He's been helping the ducklings get to the Public Garden for decades now, and now he could use a bit of help.

If you took any photos of Officer Mike at Beacon and Charles streets in 2005 or 2007, let me know. The actual Boston officer who played Officer Mike those years would love photos of himself in action. He was wearing his father's uniforms from back in the day - his father was also a Boston officer - and he'd love to have a picture or two or three:

... I have had hundreds of photos taken with the ducklings but with all those times I do not have one myself. ...

Probably just my imagination, but this chihuahua didn't seem exactly thrilled to be dressed up as a duck at the annual "Make Way for Ducklings" parade through Beacon Hill today. This kid more than made up for the pooch's demeanor, though:

Kevin "Pork Chop" Bridgeman, 40, was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison this week after pleading guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to selling crack to an undercover police officer in the Public Garden last summer, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.

Prosecutors say that on the evening of July 26, an undercover Boston officer trying to root out dealers asked a couple of guys on the Common where he could buy some crack. They told him to wait for Pork Chop because "he had the good stuff." Bridgeman, a Cambridge resident, arrived and made possibly the wurst decision of his life - he decided to believe the guy was kosher after he produced a tube used to smoke crack. But first, prosecutors say, Bridgeman had to change locations:

Bridgeman insisted that they move from the Common because it was "too hot."

"I'm not doing anything in here," Bridgeman said. "I'm not getting locked up. We'll do this in the Public Garden."

Once across Charles Street, the undercover officer presented Bridgeman with $40 in marked bills, for which Bridgeman gave him two rocks of crack cocaine from a plastic bag. The undercover left the scene and uniformed officers moved in.

Upon taking him into custody, the officers recovered the $40 in marked bills, an additional $122, and 10 individually packaged rocks of crack cocaine in a rubber glove Bridgeman kept in his underwear.

Boston Police report arresting a soggy Lawrence man after he reportedly dove headfirst into the Public Garden Lagoon last night to try to escape officers chasing him for a robbery at Chestnut and Spruce streets on Beacon Hill:

Officers quickly formed a perimeter and surrounded the suspect. Seeing no viable way to escape capture, the suspect, standing in waist deep water, exited the pond and surrendered to police.

A tree in the Public Garden at sunset.

Like, say, Sept. 16 in the Public Garden.

Rose in the Public Garden.

Alyssa reports that a co-worker on a lunchtime walk singlehandedly kept the Public Garden from going up in flames yesterday:

... Joe said he was walking when he noticed a lot of smoke. Someone had left a large, burning cigar in the mulch by a shrub. Joe took matters into his own hands - or feet - and spent a few minutes putting out the fire. ...

Today was Mother's Day, so that means it was also the annual "Make Way for Ducklings" parade from the Common to the Public Garden by way of Beacon Hill. As always, there were scads of impossibly cute kids dressed as ducks (with the odd Officer Mike thrown in - including one actual member of Boston's Finest who, dressed in an old BPD uniform, helped get the ducks across Beacon Street today). And as the Harvard Marching Band approached Beacon Street, they sang out a song whose lyrics seemed to be: "Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!"

Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed like more parents got dressed up this year:

Philocrites posts the photo to prove it.