A Walk In The Park

 Yesterday was probably the first nice day of 2011, temperatures around sixty, bright, blue skies -- jacket weather, to be sure, but spring jacket weather. So I decided to spend some time at the park.
This particular park is largely natural, a mix of woods and glens with a few biking and hiking trails and a couple roads so you can get around. I brought my camera with me so I could take pictures of whatever caught my eye. I was not alone. A lot of other people decided to take advantage of the warmth that had finally arrived, and a few of those had cameras, even if their tastes in pictures might have been more ... traditional than mine.

After walking for what I can only guess was a mile and a half, two miles, I finally got to a picnic grove where I could sit for a while. While I was sitting, I noticed a man out jogging with his dog. This particular man with his dog struck me as odd because the man was running ahead of the dog, and the dog seemed to be trying to catch up. Usually, it's the other way around.

Anyway, some time later, after the man and dog had continued on and I'd finished the soda I'd brought along and a couple pretzel bites -- and a coughing fit when something had gone the wrong way, I had just put everything in my bag and was about to get up when a young woman approached me (probably around 20 years old). She had a pint of ice cream and a plastic spoon in her hand (yes, this matters). She said to me, "I was just wondering, is there some reason you're taking random pictures?" and she asked if it might be for "some project." Now, first, this is a public park. Lots of people go there and take pictures. Second, I can't imagine she was sitting in a car for all that long, watching me "taking random pictures", not with a pint of ice cream in her car, not unless her car is equipped with a freezer. So, since she hadn't bothered to say, "hello, how are you, do you mind if I sit here?" or why she was asking the question, I just said, "no," and left.
It seemed to me that she was being nosy and just a bit rude. Now, if she had said, "I'm a photography student and was wondering why you choose the pictures you choose" or "I'm taking a survey for my sociology class" or some other actual reason why she might want to know why I took the pictures I take, I might have said ... something. Am I wrong?
Anyway, I continued on my walk and as I reached almost the end --- never mind that my feet and legs were both continuing under protest at this point, I heard a faint noise to my right. I turned and saw what I think was a hawk --- could have been a falcon, I suppose. I'm not much of a bird expert --- that had just landed in the field. I first took a couple of pictures of it sitting there, then waited for it to fly off. But it seemed intently interested in the ground directly in front of it. I imagine it was waiting for a mouse or some such to poke it's head up. So, since my legs were extremely tired -- I'm guessing I walked about 3 or 4 miles -- I took a few steps forward... disappointingly quiet steps. I quickly glanced down for a twig I could break to alert the bird, but once I did, it still didn't move. But after a few more minutes, it flew off -- I have no idea why -- and I got the picture at the top of the blog. It perched in a nearby tree, but by then my feet and legs had all had enough and I managed to get back to the car and go home.