Who can Toucan? I can!

Today was a good day!  Not only did my husband finally come back from an eternal business trip, but we spent another morning with the kids at the magical jardim botanico.

It's like being in an oxygenated fairy tale; exploring leafy tunnels, hiding in the folds of massive tree trunks, swinging on branches, hopping along stepping-stones and braving rickety bridges, dad leading the way.  He knows all its secrets, having played there as a child.

Then there's the animals, especially when we take the path through the Floresta da Tijuca, Rio's green lung and the world's largest urban forest.  Usually we spot the little tiny micos, monkeys with delicate old man faces.  Last time we were there I nervously (and probably foolishly) let a larger, sharp-toothed macaco prego eat a tangerine out of my hand.  But today was a Toucan day..

I've been trying to get a decent photo of a Toucan for a while.  Every so often you spot a bright yellow flash in the tree, or an odd-shaped flying silhouette.  But then they disappear behind the leaves and it's impossible to shoot them.  Today though, a very handsome chap swooped off his high branch, landed right infront of me, and worked the camera for five minutes, bright blue eyes glaring right into the lens.  Thank you!

I was so busy being a photographer that I forgot about being a mum.  By the time I looked up everyone had disappeared to the playground and I had a moment of stillness all to myself, just me, the trees and the Toucan.  After 10 days alone with the kids that's precious indeed!