It's the dirtiest, ugliest time of year, with melted snow revealing all of winter's garbage, and no plants growing yet. bink took me and the Orphan Reds in the car to the Conservatory to see some green this afternoon.
"I don't know if I have a doll in my bag, or what."
What was your wish, Penny Cooper?
An elderly man came up to me at the fountain and told me that his daughter "in her fifties" travels with a Raggedy Ann doll that she photographs wherever she goes.
"I kind of look forward to seeing it in her photos," he said.
I thanked him for telling me––I'm not alone!––and asked him to pass along my greetings to his daughter. Theresa, her name is.
Red Hair Girl, no respecter of posted signs, was approached by a conservator and told to refrain from touching the plants, please.
SweePo wanted to touch the koi, but today they weren't hungry enough to nibble fingers.
Afterward we went for tea at Rose Street Bakery, where the Orphans unwrapped a double-chocolate macaron for bink.
It's spring break for public schools, and lots of families were at the conservatory this afternoon.
In the gift shop, I witnessed a young man telling a little boy, who looked about five, that the boy couldn't have a light-up rubber octopus.
The man seemed sad as he tried to explain, "I don't have the money, buddy!"
He took the toy away from the boy and put it in a sales bin. Whereupon the crying little boy, with lightning speed, grabbed the octopus and darted away into the forest of hanging T-shirts.
That's just what Red Hair Girl would do!
I went up to the man. "Sir, can I buy that octopus for your little boy? He loves it so much, it would make me happy..."
"No, really?" I could see how mixed the man felt--hope mixed with polite refusal. "It's too expensive!"
"How much is it?"
"Eight ninety-nine!"
Gulp. I'd guessed five.
But I had a ten, luckily. "It would make my day if you'd accept this," I said.
I could see the man was hesitant but wanted to accept, so I pushed it in his hand.
bink told me afterward she heard him say to the boy, "A nice lady wants to buy that toy for you", and that he looked around for me.
But it's not a magic gift if you have to say thank-you to some stranger, so I had quietly sneaked away.
P.S. Speaking of sneaking away--I googled "how to resign from a nonprofit committee" and was heartened and amused to see I am FAR from alone in this too.
The anguished cries of "my organization is a dysfunctional mess" and the loads of detailed examples were a balm.
The humans.
It is easier to do good deeds by stealth than to sit on committees.
"I don't know if I have a doll in my bag, or what."
What was your wish, Penny Cooper?
"I kind of look forward to seeing it in her photos," he said.
I thanked him for telling me––I'm not alone!––and asked him to pass along my greetings to his daughter. Theresa, her name is.
Red Hair Girl, no respecter of posted signs, was approached by a conservator and told to refrain from touching the plants, please.
SweePo wanted to touch the koi, but today they weren't hungry enough to nibble fingers.
Afterward we went for tea at Rose Street Bakery, where the Orphans unwrapped a double-chocolate macaron for bink.
It's spring break for public schools, and lots of families were at the conservatory this afternoon.
In the gift shop, I witnessed a young man telling a little boy, who looked about five, that the boy couldn't have a light-up rubber octopus.
The man seemed sad as he tried to explain, "I don't have the money, buddy!"
He took the toy away from the boy and put it in a sales bin. Whereupon the crying little boy, with lightning speed, grabbed the octopus and darted away into the forest of hanging T-shirts.
That's just what Red Hair Girl would do!
I went up to the man. "Sir, can I buy that octopus for your little boy? He loves it so much, it would make me happy..."
"No, really?" I could see how mixed the man felt--hope mixed with polite refusal. "It's too expensive!"
"How much is it?"
"Eight ninety-nine!"
Gulp. I'd guessed five.
But I had a ten, luckily. "It would make my day if you'd accept this," I said.
I could see the man was hesitant but wanted to accept, so I pushed it in his hand.
bink told me afterward she heard him say to the boy, "A nice lady wants to buy that toy for you", and that he looked around for me.
But it's not a magic gift if you have to say thank-you to some stranger, so I had quietly sneaked away.
P.S. Speaking of sneaking away--I googled "how to resign from a nonprofit committee" and was heartened and amused to see I am FAR from alone in this too.
The anguished cries of "my organization is a dysfunctional mess" and the loads of detailed examples were a balm.
The humans.
It is easier to do good deeds by stealth than to sit on committees.
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