Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I took the bus to Cambridge today to visit some lilacs near Harvard Square. These lilacs are in the front yards of several houses near Mount Auburn Street (on Ash Street and Story Road), not the impressive collection at the Arnold Arboretum, but they're much closer to transit. There was enough rain yesterday and today to wash away some of the pleasant lilac scent, but there was enough to enjoy when I leaned over to smell the flowers. Most of the flowers on those lilac bushes were already open this afternoon, and they're forecasting more rain for each of the next several days, so this may have been my best chance (especially given my upcoming medical appointments), though I may look for more lilacs near my apartment tomorrow or Tuesday.

I stopped on my way home at Lizzy's to replenish my supply of ice cream. I wasn't thinking about ice cream until Adrian reminded me this morning to take the insulated bag with me, so I'm glad she mentioned it. (Ice cream without nuts, seeds, or pieces of fruit is on the list of things I can have as part of the pre-colonoscopy low-fiber diet tomorrow and Tuesday.) or I might have bought a pint of strawberry or ginger.)

I went out this afternoon, hoping to combine a look at lilacs and a trip to Penzey's, for less total walking than if I'd done them separately.

The trip to Penzey's was basically a success, except that I hadn't thought about how much that many glass jars would weigh: seven things we definitely wanted, plus free-with-purchase ground cumin and taco seasoning. We don't need ground cumin right now, but we will use it, so I figured I might as well. The taco seasoning might be redbird_safe, containing no capsaicin, but it won't be Adrian-safe, because it has lactose. So, I may try sprinkling it on my food; we commonly have things like sriracha, chili-lime seasoning, and hot paprika on the table for her and cattitude to add to their meals.

At Adrian's suggestion, I stopped at the Arlington library to look at lilacs in the gardens near the library. There were a lot of flowering trees and shrubs, but almost none of them were lilacs. Impressive rhododendrons and some fine ornamental cherry trees, along with a variety of plants I didn't recognize offhand. So, I proceeded as planned to Ash Street in Cambridge, where there are a few adjoining yards with a lot of lilac bushes. Those were worth the visit, but it's still a bit early in lilac season; I will probably try again, there or at the Arboretum or something, if there's a non-rainy day soon.

The last stop was Lizzy's, where I bought a strawberry cone and two pints of ice cream. Unfortunately, at least one of the two was partly melted by the time I got it home, and the lid came off, spilling on an upholstered chair. I wiped up the spill, and put the ice cream in the freezer, with a note to check later and see if the just-purchased ice cream is worth eating after refreezing.

Oh, while riding the green line today, I saw a child with a green line T-shirt; his father told the driver that the child had dressed up as a green line train for Halloween. I asked the child about the costume, and told him it was a pleasure to meet other people who like subways.

There are some nice lilacs in my neighborhood, and I grew up with a lilac in the back yard,

Part of what I like about going to the Arboretum, and botanical gardens, is the variety of kinds of lilac, sometimes with noticeably different scents. The arboretum here has a good lilac collection; the Brooklyn Botanic* Garden has an excellent one. The one in Brooklyn is much easier for me to go from shrub to shrub, sniffing, and not worry about falling; the Arnold Arboretum is hillier, and has more non-lilac bushes and even trees planted among the lilacs.

When I lived in New York, I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden more often than to the New York Botanical Garden (in the Bronx). I think the one in the Bronx had easier transit access from our home, but if I was taking that bus I was usually going to the Bronx Zoo; if I took the train to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I was going either there or to the Brooklyn Museum. I did once go to the zoo on my way to the Botanic Garden, because it was February and I was on a bus from downtown Brooklyn that passed the zoo, and my zoo membership card lived in my pocket.

There's a smaller botanical garden in Queens, tucked into Flushing Meadow Park, as is the Queens Zoo. My parents took us there sometimes, because we lived in Queens and could drive there. As an adult, I went by myself a couple of times, if I was in that part of Queens for some other reason; it's not convenient by transit starting from the part of Upper Manhattan that we sometimes referred to as "Baja Bronx."

*Yes, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and New York Botanical Garden. I assume this terminology is for historical reasons, along with there being two really excellent botanical gardens in the same city.

I went out for a bit this afternoon while adrian_turtle and cattitude napped: I got a couple of things at the tiny end-of-winter farmers market, then took the bus one stop, walked down Ash Street smelling the lilacs (and an apple tree), walked a little more, and came home.

I suspect I won't be getting to the Arboretum to visit their lilacs this year (Lilac Sunday as an organized thing isn't happening, but the Arboretum is open), and I mind that thought a lot less than I did a couple of days ago.

Also, someone walked past (on the other side of the street) while I was sniffing various lilacs, and said something cheerful and positive ending with "and your hair matches."

Socially distant lilacs meant going out with a bandanna in my pocket in case I needed it for a mask, walking around near home, trying to stand downwind of lilac bushes, and hoping.

I smelled a bit of lilac, and am going to try again in a couple of days: the lilac nearest my front door hasn't opened any of its buds yet, and most of the the lilacs I passed in this part of Belmont weren't yet at full bloom.

It was a good walk, on a pleasant quiet morning; in addition to the lilacs I saw a lot of violets (both purple and white) and dandelions, and some cherry trees that still have a lot of flowers.

Lilac season is just starting here, which means cattitude is congested and headachy. We both love the smell of lilacs, but he developed an allergy to them somewhere along the line, which makes it less appealing to go to the botanic garden or arboretum and sniff each lilac bush, because they don't all smell the same.

I have a repeating annual calendar entry that says "lilacs? if so, ping anne" so we can go to the Harvard Arboretum together, and this year we won't be able to do that.

There's one lilac bush near enough that I might be able to smell if from the back parking lot, the part that's behind the other building, but there's a solid fence between the parking lot and the adjacent garden, so I won't be able to get close. Unfortunately, enough pollen can reach us to set off Cattitude's allergy, without enough scent to enjoy.

In a few days, I will be going out with a bandanna tied over my face, approaching neighborhood lilac bushes, and carefully lifting the bandanna so I can smell the flowers. Probably early in the day, so there will be fwer people around.

After work yesterday, I went up to Central Park to see and smell the flowers along the Lilac Walk. It's early for lilacs yet, but a few were fully in bloom and a few more starting: delightful but not overwhelming. I smelled all of them, started to walk away, then turned back for another visit to one bush. Mmm, lilac. I suppose other species are sometimes aware when they're reacting to tropisms.

Other things in bloom nearby included the last of the forsythia and some wonderful flowering cherries. (If I don't happen to visit the park in those two weeks, I can easily forget how many fine cherry trees are growing there.) I wandered past the south edge of the lake to Strawberry Fields, where I saw some birders settled in with serious binoculars, on tripods. I asked someone standing there what they were looking at. She told me it was an owl, but she didn't know what kind. I waited a minute or two, and when someone else walked away, I asked one of the people if I could look through his binoculars. He said yes.

He had them focused on the owl. An Eastern screech owl, he said. Sleeping in full view on a tree branch, facing toward us (well, full view to birders at the right angle and with good eyes or good optical tools: probably quite adequately concealed from anything the owl needs to worry about). I took a nice long look: the tripod helped, because while I can't stand entirely still on a slope, any movement of the image was only from my own movement, and I didn't come close to losing the owl. He commented that he likes this place and time of year because "you can see three new birds a day."

When I got out our book to add the owl to the life list, I realized that it's been ages since cattitude or I had gone out actively looking for birds. The previous entry is the peacock I saw along I-84 last summer. (Some of this, of course, is that after a while you know most of the local birds: but I suspect I could add a few species by taking the A train to the right stop.)

Note: the Lilac Walk is just north of the Sheep Meadow: about 69th Street at the center of the park. The best of the flowering cherries are just west of the Reservoir, but I didn't walk that far north this time, just enjoyed a few scattered near the Lilac Walk. Strawberry Fields is at the west edge of the park, near the 72nd Street entrance; the south end of the B/C station is handier for the Lilac Walk, the north end for Strawberry Fields, and that's how I traveled yesterday. I thought of walking down to Columbus Circle but one foot didn't like that idea.