Cute as a Coot’s Patoot

Confession time. I’m in love with a coot. Two coots, actually. There is a mama Coot and baby Coot swimming in Echo Park Lake. Every day we walk there, when I get to a certain spot on the edge of the lake, Mama and Baby come swimming toward me.





Esmeralda likes them, too.



Coming from a gluten-free household, my breadcrumbs are not particularly enticing; they’re rice cracker crumbs. But this seems to be acceptable to the coots.



When I started feeding them, toward the end of June, Baby Coot couldn’t actually eat the crumbs. Mama had to pluck them out of the water and feed them to him.



But by the next visit, Baby was snatching the crumbs from Mama’s mouth. Baby doesn't look so fuzzy any more.



The next time, he was eating on his own.

And as of July 4th, he has learned to dive. And he is getting very shiny. He is also a lot less interested in rice cracker crumbs.



Or maybe it was because someone else had already fed them. Is my coot unfaithful? Is he leaving me for another crumb hustler? Stay tuned for the next episode of "As the Coot Turns."

A Tree Grows in Echo Park?

Jacaranda Trees are phenomena in Southern California. Each spring, generally around June, they explode into masses of purple blossoms, which they then drop on every car in the neighborhood. It’s why I’m thinking of getting a purple car next time.

We have many beautiful trees in our yard, including a fig tree that provides free figs for the entire neighborhood and the squirrels every year, and live Christmas trees we planted when the boys were small that now tower over the hillside. But yes, we have no jacarandas.

That’s why I was so excited when I heard that LADWP was giving away FREE Jacarandas. I immediately sent the info to my husband, who went online to see how we could get our beautiful Jacaranda tree. We had visions of purple brilliance dancing in our heads,



To get the free tree, he had to take a course online, draw a plan of our yard, and take a test. He did all this and we eagerly awaited the delivery of or botanical wonder. LADWP warned that they could make surprise inspections to see how our tree was faring. No problem, we thought. It’s going to be fabulous.

Yesterday, as we did the final 500 uphill steps on our walk, we saw the free tree truck heading toward us. Was today the day? Had our Jacaranda been delivered? Were purple blossoms within out grasp?



We quickened our steps and raced up the front stairs to see our tree.



Okay. I knew it wasn’t going to be big. But I thought at least it would be more than 50% alive. A study of the leaves did not fill us with confidence.



It did, however, come with a bag of mulch and some fine support poles… which are far bigger than the tree, as you can see. Here’ s my son Josh. He’s also far bigger than the tree.



Hopefully LADWP won’t inspect the tree before we have a chance to get it thriving. I think we may have a challenge ahead of us.



And here’s a butterfly bracelet I made to match the tree… as soon as it grows a few feet and starts to bloom. (The tree, not the bracelet.)

Here today, gone to etsy:

http://cornerstoregoddess.etsy.com

A Stroll Around the Lake… and Some Cool Earrings

This morning, rather than torturing myself with Boot Camp at the Y, Chris and I took Esmeralda for a nice long walk, down to Echo Park Lake, around it, and back. Esmeralda did very well. No meltdowns while passing other dogs. And there were no skunks along the way, so she didn’t feel the need to profess her love for the smelly cats.

This is me, fired up and ready to go.



I conducted my usual experiment, saying good morning to everyone who would make eye contact, seeing how many good mornings I got back. (14 out of 21, with 13 no-eye-contacts)

The last time we walked around the lake, we saw two blue herons and a brown heron. No blue herons today, but there were some brown ones on the island. The island was inaccessible; it’s closed off so the birds can hang without being harassed. Not close enough for a good shot. And no loti are blooming in the lake. Very sad.

But the lake was full of ducks and geese and coots. Didn’t get close enough to any of the geese (which was a good thing, Esmeralda having the freak out temperament she has). But we saw a coot and a baby coot:





And a mama duck with her ducklings:





While we were walking, I finally figured out a story point I’d been fiddling with for weeks (huzzah).

On the way back we passed some urban art: a painted mattress, on the site where an apartment building collapsed a few years back, at the corner of Echo Park and Park.



And, lest we forget the jewelry angle, I think the moonstone earrings I made match the color of the June gloom sky.



I know. It’s no mattress art. But so little is.

Skunk Update from Echo Park

Last night there was the requisite thumping, clanging, squeaking, and scrambling on the front porch and when we went to peek we saw… FOUR skunk babies. They are not particularly shy. They are particularly hungry, and dig into that max cat like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. I know for a fact that they ate about a pound of it yesterday and the day before, and the neighbor’s yard is all dug up with the skunks’ grub quest.

I don’t yet have pictures of all four, but we got some better shots of the three babies, with Mama hiding behind the water bottles.

Here are Lester and Chester sharing a meal:



Lester, Chester, and Sylvester:



Sylvester at a table for one:



Lester, Chester, and Sylvester… but what shall we name Skunk 4??



If she appears with a scarlet A on her chest, we can call her Hester.