Alan Ilagan

Our last morning on this trip dawned as perfectly as the previous days – bright and sunny and comfortably breezy. While Andy slept in, I walked to the Public Garden for one last quick look before departing.

In front of the Garden was this fittingly-drawn-upon ice cream truck, referencing, I believe, the original Make Way for Ducklings, and sitting right next to the entrance depicted. A number of the book’s descendants were frollicking happily in the morning sun, along with the pair of swans.

Since getting married, as well as in the year leading up to it, I’ve been unconsciously (until now) visiting the Public Garden at some point during every trip. I’ve seen it through all four seasons, finding jewels and favorite spots as the sun and weather changes and shifts.

This is my favorite tree in the park – a dawn redwood – not exactly native to the ara, but no less beautiful for it (and possibly quite a bit more-so). It retains this fresh, bright green color even as the end of summer descends.

I am most enamored of its gnarled base of outreaching roots, such strength and durable stability providing support for its sky-reaching fronds.

Nearby, in the pond, the swans swam, watched by the ducks on shore.

I could spend hours just watching these exquisite birds.

A regal bearing, an orange beak, and a coat of milky-white plumage – they rule over their little pond with grace and ease, and though the world seems less and less stable, with danger around every corner, they don’t seem to mind.

It is just another Summer of the Swans.

Alas, it was time to depart our beautiful, beloved Boston – if only until the Fall, a few short weeks away. Braddock Park holds some of its prettiest moments then, and I will return when the nights are cool and the leaves just begin to drop.

Until then, let us have roses and sun and a few more days of summer.