I have noticed that midday at Echo Park Lake, things sometimes get sleepy and sometimes a little ugly. My friend and neighbor Angela Wood sent me the following account of a visit to the lake. I am not sure what time of day she describes, but I imagine it to be after the early morning rush.

Angela writes:

I forgot to tell you about my morbid experience at Echo Park Lake the other day. It is quite the flip side to your pastoral account of the geese from October 29th (I am very fond of that entry), but I think both are valid Echo Park experiences.

I stopped by the lake the other day with B [my daughter], just killing time, with a pocket full of some extra stale bread. It was one of those rare, gray, overcast days. We went to that hinterland of geese muggers, the peninsula where there is often a homeless person or two fishing from a mattress. The geese started in. I was reminded of a scene in Barbarella where little baby doll-robots with metal teeth, come mechanically chomping at Jane Fonda's legs, and, despite their tiny size, end up tackling her to the ground and tearing at her leotards - this scene was much more organic and it was on Earth.