For those of us who believe in modern day nursery rhymes or fairy tales, there is one in Larkspur that has played out, every day, for more than two decades. Its heroine and main character is Sigrid Boehm, better known around these parts as "Mother Goose."
Boehm feeds the geese and the geese keep her young at heart as a surrogate mother and nurse, even at 76 years old.
But as idyllic as it sounds, all is not as it appears to be, because when a bird did get sick, she used to be able to take care of it on the spot. She would take it 100 yards across the creek to an aviary. But it's not so easy anymore, there's nothing left of the aviary after the owner kicked her off the property.
So she moved them instead to a temporary home in Novato. But it's not as easy as it once was. To take care of the oldest and sickest birds, Boehm must drive as many as two hours a day on winding roads, not easy for a 76-year-old woman.
Ideally, she needs a place back near Corte Madera Creek, but no one has offered yet.
No happy ending: not for the geese, or the gentle woman who mothers them.
