peeper's pond

the cellphone alarm went off at 9am this morning, i put it on snooze and went back to bed, and didn't wake up until almost 1pm. guess my body really needed that sleep. i had ambitious plans for this saturday, but i got up so late, i felt like the day was already over. besides, the weather started to look like it would rain at any moment. still, i couldn't bear the idea of just spending the day at home without doing something, so i decided to explore the arlington's great meadows, which is ironically located in the nearby town of lexington. i read online that you can actually find sundews there and i wanted to see for myself.

while waiting for the light to change in porter square, i saw a woman waving to group of guys on the other side of the street, with me in between. "she's not waving at you, motherfucker!" one of the guy shouted in my direction. i made no reaction, figuring that comment wasn't directed at me. his friend, noticing the disturbance, held the angry man back. "what're you doing, man?" his friend said to him. that's when the angry man looked at me and said, "nah, i'm not talking to him [me], he's cool, i'm talking to that guy in the car!" it's all about the motorcycle. the light changed and i sped off, pretending not to notice anything.

i rode down mass avenue, across arlington, into lexington, and found the waldorf school. the east village fair was in progress and the place was buzzing with activity. i ignored the festivity and walked to the back of the school, where arlington's great meadows is located, next to the minuteman's bikepath. a nice woman leaving the area on bike informed me, "it's a great view," and i replied with an inadvertently sarcastic "oh yeah?" sometimes i forget to turn down the meanness level.

i followed the marked trail around a large marsh. i couldn't get my printer to work so i didn't have a trail map, walking it blind instead. the path was muddy at certain points, the low-lying areas were the marsh water could seep in. at one part of the trail it was almost entirely submerged and i have to hop on some strategically placed stones, my foot slipping a few times (resulting in some wet footwear). the only people i saw were those walking their dogs (i've personally grown weary of those who use nature preserves as public bathrooms for their pets), and occasionally i'd hear folks on the bikepath. trees and shrubs were undergoing their autumnal color change, with a few early season specimens standing out from the rest in fiery red and orange. i made my way along the western edge of the marsh, then up north as far as peat pond. i noticed sphagnum moss and thought i found the sundew site, but further investigation revealed nothing more beyond that. as a whole, i didn't see anything new: insects, a few bees a few flies some mosquitoes, amphibians, the flash of frogs jumping back into the marsh, mushrooms, a few common species as well as some yellow coral mushrooms, and plants, jerusalem artichoke flowers (which look like very tall daisy plants) and red clumpy sumac flowers. from peat pond i made a detour, retracing my steps via the GPS, thinking that i might've possibly missed the peat meadow that had the sundews. seeing nothing, i left great meadows, happy to get back home before it started raining. i returned via belmont hill instead, the multiple traffic lights on mass ave making for a slower ride.

jerusalem artichoke

smooth sumac

wet path

red maple overhang

when i got back to cambridge i checked the great meadows trail map and realized i completely missed the peat meadow, although i'll know where to go come next time (probably sometime next week). i gave the house a thoroughly vacuuming before my parents came over for dinner, bringing with them some kentucky fried chicken. my favorite part of the chicken? the drumstick. my favorite kind of chicken? day old chicken, when it's cold and dry, for some reason that to me tastes better than freshly cooked chicken. later, i sliced open one of the giant pomegranates i bought from the NYC chinatown. although i missed the first red sox game earlier today, i did catch the second double header, the red sox winning both games. these games are just throwaways for the red sox as they prepare for the playoffs come tuesday, our opponents still unknown.

SPECIAL NOTE: there's a new link on top of the page that goes to my flickr photo account. so far there's only a few photos (devoted readers will no doubt recognize them from past entries), but i intend to add some more photos in the near future (sort of a "best of" list), maybe organize them into categories (e.g. all the mushroom photos on one page), and some behind-the-scene photos that don't find their way onto the weblog.