding), a female's hip can be broken during mating. 

4) Elephants have a more developed brain (frontal cortex?) that can experience emotions like humans or dolphins do. 

5) A four-year-old elephant whose mom just had a baby will act out, similar to a human four-year-old (I may know one that fits this description...) :)

6) In the wild, elephants travel in family herds. When several unrelated elephants are in the same place, they'll form their own family. Sounds like college!

7) Elephants loooove the water. But they don't actually need to be scrubbed for 20 minutes by tourists. 

8) When an elephant moves, you move. 

9) At 5 weeks old a baby elephant is strong enough (or big enough) to push a grown man around, and its mother is hungry and pushes the little bugger out of the way to eat. 

10) There are only 2,500-4,500 Asian elephants left in the wild. And many being mistreated. And many being saved. Be nice to elephants!