Lunch in the Park

Nature in the middle of a busy city.....

There has been a lot of noise, dust and mornings awakening to the sounds of jack hammers for the last two months right in front of Muse Cottage. Being sound sensitive, you can imagine what all that ruckus does to my delicate system. I have not even been able to "play" out in the garden as I would like for this is what it has been looking like ....

I have not even been able to leave my own drive way!

So today, like many days, I seek an escape that I can walk to, a place to gather my thoughts, relax and unwind and get in touch with nature. My solace are the local parks near where we live. Neither are all that far away, and though it does mean walking on the busy streets to get there, my favorite is one that is just about a mile away. I feel it is very much worth it, and I have been missing being able to make the walk there and back ( due to health issues that keep me close to home), but today, I finally felt as if I was truly up to it and with camera and a bottle of water in hand, I departed. 

The walk was uneventful.  The lack of side walks, just something one has to contend with in our area, with the traffic whizzing by, was not as bad as many of the days when I had taken walks in the past.  There was quite the breeze whipping all about me, and the leaves danced all about me as the wind in the leaves still attached on the trees created a white noise that was somehow very relaxing despite the cars that seemed never ending. Finally I reached my destination, but instead of staying put for a while, I decided on the spot it was a nice day to eat lunch there, if I had in fact had a lunch to eat there. So with that I walked past the park and headed to a little Mexican food place, bought a burrito, another bottle of water and grabbed some free chips and headed back the half block or so to the park. 

Finding a lovely table under the trees and overlooking the vast grounds of the park, I settled in to enjoy my lunch. In between bites, I of course snapped off a few shots.. as I always do. I know I have shared my time at this park in the past, but if you are like me, it is never a bore to look at nature, it is always changing and is always different and for me peaceful to gaze upon. 

A lovely lunch time view

This little guy was quite interested in joining me

It is requested you do not feed the ducks, but it
looked as if they were not having any issues finding food

Once I had finished my lunch and thrown away my trash, it was time to go explore and see what I could capture on film. To soak in my environment and let the tension in my neck and shoulders dissipate. With it being Autumn time, the squirrel population was out in full force collecting nuts to hide and hoard for the upcoming winter months. They all seemed quite happy and content with me being among them and snapping off a few images. 

Feeling the need to perhaps share a bit more than just the busy squirrels that seemed to be at every turn, I snapped off a couple more scenic shots... one I shared at the top of this blog, and then this lovely shot. Hard to believe that just a few yards away there is a Home Depot and a very busy intersection! 

Of course I found time to just stand still and soak it all in as well.

Before too long, I realized I sadly must start my walk home, and accomplish something here at Muse Cottage, such as laundry, and some straitening up, and I reluctantly walked up the path to the main road and did just that.  I know as the leaves continue to change, and the weather turns from comfortable to downright nippy, walks such as these will be put on hold for indoor activities, but I feel so blessed, so happy and full of gratitude that I was given this day, the ability to put one foot in front of the other and get close to nature, and then to be able to share it with all of you. I hope you all find time to do something similar; I know all too well how quickly the ability to do such things can disappear and thus we need to find that time to slow down, soak it all in and enjoy lunch in a park.