A New Beginning

After the totally depressing day of too many dead animals, I took a day off, slept late, and gave everything a lot of thought. I cannot let myself obsess on the dead animals in the park. It's too much, what with also worrying about oil spills, terrorists, Tea Party morons, the wrong direction that our education system is going in, aging, the oppression of women in the Middle East and Africa, the corporate takeover of the world, climate change, the tainting of America's food supply with chemicals and genetic modification, etc. etc. etc. I had a nice day at home, getting rid of my lawn and putting in flowering shrubs and ground covers. I have been attempting to grow a decent lawn in our tiny front yard since 1987, without success. So now, we have very nice shrubs, with pine bark mulch covering the ground. I bought all the "part shade" plants that they had at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden plant sale, put it all in yesterday. Whatever takes and thrives, I will add more of them, so that I can finally have a low-maintainence and yet beautiful front yard.

The Park: Today was Saturday, so we went all the way to Grand Army Plaza for the usual supplies of goat and cow cheeses. Met a man walking his finch on the way to the steps up lookout hill. The bird was beautiful - shiny black, with a deep red breast. Reminded me of Hong Kong, where the parks have cords and hooks hanging from the trees. People, mostly old men, take their birds out for walks, in their cages, and hang them up for some fresh air. The cages in Hong Kong are prettier - bamboo, in interesting shapes, with decorated porcelain water and food dishes for the birds. But this finch seemed very happy in its ordinary cage, and so did the owner. He seemed a little disappointed that I wasn't a bird owner, but I explained that I had one as a child, the only pet my parents allowed, and now that I was grown I preferred dogs.

Huffed and puffed up the steps. 5 crack bags, only 1 beer can, and a nice coup0le resting from their huffing and puffing at the top. He did some impressive push-ups, and I showed them my anti-batwing exercise. She understood exactly what I meant, but he clarified it as a triceps exercise. Men don't seem to worry about batwings.

Spotted a huge rabbit, and a film crew photographing it. One man threw sticks to get the rabbit to move for a more lively film, but they didn't hurt it. Also saw lots of birders out with telescopes and cameras. We went by the "lost and found" waterfall. This waterfall was seen only in old (100+ years) pictures, but the ravine had fallen into disrepair,. They found the location by examining the rocks, and it is now reclaimed and beautiful.

The best thing: two live goslings being nurtured by their parents and a whole flock of geese. Truly felt like "It takes a village." Although I do worry a bit about the geese that seem to b e taking over the Lake and driving out the ducks. I think there used to be many more ducks. I really have to stop looking for new things about which to worry.