On Friday, Steve Garfield photographed some stupid graffiti scrawled across the width of one of the paths around Jamaica Pond. Today, he reports, the scratchings are gone.

Steve Garfield captures (digitally, of course), one of the fabled white squirrels of Jamaica Pond.

Mike Ball says the toppled willow at Jamaica Pond reminds him of something from Lord of the Rings.

Oh, the horror, the horror that would descend on the area around Jamaica Pond if swimming were allowed. Because you just know kids everywhere would drop what they're doing and charter buses to take them to THE POND and those buses would idle all day long outside those expensive condos and that would be quite distressing enough but then, before the buses left, all those urchins would run wild through the streets, mugging everybody they see and throwing rocks through windows and setting fire to the mansions and breaking out their cans of spray paint and writing on everything.

Mark recounts decade after decade of various legal actions involving the pond (mainly related to people doing such dastardly things as taking ice out of it without the town of West Roxbury's consent - OK, granted, 8,000 tons of ice). He mentions that in 1856, the town of West Roxbury stationed a policeman on the shores in warm weather to stop people from swimming in the pond (back when it was still used as a drinking-water supply).

When albino squirrels attack.

It was nice to see some new trees planted across from Jamaica Pond this morning. They are just beside the recently refurbished wall.

I'd give them about 50 years.

Then they'll have to be cut down, after their roots destroy the wall again, and the wall be need to be restored.

Then new trees will be planted.

The cycle of life.

Not to carp, but the governor looks like his mussels are tiring and he's haddock up to there, coddamnit. Definitely seems like he's in need of a good pint of Bass. Scott Wachtler from the Bulletin Newspapers, Inc. reeled in this photo at yesterday's annual fish release at Jamaica Pond.

Earlier:
Deval Patrick is up to something fishy.

Steve Garfield is on the scene with a video camera as Patrick, local kids release fish into Jamaica Pond.

Not Whitey Bulger reposts an 1873 report on a court hearing on whether a bath house at the pond could stay open despite complaints from residents of nearby estates that they just could not abide knowing men and boys there were swimming in the pond pantsless. The judge ruled against the burghers, citing the urinal case of Rudolph vs. St. George's vestry and especially the pigeon-shooting case of Rex vs. Moore.