I was in the gardens taking pictures of, well, everything, including the pretty birds, when an older gentleman playfully scolded me for taking pictures of the "wrong" bird (apparently it was a pest in the area and had driven out some native birds). He was dressed in a tweed suit and hat, looking every bit the nature buff as he introduced himself as "Jack" and chatted with me for a good 15-20 minutes about the birds, the gardens, church, social justice, etc--obviously a natural progression from one to the next. Somewhere in the conversation he mentioned that he was 77 years old and that his daughter did her thesis on the Civil Rights movement in America and had visited Atlanta for research. He also took me to see the Wollemi Pine (see below) and told me to take back a specimen and introduce it into Georgia's woodlands...not sure that's entirely legal, though.
After chatting for a bit longer, we parted ways and he wished me luck on my journey through Sydney.
After wandering around for another hour or so, I randomly stumbled into the gift shop, and who should I find filling out forms to become a member of the garden society? You guessed it...Jack. He was so excited to see me and told me that he'd promised himself that if he ran into me again he'd give me a gift. He told me to wait where I was, and a few minutes later returned with a small booklet...on birds. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment