Whispers In The Willows

The air is full of old cliché’s nowadays. ‘The older you get the worse one gets?’ I don’t think so! ‘The best things in life are free’ we can go along with that, but then our needs are few, in order that we be happy.
‘Life is what you make it’. I can’t argue with that one.

The whole point to this preamble is, yesterday we had a great day, and all we did was go out to our ‘special’ park again and sojourn with mother nature for about three hours. Of course now on these excursions, we take along a packed lunch making it into a picnic. On these occasions the camera is a must, for there is no telling just what we will bump into each time we visit. ~ Today certainly was no exception.

Every time we go the park I seem to say the same things over and over. “I feel that I should sit and do an article about this place,” for each time we go I am moved by an urge to write.

Could it to be because of the peaceful tranquility that just seems to flow over you and envelope you in its embrace.
Or perhaps it just may have been the ghost of Lucy Maud Montgomery, Author of “Anne of Green Gables”, who used to live in this area for a while. Adjacent to the park, there now stands a beautiful memorial garden in honor of her. ~ Whatever the reason, the urge to write is always there!


Today the sun was shining brilliantly, occasionally peeking out from behind convenient white puffy clouds, that sailed along like ships in the night.
The temperature was very comfortable, with a light breeze, just sufficient to make the tree tops sway, in rhythm to the whispering sounds of the rippling stream. Happily, three American goldfinches flirted with the glistening waters, swooping and dancing then swooping yet again.
Further along closer to the wetland the bullfrogs could be heard honking their deep throated call. The vibrant chirping and singing of a cardinal rang out from a nearby tree. Overhead could be seen a gliding hawk, scouting the area for a morsel for lunch no doubt.

We sat for a while and had lunch ourselves, all the time surrounded by the sounds of nature, such music to the ears. ~ In the distance the sounds of happy children & their parents, as more visitors arrived at the park.

We wandered over to the wetland area to a chorus of calls of the bullfrogs once again. Standing on the wooden patio platform, one can lean on the rail and get a good view of the whole wetland terrain. Before long a couple of frogs came near, I thought they would pick up a hapless moth that had come amiss on the pond water, but no. Instead one sizeable frog came ashore. At first it seemed to sun himself but I guess he had his eye on a good sized bug that was flying around, more meat on that one I thought as I spotted them. However it was not meant to be as the bug went on his way the frog meanwhile, still sat there.

Elizabeth ever vigilant, decided to try and get close without scaring him away, and yes! She got a very good picture of our friend.

During our visit we explored some more, to see what else was different today that maybe we could photo and spirit away to go with the other souvenirs from previous visits.

We had been by the bridge a little earlier and heard the sound of a bird not very familiar to us. Then we spotted him landing on the branch of a nearby tree. The wife went to work right away with the camera. She was successful in getting a couple of shots and more when he decided to alight on the rail of the bridge, this was our lucky day! We are still not quite sure what kind of bird it is, it does look a little like a larger Robin except he has spots on his breast and his head is a somewhat different shape than a Robin, we have got to look that one up. So far the possibility is maybe a juvenile robin, but the spots are misleading.


We moved on eventually, making our way over the bridge ready for our departure, walking up the steep sides of the hill. Stopping for a moment that I may catch my breath, I noticed a very weathered tree, that at that level I thought, would make a good photograph.

At the top of this garden of magnificence there stands a grand looking house. The occupant of the house certainly provides such pleasure with their choice of music regardless of whether they are aware of the fact. They play the haunting strains of classical music from the Masters, which seems to simply float on the air as we wander around the park. Truly, Whispers in the Willows. A whole different World.

C’ya