Number Sixteen: Walking Green Lake

Monday morning I arrived in Green Lake neighborhood too late to take my usual yoga class.  This made for a excellent opportunity to scratch another item of my list of 30 things, walking around Green Lake.

   

The day was one of those beautiful crisp fall mornings.  There was a chill to the air but the sun was shinning gloriously.  The rays warmed my face while to breezes made my hands a little cold and wishing for some mittens. 

I delighted in listening to little ones giggling on their tricycles, mommies enjoying in companionship pushing their strollers, older women having a lovely chat around the lake, and dogs barking at the water fowl.

Portions of the walk reminded me of my beloved Bear Creek Greenbelt trail in Colorado.  Little bits where I could sneak off the paved route onto a less traveled dirt path providing me with moments of walking meditation.

  

There were lovely wild flowers grazing along the waters edge

and lily pads too.  (Although I didn't see Mr. Jeremy Fisher there was a fisherman hoping for a catch.)

Beautiful fall leaves delighted my eyes and ears as they crunched underfoot.

There were two wonderful sights I wish I could have captured toward the end of my walk around the lake.  First was one darling little girl with strawberry curls held back with a pink headband.  She rushed out to walk on a dock posted out in the water as her grandpa called her back to wait for him.  Her little hand reached out to his and they walked onto the dock together. 

The second image was this wonderful woman jogging.  She had a huge smile on her face that was contagious.  I literally lit up in a smile from ear to ear as I passed her.  What a gift she gave me that morning! I wonder how many others were effected by her smile or by the one she left on my face?

At the end of my walk I took a rest on this bench and listened to the mallards as the cackled and laughed (at least that what it sounded like to me, a grinning fool).  In the moment I was caught up in listening to the ducks that I hadn't noticed the beauty of the sun rays shinning through the tree branches.  Thank goodness for film (or rather the Hipstamatic iPhone app) to document the beauty for me so that I may appreciate it later!