Finding one's inner riparian

[gurdonark]

Today I worked until the middle of the afternoon. I stopped at a dollar store, and picked up a throwaway camera. I then headed onto the President George Bush Tollway back towards Allen. I stopped at Breckinridge Park, a wonderful large expanse which rarely seems crowded. When I arrived, a father and his small son were flying a dragon kite in the parking lot--the kite's tail must have been 45 feet long. Two retirement-age gentlemen stood beside the large pond, guiding radio controlled sailboats through the calm waters.

I plunged into the woodland, by Rowlett Creek:



The creek ran wide for this time of year. I soon veered off the concrete walkway onto little cut-paths. I wished I had my little dogs along, until I saw row upon row of foxtails amid the weeds. Foxtails and dogs do not mix well together.

Most of the creek rolled along at a pleasant pace, but sometimes the creek ran a bit faster over the limestone.



Outside the woods, the pond is a picturesque little space in a field, with a gazebo-type pavilion:



But I like the dark, quiet look of deep, green woodlands around a flowing creek.



I saw a nest of "waxworms", small moth caterpillars, which build an almost webbed looking nest, in which crawl dozens of "waxworms" at a time:



I also saw giant swallowtail and sagebrush butterflies.
I was a participant in this hike, of course, walking through the woods and in the open, snapping madly, searching out butterflies, listening to singing birds. I saw a bluebird fly into a tree. I stepped gingerly around poison oak. I kept my eyes peeled for snakes in the trail, but I didn't see any.
I decided to add myself to this record, as follows:



We went down the street to the Persian restaurant, where our waitperson, a Malay woman we always like served us. She may be the most charming and attractive industrial engineering student we have ever met (although I suppose that all IEs must be charming and attractive, speaking inductively). She told us about the challenges of studying differential equations (which we called "Diff E" when I was in school, but now has the somewhat cuter name "DiffyQ"). We talked a long time about industrial engineers and job markets and regions of the country. Her fiance is also an IE, so they'll no doubt produce well-engineered progeny.

We came home and watched "Frida" on the DVD, which captured both our hearts. I knew it would be good,but I thought that the watering down of the tragic elements of the story would badly damage the movie. But the movie worked in the way old time Hollywood movies did--an entertainment about a serious life.

Tomorrow I must travel again. I am glad I got a moment to stand in the shade today.