Saturday, September 25, 2010

Places & Aminals (4)

While I was preparing and putting together this post with the new and improved Blogger editor (which in my opinion sucks for this type of blog) I remembered that the pictures from the last post and this post were actually taken during a very rare lunch date with the wife back in late April. I took a half day off from work and spent that Thursday having lunch and taking a walk through the park with my wife. So, without further ado, the final installment of Places and Aminals.

This was taken right after we finished interrupting the ducks from the previous post. This is the waterfalls as seen from the bridge. Note the fact that there's actually water flowing down the falls, because most of the summer was spent in non-rainy bright sunshiny days. In other words, drought-like conditions that have not only spawned a few water conservation warnings going into autumn, but has caused autumn to appear earlier than normal.


In this shot, the pond is rare form and yes in the background, that is the man-made fountain that helps keep the pond relatively full (although for the past couple of months it has not been used heavily due to the water restrictions, so about 75% of the pond is covered in green algae). In any event, it was a gorgeously sunny late afternoon day, perfect for taking a casual stroll around the pond and the park.

This shot gives you a better view of what the water fountain that keeps the pond full looks like. In the foreground is what the extent of algae content usually looks like in the pond. Fascinating reflection of the trees in the pond, don't you think?


This shot was taken while we were sitting at a table in the infamous kiddie area of the playground. We (the wife and I) decided to take a short breather before going home, so we took a seat at one of the tables. Well the breeze that was blowing through was through the playground was so invigorating that I leaned back and pointed the camera up. The end result is what you see here.

This is the back, or rather the only, parking lot to Mill Pond Park. As you can see, it's nicely landscaped by our local Parks & Rec department. In the far background, you can see the infamous kiddie playscape. To the right is where we parked. Lots of shade and less than a dozen cars made it incredibly easy to find a choice parking space.

My cat Holly. On the move or on the prowl, it was one of the few non-posed photos that I've been able to get of her over the past few years.



Another action shot of Holly, peeking out from around the corner of the stairs and from the messy dining room. Not sure what she was looking at, but it definitely wasn't me. The wooden rail that you see is actually from the back deck. My brother (and mother) have a nasty habit of bringing outdoor things inside for no other reason than to stupidly clutter up the house.

9 comments:

  1. A nice walk and love the kitty pic at the end. What a nice cat Holly is.

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  2. Lynn: Thanks. Holly has been my second favorite stress reducer in my household. She has become a more than adequate replacement of my previous cat Spike, who passed away in the spring of 2009.

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  3. Summer just doesn't want to let go here, does it? The only thing that seemed to love this hot dry summer was my tomato plants, which are still producing tomatoes!

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  4. Joanne: Not really. Papers said today that temps would be more like fall but it surely didn't feel like it. I think the only other thing that enjoyed the hot dry summer were the utilities.

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  5. G, love the shots. The one looking up the tree was a neat perspective! So sorry you lost Spike. Holly is a sweetie!

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  6. I didn't know you had a kitty! Or I must have forgotten. Earl Grey literally runs when he sees the camera, so I've only gotten a few of him.

    Looks like a great park. Mr. RK and I like going for walks during the 3 months of the year here when it's not raining.

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  7. Talon: Thanks.

    It's strange that I've become the defacto cat owner in the house. My mom brought the last two in as strays and after few weeks the novelty wore off and since I was the one who got stuck feeding them, they became mine.

    R: I've had a cat going on about four years now. It's very strange in that some of the behavior that she gets away with when others are around she doesn't even remotely try with me.

    I rarely can get the wife to go walking with me, so this was the first time we went for any kind of a walk together in about a year.

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  8. Congrats on the activity with your wife! Do it more often-
    Beautiful water feature shots! Do like those reflectios!
    Like the up the tree pic alot too-
    Amazingly uncrowded park you have there.
    Holly must be heading over for attention- very pretty.
    Stuff in- I do that, usually before hurricanes, or winter, or to keep neighbors from messing with my stuff. The downstairs keep stealing from my spot under the steps.

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  9. Snaggle: Thanks. It's tough to do anything like that with the wife because she is not the outdoors kind of person like that. I do invite her on my morning weekend walks every once in a while, but she always takes a pass on it.

    Usually M-F its pretty much dead during the spring and summer, save for the summer day camp activities and the baseball games that get played in the evening, but the weekends brings out all kinds of people to use the park (including weddings).

    Yeah, my cat is always looking for attention, usually from me.

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