They grow up so fast!

Craig:

So when the main mode of transportation is your own two feet, you walk everywhere.  Walking everywhere affords you the ability to really take in all of your surroundings.  We have been in Christchurch for about four weeks now and we have walked along the same route many times.  One neat thing that we have noticed since day one was the abundance of ducks along the little river our walking route follows.  One such duck group has caught our special attention.  This group of interest is two ducks that just had a little baby duck (a duckling I suppose).  When we first saw them, the duckling was tiny and could barely swim or walk.  It was funny to watch because the current was too strong for the duckling and it was not able to keep up with the mom.  The mom would "quack" sternly as if to say... "keep up!"  Every walk past the river now included a stop to check in on the duckling's progress.  We have become so fond of watching this family that we have named them (Alfred, Henrietta, and little Teddy...pretty dorky names).  About a week ago, we walked by and did not see our duck friends and thought maybe the pressures of city life had proven too much for them.  Maybe they wanted to raise their duckling out in the suburbs where their duckling would be sheltered from all of the drunks, prostitutes, and deliquents?  But a day later our duck family returned to the same stretch of quiet and shaded riverbank.  Maybe they just took a vacation with the little one?  It was good to see them back again. 

And today, as I was walking down to the library I stopped to get a picture of our friends only to find them being harrassed by a stroller toting mom with toddler in tow.  I wanted to stop and tell the toddler to stop chasing my duck friend but thought better of it and viewed the chase from a distance.  Apparently this child was unaware of the importance of bread in a duck chase.  I was happy to see little Teddy maneuvering in between the bushes and grass clumps to avoid the toddler's grasp.  Little Teddy finally joined his parents in the river where he was safe from the little hands and the inevitable poor handling and petting.  I was very proud of him and smiled a little.  They grow up so fast.

Little Teddy is the fur ball by the black duck (Alfred)