purpleglitter and I got legally married Saturday. We intentionally kept this under the radar and had with us the bare minimum of people required, we didn't want anything big, over the top, or stressful. We stood together on the shore of Spy Pond, under a willow tree, in the darkest corner of the garden. We could hear the fish splashing as we said our vows.

I am tied to you, my favorite piece of string. The seas may boil and the mountains may fall to dust and the stars may dim and die. But to you, my favorite piece of string, I shall be tied forever. And after forever has come and gone, forever again I shall love you.

found via rm:

Known for gliding along local waterways with statuesque grace, the mute swan is rarely thought of as an environmental hazard. Wildlife experts in Connecticut say that mute swans, like these at Holly Pond in Stamford, devour shoreline vegetation, displace waterfowl and other creatures, and can even attack people. But wildlife experts say that the swan’s elegant facade conceals an ecological menace that devours shoreline vegetation, scares away other waterfowl and can even attack humans. The bird is now a target of a campaign to reduce its numbers in the state’s delicate coastline habitats. The leaders of the effort are conservationists, including the Connecticut Audubon Society, which in the coming months will intensify a campaign to urge state officials to control the swans’ population, which stands at about 1,100. ... Kathryn Burton, president of SaveOurSwans U.S.A., a nonprofit organization in East Lyme, Conn., said the group would actively oppose the Audubon campaign as well. “I’m not going to let it go,” Ms. Burton said. “They really don’t care about the birds. It’s just unjust.” Connecticut’s swan population has more than doubled in the last three decades. Mr. Bull said that one idea for reducing the number of swans was to disrupt the nesting birds’ eggs to limit reproduction, a tactic known as addling. He said the Audubon Society was not suggesting that any of the 1,100 swans in Connecticut be killed — though other states have taken that step. full story

Humans are far more of a threat to the environment than swans. There are only 1,100 mute swans in Connecticut, if the human population of the state were only 1,100 the humans would still have more of an environmental impact, especially if those humans were typical modern Americans.

Environmentalists wanted to kill of the cherry-headed conures in San Francisco, the monk parakeets are always under attack even though they are essentially a replacement species for the extinct Carolina parakeet. Even here in Arlington, the Friends of Spy Pond still hate the geese.

The Audubon society wants to get rid of swans, well in this world nothing should surprise me anymore. Sometimes things still do, but they shouldn't.

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Yesterday I had a faux shrimp cocktail for breakfast, faux turkey on a focaccini roll with mayo for lunch, and for dinner I had breadsticks covered in mozzarella cheese. For my first healthy snack I had cashews, for my second I had an orange.

I got in plenty of exercise. I took an hour-long cigar walk, then ended up taking a 30 minute walk with Sara as she pushed her new craigslist kickass moped to Alewife. Later I took a short 10 minute walk around Spy Pond with sophiaserpentia. All together, I more than fulfilled my 30 minute exercise quota, but it was such a nice day out yesterday it practically felt like cheating.

Good morning.

I had a wonderful thanksgiving. In yesterday's post on thanks giving, I wrote about one aspect of thankfulness. However, there are many aspects of thankfulness and there is much I am thankful for. The following is an incomplete list:

I am thankful to have been able to spend a holiday with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I am thankful to be able to call them family. I am thankful for the rest of my family, both found and blood. I am thankful that I have a home to head to, and that when I get there I will not have to worry about having enough to eat. I am thankful that I can express my thanks online. I am thankful that, even if I have problems with it sometimes, I have access to medical care. I am thankful that I live in a place that I can leave my house anytime day or night and be relatively safe. I am thankful for the kisses I get from Skye. I am thankful for Spy Pond. And, I am thankful that I am not so bitter and jaded that I could not be thankful for the blessing I have received.

While I was sitting on a bench on the shore Spy Pond last week, I found myself looking down from above at Spy Pond and the autumnal trees of Elizabeth Island. Whether this was some sort of spontaneous out of body experience or a product of dissociation combined with vertigo and a high aptitude for spacial transitioning, I do not know.

Regardless of how I got there, it brought my thoughts to the budgies. The budgies get a lot of out-of-cage time. They fly around a lot in Lake's apartment. But it's not the same. The room has a ceiling and walls. The room has limits and I wish I could give them the sky. They are birds, that freedom is their hatchright. It seems unfair to keep them contained, but there is no realistic other option. To set them free in New England, especially on the dawn of winter, would be to give them death sentences.

We do our best to give them the closest to what they deserve as possible. We try to give them what we hope is a better life than they would have in the wild: providing a constant food supply, healthcare, and freedom from predators. It might not be enough, but it is all that we have to offer.

I just spent several hours trying to get these pictures to upload. Very frustrated with LiveJournal and Semagic. Will, of course, get over it.


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