Wander May 13, 2011

Hi!  This isn't a giant thing, of course.  It would be WANDER in capitals if it was.  I'm like that.  BUT, this is a quick rove - up on the bike/walking path next to the Ontario State Parkway.  I ambled about 3 miles total, although it didn't seem like that long, honestly.  The weather was nice, not blowing wind and howling storm.  And I wanted to take pictures (I NEVER thought I would be this avid about doing the imaging thing!)

I pick up the path only about 1/4 mile from my apartment.  Just walk South on Dewey Ave. and there it is - no big signs or anything.

HOWEVER, I found myself unable to get past the Lurking Tree in the front yard of my building.  It's a very pretty L.T. and was in full flower.  I think part of the reason Rochester has so many flowering trees is because we get so weary of the grey and beige (pronounced, with condescention - not condensationg, please- as "beeje".  A sneer at the end helps heighten the mood).  No matter, I get to take pictures!!!!

Aren't you THRILLED?  Yes you are!

This is a beautiful tree - and the branches are awesome!

So, naturally, I had to get the shot from every possible angle (or at least two)

THEN, because there was some sun?  I went for (heaven help me and you) the "Artsy" shots.  You know...

Actually, I like this shot.  It's not terrible or anything, I think?

And then, in a fit of utter sicky sweetness, I did this one:

What can I say?  I have spring fever?

I then did something like a 270 turn and head off down the sidewalk toward the path along the parkway.  Couldn't get past the first stand of pines (which are great wind and snow brakes). 

I'm fond of pine cones.

Before anyone asks, yes, I had my cell phone and my keys along with my camera.  Didn't take a bottle of water, but I really didn't need it. 

I took a picture a little bit after I started walking.  Just stepped into the shade and got the path and some trees.

If you look reeeeeely hard in the previous shot, you'll see the tree in this shot.  Still playing with the zoom lens, but I wanted to get all the pretty blooms up a little closer.

Speaking of pretty blooms...there are bunches of flowering little bits of green beside the pathway, or any pathway that you might fancy.  I don't know their names, but I decided to snap pictures of them (well, not the dandelions.  Maybe I SHOULD take a picture of one, just for reference?  Uh, that would be Not Yet.

This little fellow was shy, hiding down low.  You can see the tiny petals - I don't have a macro lens so I couldn't make 'em any clearer.  They carpeted one area and popped up irreguarly elsewhere.

This little bit of a thing was no more than an inch across.  It looks like a daisy with a yellow center.  And there is was doing its thing so I caught a picture.

This little sprite was soooo tiny all I could get was a faint image of four petals.

It's really hard to know what to take of places that one frequents - er...frequently.  The old forest for the trees thing, you know?  I did okay, but I could have done more (I think that is the battle cry of every picture snapper out there)

Be that as it may, I did take a picture of  a curve in the path to give someone watching an idea of where I was going.  Because I'm nice that way.  Snicker.

Be that as it may, we are now out of the copse of trees and have walked a bit on. To your right is a busy 4 lane highway.  To your left is Lake Ontario.  This is a wetland where swans, ducks, red winged blackbirds, turkeys (one ran out in front of me earlier in the week as I walked the path), and elusive (drat) Baltimore Orioles among other things live happily.  I tried to get a snapshot of the Oriole for twenty minutes!  Couldn't do it.  He was way too fast...

As you can tell from the regularity of the sides of this bit of water access way, people have been in recently (only a couple of years ago, while the walk way was being finished) and dredged an existing access point.  The water is deep enough for ducks and fish.  Since this is a state park, I think perhaps the rangers need to be able to access the area as well, although I'm not sure.

Like I said, I need to take a lot more pictures to give everyone a basic idea of the walk, but I'm going to close with this one.  We're looking back at the woods that belt the wetlands.  The footpath is under me and trails off toward the trees.

This is a spring picture (a number of the trees are still bare), but there is almost an autumnal cast to it.  And, in the autumn, richer versions of these colors will be each tree's fall finery.  I realized that a long time ago ...weird, eh?

This is just a little wander.  I hope you liked it!