walking through a park
on a beautiful day
looking up to the sky
and
quietly sitting way up there
was a very polite and interested audience
it was standing room only.
—
“ive never had any idea that what I like would resonate with the audience, and i’m pleasantly surprised when it does.”
-tom petty (r.i.p.)
—
south pond park, ann arbor, michigan, usa
many parks that i visit
are quiet and solitary experiences
and then there are others
teeming with people and life
and noise and activities
of all kinds
both have such an important place and purpose.
—
“parks and playgrounds are the soul of a city.”
― marty rubin
—
gallup park, ann arbor, michigan, usa
big rivalry game in ann arbor today
and the flags are fully flying
state flag, american flag, university of michigan flag
go blue.
—
“i can’t tell people what flag to fly.”
-lesley stahl
“many people are good at talking about what they are doing,
but in fact do little.
others do a lot but don’t talk about it;
they are the ones who make a community live.”
― jean vanier
autumn is my time.
i am most radiant and full of energy
when the leaves are falling
and
there is a ghost of change in the air.
-author unknown
—
still walking
as october begins
and
the parks and i
change with the season.
(now at 120 and 30-some to go)
—
north lilley park, ann arbor, mi, usa
fall is only ‘fall’ to americans, even though the term was coined in britain.
what do you call the picking of ripe sweet potatoes, apples, squash and pumpkins?
harvest.
that was the word used until the 1300s to describe the next few months of weather.
because “harvest” also meant the gathering of ripe crops, when the word “autumn” showed up in english writing, its popularity soared.
some time after, poets coined the phrase “the fall of leaves” — shortened to “fall” in the 1600s.
the word “autumn” still remained popular throughout england’s period of colonizing the world.
the lack of consistent communication between the english and the people in the american colonies led to differences in the language.
by the mid-1800s, the word “fall” had firmly rooted itself in america.
—
and apparently something was again lost in translation
when communicating with mother nature
as yesterday was the official first day of
fall/harvest/autumn
and our temps in michigan were in the 90s.
(photo: fuller park, ann arbor, mi, usa)
—
credit: cnn news
in keeping with the food theme of the month
and lucky timing
i visited mushroom park
as part of my ann arbor park walk
and there i found
a wonderful unique park
smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood
surrounded by
a group of small rolling grassy berms
once i walked through the path between the little hills
there was a sweet little playground
and a series of
interesting psychedelic painted ceramic mushrooms
it had a very special feel about it
i kept expecting to cross paths with a gnome or fae folk
instead i found a colorful hand-painted rock
one had left behind
and if i had to guess
i’d say that this charming little park
just may have been created in the ’60s.
—
“i’m just some lunatic macaroni mushroom, is that it?”
-joe pesci
—
credits: mushroominfo.com, national food days/months
spent a few beautiful afternoon hours
at the kerrytown bookfest
in the ann arbor farmers market
where i usually find the flowers and fruit
on this day
i found all kinds of wonders
new and used books
interesting genres
loved the gunslingers section
illustrators proud of their work
fellow book loving shoppers
passionate authors of all kinds
and
so many, many words
—
“reading is an exercise in empathy;
an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”
-malorie blackman
i have at last found the perfect way
to measure my walks through the parks.
reindeer know what’s up.
“september tries its best to have us forget summer. “
-bernard williams
—
leslie woods park, ann arbor, michigan, usa
(now deep into the 90’s of the 160 parks adventure)
I didn't have my glasses on.... 