The Donkey on the Stairs, Explained and Illustrated

My older sister, Anne, asked me for the reason for my blog's title. You will notice that Anne credits me for having a rational and well thought out explanation for my behavior, in spite of the fact she witnessed most of my adolescence firsthand. That's just the sort of person she is.  I promised that the story would be the subject of my very next post, and then promptly fell into a deep blue funk for several weeks and didn't post anything.
       So here it is at long last, The reason this blog is called "The Donkey on the Stairs" (Although to boost readership, I'm considering changing it to "It's Got Lots of Pictures") :
When I was travelling I started my first blog, Tourist Monkey to keep everyone updated on my travels. One curious thing about travel writing is when monkeys are stealing your luggage or you're crammed uncomfortably on a bus with 59  unwashed people, or something generally unpleasant is happening to you, it's remarkably easy. When you are happy and at peace, writing about your adventures becomes very difficult because nothing, from a purely narrative perspective, is happening. It was exactly this predicament I was facing in Bhagsu, an extremely pretty and peaceful little Himalayan town in India. On one beautiful sunny morning I was walking to my favorite breakfast place. As I strolled downhill watching the blue magpie flip back and forth between the trees, with their long streamer-like tails and vaguely suspicious expressions that made them look like fugitives from a story book illustration, I was thinking that I was overdue to post an entry.  Just as I was thinking that I had nothing at all to write about I stepped out of the way of a train of donkeys. It should be mentioned that most of Bhagsu's streets are actually a series of narrow staircases because the terrain is so steep.  No wheeled vehicle could manage them. The only way to get supplies up and down the mountainside is with pack ponies or donkeys, Trains of these animals march up and down the hill all day. On average you would have to stand aside and wait for them to pass five or six times a day.If i hadn't been thinking about writing home, it simply would have never occurred to me that there was anything unusual about this and I might have never mentioned it. It got me thinking about all the other things I accepted as commonplace that would seem exotic and strange to an outside observer. I had very little trouble writing that entry.
       For the most part I think that I lead a fairly ordinary life, yet I am a professional puppeteer and artist. These are not exactly common career paths. My morning routine involves misting lizards and putting fresh greens in the bird cages. I think upon closer inspection, most people could find something unusual and interesting in their day to day routine. On the whole, ordinary life is an extraordinary thing! I chose this title to remind myself of this.

When my sister asked me about the title, she asked why I called the blog "The Donkey on the Stairs" and not "The Capybara in the Cupboard". This struck me as really funny for some reason:

 The Idea expanded into an Alphabet of obscure animals in strange locations (bear in mind these sketches are rough drafts). For example: A Babirusa in the Bathtub:

 A Vicuna in the Vegetable stand:

 A Wombat In the Washing Machine:

 A Pangolin in the Picnic Basket:

 An Aye-Aye in the Aquarium :

 ...And so forth.

On a completely unrelated note, I was chatting with my friend Gennarose the other day.( Aside from being a wonderful human being, Gennarose may just be the single most  talented person I know, which is really saying something!) During the course of conversation, she announced "I hate singing rodents! unless they're singing opera. Then that's just classy" (It actually makes sense in context). Then, this happened:

Apparently, you should really be careful what you say around me....