Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day 2020 (Tuesday's Truths WK 160)

A little birdie, specifically a house sparrow is tweeting about the fact that today, January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Although I've written about this holiday in bygone years, had I not heard his tweet, I would've forgotten and missed a chance to give out a shout to the Black Squirrel who spends a lot of time (during all kinds of weather ) on the grounds alongside the Delacorte Theatre.

Sunday's Sentiment: National Black Cat Day (An Excuse to Celebrate Black Squirrels Too?)

Today is National Black Cat Day. According to many sources, including holidayscalendar.com, this occasion is "celebrated on October 27th, just four days before Halloween... National Black Cat Day is a holiday which celebrates an animal (who) has an image problem. Black cats are not only considered bad luck in the United States but they are also one of the cats that is the least likely to be adopted...

While no one is exactly sure when National Black Cat Day was founded, what is known is that the attitudes about these particular felines are different during different parts of history and in different parts of the world. For example, in Great Britain and Japan, a black cat is considered good luck. However, in the United States, it has come to symbolize bad luck or evil forces. In some parts of the world, if a black cat crosses your path, then it’s considered to be a bad omen. In folklore, black cats are often depicted as agents of evil or even evil itself. In some parts of Europe, they were considered so evil that they were burned alive by superstitious villagers in giant midsummer bonfires..."

I don't have a black cat (or any cat for that matter), but I do have a figurine of someone dressed as a black cat for Halloween.

He/she can be modeling his/her costume in the pictures atop this entry.

Friday's Fact: Valentine's Day is in SIX Days! (So Get Off the Fence)

Most everyone knows that "metaphorically, sitting on the fence is straddling the position between two ideas without committing to either of them."

And when I see various squirrel types "on the fence," in Central Park, it has prompted me to check out the idiom's origin.

Monday's Second Memo re Observing Squirrels (It's from Bill Whitehead)

Twenty six days ago,  here on Blogger, I announced that October is Squirrel Awareness Month and ten days later on October 13th, I discussed the fact that a Squirrel Census was taking place in NYC's CentralPark. The census has now come and gone, but when I saw Bill Whitehead's 10-27-2018 cartoon (a copy of it is posted atop this entry), I thought about those involved in the squirrel counting event.

"A Walk in the Park"

Cambridge Press defines the idiom, "a walk in the park," as "something that is very easy to do, and usually pleasant." And indeed, my walk in Central Park yesterday was pleasant. I went there to check out the squirrels since this is Squirrel Awareness Month (as I initially mentioned in my October third entry here on Blogger) and I did not come across the "cinnamon variant" which was the type I encountered last week, but I did meet up with a Black Squirrel who can be seen in the photo atop this entry. In by gone years I've only seen this type in the winter so it was a nice surprise to see this creature frolicking amongst the pigeons...

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

.... and having some quality time alone.

According to Wiki, "The black squirrel occurs as a melanistic subgroup of both the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel. Their habitat extends throughout the Midwestern United States, in some areas of the Northeastern United States, eastern Canada, and also in the United Kingdom. The overall population of black squirrels is small when compared to that of the gray squirrel. The black fur color can occur naturally as a mutation in populations of gray squirrels, but it is rare. The rarity of the black squirrel has caused many people to admire them, and the black squirrels enjoy great affection in some places as mascots."

This Wednesday's Wisdom is for Snowmen (And it's from Linus!)

Today, March 21st, marked the first full day of spring for 2018, the season "officially" began yesterday at 12:15 PM in NYC, but you would never know it from our weather, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog post.

And today, on our first full day of spring for the 2018 season, we are having our fourth nor'Easter since the new year began (a newspaper article re the event can be found by clicking here).

However, in spite of the inclement weather, I took a walk within nearby Central Park, and came upon a lone black squirrel (pictured directly above) nibbling on an abandoned snowball. On another side of the park, towards the lake, I came upon a snow-person holding a fishing pole.

The creation can be seen in the next picture (where the pole is indicated by a red arrow that I affixed to my photo).

Upon my seeing this snow creature, I recalled a Peanuts comic strip in which Linus had created a snowman standing on his head (and I've posted a copy of the strip directly below).

This strip was published 1-6-1975.

A Reason One Might Stay "on the fence" (Tuesday's Truths WK 82)

OTHER STARLINGS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB VOL 3"

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

There have been quite a number of occasions when I've been in Central Park where I've encountered various members of the wildlife community on one of the many fences.These creatures include a European starling, a white-throated sparrow, a female as well as a male cardinal, black squirrels and "ordinary" squirrels (as evidenced in the photo atop this entry).

Whenever I come upon this situation of seeing a creature on a given fence, the expression "on the fence," comes to mind. As you most likely know, dear reader, "on the fence," refers to one who is undecided about a position that  he/she is taking on a given issue.

"Saturday in Park ..."

I've just returned home from taking a walk in Central Park, where it is currently twelve degrees, and the real feel is less than that. However, these cold temperatures did not deter a number of folks, who like yours truly, often heed the wisdom found in the lyric lines of the song, Saturday in the Park, by the band called Chicago.

The lines I'm thinking of go like this:

"...Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July

Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July..."

For indeed it was a very funny day in the park! Even a lone squirrel was attempting to make a snow angel, as evidenced in the image below.

And a couple of other squirrels proved they were New Yorkers because they were "wearing" black as seen in the next set of pictures.

A web-page for hercampus.com has this to say as to why us folks who live in NYC wear black: "Wearing black is our way of letting the world know that we are not guests of New York making our way through the city like any other transient visitor. We are the inhabitants of the infamously uninhabitable– survivalists in the place that reveals who has what it takes. New Yorkers wear black as a symbol of pride, a badge of honor, an indication that this is the city to which we belong."

Even though I mostly wear black, I'm not sure about this observation, I think it's a little precious sounding, but one thing that I am pretty sure about is this: If today were February second, (which is Ground Hog Day), NYC dwellers would probably be looking at six more weeks of winter, for as you can see (in the middle photo above), this little creature saw his/her shadow!