Sad

Last week I started my post with a Happy New Year.  But instead of being completely happy this week, I'm also very sad.

Why?  Well, if you've paid attention to my writing and blogging or anything else about me, you'll probably be aware that I love animals.  Dogs?  Definitely.  And other pets, like cats.  But I also enjoy wildlife.  And I adore Australian wildlife, thanks to its difference from ours here in the U.S.

Right now, I've heard that a billion--yes, a billion--animals have died in the Australian wildfires.  I hope that's an exaggeration, but I keep hearing it. Some species may be totally decimated.  Media focuses on the poor koalas and kangaroos, and occasionally wallabies. Sometimes what's posted online or shown on TV includes people attempting to help individual or groups of animals.  I cheer them on and hope they continue and do a lot more.  But there are many more animals of different species, too, that I haven't seen featured.

I've taken a couple of trips to Australia and spent what time I could at zoos and wild animal parks there, fascinated by the inhabitants.

And as I write this I'm wearing a shirt that I bought at the site where the Burbank float for the Rose Parade was taken for people to view it, complete with animation.  What was it, and why do I mention it?  It was a phoenix, a mechanical wonder decorated with all kinds of flower petals and such, and it bobbed up and down and turned to music, with bursts of flame igniting behind it.  The parade's theme was "The Power of Hope," and the float's theme was "Rise Up"--inspired by the idea of hope rising from the ashes of California wildfires. 

I was inspired and saddened by the float.  I'm always sad to hear of wildlife casualties of the California wildfires--people too, of course.  And I most certainly wish that the phoenix concept arises in Australia--and that all the people, and all the species and animals possible, rise up and survive.