“Hey, how about we go into Hagley Park this weekend–we could bike there,” I suggested to Milo yesterday morning.
“Nah,” Milo dismissed that idea quickly. “I don’t want to go to Hagley. Hagley Park is boring.”
Later the kids kicked at some fallen leaves and wanted to rake up a pile to jump in. “Hagley Park has the best fall leaves,” I suggested.
“I want to go to Hagley!” Milo rejoined. “But I don’t want to bike.”
So we drove. The bridges leading to the centre of the park are all gated, but the outside is still available for a romp.
The leaves were in perfect condition: reasonably dry, musty enough to be genuine but not too moldy.
We brought the frisbee and the rugby ball, and found a quiet spot to toss them. At some point I stooped down to caress the long pine needles–they remind me of the beautiful pine needle basket my west coast friend made for me–and noticed a shiny nut on the ground. I bit it open, exposing a big cream-colored oily seed, a pine nut! Collecting pine nuts is addictive, as is running ones fingers through the stash. The pine cones themselves seem to stay in the tree, just the seed falls to the ground. I was as delighted as a fat squirrel.
Naomi likes to try her hand at photography. A great day for the park. If the other walkers hadn’t skirted around us suspiciously and if the public toilets had been open, it would have been easy to forget we were in the midst of a pandemic.
Side note: Cirque du Soleil has some of their performances on you-tube for free at the moment. The broadcast aired at 7:00 a.m. NZ time, giving a holiday-like start to the day.
Give It A Burl 