For the Birds

Two weeks ago while walking in the park I noticed something orange on the ground behind a small fir. That fir used to be my neighbour’s 2002 Christmas tree, one night he transplanted it the park and the evil municipal people did not notice - they did notice the cherry trees though, the ones another neighbour had planted illegally years ago for our hanami, and they accused him of obstructing the way of the municipal vehicle (of course that was ridiculous), so he decided to cut down two of the cherry trees, the ones which were closer to the entrance of the park, to save the others. Now we have two cherry trees left, a very small but sweet hanami. I went to check what the orange something was, to remove it in case it was plastic trash, and what did I see, a dozen persimmons left on the ground, for the birds.

So I have a neighbour who transplants firs illegally, another who transplants cherry trees illegaly, and a third one who feeds persimmons to the birds in January. Or maybe they’re just two. There’s a fourth one actually, the one who carries his guinea pig to the park inside a basket so that it can have a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, the evil municipal people did notice the persimmons a few days later, and they were removed. I replaced them with pears, less visible to the eye of the evil municipal people. The blackbirds did like the pears, but the blackcaps not that much.

Of course now everything is covered in snow. This morning I hanged a fat ball with seeds inside (ambrosia free) to a branch, a friend of mine hangs fat balls with dead insects inside. In the afternoon I went checking and the seeds on the surface were gone, but the fat was still there - too cold.