Andy’s Blog

The lovely wife and I made a stop in the Arnold Arboretum on Saturday.  We are not very familiar with the place despite living so close to it and passing it nearly daily.  So we decided to take advantage of the tremendously gorgeous weather on Saturday to head into the Arboretum.  (Side story: we actually missed most of the sun and warmth because, for whatever reason, we decided to clean the apartment first before enjoying the day.  That was a mistake as it wasn’t sunny and the wind was picking up.)  This was only our second visit since moving to Rozzie in late August.  Yes, I am saddened by this fact.  However, we decided to really make it fun and stopped fist at Fornax to get a little lunch.  If you haven’t been to Fornax Bakery in Roslindale Square you must go — go right now!

By happenstance, and because we were coming from Fornax, we entered the Arboretum from the “backside” on Centre Street.  The last we went we went in from Washington Street right across Forest Hills.  I say this is happenstance because the gate we entered through was a pretty fast and quick climb up Peter’s Hill; we seemed to scale the monster from the side rather than a direct, frontal assault.  This was good for three reasons: first, I am out of shape and suspect a frontal assault would have spoiled my fun a bit; second, my lovely wife is pregnant — strenuous activity is not her forte right now; and third, given that we are so unfamiliar with the Arboretum it was a completely unexpected and wonderful surprise.

Even though the weather had turned a little sour we prepared to enjoy a nice picnic.  And for the most part, it was just that: nice.  However, we did have one small complaint.  We either stumbled upon a regular or impromptu meeting of dog owners.  At the height of the affair there were about 10 dogs.  Now, my wife and I are animal lovers.  We both took delight in seeing so many happy city dogs having a chance to run free — at first.  Then the annoyance began.  Because all the dogs were off leash and because we had food we became a bit of a target.  Also, there was a nice couple with a very newborn baby trying to enjoy the view and the moment by capturing pictures of the proud papa with his new life.  One dog, whose owner was completely unaware of her pup, slipped away and nearly toppled mom by jumping up on her with the baby in her arms.  Inappropriate.  That sort of got my wife and I a little riled.  Now, we admit to perhaps being extra-sensitive to the plight of the parents are we are expecting a newborn of our own in a few months.  The straw that broke the proverbial back of the camel was when two dogs when chasing after a little kid who just wanted to run on the hill.  The kid was either afraid of dogs altogether or just startled by two very energetic pups approaching at a high pace.  Either way, he let out a shrill and clung to momma!  Again, inappropriate.  What made the whole situation frustrating was that the owners were aware of the misbehavior but had such little disregard for the people around them that they never thought of leashing the dogs.  Frustrating and all too typical for Massachusetts.  Basically the callousness of the owners took two otherwise sympathetic supporters and turned us into finger-waving foes of dogs in parks.  And these same people probably wonder why they cannot drum up support for looser leash laws.  Go figure.

Not to be a total sour puss I must say we did enjoy the Arboretum.  I really love having such a big green chunk of earth in a city and so close to our home.  Here are just one picture of the view we had: