A Breath of Nature in the Big City

Just a few minutes from my house, there is a lovely park that I like to take Rufus for a walk through,  in early morning.  It was built on the grounds of an old race track and it is truly a piece of nature tucked into the city.  I'm always amazed at how quiet it is and I love pretending I'm up in the country going for a walk at my cottage because, quite often, all the sounds I hear are the birds chirping and the frogs calling.  Hard to believe, with the city skyline peaking above the tree tops.

I brought my camera with me this morning because I was hoping to catch a shot of a white heron that makes his home in one of the hidden ponds in this park.  He wasn't there today.  Often I will see him, preening his feathers one of three beautiful little ponds, surrounded by bull rushes, and quite literally, 20 feet away from a major city thoroughfare.

Other birds were there today, though, and the most amazing thing to me is this sits a few minutes outside of the downtown core. There is a wonderful boardwalk that lies between the bull rushes and as my feet hit the wooden boards I sometimes can't believe I'm just east of the city and a few hundred feet from the lakeshore.

I grabbed a shot of the ornamental grasses beginning to grow, at one of the entries to the park.  It's hard to believe that this is the same spot I grabbed an instagram this past fall(bottom picture).  Gotta love nature!

Have a great day!

ps.  This was quickly thrown together with the new picmonkey collage feature ... YEAH !!... it's finally here!!!