Juneteenth

I just learned about Juneteenth. I can't say I care much for the name, but if there was ever an event in United States history that deserved a National holiday, the ending of slavery is it. Let's call it Emancipation Day, and give everyone a chance to be happy that slavery is behind us, and be introspective about the fact that our ancestors tolerated it so late into our history.

( obligatory provocative anti-bible comment )

Visiting a New Park

One of the wonderful things about living in Massachusetts is the strong ethic of preserving green spaces and even the creation of new parks. I found out from the Boston Birders yahoo group about a park called "Skyline Park" in Brookline. It's a capped landfill, like Spectacle Island, and the land in Hamilton I visited for work a few years back. It just opened this year, and it has the appearance of a new park: wide open grassy areas, small trees, empty retaining ponds. It will be interesting to visit it in 30 years when it's more mature. Fortunately, it abuts both Lost Pond in Brookline, and Kennard Park in Newton, other protected areas which are thickly wooded. In Skyline we saw interesting birds at a distance.

( birds )

Lost Pond and Kennard Park

It's always great to find some new woods. There are a couple of stone fences in the area that are split so the path can go through.

( did we find the lost pond? )

Muddy River 06/20/09, 6:00 p.m.