On Saturday, August 6th, Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan was the site of that City’s 175th birthday party. I’m sure there was lots of cake, ice cream and high fives to go around. Historical Heritage Park has often been the subject of my blog posts. It is picturesque, no matter the season. Though I didn’t attend the birthday festivities, this post, which walk and photos were taken on Father’s Day, June 19th, will showcase Taylor’s crown jewel, a/k/a Heritage Park.
I arrived early on that Sunday morning, having made a pit stop at Council Point Park to walk a lap and visit with and feed my furry and feathered friends.
It was a gorgeous, not-quite-Summer day and, as I passed each historical building around beautiful Coan Lake, I saw walkers, some alone and others with their pooches, all enjoying the perfect weather morn.
It was a hubbub of activity around Coan Lake.
Coan Lake is in the center of the historical area of Heritage Park and here, around the covered bridge, is where I go to find photo ops with the ducks and geese that live there. My primary reason for this visit was to get some duckling pictures and, as you see below and will see later in this post, I found one Mallard Mama with her munchkins – that made my day! Here is a peek at a couple of those cutie pies.
Multiple families had gathered together to go fishing on the wooden overlook and along the Coan Lake seawall. I’ve never seen so many people fishing there, but I figured these family outings were all about spending quality time with Dad on his special day.
A few of the anglers positioned themselves at the wooden overlook.
Of note is that Coan Lake is catch-and-release fishing only; only the waterfowl get to keep the fish they snag.
The biggest “gathering of the clan” on Father’s Day was not humans, but a gaggle of Canada Geese who congregated outside the Little Red Schoolhouse – perhaps it was recess?
I smiled to myself when I saw the turtles sunbathing on the ramp because the last time I visited Heritage Park, I took a slew of pictures of those turtles which I spun into a fun Father’s Day post and here it was that actual holiday and I was seeing those same turtles. I got a couple of shots before they recognized me as that “photo-taking pest” and promptly plopped into the water.
Similarly basking in the sun and taking a breather from the rigors of nest-building and catching bugs in mid-air was this Barn Swallow. How funny that the day after seeing and photographing the beautiful Barn Swallows at Lake Erie Metropark, I would be lucky enough to find another Barn Swallow sitting still and pondering life while perched on this wooden fence post near the covered bridge.
The area around the covered bridge is always swarming with Barn Swallows who build nests in the rafters of the covered bridge. I saw no nestlings peering down at me on this visit. (In retrospect, I wonder why I confused the two types of Swallows recently as their nests do not look alike at all.)
I walked around the historical village, stopping to take a few shots. Regular readers of this blog will recognize these buildings, the Water-Powered Mill and the Old Log Cabin respectively.
My third trip around Coan Lake was the charm!
Last year it seemed every time I visited this venue, there were Mallard ducklings in different stages of growth. Can there ever be too many sweet ducklings gracing this forum – nope! (Besides, it was high time I got past the geese photos before those Mallards stomped their webbed feet and asked for equal billing in this blog!)
When I arrived at Heritage Park I quickly scanned the water and shoreline – no ducklings. But on the third trip around, there was a Mama Mallard and her multiple munchkins. I say “multiple” because they were squashed together or nestled against Mama and I wasn’t sure exactly how many duckling darlings there were. When I reviewed my photos later, I was disappointed to find a muddle of munchkins and it was difficult to see them as individuals. Here are three of them, set apart from the crowd – suffice it to say, this was one proud Mama with her brood.
I was happy to have those shots – mission accomplished! Then I saw another family of older ducklings in Coan Lake, so I’ll save those photos for this week’s Wordless Wednesday.
But wait ….
While it may have been a “ducky day” for me, this poor Mallard Drake was molting, which accounts for his somewhat frowsy appearance. There were lots of downy feathers and big flight feathers strewn on the grassy slope around Coan Lake, with Mallards picking at their feathers and looking similar in appearance to this guy.
I’ll be back to this venue in the Autumn when all the Maple trees are in glorious shades of red and yellow. Stay tuned!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
A lovely variety of pictures as always.
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Thank you Anne.
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Wow – beautiful. I love the pictures of the old mill. The turtles are always great to see. Nice post Linda
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Thank you Peggy – it is such a picturesque park. I never get tired of going there. On sunny days, there are turtles all around Coan Lake, fighting to sunbathe on the big rocks or sitting on that ramp they put in for the turtles. The mill is nice with the big wheel and at the holidays, they put lights on the mill and the wheel. I don’t go up there at night, but I have seen pictures on a Facebook site that is run by a guy who is a hobby photographer and he goes to this park all the time and takes beautiful pictures.
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That park is so beautiful. You’ve captured all the quaintness and charm and the adorable waterfowl to see. Nice post, Linda, thanks for sharing. If I’m ever in Michigan, I need to check that park out!
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Thank you Shelley – you are right; it is both quaint and picturesque with lots of charm as well. There were some photos from the weekend celebration. They worked to make it look picture perfect from the petting farm to the Conservatory to around the historical village. The other duck family, just two ducklings and Mama will be Wednesday. The water was very still that day and I was able to get some nice reflections of the trio.
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Yes, spot on descriptions and beautiful photos to emphasize what you saw! Oooooo…I love your reflection photos!
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Thanks Shelley – I am always a sucker for reflection photos, especially on clear days when you can get exact mirror images. Hope you like them!
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I love them, you captured such great photos, I’m jealous!!
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Thanks Shelley – I was pretty excited when I saw those photos on the screen. I was fairly close to them like the day with the barn swallows. 🙂
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Serendipity! 😍🥰😍
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Now I have a critter to contend with in the fenced-in backyard – evidence (as in two poop piles) and a sighting by my neighbor in the middle of the night of a 20 to 30-pound raccoon. I do not live in the country. My neighbor has seen him there before when I whined about it before a few years ago. Sigh.
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Yikes! Oh, no…keep your garbage in your garage until garbage day. It’ll move on for easier access to food!
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Pretty horrified to be honest Shelley and the last time, a few years ago, when I found poop in the yard, I asked my neighbor right away if he knew what was in our yard after dark. He used to sit out at night by the firepit or got up early for work and could see out the kitchen window which overlooks his yard. He said a big fat raccoon. Every time it snows I go in the backyard and never see pawprints, not even tail dragging tunnels from a possum (or a rat – we had those from the neighbor leaving his pit bull out 24/7/354 … dog is now gone). Not happy to know this but I never would sit out there after dark anyway. It was a shock when I saw the possum in the yard last year. I learned that raccoons do walk along fence tops and climb trees and drop down from trees onto the fence tops … great.
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If you have opossums instead, they are pretty good for the environment and take care of the ticks that spread lymes disease. If you’re not outside at night, I think you’ll be safe from seeing them.
Wow – you’ve got fireworks, raccoons, and opossums. Thankfully they aren’t getting into your house!!
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I wish it was opossums – I know I was startled when I went out early one morning and saw one staring at me. I had no idea we had them and we’d had a bad storm and I went out to check the A/C grille to ensure no sticks got caught in the grill before I turned it on. I almost died – it was not small either. My grandmother had squirrels in her attic many years ago and they did a lot of damage.
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I’m with you on seeing critters unexpectedly – it’s scary. Yes, squirrels in the attic can cause a lot of damage. We have a rental that occasionally gets them. Thankfully the renter doesn’t mind trapping them and taking them out of the attic.
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Well people say possums are cute and eat ticks but walking in the small backyard and seeing him/her standing there … I know I let out a scream. You lucked out with that renter being a DIY squirrel nabber. My grandmother said they were pretty loud and they did a lot of damage.
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Trust me, you’re not alone in the letting out a scream when you see a surprise critter!!! Critters out of their natural environment tend to do damage.
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I don’t go into the backyard much anymore Shelley because the grass is sparse back there and hasn’t grown due to a lot of trees shading the yard and the moderate drought we’ve had. So I guess I had better make more trips back there – ugh!
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Safe travels! Take your camera, you might find something blogworthy 😉
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Yes, I should have had it that day!
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📷📸📷📸📷📸😁
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Great turtle pictures, Linda! How exciting to get the pictures of the barn swallow holding still! I love the rustic look of the log cabin. Life was hard back then, but also simpler and more straightforward. I wonder what all the little squares in the logs above the doors and windows are? Love the shot of mama duck with the single duckling — she looks so dignified in her motherhood. Thanks for sharing this lovely day at Heritage Park! It’s nice to reminisce about how pleasant the weather was in June. 🌞
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Thank you Barbara! I was excited to see those turtles sunbathing again, especially the day the Father’s Day post published with the same turtles. I’ve had such good luck with photos at Heritage Park this year, beginning with Mother Goose in the rocks, then her eggs. Wednesday I will have the other ducklings (just two sadly) and their Mama swimming in Coan Lake. The water was still so I got some nice reflections of them. I just looked at the squares on the logs above the windows and doors and I have never noticed them before. I wonder what it is too? I will ask the historical society – maybe they know. One time I had pictures of the Little Red Schoolhouse and you could see that listing evergreen. I asked around to find out why it leans so badly and I learned the ground is low there, near the water and has caused the tree to sink on one side. You can see it in the photo in this post, but depends on the angle how bad the tree looks, especially if you take it head on. I wish we still had our June weather. This is our last day for this brutal heat and more normal temps through the weekend (thankfully).
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I didn’t notice the listing evergreen but now that you pointed it out, wow! Made me think of some of our struggles trying to get a Christmas tree to stand up straight. It is very close to the water but it looks like it is trying to grow upright again, the top is starting to reach up. Fascinating! Enjoy your weather break! Ours is due Saturday.
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Yes, that tree is amazingly off kilter! I never noticed it when I was there, nor in the photos I take, but a fellow blogger asked about it once. So I sent the photo to the guy who runs Heritage Park Photo of the Day and he tracked down the info about the soggy ground. I was going to send two log cabin pictures to the Taylor Historical Society to ask about the squares, but they don’t have a “message me” on their Facebook page. You’ve got my interest piqued Barbara. The Historical Society has a old skeleton and they pose him when they have special events in the historical buildings. They put “Skelly” in the window of the log cabin one year for Halloween.
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Your photos are always super. This post was most enjoyable.
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Thank you Anne – this is always a picturesque park, no matter the season. I remember you really liked seeing all the maple trees with peak foliage.
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Such a wonderful park, with all the wildlife and the historic buildings. People out enjoying the day 🙂
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Yes, a beautiful day and I’ve never seen so many people fishing – that surprised me and, as I mentioned, Coan Lake is catch-and-release only, so people are fishing for the relaxation and camaraderie.
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I’ve only seen one turtle in the stream near me. I’m sure there are more but I can’t spot them. Love the munchkins! Great pics.
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Glad you liked the pictures Kate. Those munchkins were adorable. The ducklings on Wednesday will be another family with older ducklings and a beautiful day with still water and pretty reflections.
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You had fun down at Coan lake Linda! Lots of activity going on! Great shots!
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Thanks Wayne! It was a great day and I was lucky finding those Mallard munchkins who were so cute. I will have more ducklings, the older family, on Coan Lake with pretty reflections on Wednesday .
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That park has a lot of things to do in it. I’m glad you saw the ducklings, there is nothing quite so cute as baby anything LOL
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Yes, it is so picturesque Susan and finding ducklings or goslings there is an added bonus. I had some Cormorant photos too, but left them out as it was so picture laden already. Those ducklings were sleepy from the sun and kept nodding off, except the one who stood up looking around. 🙂
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I do love cormorants. My husband and I called them Cormies and I have a friend who can’t stand them which for the life of me I can’t figure out why lol. I think they are beautiful
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They crack me up when they stand there drying their wings. I read they have no oil to distribute to their feathers to make them waterproof, so they stretch them out to dry. I haven’t decided if they look like mini-flashers or mini-Draculas when they do that. A few years I saw a bunch of them roosting in a tree. Very interesting to see. I like watching them dive as they emerge a long way from where they started.
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Haha mini Draculas! That’s a cute description 😊
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Yes – all in black and opening the wings like Count Dracula’s cape!
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I LOVE ducks. I actually have that particular kind of duck at home though I’m not sure what kind it is. Female mallard maybe? Mallards are my favorite.
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I love ducks too LaShelle. That is a female mallard, although this time of year, that male mallard you saw at the end of the post, would have lost its colorful plumage that it was starting to lose in those pictures and by now has brown plumage. The females and males are in “eclipse phase” and look the same.
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That gives me hope then! My duck looks like a female mallard too but I keep hoping it’s boy 😬
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It very well could be a male in eclipse phase LaShelle. I took an interpretive boat trip in mid-August once and the guide pointed out a huge group of mallards out on Lake Erie. He asked if we noticed they all looked alike – all a brown drab color and explained eclipse phase. When the female is done molting, she will have a blue streak on her wing and the males will get their usual colorful plumage.
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Miss Linda……………………..you are a good writer………………….I enjoy your trips to the parks especially Taylor Heritage park……………………….thanks also for reminding me that our feathered friends molt this time of the year………………………………since I see so many large feathers on the ground …………………………………….
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Thank you for saying that Ann Marie. It is fun to write about Heritage Park, which we both like going to. It looked like they had a lot of fun and visitors at their 175 birthday. I saw the pictures on Facebook’s site “Heritage Park Photo of the Day”. Heritage Park was full of feathers the day I was there; same at Elizabeth Park. I don’t notice it as much at Lake Erie Metropark as the park is so large. Are the male and female ducks at your pond now looking alike as they are in eclipse phase by August?
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Looks like a lovely day in the park, Linda.😘
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Thanks Pam – this park never disappoints, as it’s so picturesque and lots of ducks and geese to watch.
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💜♥️❤️
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Lovely pictures, Linda. I always enjoy coming seeing mother ducks and their ducklings. 🙂
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Thanks Rebecca – I was excited as this was the main reason I went there. I will have more cute ducklings with their mom in tomorrow’s post. It’s hard to resist taking a lot of pictures of Mom and her brood.
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Hi. New here. Beautiful pictures. That’s a really cool looking mill.
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Welcome Jessica. Thank you – it is a fun historical venue and a great place to see the ducks and gees as well. I like the colors of the mill and little red schoolhouse as it brightens up this park.
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Sounds like a wonderful place. There is a place called Alley Spring near here that has a schoolhouse and a mill. The colors are swapped though. The mill is red and the school is white. I love taking pictures there. Such a step back in history. Your ducks and geese photos are beautiful.
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Thank you Jessica – I will have some cute older ducklings tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday. I was excited to find them.
These historical buildings are open to visit just once a year; then, they usually have a fancy tea of some sort, but Saturday for Taylor’s 175th anniversary they opened all the old buildings, even the log cabin. It is a picturesque place, for every season. The little red schoolhouse against the snow and icy pond is really gorgeous. Alley Spring sounds beautiful and quaint as well and a great place to take pictures. The covered bridge is a spot where people come for wedding pictures, prom/homecoming and often graduation photos.
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Wow! Love when they open old buildings. Such a step into history. I bet the covered bridge is popular- they are so unique. Love the smell of the wood. Sometimes, if the light is right, I’ve been able to catch a photo of the bridge’s reflection on the water below. The red schoolhouse against the snow and icy pond sounds lovely.
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They had a lot of visitors at this park for the birthday celebration and having tours was a nice touch too, especially since they rarely open the buildings. The bridge is very popular for posing and when it is Autumn, there are lots of maple trees and when they are all red and gold, you will see professional photographers there taking family photos or couple photos near the bridge with the trees in the background. It is picturesque in the Winter. The mallards all line up on the ice in front of the covered bridge to keep warm.
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I want to go! Ha ha. Sounds like my kind of place!
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Yes, it is considered the crown jewel of the City of Taylor. The petting zoo is fun too. It is on the fringe of Heritage Park. I went for an event “Christmas in July” where Santa was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. There were supposed to be reindeer but it was a stifling hot day, so they didn’t bring them in until evening. So I just took photos for a post, but didn’t return for Rudolph, et al. 🙂
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Ohhhhhhh, how FUN!!!
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Yes, I got some fun shots around the petting farm. I was the only adult by myself there … the rest were kids with their parents. Bet I stuck out like a sore thumb!
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Jessica – I know I have a better picture of the Little Red Schoolhouse in the snow, but can’t find it – but here are some of the ducks lined up on the ice in front of the covered bridge at the beginning of the post. Near the end is a photo of the schoolhouse – I was photographing red things for Valentines Day weekend at this park.
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Oh my goodness! I love ‘huddle alert.’ I’ve never seen so many ducks on ice!! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. That schoolhouse is spectacular with ice all about. The red!
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Glad you liked the photos Jessica. It was such a bitter cold day and I really felt for the ducks all lined up in a row, huddled together. For some reason the entire man-made lake does not freeze and maybe the sun melts the ice, or maybe someone breaks up the ice so the ducks can paddle around and eat the fish. The red was a fun contrast to the ice and snow. The big heart is metal artwork that an artist was commissioned to create for a young woman who was killed in a police chase. Her car flipped over and she was killed instantly. They light the heart up in the Winter along with the buildings, covered bridge and the domed Conservatory and it is very pretty.
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Sad reason for a heart. But, I bet all those lights are very beautiful.
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Yes it is Jessica. It is beautiful, especially on a gray Winter’s day.
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I just love your turtle pictures Linda. They are so hard to capture a picture here because they always dive in the water.
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Thank you Diane! Nothing says Summer like the turtles basking in the sun. Here at Heritage Park they fight to claim space on the big rocks and the rest of the bunch are relegated to the metal ramps the park has put inside Coan Lake. They will be all happily sunning and see a human and freak out like yours do – one by one they plop into the water. Sometimes their eyes are closed while sunbathing and then I move in. 🙂
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I’m envious of your turtle pics. Love the school house and the old log cabin – can you go inside?
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Those turtles are really a fixture at Coan Lake Joni. They are always bobbing around in the water or will compete for the big rocks to sun themselves on. The park made them metal ramps that you can see in the picture of several turtles. They can climb out of the water and sit on the ramp if rocks aren’t available. 🙂 Once a year they open up the historical buildings and you can go inside. They have an event, a tea/social of some kind with a vintage feel to it put on by the Taylor Historical Society and you can check them out. Last weekend, for their big 175th anniversary party, all the historical buildings were open to go into. The school is small and it is nice that you can see inside all the time at how it looked with the toys and books and two big dolls peeking out the window.
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Great selection of photos and interesting to read about the water mill and the school! Thanks for the reminder that ducks molt…I tend to forget they go through that process. That would be a fun learning topic for us. Once I tell the kids it was inspired from aunt Linda, they’ll be pleased. They say “hi!”
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Thanks Esther and since I wrote the post, they put about 50 pictures of this birthday celebration on the park’s Facebook site, including pictures inside the schoolroom and also the log house. Very cool photos. I saved about four of them and will maybe include them in another Heritage Park post and attribute them to the guy who runs the FB site. Yes, show the kids how the Mallards look in these photos with the mottled feathers, then the males and females all look alike with their brown feathers. I like that they’ll be inspired by Little Ol’ Me – that makes me smile. Please tell Elliot and Ellis I said “hi” and to enjoy their dwindling days of Summer Vacation as school starts soon. Tell them I was working in the backyard pulling weeds and stood up and a huge yellow caterpillar was crawling up my black pants and trying to get into my pants pocket.
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The schoolroom photos must be great. I always wanted to visit one and just be in that environment. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to sit in a one room schoolroom all by yourself to read and write and just dawdle around. lol
I wonder where we could find some molting ducks near us. Interesting to see firsthand. Yes, they enjoy your photos and aunt Linda. We’re taking it mellow before school starts. I’ve been busy looking into curriculum for this coming year and cleaning up our bookcases. You can’t imagine the clutter that starts to accumulate once school starts.
I told the kids your caterpillar story and they gave me big smiles…
Have a great weekend Linda!! hugs from droughty CA.
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I can’t imagine what it is like. I will send you the picture I took from the Facebook site for Heritage Park (Photo of the Day) and you can see the schoolroom. It is very cute and they have dolls peeking out the window (maybe not for the event but the rest of the time). The ducks start molting in June, so they are now all brown – maybe next year? But your climate being warm all year around, maybe the ducks don’t molt the same time of year? The caterpillar on my pants – I look down and there it was. I was okay with it, but a centipede or spider and it would not be funny. I wish I was not that scared of things that run faster than me. Glad to give the kids a laugh. My internet is slow tonight, just one bar on the wireless. I am typing and nothing is on the screen. You have a wonderful weekend too Esther … we have good weather this week, but have had droughty weather all of June and July. I will get that photo and send it to you by e-mail.
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I checked my email! Thank you. It’s much more crowded than I imagined…my imagination gets ahead of me.
Thank goodness it was a caterpillar. If you remember Elliot got a spider bite or something of that sort that needed antibiotic treatment. Yikes.
I’m stumped to find a bunch of ducks around us. There is a nearby library with a duck pond but it’s too messy there. They also have geese and oh man, they come up close. Even if we don’t see it, it’s on my mind so we’ll look out for it next time.
Hope your internet service improves soon…so much of what we do rely on internet. It’s annoying when it slows down.
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Yes very crowded and the dunce cap in the corner was a fun touch as well.
At least the caterpillar was stopped and not all over the place with a million legs! I am very scared of spiders so the idea of a spider bite would just level me to be honest.
I am not sure what is wrong with my inter Esther. In the little wireless portion which shows the signal strength keeps going up and down. I hope it is better before work tomorrow.
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Oh my, dunce cap! That really was a thing back then. Back in first grade, a misbehaved student would sit in the corner facing the whole class. It was an embarrassing thing and I wonder if the teacher had the student wear a hat. Can’t remember, that was decades ago. But paddling was a thing when I was in kindergarten. Brutal.
Watch out for spiders…we’ve seen a few in the house but they are so quick. I clear the corners so they don’t have spaces to hide although it’s impossible to do for everywhere in the house.
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Esther, I don’t remember the dunce cap or sitting in the corner of the class – that would be very humiliating and I do remember paddling, but only over here in the States and the teacher I had who paddled me on a regular basis as she would go to the teachers’ lounge to smoke and return and ask her “snitch” who talked, chewed gum, threw spitballs and was told I was the only one who did so, so I was paddled. That was brutal. That was in junior high (7th grade) what they now call middle school. I went through 5th grade in Canada and if we had punishment, I never saw anyone be hit at all.
This morning I was sipping my coffee, shortly after I got up and looked toward the living room, where I saw a centipede go scurrying across the beige carpet. I won’t go thru the living room for awhile now – maybe never. 🙂 I absolutely hate crawling insects like spiders and centipedes.
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I think the bugs are going crazy and coming indoors. We’ve been getting critter visitors lately and they hang out by the living room light. It’s easy to kill them when they’re on the wall, but once they start flying around, it’s game over. This morning Elliot found a spider and the other day I squashed a mosquito.
Paddling is just a big “no.” Violence begets violence. Middle school is brutal! So much social pressure, teacher pressure, academic stress…whole lots going on. You made it and thank goodness those years are over with. Never want to go back to those days for me either.
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I have clutter in my house which I have to deal with before I can start loading in groceries for Winter as I buy in bulk then, but I sometimes to get the food in and deal with putting everything away later … then I worry because a bug will like to hide in something that sits awhile. Right now I am dealing with an annoying gnat and have had a few this week. My luck I brought a pregnant gnat in the house in my hair from a walk.
They say people may talk about the good old days and how much fun they had in school back in the day, but the golden memories are usually embellished as those memories are often tarnished.
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As always, beautiful photos and lovely prose. I cannot imagine paying attention well in a one room school house. Nor ever getting any sleep in that small of a log cabin. You have to wonder how they ended up with such large families.
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Thank you Zazzy. It is really a beautiful and quaint park. I’ve peeked in the school room and it is small. I can’t imagine how one teacher would teach different grades in the same room. That log cabin is not large either and none of the comforts of home we have these days. There’s roughin’ it in a tent and I’m sure this would be about the same.
[I hope you and Zoe are doing better after a rough week.]
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Father’s day seems like forever ago. I love looking at mallards.
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Yes it does JP – two months have sped on by already. I like mallards too. They always seem to have a smile on their face.
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