Date: 10-28
Location: NW entrance to School of Education
Time: 1129-1153
Weather: Fog still lifting, 54˚F
A subtle, sweet fragrance wafted in front of me as I stood under a maroon colored stairwell. More of its kind grew in abundance near a bicycle rack. A 20-foot tall shrub, its yellow-fringed lime green leaves were com
pelling to view. Each 1½-inch leaf was edged by pointed serrations, similar to a holly leaf. Instead of the vibrant scarlet berries though, its fruit was small clusters of white blossoms, each ¼ inch long at the most. The trumpet-shaped blossoms grew in clusters around the tips of the branches, coating the brown-white speckled twigs in a mass of sugar crystals. As I stood in front of the bushes for a moment longer to appreciate the perfume, a squirrel rustled in the bush behind me. I ignored it, naively thinking my movements would scare it away. Amazingly, it leaped out 
and sniffed the ground barely ½ feet in front of me. I snapped a few photos before it walked next to my leg. Appraising me up and down, it flew onto my leg and rapidly headed up. It jumped past my lunchbox, onto my backpack, and at this point, I started fearing that it would bite me, so I furiously shouted pathetically “Get off!” and managed to fling it onto the ground. It landed nimbly onto all fours and turned around to look at me again. I snarled, and it just stared at me. Finally, it jumped onto one of the two bicycles chained to the rack and sat there contemplating. I wondered whether it had been domesticated to some extent or perhaps 
fed often by people. It didn’t seem aggressive after I had watched it a little longer and its body was fairly hefty, so most likely, it was well fed. I was just happy my lunch was intact and I myself was free from possible infected bites.
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