It was fairly chilly and windy but I decided that I just had to go and see what is new in Victoria Park. One of the things that attracted me was the clouds that were gathering overhead. With the help of my phone and camera I was able to capture some real beauty.
My first picture was taken across Joseph Street from the park so I could capture the whole stonework fence. I debated about cutting the picture a the street line, as I don't like this striped walkway. It detracts from the beauty of the park as far as I am concerned.
With that behind me, I can now capture the full beauty of the sky, park and entrance stonework.
The time of day that I was there was a busy time as people were either biking at high speeds or walking through the park. Some of them appeared to be taking a shortcut through the park to get home.
The flag on top of the clock tower was a good indication of just how windy it really was. However, that didn't deter me from proceeding on. I did keep an eye on the weather just in case it rained. I'm happy to say that in just over an hour it didn't rain and I was able to go as far as I could to capture a couple of photos of the swans before returning to the bus terminal.
One of the things that I was looking for was new growth in the maze of leaves. I hope these won't get damaged by frost or snow before they have the opportunity to bloom and announce that spring has sprung.
The daffodil shoots were along the path just before I came to this little pond.
I took a few shots of the flag at different positions as a result of the wind being so strong.
I didn't even realize that I had caught this compass point symbol until I was editing the photos later that evening. It appears in several of the photos.
This pond needs some cleaning out before they fill it with water once it warms up. It is beyond my comprehension why people throw trash into some thing like this. It's not like there are no waste disposal sites all throughout the whole park.
The sky seemed menacing as I looked in this direction, at least at the points closer to me, but the sky was trying to peep through.
There is a bit of water in the smaller pond already. It could also be from recent rain or snow melting in it.
This was taken as I was heading out toward the main part of the park.
Queen Victoria's monument is just on the periphery of the picture here.
Here is it pretty central.
At this point I had decided to take the path to the left. There were three paths to choose from and I had to decide which one would get me the most exposure to the elements and also the best views of the park.
The whole monument is visible in this photo, accompanied by the cannon.
The boathouse is a place one can eat at.
Looking straight at the monument and about as close to the roadway as I could go without holding up traffic.
This goose seemed to think I was going to give it something to eat and seemed very disappointed when I had nothing. Here it is heading out to see if anyone else is more generous than me. lol.
Then along came a pair of Mallards but I think they were a little more perceptive than the goose was.
They just kept swimming by.
I don't know if this was the same goose or if it was a different.
They have more benches along the trail on this side of the lake to sit on. The new ones have a path down from the sidewalk so one doesn't have to walk on the grass to access it. That is especially nice for someone like me who uses a walker.
Another shot of the gazebo, and different aspects of it can be seen.
Another sweep of the scenery as I move from right to left and capture different views.
No matter how often this goose comes looking for food it won't make me feel sad that I don't have anything to share.
Here you can see the gazebo through the bridge.
I took a number of photos from both sides of the bridge.
Because it was starting to feel even colder by the time I got on the island I was debating how much further I would go. I hear someone say something about the swans and then I spotted them.
As I was heading toward where I'd seen the swans I kept on taking photos back and all around me.
I was hoping I would at least be able to see them from the green bridge...
I had to use my zoom lense and was able to capture a couple of shots of them.
On my way back toward the bus terminal I took more photos of the gazebo from a different angle.
There were two geese across the lake from me and I was able to capture some interesting shots of them.
I can't talk to the animals or birds but sometimes I can read their mind and when the one goose looked down over the edge I realized that it was going to go for a swim.
Even before it dove off the edge I could almost read the mind of the other one. It looked as if it thought the first one was crazy. And the way it is walking off here I think I was right in my guess.
When I saw the first goose swimming toward me I began to wonder if it too thought I was good for a treat. Sorry! I don't feed the "wildlife".
I guess that the second one didn't like that lonely feeling and decided to join the other one.
By this time the sun was trying very hard to peep through the thick clouds, but so far no rain.
Meanwhile, back on the other side there was a goose standing on one leg as if trying to keep the other one warm under its wing.
And along came some more, or maybe even the same mallards I'd seen earlier.
Just ahead I saw a tree that had an interesting abnormality.
After checking the time and realizing that I had some distance still to cover to catch a bus home, I headed fairly speedily toward the bus terminal, checking the time periodically and taking photos along the way.
The one thing I don't like about the park is that there are residential buildings all around the park. This is a sweep around the park before I pushed real hard to get to the terminal by 6pm.
And as I approached the clock tower the flag was flying all out.
At this point I knew I would have to wait for the 6:15pm bus so I slowed down and enjoyed my walk the rest of the way. It is not very far, but just far enough that it can take a bit of time to arrive at the spot where I would catch the bus I needed to get home.
I was home about an hour when I happened to glance out the window and saw a beautiful sunset so I took some photos and here are the pictures that I took that night. One of the beauties of the trees being bare of leaves is that I can actually see the sunsets.
What a way to end a great day!!!💗
