
A grey squirrel in the arboretum in West Park on the North Side. What does the man with the lens intend? asks the squirrel. And can he possibly be up to any good if he carries no peanut?

Comments
A grey squirrel in the arboretum in West Park on the North Side. What does the man with the lens intend? asks the squirrel. And can he possibly be up to any good if he carries no peanut?
Several years ago, some kind soul gave old Pa Pitt a bouquet of pussy-willow twigs, which are a traditional Palm Sunday decoration in climates where palms are unknown. Willow twigs will root in water, and since it seemed unkind to toss out a growing plant, Father Pitt planted them in a big pot and left them on the front steps. Since then they have reliably produced their catkins every spring, and then they leaf out and form an attractive portable shrub. Here are catkins in various stages of development, from little furry kittens to starbursts of stamens.
Father Pitt believes this is some species of Sarcoscypha, but further than that he is unwilling to go (and apparently even mycologists have trouble unless you give them a microscope), and he may be wrong about the genus anyway. But it’s a remarkably bright red. It was growing on a stick in the leaf litter near the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
Spring rains make streams gush in Fox Chapel. Above, Stony Camp Run along the Trillium Trail.
A high waterfall along the Trillium Trail.
Roots of a fallen tree beside the stream.
Sycamore Run in Scott Park.