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Galapagos
Bird List
Copyright © 1998, Janet
I. Egan
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Up early - especially hard after staying up late
at Kevin's last night and having my friendly dialog
with the Groton constabulary - but Roberta insisted
we had to be there on the dot of 10:00 AM to
register even though registration was from 10 to
11:00 and the walk didn't actually start until
11:30. Obediently, I got there at 10:00. I turned
in my pledge sheet with the $117 I collected and
picked up my official Strut for the Strays
sweatshirt autographed by Rue McClanahan, the
honorary chairperson of the walk.
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By this time it had warmed up quite a bit and I
was sure I would not need the sweatshirt. In fact I
think the temperature got up close to 80 by the
time we actually started walking.
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The booths set up on Bartlett Mall had
everything from greyhounds to kittens. One of the
orange kittens was so cute I wanted to take it
home. Of course Wilbur would have it for breakfast,
so this was just a fantasy. I even started to
fantasize about taking a greyhound home even though
I am terrified of really big dogs. There was this
one white greyhound who just looked magnificent in
the morning sun and was really really friendly.
Imagine what Wilbur would do to a greyhound,
though... not to mention I'm not home enough to
have a dog.... it was just the moment carrying me
away again.
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While I was waiting for the Strut to start I
voted in the pretty kitty contest - I voted for
Taz, which consisted of putting a quarter in the
jar with his name on it, and took a few pictures of
Bartlett Mall itself as Newburyport looks
particularly pretty in the fall. Roberta rounded up
a group to carry the Vitamins Etc. banner (they
sponsored us). I took some pictures of the group
with and without the banner, most of which were
kind of blurry because Roberta can't stay still.
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Left to right: Bonnie-Wednesday,
Joe, Roberta, Nora (seated), Bonnie-Thursday,
foreground Joe's girlfriend petting AJ the dog (dog
not shown)
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Sylvester leads the way and we follow the paw
prints through downtown Newburyport.
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Left to right: Holly, Roberta,
Nora, Bonnie-T, Dorothy. Front row:
Sylvester.
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Between Sylvester and Roberta with the Vitamins Etc.
banner, they set a brisk pace. I hear several people asking
"how come we have to walk so fast?" There's a slight pause
when a canine buddy gets stung by bee - poor doggie
whimpered and cried, and everybody who passed by had to ask
what happened.
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Bonnie's (that's Bonnie-Wednesday) dog is named
AJ - I took a picture for the kids 'cause I thought
they'd think it's funny that a dog is named same as
me but looks like Bertha - well if Bertha were a
dog - the dog looks nothing like me...
It was good to see Holly - it's been awhile.
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After the fast-paced strut and the broiling noonday
sun (and the late night last night) I was soooo tired. When
I got home, the last thing I wanted to do was drive down to
Providence to see Nancy, especially since I need to be in
Boston at 8:00 AM for the Environmental Writers Festival at
the New England Aquarium.
After a nap, I spent the evening going through my
Galapagos notebooks and photo albums trying to locate and
date all bird sightings, made a list, entered it into Bird
Brain and felt like I'd completed a satisfying little
project. I'm not sure why I felt like I had to do this
tonight. Especially since by the time I got done I was sooo
tired again. But I felt like I accomplished a lot today.
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