Rowan Tree and Red Thread

We were all in Fitzgerald Park yesterday for a picnic, making the most of the fading good weather. We were sitting down near the pond, gradually working our way through the various goodies sammywol had brought, when she said "there's a fire in that bush," gesturing at the stand of shrubs and trees between the pond and the river. Indeed there was.

I went over and found a small fire set with paper and plastic rubbish, under a bush, that was burning away nicely and in the process of setting the bush alight. I quickly discovered that sandals are not the best footwear for stamping out fires, but also that they serve adequately to kick earth over the fire to put it out.

sammywol fetched the park keeper and I showed him where the fire had been. He went off to get some water to put it out good and proper, which is just as well, as it recaught while he was off getting a 75cl bottle of water. Strange that the corporation doesn't see fit to provide him with a bucket, but that's hardly the worse demonstration of Cork City Council's stupidity.

Rowan and I filled our own 75cl bottle from the pond and splashed water over the smouldering remains and left feeling extra-virtuous.

We had a our first picnic of the year. We went to Fitzgerald Park, the only real park of any size in the city. It is handily near to my workplace, so I met sammywol and Rowan there after work and we strolled through the park until we found a nice sunny place to sit out of the wind. There sammywol revealed the goodies in her bag: fruit juice, sushi, bagels, grapes, strawberries, and some small animal-shaped biscuits. The sushi was tasty, but the grapes were the highlight. They had deeply blue-black skins, and rejoiced in the variety name of "Midnight Blues". They were delicious. The strawberries were also good, just coming right and juicy all the way through.

After the picnic we wandered back to the playground, where our adventurous child and a newfound friend exhausted me with repeated trips down a slide and a swinging catch by Dad at the bottom. Both pairs of eyes lit up, so I don't begrudge the sore back one but.

Later, at home I followed Rowan down the stairs as she did that classic small child thing. She found her poor furry bear behind her bed and dragged it downstairs by the nose, bumping its bear arse on each step as she went. Christopher Rowan!