Change of Pace

There was a big pile of scrub brush cut down alongside my running path a couple of days ago and right in the middle of it were some pussy willow branches that were just starting to blossom, or puff out, or whatever it is that those do. I made a mental note and on my last lap, stopped and broke off a few to take home. It is such an absolute no-no to take plants out of the park that I felt very self conscious running along with the branches, but they were just going to throw them away. I ran by a couple of Park Conservancy employees and they didn't say anything, so I figured I must be okay.

When I finally got to the exit and was waiting for the green light, there were a couple of men working on the security camera on the light post there. I cut around the outside of their truck in an attempt to be subtle, but it didn't work.

"Hey," one of them yelled down from the cherry picker, "It's a ten dollar fine to take plantings out of the park."

I was well into my urgent explanation of how they were cut down already when I finally realized that he was just teasing me. I felt like such a dork, but I'm glad I took them anyway. It's nice to have a little fuzzy springtime twigginess in the house when it's still pretty cold and grey outside.