i went to the middlesex fells reservation this morning with alex wong. i've always known about the place, this sort of hidden reservation nestled at the intersection of several neighboring towns, medford, melrose, mladen, stoneham, and winchester, but never had the opportunity to actually visit until now. while for waiting alex to arrive, i saw my neighbor jeff walking his new dog. i quietly question his suitability as a dog owner as i watched him forcibly drag the puppy across the street, pulling at the leash with the kind of urgency that seemed like the puppy's daily walks were cutting into his own schedule.

when we go there we parked at the stone zoo parking lot, at the northern end of the fells, and walked west on pond road, around the edge of spot pond. today's weather was overcasted and cold, but it wasn't windy, so it wasn't too bad. walking through snow froze my feet but once i got over the fact that my shoes were going to be wet, i was fine. there wasn't very much to see, most everything covered up in snow. a bluejay up in a tree, some canadian geese swimming off in the distance, was about it. footprints in the snow revealed some animal activities, besides squirrels, there were probably rabbits and a few other animals we couldn't identify.

we got back in the car and drove around spot pond until we got to the speedfold parking area on the other side of the reservation (western fells). this area was more interesting and popular, a nearly full parking lot testament to that fact. we made our way north and came across a large open field populated with people and their dogs. they were all medium-sized to large dogs, off their leash and running around.

we followed the skyline trail, marked by white tags nailed to trees. i, being the evil person that i am, would sometimes cover up the markings with snow. besides that, i also made intermittent snow sculptures, like the snow squirrel climbing up a tree, to baffle anyone who came across them. the pussy willows are out, and i was very surprised to see the first signs of insects, a bunch of fireflies hatching out of a tree.

there was hardly anyone around, occasionally we'd encounter people, but always with their dogs. we got to the base of bear hill and ascended the rocky climb to the summit, where we could see boston off in the distance.

after a day of naturing, we headed to davis square to get some wings. i had 15 minutes to kill so i went to the mcintyre and moore bookstore, having never been in there before. outside i bumped into lisa and a friend, we chatted briefly, before i went inside the store to do some browsing, before picking up the food order. alex decided to get suicide this time around while i went with my usual medium, having no desire to get into a pissing contest to see who can eat the hotter wings flavor, i know my limitations. alex left around 6pm, and i quickly fell asleep in the living with the television on, waking up 3 hours later to catch the final half of view from the top. revitalized with sleep energy, it would be another round of television watching, including john carpenter's vampires: los muertos starring john bon jovi. i finished off the evening with some late night ramen.