I don’t want to bury the lead here – something newsworthy and heartwarming happened today, but I do feel that it requires a little bit of set-up…
The morning greeted us with calm and fair weather after a very windy night, so J.B. decided we should take advantage of the unseasonable warmth and throw a little early impromptu Christmas party for the chimpanzees.
He and Kelsi decorated the trees of Christmases past that are planted on the hill. Anna came up with cute and yummy “ornaments” by cutting out heart shapes in pieces of pineapple using a cookie cutter.
If you know anything about Negra, it’s probably that she’s not an early-riser, generally preferring to linger in bed. This morning, however, she was the first out of the raceway to investigate the breakfast party.
She marched right up to the trees, and we all remarked to one another that she was further up on the hill than she’d been all year.
Perhaps she overheard us and thought, “hold my pineapple.”
What she did next was without precedent.
Missy had grabbed a pineapple ornament, a book, and a pineapple top from the tree and climbed up high to Jamie’s Lookout, joining Foxie and Jamie:
Foxie and Jamie soon departed.
Anna saw J.B., who was taking photos on the other side of the fence, run up the hill. Then we all heard him exclaim over the radio that Negra was climbing up the ladder to Jamie’s Lookout.
The Towers: Jamie’s Lookout and Carlene’s Tower were conceived of and built by founder Keith LaChappelle and friends in the summer of 2015 (I had to search for this blog post to find out the exact timeline).
Negra has never been to the top of this structure.
But today, five and a half years later, she climbed right up and sat next to Missy as though she had done it a hundred times before.
Perhaps you can discern her motivation and feel the subtle pressure she is asserting over Missy in this photo:
Missy soon finished her pineapple ornament and took Negra’s cue, leaving the pineapple top behind. Negra stayed up there, on top of the world, for a wonderfully long amount of time.
And then she climbed down holding the pineapple top and book (which she no doubt hoped contained peanut butter between its pages) in her mouth.
Oh, sweet Negra! Good for you!
OHmygoodness!!!! This post just fills my heart and soul up to the very top and then some. What a gift you shared!!! NEGRA!!!! She often amazes me in how she has transformed over the years there. THANK YOU for giving her an environment to do this in. Love and peace and wonderful things to all of you in this upcoming new year.
It’s a Christmas Miracle !!!
Negra, you are such an inspiration ???
How exciting!
Just when you think you’ve seen it all…. We get an early Xmas present named Negra 🙂
Cried tears of joy! What a brave, sweet, soul. A lookout fit for a Queen.
Go Neggie! What a girl! She can still surprise us after all these years.
What a wonderful ending to the pre-christmas party!!! Oh Negra you get younger every day. It’s so go to see you enjoying yourself. Diana, thank you for the vivid description of the day’s events.
happy for your great weather…..every day contains some new observations and defies explanation….hope for a pretty day on Christmas…..Tom
Thank you Diana for such a great description and all those amazing photos! Our WONDERING eyes for sure…. It is a teary moment for so many to be privy to watching Negra embark on a new adventure… maybe she was looking for a sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer …. one never knows! Merry Christmas to all! and to all a GOOD NIGHT 🙂 .. sweet dreams to everyone… Neggie may have just expanded her dream world too.. since she is such a good sleeper.. visions of things from a perspective she had not seen before. Just glorious.
I’m going to burst. The first two photos, the wonderment on the faces of Foxie and Jamie as they survey the tree is too much. And I’m touched by the love that went into your tree decorations! Just the pineapple disks alone would have been lovely, but you took the time to cutout a heart shape — incredible. Love it! Missy looks so sweet are fully extended grasping one of her three favorite tree items and going off to join the others. And then Negra. Negra! Climbing all the way to the T-O-P for the first time ever! Eeeesh! I needed to catch my breath as I scrolled through the photos. Negra! Missy, I want you to know I feel for you and I want to personally thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving up that golden crown and bowing out gracefully so the Queen could have it.. I’ll love you forever for this one, I don’t even care what the motivation was.
Negra, up there all on her own, top of the world…..she took in the glorious view first, inspected the book (Peanut butter?!), and then, she clutched her crown. (and I sighed and found myself teary eyed) She climbed down that ladder as if she did it every day.
Clearly pineapple crowns have been hidden up on high before. I can’t begin to think what prompted this. Desire? Courage? Confidence in her position? Good old fashioned chutzpah? All of the above? It’s simply marvelous! Now I’m curious to see if/when Negra will venture out to climb again. Got any more pineapple crowns to temp her with!? : ) This will carry me through until the new year!
Thank you. Hugs to all.
I’m glad to know we are never too old to try something new.
You read my mind, Betsy!
When I was Neggie’s age, I learned how to snowboard. I’m loving this moment.
I’ve always wanted to snowboard! You give me inspiration to try…someday 😉
I have good balance (not as good as I did then, post injury– haha, not snowboard related!). If you feel like you’d be good at it, try it!
I’ve followed these chimps since their first day at the sanctuary. Negra has never been much of a climber. This is amazing footage. Thank you for the photos!
What a glorious day to be witness to such an amazing happening. Kuddo’s to you for catching it all while it was unfolding…Darling Negra, we all know she appreciates a good vieuw.
And where was the photo-taker ( J.B.?) ; to be on the same hight as the top of that structure….fantastic photo’s!!
Heartwearming as always.
And this proves that there is hope still for Honey B. and Mave. One day……
Oh happy day!!! I love how you all communicate with each other in excitement to share such moments as they happen so no one has to miss it. Cutting out hearts in the pineapple slices. How do you caretakers think up all these creative ideas. You never seem to run out of new ones. This was a heartwarming post for all of us who have been following Neggie’s journey. Thanks JB for the photos that let us all share in the moment and to Diana for her editorial moment-by-moment report. You people are awesome.
Oh, goodness, Diana, best blog of…..I don’t know how long!
Everyone has pretty much said it all, so I’m just going to repeat myself:
“Hearing the words ‘Negra was the first one out of the raceway’ will always be music to my ears.”
And
“Dear Neggie, I wish you the top of the pineapple. Always. “
Take notice, world: Old ladies can do stuff!
(This message brought to you on behalf of Negra, myself, and old ladies everywhere!)
You bet we can, Pat! Negra gave herself a new adventure and enrichment experience. What a good role model she is! Gives me inspiration for my own new explorations…
Yay Negra!!! Such exciting news!!!!
Neggie…This stunning awe of each confident step moves me to stinging tears…Such a beautiful, sweet story about the beloved Queen of CSNW….Thank you Diana…This fills me up with pure joy…I LOVE it…