After my post, I went looking for groundhogs, and found this funny story of curious dog that won’t leave well enough alone.  Too cute.

Wonderful day today….went to Fort Wayne.

Went antiquing and found some great books…at 50% off. Bonus!

Then I drove around my old neighborhood….down the street I used to walk to and from the grocery.  The apartment building. The streets I used to jog on.  And the lovely park that was my absolute favorite place in all of FW.

The trees were a glorious riot of color.  The Maples especially this year just seem to be more beautiful than years past.  The leaves have a golden yellow with a reddish pink color to them that is breathtaking.  It was raining on my way over…I even considered not going.  But prodded myself.  And after I had done my other stuff, I headed to the park…suddenly the clouds cleared up just before the sun went down,  and the show was spectacular.  The leaves took on a surreal appearance…like the trees had an electrical cord running up through them that was suddenly switched “on”.  Awesome.

I sat in the car eating a gluten free chocolate cake (an indulgence, for sure;  I’ve been pretty good about sticking to a chocolate free diet…I don’t even crave it like I used to, but with Halloween candy all over the place, the craving begins. I figure I can indulge and then get back to the diet.  I sure the hell don’t want to wreck the progress I’ve made healing my gut.)

As I ate my snack, a beaver appeared.  At first I thought he was a groundhog, but the head was too small…and then I spotted the flat tail.  He/she was going about eating something off the ground.  I suppose nuts? Anyway, it was fun watching.  I can’t recall ever seeing one in the flesh.

Then I see a hawk up in a tall tree, and he/she takes flight just as I look up—gracefully lifts off the branch and sails to the next tree across the way.

The park has a  couple nice ponds, too, that attract Canada geese and regular geese and ducks and frogs…and probably some turtles, too, that stay out of sight.

It was nice because there were only a few people driving through…I practically had the whole park to myself…nice to be able to lose myself in the surroundings.

I looked in the small creek to see where the beaver had built its den.  I couldn’t see anything.  According to Canada, then, the beaver must not have been building a den since I didn’t see it.  /just a little snarky at Canada’s contempt for the beavers getting in their way by being…beavers. Meh.

Anyway, that just made my day, being able to visit “my” park.  Lots of happy memories with that park.

The traffic, however, hasn’t changed.  Although for a Saturday evening, the town was not very busy for a big city.

As I’m leaving town, the beautiful trees soothe me.  I still can’t get over the trees in Fort Wayne.  Lots of trees. Lots of *olde growth* trees.  Very nice.  And the park being smack in the middle of town still awes me.

If you need proof, just read this story on an attorney who petitioned the court to change the court case date because she had just delivered a baby and was on maternity leave….and the judge denied her, saying it was not a legitimate reason.

For real.

So….she has no one to rely on to take care of the infant while she is in court and therefore, baby comes with her.

Same judge objects to that, as well.

What did he want her to do with the child?

The catch for women is if she had not shown up, the judge would dismiss her case.  If she left the baby out in the corridor, she would have been charged with neglect (not that I think for a second she would have done that).

Not only is this a woman’s issue, but a child’s issue, as well.  Society needs to support women and children and stop making them out to be inconveniences.

WTH?

Why on Earth would they want to promote such an unhealthy look?  Just more evidence of a culture that values women for their physical looks…instead of being human.  They don’t even *look* like women–they look like men with boobs.

Well, now. This is news to me–of the libraries I’ve been in, they’ve been all to happy to break the Fourth Amendment.

…because knowledge is a dangerous thing, you know. /snark