April 27, 2003 - 9:24 p.m.

Spring In Boston

After today, I feel like it is finally really spring here. We'll probably have a few more days with highs in the 40's and such, but I think I will be able to regard them as anomalies now. Today was just about perfect, weatherwise, and tomorrow is supposed to be even better. I may have to get my new running shoes out of the box and try them out on the roads tomorrow.

So, I stepped out into the sunshine and balmy air today and was greeted by this sight in my garden.

Those are just some of the tulips I planted in the tiny garden plot I inherited from one of the Lynches' past nannies. They must be a dwarf variety, because they are really low to the ground. They also bloom early, so right now they are beautifully filling the gap between the bloom times of my crocuses and the bigger tulips. Aren't they lovely?

I headed in to Boston today for some errands (including a successful trip to the Saucony factory outlet where I got the aforementioned shoes) and to go to my friend Allegra's house for "Coffee" (a semi-weekly gathering of folks to drink various hot beverages and talk about just about anything). Today's topics of conversation ranged from what a healthy range for body fat percentage is to sperm races... Pretty random. I don't usually go to Coffee since it takes at least half an hour for me to get there and it takes place on Sunday evening. By Sunday night, I am usually in need of an early bedtime. This week it was being held in the afternoon, though, so I could go without worrying about a fatigued drive home or an insufficient night of sleep. It was really nice to hang out with everyone, since I haven't seen that group of friends in a couple weeks.

Before heading to Al's, I visited the Boston Public Garden armed with a bag of bread. The Garden, immortalized in the children's book Make Way For Ducklings, has a big pond, home to the Swan Boats and plenty of ducks and geese. I really enjoy feeding the mallards and Canadian geese and look forward to the appearance of the ducklings and goslings in the late spring or early summer. No offspring today, but I got loads of geese to eat out of my hands. I caught a couple of particularly greedy ones ogling my feet. I have to admit that my toes, peaking out of my sandals in all their new to the sun paleness, were not all that distinguishable from the bits of bread I was feeding the fowl. I was amused watching the considerate male mallards let their mates have first dibs on all the bits of bread I tossed. Even when I threw a morsel right in front of one of the males, he would wait to see if the female made a move for it before eating it himself. So sweet.

The best part of the visit, though, was my encounter with this little guy:

He snuck up on me while I was hand feeding a goose and stood on his hind legs about 3 inches from my foot peering up at me hopefully with those adorable beady eyes. When I reached down to drop a piece of bread for him, he reached out with his little paws and grabbed it from my fingers before I could drop it! He scampered a couple of squirrel steps away, nibbled away at the bread, and came back for more. While I was happily letting the squirrel eat from my hand I attracted a bit of an audience. People sitting on nearby benches or strolling past pointed and commented on me and my new friend. Obviously this was one bold little tree-climber, but he was cowardly enough that I had to keep periodically tossing bread to the nearby geese lest they come closer and frighten the squirrel away. Not satisfied with having the squirrel take the food from my fingers, I wanted him to actually eat out of my hand, so instead of holding the tidbit in my fingers I put a piece on my flat palm and held it out to him. Lo and behold, he grabbed my outstretched fingers with his itty bitty paws and ate the bread right from my palm! Wish I could have gotten a picture of that! Then a couple of obnoxious teenagers noticed what I was doing and tromped up and intentionally spooked my little beggar.

I am such a little kid when I get to feed animals like that! Granted, the furry and feathered residents of the park are so used to people that feeding them isn't much more challenging or exciting than fattening up the goats at your local petting zoo. Still, these creatures aren't entirely domesticated and are there of their own free will (thanks to the free handouts, of course). Plus, I have never seen a squirrel that bold! And he was cute! I was so excited that I called Sam on my cell phone in the midst of the squirrel feeding. He's one of the few people I know who gets as big a kick out of the antics of animals as I do. The rest of you all probably think I am nuts and/or gross! :)

I leave you with one last picture from my afternoon at the park. Sometimes, the city is lovely.

today's project: contributing to the obesity of fowl

musing about: how best to enjoy tomorrow's lovely weather

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flutter back - fly ahead