Flowering trees

Tuesday morning on the way to work, I passed a tree in bloom. The wind was blowing lightly, and flower petals wafted in front of me, scattering on the ground.

Labels: drawings, personal

posted by Tony at 10:46 PM | 1 comments

Biking to work

I biked to work yesterday. It was a little nippy and my knee hurts, but it was generally very nice. (The ride home was nicer — warmer weather, and the wind was at my back.)

Trees are budding — willows and shrubs are leading the pack there — and magnolias and forsythia are in blooms. Plus I saw birds... in addition to the usual sparrows, gull, robins, and grackle, I saw a cardinal, a woodpecker, a big shiny crow, a mourning dove, and a momma duck with a single duckling. The duckling was adorable, though I couldn't help spinning tails of woe in my mind to explain why there was only one duckling in the brood.

The mourning dove was next to the path hanging out with a couple of robins. As my bike approached, the robins took off, while the mourning dove stood its ground, staring at me and faintly quaking.

Labels: personal

posted by Tony at 3:59 PM | 0 comments

Stain

On the train today there was a stain on a seat near me -- something had spilled that made the fabric of the seat appear lighter. The stain was almost exactly in the shape of a hand with the index finger extended, pointing at the drain in the center of the seat. Almost perfect, except the middle finger was a little short, like the fingers of my kindergarden art teacher. (Some fingers were full size, others were tiny stubby things. When asked about it, which it seems to me someone did in almost every class, she just said, "That's the way God made me," which has always seemed to me a display of remarkable aplomb in the face of 5-year-olds. On the other hand, she insisted on calling me "Donald", which I did not like.)

Labels: personal

posted by Tony at 9:46 AM | 0 comments

More bunnies

There was another bunny in the yard when I got home last night. I decided it was too blasé about me, so I chased it around the yard. I had hoped to chase it out of the yard, but it kept doubling back — I guess it didn't care to try squeezing under the fence with me hot on its trail. Anyway, it was remarkably fun, except when it ran under my feet and I almost stepped on it... I think I understand dogs a little better now. Eventually it did exit the yard, jumping through the fence into our neighbors' drive.

Labels: personal

posted by Tony at 6:30 PM | 0 comments

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies

I'm seeing rabbits in the yard every day now, hopping around, chewing on the lawn, and otherwise being rabbitty. I really charmed by this, but I don't think I will be so much when they start eating other plants, especially lettuce, radishes, and other Peter Rabbit favorites.

The rabbits themselves are huge and brown — no winsome albino mini-lops here — but I really prefer the brown ones. They seem more real to me; I feel the same way about mice (brown = cute, white or black = boring). They eye us uncertainly, and run away if we approach, but overall they seem pretty brazen.

We didn't see any last year, so they must have just discovered us. (Or perhaps they've just discovered that the previous owners of the house, and their dog, have moved away.)

In any event, we are taking step to keep the rabbits away from the lettuce and radishes we just planted. Last year's wild arugula is coming up again, unprotected... we'll see if it gets eaten. I have no intention of setting traps for the rabbits, even those humane ones (and where would I relocate them to, anyway?).

Meanwhile the daisies and hyacinths are blooming and it's all very pretty.

Labels: personal

posted by Tony at 6:39 PM | 0 comments