Yesterday was the last in a long streak of sunny and dry days in Boston. I visited Forest Hills Cemetery to see what I could find.
I saw this eastern forktail damselfly resting on a reed at the edge of Lake Hibiscus. Damselflies rest with their wings closed or only slightly open. According to A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts, eastern forktails emerge early in the spring and are very common in this area.
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We met at the sand pear tree (Pyrus pyrifolia) on Bussey Hill near the Explorer’s Garden on a cool, sunny day.
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Over the weekend, I saw a turkey crossing the road in the Longwood Mall area. He (looks like a male to me) quickly moved into someone’s yard where I managed to get a photo of him.
This is not the first time I’ve seen a wild turkey in the Longwood area. I once saw a turkey leading her baby chicks on Louis Pasteur Ave. Brookline appears to have a large wild turkey population, which has been creating some problems for the town recently.
Jef led us on a walk along the banks of the Muddy River on a sunny, seasonal spring day. We first stopped to view some outdoor sculpture as part of the Through the Trees exhibition by studios without walls.
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Every year, Jamaica Plain celebrates Wake Up the Earth, a paean to spring and to a successful push to stop an interstate highway from decimating the neighborhood. A parade wanders from the center of the neighborhood to the Southwest Corridor Park to begin an afternoon of music and people. Here are some photos from the parade.
Yesterday started off as a sunny, warm, summer-like day but quickly turned cloudy, cold, and windy. Maybe it was this sudden turn of weather that kept many birds from showing themselves. Still, the robins and grackles and sparrows were out.
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We saw a couple birds for the first time this spring on yesterday’s walk around Jamaica Pond. A spotted sandpiper was hopping along the banks, trying to keep its distance from us. When it flew away, it flew low over the water.
We also saw a yellow-rumped warbler. We could easily see the yellow patch under the wing but had to wait until the bird ruffled its feathers for us to see the namesake yellow patch on its back.
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On Washington Street in Roxbury, near Dudley Square, an art installation asks passersby to chalk in the rest of this sentence: “Before I die I want to…”
Most of the responses have something to do with education, careers, personal relationships, travel, sex, and drugs — things that revolve around an individual. It made me happy to see that someone had thought of an entire community: “Before I die I want to see ROXBURY THRIVE!”
More on the installation from Both Ends of Dudley.
On this tragic day, when senseless acts of violence have hurt so many, I am grateful for the places of peace in our city. Jamaica Pond is one of those places, an oasis of peace and calm amidst the chaos of the day. We walked its shores, sirens continually wailing along the Jamaica Way as emergency vehicles rushed downtown.
We found this stone on a broken tree trunk near Ward’s Pond.
