Back To Striebel Pond

I just can't stay away. In fact I don't want to and the fact that I committed to walking everyday ensures that I'll keep on visiting. I miss the Dunes. I really do. But Striebel Pond is so close and the paths are so paved and safe and clean and there's so much to see that it's hard to bypass it to walk somewhere else. If there's one drawback to Striebel, it's that it is getting so popular. It's unbelievable how many people take advantage of it. And you don't see just walkers. You see joggers and runners and bicyclists, and roller blade speed demons. There are mothers pushing strollers and pulling wagons and corraling children that want to run ahead or lag behind. There are old people (obviously), young people and just as many men as women. And then there are the dog walkers with dogs of every breed and every temperament.
Don't get me wrong. I think all of that is good and there's plenty of room on the course for lots of people but sometimes it can get a tiny bit complicated when someone is going almost your speed but not quite and you have to pass them and there's oncoming. You get the picture. Mostly though I love it. Everybody is friendly and everybody is nice. And several times people have stopped me because I'm carrying a camera to tell me of a photo op that they discovered. Here's the most recent and it's a good one.
Then I spotted the swans. Or was I spotted first.
After I saw him, I knew the rest were nearby. And I was right. They were just hanging unusually closet to the shore today.
The wild flowers that were sown around the pond are blooming like crazy right now. I took just a few shots and liked them all well enough that I'm going to include them.

And my favorite:
These last pictures of the swans weren't taken today but when I took them I was able to get above and unusually close to them so I wanted to share them eventually. Today feels like eventually to me.
So that's it from Striebel Pond today. Until next time, this is Stillmary (no matter how old I am) signing off and wishing you all a good day.