Some of the pleasures of spring

Here are some of the pictures we took during the last two days. As usual, I haven't figured out how this program decides the order, so readers will have to use their common sense and analytical skills. Another lovely day. Two pictures of lovebirds in the park - one human pair and one swan pair. Big Mallard and Cayuga and entourage in their sunny little corner - just hanging out and basking in the glory of spring. There's a man who was either an undercover officer checking us out or a jogger approving of the photography or both.




And then there's more signs of spring. A Lone Duck checking out his domain. Little blue flowers, Big flowering trees - magnolias and another type. Oops, I forgot to get the magnolias - tomorrow. They are actually growing from a downed tree! And, saving the best for last - the phragmites regenerating. This is the place of the big fire a few weeks ago. The new green shoots are already about a foot high. Plus, it looks like some of the garbage has been taken away, so it really will be a fresh start.
We went all the way in to the Nethermead today - the leg is almost completely back to normal. Poor JJ had forgotten our routine! We did our usual splitting up and going on opposite sides, calling her back and forth. At first, she just stood in the middle, barking at both of us, as Border Collies do (she says, "Herd: You're not in your place!!") Then she remembered and ran back and forth. The water fountains are turned on now, including the ground level doggy fountains - it is really spring!

The really exciting news: The N.Y. Times came to the park to do a little story about the swans, dying animals, dumping, etc. There have been articles in the Brooklyn Paper - a nice local weekly that we Brooklynites read avidly, but almost no one else. Then there were items in the Daily News and the Post, the 2 N.Y. tabloids. The Post loves to muckrake about everything - should a teacher or a Democrat do something bad, they're on the cover for weeks. The News is similar, but a little more discriminating, since they're a bit more liberal and not owned by Rupert Murdoch. [All opinions are those of the blogger only.] But when the Times gets involved, that's serious. The Times considers itself a national paper, and only reports local news that they see as really important. Ed told us all about the visit from the Times and I really wish I'd been there.

A Times reporter met him and Ann outside the park, on time, with a photographer, to go look at the lakeside killing field, as we have taken to calling it. Ed describes the reporter as an Englishwoman, who seemed very intelligent. Being married to an Englishman, I assured Ed that all of us Americans think that of any English accent. Anyway, he took the reporter to see the killing field, and pointed out the spot across the lake, 200-300 yards away, where the water had been tested AFTER the lake had been drained for 3 days and refilled. She wasn't going to accept this draining thing as absolute fact until they were at the testing spot, and 2-3 black SUV's drove up, filled with men with wrist walkie-talkies and a park spokesman, Eugene Patron. Patron admitted to the draining, claimed it was "in anticipation of heavy rain" but wouldn't say so on camera. At approximately this time the reporter called her editor to say this was a bigger story than they had thought.

Patron admitted that they didn't do any clean-up over the winter (not on camera), but that the killing field had been cleaned up. They walked back to check. There were still chicken heads in the lake. One of the park people said, "that's old stuff from before." Ann fished a head out with a stick. Patron said that they didn't have the equipment to get that kind of thing out, and, as I understand it, Ann offered him her stick. So, let's see what happens next.