Willow Pond

Asked a guy with binoculars, seemed to know the lake, if it was a controlled burn. He said he'd tried to find out from the parks department but hadn't so far. He thought it was a controlled burn. He pointed out a Mourning Dove. Said there were cormorants. I said they called it a lake but I called it a pond. He said it's a city lake. I said I'd read about the 64/5 World's Fair. He said there was an earlier one. Looks like there was a 1939/40 one. He was right, it was the earlier one that created this "lake".

I haven't seen a muskrat, but I have seen a turtle. My 5 year old daughter gets into language power struggles with me. She said it's a tortoise. I had to look it up, but a tortoise is a subset of turtles, that don't go into water. I think the turtle went into water, so it's not a tortoise.  She insists on calling a snow cone "ice cream." I like to joke with her with language, and she can get upset, but I point out that calling things the right word is important. Being stubborn, using the word you like is fine, but don't think you're using language right, and if you don't have to use language right, then I don't. Little father/daughter drama.

The vines on the bridge fence seem like they were cut off, but they're growing back. I guess they cut them because they compromise the fence, but I like them. 

Some people go there to smoke marijuana. I found a bag from a store. I understand that people need to find private spaces to smoke if they can't at home. I've seen a neighbor smoke there, he doesn't want his mother to know he smokes. He's a grown man but still lives with his mother. She's probably against it. He works all the time and smokes. The workaholic addict thing is pretty strong in our society. Work so hard you need some chemical stress relief. I think walking in nature is also a stress relief.

There's mulberry trees at the entrances, like that tree and fruit might somehow keep animals from traversing the bridge. When I was a kid I could climb into a mulberry tree and eat my fill. 

Willow Pond

Poverty is really good for the environment in some ways. I'm not flying off places or driving much, I'm not consuming a lot of things, buying things.

The food pantry uses a lot of individual packaging, which isn't good. Just give me a can of something instead of putting it in a bunch of plastic containers. Beggars can't be choosers though.

Walked down to Willow Pond. I don't think it's a lake but I could be wrong. It's man made, when they were developing flushing for the World's Fair in 1964.

I hope the Dolan family who donated the money to get the path named after the deceased matriarch isn't the same Dolan family that runs Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers. As a Knicks fan Dolan is often to blame for the man woeful years of the Knicks. The Knicks had their first playoff win since 2014 on Wednesday. Today is Friday. 

Walked down there today. Past the coop apartments, past the nice houses, to the park, across the bridge over the Van Wyck expressway. 

I've taken my daughter there and we saw a turtle the other day. She gets scared, but she's trying to master her fears.

There was a fire. It seemed like a controlled fire to give a view of the "lake" alone the path. There's a side trail with some blinds. The path goes from Kew Garden Hills to Forest Hills. It's another swampland in New York City, along with perhaps Gateway Park in Jamaica Bay. That one is more salt water, sandy.

I have found a willow tree, but there isn't an abundance of them. There are a lot of trees that have been blown over, storms and tornadoes. The wet soil doesn't allow the roots to go deep so they spread out along the path and when the tree falls over there's quite a lot of uprooted soil. 

Lots of vegetation, insects, birds, rodents. I'm going to read Walden again soon, and perhaps more about Thoreau, and Willow Pond is my reference point to nature, even though it's in New York City. I wish I lived in the country but I'm in the city and that is my closest walk to take in some green.