Suburban Mother's Day Zoo

I woke up on Mother's Day Morn at my mom's house. I woke up at 5:45 AM because my dog always wakes up at 5:45 AM and paws at my face. My mom and dad now live in a condo in a suburb of Seattle. The dog and I (bleary eyed) walked out into rows and rows of cookie cutter condo garage doors for our mourning walk. Half a mile on the Lake to Lake Trail I found myself transfixed by the backdrop above. Is the cookie cutter evil if it has been placed in the dough with precision?
We went to the zoo on mothers day. The Woodland Park Zoo to be precise. The bears were a highlight for all of us. My daughter was able to be separated from a cuddly wuddly certain death by an inch of some invisible force field. The zoo makes these "natural" looking environments for the animals to hang out in. It makes the whole zoo experience less traumatic for some of us. But not everyone was falling for the ruse. What if, for these animals (um. . . and us), the Apocalypse is happening right now? Maybe it is hard for most of us to see because we are expecting a blinding flash of light and instant group death. Isn't a two hundred year extinction pretty darn quick?

How is a condo different from a zoo?
Or, who hasn't had the post-apocalyptic vision of being the last of our species?

I don't intend to appear anything but amazed.
Look at what beauty can be cultivated.
On my evening walk with the dog on mother's day, I was depressed and exhilarated by a lush traffic island. It was a zoo of isolated wonders floating in a sea of 'crete.