Chip, as I have christened the friendly neighborhood roach above, was having a late night feast with his friends when I was wrapping up my photo expedition around the Grand Basin. There were quite a few of them gathered around the leavings of the tall ones. The landings of the grand basin host several different classes of creatures in the shadows of the night. Besides the insects that gather there, you may encounter ducks (tonight it was mama wood duck and her 7 cutelings) and see the litter the muskrats leave behind (this past Thursday evening I came face to face with a muskrat, enjoying a feast of shell fish by the water’s edge).

The human action, though, was mostly in Shakespeare glen, where this year’s production (The Merry Wives of Windsor) was in full swing. A crowd of merry makers sat and watched,  preparing a feast of crumbs for the animals to enjoy the following day. Cars were everywhere (as you might expect in a city that shuns public transportation), but the night was peaceful enough. A pack of boisterous young men passed me loudly on the semicircle walk at the top of Art Hill, several demanded a photo of themselves and styled in front of my camera.

“Sure!” I replied, “I’d be happy to!” Most of them scattered at that point (apparently they were in violation of their parole terms), but the one who wasn’t stayed behind to be “made famous”, as he put it.

A woman read her Torah in front of the Art Museum while her daughter watched the Shakespeare production. A pack of tourists flashed at the King on his horse. Couples leaned on the balustrade of the basin and gazed at the splashing of the fountains (which run all day, every day of the year). And, course, the Lone Photographer rode again (Heigh Ho, Silver Substitute*, away!)

*I suppose silicon could be considered a silver substitute, as digital photography replaces film.