Of The Joys of Spring in 2009

OF THE JOYS OF SPRING IN 2009

Although my Rapid Aging Syndrome hit me with greater than usual force early this year to slow down my regular walking routine, I did get out to my favourite park area a number of times. It is a large urban park with an old mill pond or lake as its central focus and attraction. A paved and level trail, some 2.2 Km in length surrounds the lake and I take great delight in observing the natural changes that can be seen almost every day. I am adding a panel of three snapshots I took during some of those walks, to illustrate.

To this old observer our winter and spring this year seemed more severe than it has been in the last decade or so and the weather didn’t turn warm until well into June. The stiff legs, joints, poor balance and numerous other complaints of whatever age don’t lend themselves well to wet and cold and slippery sidewalks, so my walking routine became curtailed. Still, slow and steady persists and though shortened and slowed, I still enjoy getting out whenever conditions permit.

By February I found much of the park trail more or less cleared of snow, so instead of walking all the way I drove to the park and slithered my way carefully around a part of the trail with cane and camera and this is one of the shots I took then. I didn’t follow the walker ahead of me any further as the trail there heads into a shaded area where the weak morning sun had not yet dried the trail and I was already running into some treacherous black ice. I simply cannot afford a fall, so I took the snap and headed back. You’ll notice the snow, the dried foliage and bare trees still in evidence.

The second shot was taken on one of the few sunny days in April. The foliage was beginning to bud and sprout, the weeping willow trees were leafing out in their light green colours and the ducks on the lake were courting. This picture is a close-up of a male mallard, in the process of protecting his chosen female from a wannabe competitor.

This last view is a shot taken from the south side of the pond towards the western periphery where the trail heads into the shaded portion, which has private housing on the south side of the trail and the lake edge on the right. This snapshot was taken in the mid-morning hours of May 29, 2009 that everything is bright and green and the walkers are all in summer kit and shorts.

Hope you enjoy my brief walks in my favourite park.