Critters

This word, which doesn't exist in New Zealand English, always sounds quintessentially down-home American to me. It's a variant pronunciation of creature, and would have been familiar to Shakespeare's audiences; it apparently still exists in Irish with the same meaning(s).

We are in the throes of a wintry storm which is apparently dumping large amounts of snow on the skifields in the South Island mountains. I'm certainly not going outside looking for critters!


Instead, here are some of my favourite critters, from a summer visit to Auckland zoo:

I've always loved giraffes, so prettily marked and so graceful.

 

Posted for Thematic Photographic 299