After what was likely a successful and frenetic Christmas (I am writing this before Christmas and praying that I found the last items I am looking for), I am looking forward to some quiet reflection about the mysteries of life and naps.
In particular, I will be further pondering the size of puffins and platypuses. You see, in the coming year, there is a strong possibility that my family and I will be going to Iceland. By coincidence, two of my cousins are also going to Iceland next year so we were talking about the country and what little I know about it: fjords and puffins.
The conversation quickly moved to puffins and how cute they were and then my cousin told me that puffins were smaller than you would think.
I had imagined a puffin to be the size of a small penguin; apparently, they are around twelve inches tall. They look so cute and fat that I expected them to be at least two feet tall but, no, puffins are little strange birds smaller than a crow.
Imagine my surprise when my brother and my cousins also informed me that platypuses are also smaller than they appear.
To be honest, I never gave platypuses much thought given that I have never been to Australia and that I find it unlikely that I would go in the next little while.
When I did think about platypuses, I imagined they were around the size of a beaver.
This wasn't something that I questioned; this was something that was true. Platypuses, like beavers, were mid-sized semi-aquatic creatures and, at least to me, it seemed like they should be around the same size.
Not true!
A typical platypus is around 40 centimetres minus the 12-centimetre tail while a beaver is typically twice that size. Perhaps it is the dawn of a new year that makes me more susceptible to be awed by the mysteries of the universe, but this discovery has impressed me.
Canadians forget that our wildlife, so familiar to us, is infinitely strange to the rest of the world.
Take the moose, for instance.A goofy, long-legged giant ungulate that lives in our backyards, the moose tops out at around two metres high. It is huge.
And ugly in a cute way.
And delicious, but that is a debate for another day.
So what was the point of all of this today?
The point, although slim, is this: take the time this season to really spend time thinking about the things that are important, like the relative sizes of platypuses and puffins.
It is a calming and nonsensical pastime that relaxes the mind and prepares you for the chaos of the impending new year.
