… I embraced the warmish morning that finally felt like Spring.
While driving to Elizabeth Park, in between sound bites of the ongoing UK Coronation festivities and sports reports about the projected winner of the Kentucky Derby later that day, the WWJ news anchor gave a resounding “woo-hoo” after the weatherman said the temperature had finally reached 50 degrees. Clearly I was overdressed, but I needed my coat as it had pockets for my keys and camera since lazy me had not yet dug out my fanny pack from wherever I stored it after migrating to coat-wearing back in October.
It was mid-morning and already my second venue on May 6th, having stopped at Council Point Park first to feed my furry and feathered friends, then take a slew of gosling shots to use for my virtual March of Dimes 5K (and indeed walk the equivalent of a 5K/3.2 miles for that event).
I picked a parking spot and glimpsed the Detroit River past the big bridge …
… but also admired the small bridge that spanned the Canal, as the sun’s rays were casting some gorgeous reflections on the water. You will recall from last week’s post, that a portion of today’s mission at this beautiful island park was to collect Canada Geese family photos to use in my Father’s Day post.
It ended up being a prolific day of photos for me, so I was glad I had packed my extra camera battery, though surprisingly I never needed it, despite taking tons of shots. By the time I returned to the car, although I had intended to head to Humbug Marsh to visit with the plein air painting group, as the saying goes “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” which described me to a “T” as I plopped down onto the car seat and cranked up the AC.
Before I began capturing those sweet shots that were the subject of my prior post, a pair of geese sipping water greeted me as I began my trek …
The Canal has a lot of dead and misshapen trees, some bent over so their branches tickle the water. I mused to myself that this tree seemed to make a statement, perhaps directed to Mother Nature who had pelted us with five straight days of rain, only to make us endure three weeks with no rain in late May/early June.
And this gnarly looking tree always reminds me of the old Timex commercial “takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’” … it appears to be dead, yet its root area is green, while the rest of the tree has fallen across the Canal.
There were pools of water where there shouldn’t be, i.e. across the pathway and filling up the grassy areas – I figured portions of my trek might be a sogfest.
After spending an hour photographing the family of geese, I saw a flash of color in a still somewhat-drab landscape. It was a Red-winged Blackbird that gave me a sneer as it sat there, puffed up with importance, displaying those red and yellow epaulets, like a military guardian of the gate as I neared the big bridge.
Enroute to the Boardwalk I had hoped some of the Willow trees had leafed out to get a shot of them and was happy to see they had. That is the header image of this post. Happily, there was a bonus for me as I glanced over to this tiny island that is usually laden with ducks. I searched the shoreline for ducks, but since I saw none, I suspected many were sitting on nests hidden in the marsh or along the Canal with their mates hovering nearby. The bonus for me was seeing a Mama and Papa Goose with tiny goslings clustered together …
I took this photo of the goslings. Unfortunately, they are not really clear as I was across the Canal from this small island.
I was so fixated on this latest family, I almost missed this kayaker with pedal power who was going pretty quickly.
Following him was his pal whom he was trying to have a conversation with (unsuccessfully).
There were other fisherman out on boats or standing along the Boardwalk. I looked for my groundhog friend and had no sweets, just a small bag of Goldfish crackers for him … he wasn’t around, so I ate them. The beautiful Oak trees still had not leafed out, so the Boardwalk was not as beautiful as usual.
“Mind the gap” is an expression used when boarding a subway car and that was my mindset as I noticed the boardwalk railing was either missing a rail or had this odd gap …
… which was dangerous as lots of little kids roam along the Boardwalk. Dogs must be leashed, but kids run up and down the Boardwalk all the time. I saw something in the distance on the railing – some new kind of shore bird? With the sun glinting off the River and my dark glasses, I wasn’t sure. I got closer and speaking of kids, it was a kid’s Keds that had led me over there in a hurry. Yes, good thing I have an upcoming eye doctor appointment. 🙂
Around the bend, fisherpersons baited hooks and cast out …
… and it appeared someone’s bored kid was “having some fun on the Boardwalk” with chalk.
I passed umpteen soccer games in progress and still another tree in this park’s collection of trees that have seen better days.
I still had about a half mile to reach the car and it was getting mighty warm. This scooter is one of many that the City of Trenton provides for people to roll around their city.
The park always has a few no matter where you wander.
They all looked inviting, except I’d likely break my neck riding one, unlike this young man who whizzed by me.
There were Spring Beauties wildflowers under all the trees, perhaps the inspiration for the aforementioned chalk art?
I watched a car stop, the window was rolled down and a hand snaked out and tossed several handfuls of peanuts toward a mound of rocks. I had to smile as this would be the same scenario as me, obviously a regular stopping/feeding point and squirrels and birds came in rapid succession. The driver left having seen his benefactors race over. I was left with the opportunity to get a few squirrel and bird pics, including a White-breasted Nuthatch and Blue Jay. A few squirrels will be featured on this week’s Wordless Wednesday post.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Beautiful capture all pictures. I like. Beautiful you sharing Spring. What happened?
What problem your 👁️ ?
Beautiful chalk drawing . Wonderful tree has fallen across the Canal.
Nice duck & a pair of geese sipping water greeted you.
Thanks, Linda!
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Hi Raj – glad you liked this post and all the pictures. Not sure what you mean about the problem with my eyes though?
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I got closer and speaking of kids, it was a kid’s Keds that had led me over there in a hurry. Yes, good thing I have an upcoming eye doctor appointment. 🙂 That’s write in and then i write the 👁️ problem. ?
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OK Raj, now I understand. I should have probably wrote instead: “good thing I’m going for a routine eye exam soon” which is what I’m indeed going for … my annual eye checkup. Now I get it, so thanks for the clarification.
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Okay It’s don’t mind Linda!. It’s my clarification
Thanks,
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Sorry again for the misunderstanding on my part Raj.
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Okay 👍
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Looking back to May – wow, what a wild ride the weather has been. The gnarly tree must be swearing right about now?! 🤣 That was a perfect day for you (despite the heat) – so many great photos! I love those little goslings, they’re so cute and fluffy!
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Yes, it has been a wild weather ride for sure Shelley. You’re right – that gnarly tree must be complaining bigtime after last night’s weather and all the rain today, some of it torrential again. They did not cancel the fireworks on the Detroit River despite torrential rain happening just a short time ago. It was the first warm day of Spring, a day I usually come home from walking with my jacket looped around my waist. I think they were just-hatched goslings as they were so small and so yellow. Too far to tell as they had that little island all to themselves. 🙂
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Yes, indeed. Your weather is so CRAZY!
I suppose it takes actual lightning in the sky at the time of the fireworks to stop the event?
Ah…that first warm day of spring – hold on to that memory we’ll be needing to think of it in the middle of winter!
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I fight with myself not to whine about Summer heat, humidity and volatile storms because we are now crawling slowly toward Winter. It was a sogfest yesterday on top of Sunday’s torrential rain and the humidity and wildfire smoke was hanging in the air this morning. I do think they will cancel the fireworks, like they do sports in an outside venue, as soon as they detect lightning because lightning detected at 10 miles away can cause a lightning strike close to you. I remember my grandmother talking about when she was a little girl and living on the farm, a man was out in the fields, struck and killed by lightning – can’t remember if it was a neighbor or a farmhand, but my grandmother had such a fear of storms after that incident that she would sprinkle holy water around the house every time she heard thunder and saw lightning.
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Yeah, lightning is a sign to pay attention to! We still count how many seconds between strikes and sound to know how close it is. I’m not looking forward to listening to all the fireworks if people do them this summer. The dry grass here isn’t a good place to be shooting them off!
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They always say to have the hose handy in case of a fire. Our governor about five years ago allowed big fireworks so people did not give the revenue to Ohio crossing the state line to bring them back illegally. Now you can buy packages of them at most Michigan grocery stores.
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Same here. We’ll see what this weekend brings!
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May seems so long ago. We are now having LOTS of rain! Great pics.
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Glad you liked the pictures Kate. We had bad storms yesterday and it has been raining most of today, some of it torrential rain.
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We had the storms and monsoon rains yesterday. Maybe some today too.
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I think you are always a day behind us weatherwise – that was our weather scenario Sunday and Monday and today was very cool, gray from no sun and wildfire smoke.
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Darn, I thought we were going to see Linda on a scooter that last half-mile… 🙂
Really like that “small bridge” spanning the Canal. Such a graceful design. And I’ve never seen a kayak with a fishing pole mount but it makes sense as an easy way to drag a lure. I’m guessing those couple of guys caught their fair share.
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I don’t know if I’m coordinated enough to use a scooter Dave. 🙂 I never had one as a kid and I didn’t have as far to fall as I do now at 5′ 9″ tall. I see kids using them in the neighborhood sometimes. The City of Trenton bought 50 of these electric scooters and they are parked around the City and Elizabeth Park. I like that bridge and they have lots of people going there for pictures for special occasions. That’s the first time I saw a kayak with foot pedal power and last weekend I was there and saw a woman using pedal power for her kayak and she had fishing poles, plus a long-handled net. I was surprised she didn’t tip it over with all her gear.
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another great park tour Linda! Always something going on down there.
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Thank you Wayne – I have seen my fair share of geese this year … probably more geese than squirrels if that is possible!
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Some really great pictures Linda! Those cool spring mornings an warm up quickly – it can be hard to know how to dress.
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Thank you Ruth – it started out coolish that morning so I figured a coat would be fine – that was one of those days when I’d go for a walk and come home with my coat or sweatshirt looped around my waist. If you are looking to see geese and their goslings at this time of year, this is the place to be!
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Great photos Linda, that looks like a lovely park to walk through and lots going on!
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Thanks Susan – I have never seen so many goslings at one time in this Park. I didn’t include some of the shots I had of multiple families with their goslings.
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they seem to be multiplying more than rabbits! In our area too, there are SO many families.
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It’s rare to find a family with only 4-5 goslings … sometimes it’s more like 10-12. Yikes!
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Yes! They have a lot don’t they😃
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I enjoyed the walk, Linda. Part of the adventure is never knowing what you’re going to see. Cute goslings! 🙂
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Thank you Rebecca. I think those goslings were just hatched. They were all so tiny and bright yellow and clustered together. I did see a few squirrels at the end and got some funny shots of them. I have never seen so many geese and goslings in my life – that park is getting overrun by them. I hesitated to use too many geese/gosling pics as I have other Spring walks full of geese/gosling pictures coming up!
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Oddly enough I love the story and photos of the kids Jed! That would have been me too trying to get my eyes to focus correctly! Then I would have found myself laughing that it wasn’t a bird after all. 😂 Last Tuesday I had my eye appointment for new glasses too! I’ll send you a separate pic what I picked out for frames. Do you wear red color frames like your blog illustrated character?
I also enjoyed the snaps of the scooters. I’m sure that I would not have the balance to use that type of scooter. 💡Now a three wheel tricycle scooter might be a bit easier for me. Better yet the scooters that are at the grocery stores where I can sit would really be great! Here a private company owns and manages scooters which have become very popular along our bay front. It’s part of the fun that I watch from my balcony.
Fun post to read!!! Brightened and lightened the heat of the day. 101 degrees here today. 5 days in a row of over 100 degrees and no rain for 3weeks.
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Hi Teri – yes, I thought it was some type of new shorebird until I got up close to it. I likely need a new eyeglass prescription in the near future. The City of Trenton got those scooters last year, 50 of them, for around town and this park and I was amazed to see that they are still around. I figured they were free, then it dawned on me they were likely a pay-to-ride deal which they are. I guess with the Bird e-scooters you download an app and have an account – it is $10.00/hour. I don’t know how you endure the Texas heat – it is wicked hot there. We have a very cool and gray day as the wildfire smoke is making it a bad air quality alert day for the young/elderly and those with respiratory or cardiac issues.
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Wicked hot here is correct Linda. Wicked! The local news reporter said that he baked a batch of cookies in his car today ant 100 degrees! And he did!!!
The saying is: It’s so hot you could fry an egg… well now it’s…bake cookies in your car! Ha ha ha.
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TD, it seems the topic of the weather is an ongoing thing these days – we now hear about the Texas weather daily here in SE Michigan and today a little sound bite from a government spokesperson in Texas said that they were pleased the grid was holding up. We have some people in Michigan who lost power Sunday night during that storm and still don’t have power and we will be having a three-day period heading into the long weekend, where we may have some severe weather/borderline severe weather. We have the Canadian wildfires giving us bad air quality today. I feel for you dealing with that horrible heat. We had a prolonged heat wave here in SE Michigan a few years ago and I remember seeing a similar story on social media (where I was watching the news). The reporter put a tray of chocolate chip cookies on the dashboard of her car, then returned a while later to find them fully baked and smelling yummy. Someone quipped during our recent heat wave that it was hot enough to bake lasagna in the mailbox!
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Those goslings really didn’t stand out on a first look. Good thing you alerted me. Maybe I’m the one who needs to visit the eye doctor!
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They were very tiny Eilene, probably just hatched and they were on that small island in the middle of the Canal … so you get a pass for missing them at first glimpse. 🙂 I probably have to get a new eyeglass prescription when I confuse sneakers for shorebirds.
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Oh, that red-winged blackbird shot – amazing! I love the beginning of May. Everything is popping. The tenacity of plants is amazing, isn’t it? The tree is growing even though it toppled over. We have a redbud tree in our front yard that “died” a few years ago. Sprouts came up from the dead stump and now we have a new redbud that’s probably 7 feet high that came from the dead stump.
Thanks as always for taking us on your walk with you.
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I liked that red-winged blackbird shot too Laurie – it was my favorite from this post. He/she looked very regal … I wish it would have stepped away from the brown leaves in the background – oh well. That’s amazing about the redbud tree – they are beautiful in Spring. I had a similar story of a bush rising Phoenix-like after dying in the Polar Vortex Winter of 2013-2014. My holly bush out front was just decimated, brown leaves, dead as a doornail and the bushes around it were big and planting something new would be puny. I decided to trim it down to nothing to make it easier to remove, but not that day as it was too hot. In the meantime, I decided to use all my “Holly-tone” holly plant food on it, thinking “why not – it’s the only holly so I don’t need the plant food; let’s see if it helps” … within a week there were green baby leaves and within about four years, it was as big as the other bushes, healthy and thriving and still looking good now.
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Miss Linda………………………………I enjoyed the Spring tour of Elizabeth Park……………………and of all the animals…………………..I like learning from you the names of all the different kinds of birds and other animals…………………You are full of “nature knowledge”
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Thank you Ann Marie – glad you liked the post of Elizabeth Park which I know is also one of your favorite venues and glad you liked the tidbits of nature shared as well. There were geese galore that day, even more that never made it onto the camera card … plus some very cute squirrels which you will see tomorrow.
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Beautiful photos of your adventures outside in May, that I vaguely remember now that July looms [as in Canadian smoke] ahead.
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Thanks Ally – it’s hard to remember those nice days in May before all the wildfire smoke hit. Today, Detroit was not just the second worst state in the nation, but second worst city in the world (second only to Delhi). We got to 212 this afternoon on the AirNowdotgov air quality meter. I am 13 miles from Downtown Detroit. The meteorologists say “get used to it – it’s here for all Summer.”
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I would be tempted to give the scooters a try.😬
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You’re braver than me Linda and, come to think of it, have a little further to fall than me (by a few inches). 🙂
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I have never seen a kayak with pedals! That shoe was definitely worth looking at. What a good place to put it in hopes the owner finds it next time. The wildflowers are so pretty! Does the city charge to use the scooters? Do people leave them in random places? I’m glad you aren’t going to try them how in the world would you get your steps in!!! 🤣
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That was a first for me too Diane and the next time I was at Elizabeth Park, there was a woman with the same set-up. You’ll have to tell your son about it … he has a bigger boat though and probably no time now. 🙂 I like those wildflowers, the first of the season – so dainty and I’m sure the chalk drawings were drawn after seeing those wildflowers. I hope the person found their shoe. 🙂 The City of Trenton bought 50 of these Ebird scooters – electric scooters and they do leave them randomly around the City and Elizabeth Park. There was a story in the local paper about them and you have to create an account and there is an app – when you hop on the scooter, you use the app to activate it – it is $10.00 an hour to ride ($9.00 to ride, $1.00 for a start-up fee). I think you can ride them for less than an hour too, but that was how the article said they worked. You just leave them wherever you are finished with them. Kind of a novel idea I think – you can’t steal it or damage it as they have your name from creating your account. I guess they do it in Detroit too. You are right about not getting the steps in – better stick to my feet. 🙂
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The colorful birds are beautiful contrasted against the background that had not yet greened.
The scooter would allow you to cover more ground, but you would miss so many scenes for photos.
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At least the birds come through color-wise while it is still blah looking out. It took so long for the landscape to green up as it was so cold … then everything got parched from the three weeks with no rain. Thanks to a few gulleywashers, it is looking better out now. That is true about the scooters and missing shots JP. I would not be “Your Roving Reporter” by steering with one hand and taking photos with the other hand as I’d be clinging onto it for dear life.
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