Wisdom, Good Deeds, and Goose Poop

Well, the park turned out to be an interesting experience today. My son and I did, in fact, take a lunch there; and we did, in fact, throw our trash away when we were done, but....those geese!! I'm used to Canadian Geese- toward them I have no ill will. They usually leave people pretty well alone. But those big ones...the ones that weigh forty pounds with orange beaks of steel...they're another story altogether. I'll bet Evan and I sat perfectly still at the picnic table for close to ten minutes. We were surrounded. They were hungry. There were at least a hundred geese total, and maybe twenty of them were those tragically brutal ones. They have an air about them. They're in it to win it. They creeped over, ever so slowly, but in a gaggle, in a semi-circle, leaving us nowhere to run but perhaps up and over the picnic table- at which point, we were sure they would follow. And they're faster than they look.

"Mom....Mom....um....I'm...." he trailed off out of the corner of his mouth.
"I know," I whispered. "Just don't freak them out. Patience. For once in your life, you just have to sit perfectly still, babe." He giggled quietly. "Shhhhhh..." I giggled back.

It was intense! They finally got bored of being ignored and moved on, at which time we slowly gather our trash to leave the pavilion, but then...."Run!" We ran to the car, unlocked the doors, and sat inside until Evan got so disappointed that he hadn't gotten to play yet. "Okay, well, we don't have any food on us, so we'll just book it to the other side of the lake. You go ahead of me...I'll hold them off." And that's what we did, but through what we semi-lovingly referred to as The Poo Gauntlet. It was a lot funnier on the way back to the car when they didn't care about us anymore.

After the playground, we had to sidestep a good few hundred piles of goose poop on the path. We had no choice...and we laughed the whole time. There is a photo in Galleries of what Evan called The Sand Castle of Goose Poop, as it had a goose feather on top of it. Had it been dog poop, I may have called a cab, but goose poop isn't so bad...just everywhere! It was an adventure, indeed.

I have to end with what was supposed to be the purpose of this day in the first place: Evan the anti-litterbug. It had been his suggestion to go to this particular park to pick up trash, and that's what we did. Well, that's what we did when we weren't running from the feather mob. We got what we could, though Evan said he didn't think we did enough. I told him that every little bit helps, and it's the the fact that he wanted to at all that matters. We got what we saw as we walked, and though that park has a long way to go, there is less litter there today than there was yesterday...and that's a beautiful thing.

Thank you, Evan. Even at six, your heart is as big as that of your favorite dinosaur.

The day turned out to be far better than what I had anticipated in my morning yuckiness. A wise neighbor started it off in a better direction, my son helped it make a leap even further that way, coffee with Rachel was really pleasant and necessary. The voice lesson I give went well, and I came back home to tee-ball with Mark and the kids. My mom showed up with a trunk full of donations for the shelter to take in the morning, the little ones are asleep. I have fresh coffee (my favorite evening routine), conversation with Mark about life and such, I'm blogging (which I'm really coming to love), and the night is quiet and peaceful.

I bid you all, adieu.

Peace and love.