August 4

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Walking over to vote in the city-council primary.

Goodness!  This is the largest spent alium flower I've ever seen!  It was easily 8-10" across!  (It was higher than my foot, so looks even larger than it was, in comparison.)

I'm pretty sure this is some kind of lily.  Such little, delicate flowers, to produce those huge fat seedpods!

Beguiled by the way the ex-flowers twist themselves into curls....

After voting.  A big flower on a small plant.  Growing from a crack between the sidewalk and the curb.

Daylilies in the sun, in front of the junior high where we vote.

Orange coneflower.  I saw my first orange coneflower last year.  This is another big flower on a small plant.

Look at the little flower thingie, upper left, on this one.

Yet another big flower on a small plant.

Leaving the school property.  This small-ish crab apple tree is laden with fruit.

We decided to go take a loop through the park, instead of coming straight home.

We got to talk to this guy's nice corgi dogs (there's one right in front of him, too -- you can barely make her out, if you know to look on the other side of his feet).

This is a look at the bridge/boardwalk over the pond at West Park that we haven't taken before.  I guess I've always been concentrating on the pond, rather than the bridge......

There is community-garden space in the park, on the north edge of the park, pretty much where the old warming house used to be, when there was an ice rink in the park.

People rent spaces, and grow whatever they want.  We saw lots of tomatoes, and beans, peas, kale, cucumbers, lettuce, and flowers, to name a few things.

Here's a zoomed-in look at the tomatoes on the plant above.  Fancy stripey ones.

The garden is just east of the ball field, which is in pristine condition.

The ball field has been here for a long time! 

It's not used as a ball field by children, at least -- not that I've ever seen.  It is used by nearby day care centers as containment.  The fence is not continuous, but I'm sure it helps corral the kids.

I have seen adults playing ball here.



The former baseball (and softball) player (and current golfer), pacing off the length of this leg of the diamond.  He reports that it is set up for baseball, not softball.

The chalk was in absolutely perfect condition.  It must have been laid down shortly before we were there.....

Taking this opportunity to use the north-most path through the western half of the park, which goes in front of the band shell.  Another perfect day.........

These tree sculptures can just be made out in the pic above.  They are at each end of some seating placed near the band shell.

Here's the band shell itself.

There's a paved area in front of the band shell.  And a marshy area in front of it -- they have whacked off all the cattails, so people can see the band shell better.............  Wonder how many zillions of mosquitoes there are -- there's enough wet land in the park that I have to think mosquitoes are a big issue as the sun goes down....

See the big rock at the edge of the pavement, above?



I stood right beside it, as I took this next shot, looking more to the right of the image above.  Not sure who thought all these big rocks were a good idea.  I can't help but think many toddlers have taken tumbles while attempting to climb on them..........

Looking east toward downtown.

A zoomed in look at Tower Plaza, which we have looked at many times (though not lately).  It is very near the heart of campus, one block from the Diag.

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