Noon-ish and it feels 100-ish as I get out of the car. But it's cooler by the lake. There are star-burst-shaped shadows beneath the wide, old palm trees, and closer to the water, the temperature drops, especially on the island, where there's a mist breeze from the fountain. Not that I'm dying to be sprayed with the water from Echo Park Lake. You only have to look at it, not to mention know that storm water drains from the city system into this watershed in the middle of the city.

I have come here to see a bit of wire fencing that I've heard about from Martin Cox* (and also to give my dog, Rosie, a walk, which will have to be brief because of the heat). Martin says a city employee has taken it upon himself to plant a few lotus in the place where there were none. So Rosie and I say hello to the geese and ducks and a few year-round coots (most summer elsewhere), and then we get to the fencing. There it is in the northwest finger of the lake, where the lotus are supposed to be. Right now it's a water cage. There's no explanation about the fence, and nothing grows out of it.