Sharing a Pecan Roll

"Whether you have ten minutes or a life-time, there's always something new to see and do at the SF Botanical Garden." True, but until today, I did not even know I lived so close to that place! I discovered the garden on a lunch walk in the neighborhood. Outfitted with a coffee mug and a pecan roll of Arizmendi's (the roll everybody is crazy about), I walked into Golden Gate Park and took a new route. Turns out new routes are often rewarding!

It was warm (19C; 67F) and the cardigan had soon to slip into the bag. I entered the garden and looked for a bench. With that strong sun, it made sense walking through the lushious greens and flowers of sections like "Chile" or "Eastern Australia". I finally sat with the Feathery Hop Bush (Dodonaea Tenuifolia) to have the roll and coffee. Only to share the pecan nuts with an American squirrel. At that point, I was not aware this is forbidden. Also, I trusted the little fellow to be a nice one, but: once I stopped feeding, it got stressed and attacked from behind. I felt it jumping towards the bench, but it fell off again. Stupid little monster.

I came to think of a report that I have seen lately on German TV. The biologists were afraid of the American breed (the Eastern Grey Squirrel) which is now spreading out in Europe. They would ultimately survive the local one (The Red Squirrel). The American one would be more robust, more fertile, and less selective in their daily diet. And I am only talking about squirrels here... ;-) Until it attacked, the squirrel and I, we had a good relationship though. We traded food for picture posing: I would feed him the nuts, he would go sit in the tree with it to eat it off his little "hands", I took pictures, and he would come back for more nuts. So, I came to take about 20 photographs of the squirrel eating the nuts of the expensive Arizmendi roll. So, please, enjoy the precious pic!