No arms, no legs, no problem

On my walk earlier this week I noticed an odd similarly between a couple of passerbys. First, I passed a man with no arms who was out for a walk. I don't often see people with no arms. He was wearing a messenger bag across his chest (I guess a backpack or purse wouldn't work very well) and I wondered how it got it on. I guess he just stuck his head through the strap and shimmied through.

On the other side of the river I saw a pigeon with only 1 leg. It was hopping around a pecking at the ground just like any other pigeon, not at all inhibited by his lack of a leg.

I guess the message for the day was that if a man with no arms and a pigeon with one leg can get out and exercise around the river, everyone else should be able to as well. No excuses for not exercising!

birds flock together, regardless of their feather

Next to the MIT boat house, a square, wooden raft floats in the water (think of the raft Tom Sawyer used to float down the Mississippi). I'm not sure what its intended purpose is, but at the moment it's a place of rest for various species of birds. The first time I walked by, its inhabitants included a seagull, a duck, and 2 of those black sea birds. They looked slightly different so I think one was male and one was female. Talk about diversity! Each bird was content on its own little piece of the raft, even though it was next to other types of birds. Earlier this week I walked by and there were many more black birds on the raft, however there was still a seagull resting among them. We should learn from the birds on the raft. Even though we're all different we can still live in harmony with one another. This demonstrates that lunchtime walks are not just healthy and entertaining, but educational as well.

when push comes to shove

As I was walking across the bridge I saw a man on Memorial Drive getting his picture taken in front of the Boston skyline. He was holding both arms out with his hand up, perpendicular to his arms, and his palms facing out. At first I could not figure out what he was doing. I assumed it had something to do with the picture and after walking a little ways across the bridge, I figured it out - he was "pushing on" both the John Hancock tower and the Pru.

As cheesy as it is to take a picture "holding up" the leaning tower of Pisa, it makes sense. It's falling over. It needs to be held up. But do the Hancock and Pru need to be pushed apart? Is there anything special about touching them both at once? There was a group of Asian tourists laughing at him. You know that's a bad sign.

quack

Since not much goes on during the winter along the Charles, I thought I'd discuss what I call the "white duck colony." I'm not sure if they're technically ducks or geese, but one of the only places I've ever seen white "ducks" with orange beaks and feet is along the railroad tracks by the BU bridge. These ducks look like the one in the Aflac commercial. They're as big as the canadian geese, but much prettier. It's a shame they live under a bridge with homeless people. They should be in a lagoon surrounded by lush vegetation.

Rich and I tried to look up what type of ducks or geese they are, but we've had no luck so far. We've discovered that a farm-raised breed of duck is white, but it's only used for eating and seems smaller than the ducks in the colony. The search continues.