deponti

While in St.Louis, I


walked for ALS


...and later just before leaving, I took part in the

Walk for Autism

on October 10th.





The turnout for this walk was phenomenally large compared to any of the other fund-raising walks I have been participating over the years. Obviously, the problem of

autism in children

strikes a very responsive chord amongst people.

Here's the official tee for the walk:





You can see just how crowded the walk was!





Another worthy cause which I could not join (I had already done an hour and a half of walking in the Park, and was meeting people for breakfast) was on Oct 17, the very next week.

This was the

Second Wing Lung Walk


Second Wind Lung Foundation






This walk is to benefit those who need a "second wind" that a lung transplant can give them.

Here are the details of the walk:



The slogan is, "Every breath counts"...and indeed it does...it's up to us to make each breath count, not only for ourselves, but for those less fortunate than ourselves, in so many different ways.

Such walks help me realize the extreme good fortune that I have in my good health...

Walking for a cause is such a great way of combining exercise, meeting people, and contributing your litte mite to research.

These two squirrels were just having fun....






This Kestrel was enjoying the sun....




OK, that's it for now, I have to run!

I went alone to Forest Park to see the launch of the balloons, and it was a trip well worth it, to see these colourful globes rising serenely and majestically into the cloudy,overcast, intermittently rainy sky. I'd been afraid that the wind would cross the 10-miles-an-hour limit beyond which the launch would be aborted, but it didn't happen....

here

is an account of the race by the St.Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

Here are a few balloons:




( some more.... )


As I left the field, I saw the lovely sight of this little girl and her dog, amusing themselves:





A very enjoyable afternoon.....I have never seen such crowds in Forest Park, and what fun it was to walk back past the cars jammed into loooong lines, on the way home!

I went off by myself for an evening walk, and though the Great Horned Owls flew off too fast for me to get a picture, I did manage to get two raptors in the deepening dusk.

Here's the RED-TAILED HAWK:



...obviously calling to another one....

( hawk and kestrel )


But raptors are always beautiful, no matter what time of day it is!

Last Friday, we went to see the

Balloon Glow

in Forest Park.

There is something...er...uplifting about watching these gentle beauties glow in the night sky, and getting ready for the next day...

The balloons are always colourful:





A lot of preparation goes into getting them ready...





( some more images )

The evening ended with more fireworks, perhaps not quite as spectacular as the ones on the previous evening, just a short distance away on Art Hill, but beautiful, nevertheless!




The next day, DnA couldn't make it, so I went alone to the actual Balloon Race...photos coming up!

Sometimes reeds
Are just weeds
But sometimes the government passes
Them off as ornamental grasses.
Then at great expense you can buy grass seeds
And grow grass that tickles passersby's *##es.

Off now to hear

some jazz

and perhaps spot an owl..or two...

Here

is the list of songs that the Symphony Orchestra played on Art Hill, on the evening of the 17th.


Here's a view of Art Hill, with the Art Museum in the background, and the crowd collected in front of the tent in which the orchestra is playing:




Behind the tent, as the orchestra plays, the paddleboats on Des Peres creek float in like fireflies, attracted to the music:





( a little more of the evening )


I wish I could have done a better job of capturing them in photographs:

Yesterday I went to listen to

the St.Louis Symphony Orchestra

performing free on the hill in front of the Art Museum...



Today and tomorrow, I will be going to

the Balloon Glow and the Balloon Race

I remember the last time I went for this event, I didn't know one end of a camera from the other....!

First: There's some problem and my photos taken on the 30D are not downloading, so these pics are from my trusty MLC2, and it was VERY low-light, remember...so forgive the grains in the pics...!

I found, on the net, that

Mark Glenshaw





is a self-confessed GHOF (Great Horned Owl Follower)...and I emailed him, and on Sunday evening, we met up at Forest Park, and as the sun set, he took me across the park for what turned out to be a wonderful evening of sighting and observing the


GREAT HORNED OWL couple that he has been observing over the years.


( Charles and Sarah .... )


I left the place with Mark, and left Forest Park to the care of the Great Horned Owl:

Here are some photographs I like...


The Bandstand, which stands on a small island, with the Muny behind it to the right:





( some more... )


Another (yes, YET another) sunset, this time with the concert band that was going on one evening (Sat, 12th Sept)

Went to see the

Art Fair at Clayton

and then went along with

Mark Glenshaw

to see the Great Horned Owls in Forest Park...will download the photos and videos and share it with my birding friends soooon....

Thought particularly of anushsh and Sharad Sridhar, with whom I went to see the Horned Owls of Turahalli, and spotted them just when Sharad had locked his keys into his car!

The

St.Louis Science Center


offers

Segway rides in Forest Park

and very expensive they are, too!

Here are some people on the Segway tour:






Here

is the Wiki entry about the Segway.

Frankly, I cannot understand, if just taking a ride in the park is so expensive, why on earth did Time magazine made

such a big deal

of this.

I hardly see the Segway being used as public transport...at most, it's used as a mode of transport inside airports.

It's lovely to have a large park so close to home...so it's also easy to pack a picnic lunch and go off on a Sunday, and look for a suitable spot:




Then settle down and start on the food:




( sights from the picnic )

The sun went down, and we went home, happy and content:




Forest Park...a great place to have within 10 minutes' walk from home!

Apparently it was Friendship Day a day or two ago (actually, all these days can be called Greeting Card Day or Help Archies or Hallmark Become Rich Day)...to me, every day is a day in which I revel in the friendships that sustain me.

So...here's a loving wish to all my LJ friends; whether I have met you in person, or not, you are all very dear to me.






Friends are the greatest treasure that I can have. Thank you!

I took this today in Forest Park...those are the battlements of the main building of Washington University, where A took her double Masters' degrees.

As I walk in Forest Park, so many images fall on my mind's eye, and only a few of them are on camera. This post is mostly for myself, to look at later and recreate those magical evenings when the light melted into the purple dusk, the air held a hush, and I felt totally at peace....


I see very few butterflies, but I managed to get this tiny BLUE...



( some random images )

And this one is my favourite for the memory it brings back....the thundercloud was looming up, all the sky was a luminous mauve and purple, and the evening just glowed... the boat-lights shone dimly upon the waters of the creek, and the cool breeze was building up into a wind...dusk was a beautiful time to be there!

Today, I was a little homesick, and I didn't get up in time for my morning walk... so I decided that I would spend some time in Forest Park as the weather was just lovely. I packed a couple of sandwiches and some tomato juice, and after tramping around...





( Want to read more? )





That little bit of bright sunshiny bird completely made my day!

The sun starts dipping towards the west...




( if you want to watch some sunset scenes... )


And as night fell, it gathered light to itself, to reflect it and shed moonlight in the skies...



That last pic was taken on the MLC2 by chaibacca....yes, he will be accepting compliments!

...well, after my usual morning walk, I came back with the papers, and read in the St Louis Post-Dispatch that there would be a walk to help defeat ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease ...the most famous person suffering from this disease is Stephen Hawking , which shows how important it is to find some treatment or cure for this disease.

On the spur of the moment, I decided that having missed so many walks and meets for various causes in Bangalore, I would go for this.

The Visitors' Center in Forest Park was the starting point, and that's just a shade over a mile from home. Well..."shade" is the WRONG word to use for today's walk. The temperature certainly FELT like a hundred degrees, even though it might not have been...and though I had what I call my "firefighting equipment" ready (parasol, photochromatic glasses, a nice summery hat, a full water bottle, and a wad of damp tissue that I kept passing over my face and neck), it was NOT an easy walk!

Walking is SO pleasant in cool weather...and sooo enervating in hot and humid climes!


Well, here's one of the posters at the venue:



And one that puns on the fact that we were using our feet:




( read about the ALS walk )

However, the most telling poster against ALS, that progressive disease, was this one:





It was awfully hot, but I enjoyed that walk as I have not enjoyed aimless ones!

Having walked all over Forest Park when I read in the local newspaper that there would be a guided walking tour in the Park, I could not miss the opportunity

Tuesday was the only day they had a walk in the evening...with the temperatures in the high 90's, there was no way I was going walking in Forest Park at 10 am or 1 pm!

I was at the Visitors' Center at five minutes to six, and met Harry Leip, a volunteer, whom you can see just outside the Center as we started our walk:






Yes, indeed he was Harry Leip:




( some more images.... )


Oh, well, it was the end of another day!

I know squirrels are extremely common animals, and are sometimes regarded as pests, but they are so interesting to watch!

They watch you from the ground...




They watch you as they climb the tree quickly, to get out of your way...




They continue watching you carefully after they are in the tree (oh, I really loved photographing that beady little eye!)





But when they *think* you're not watching....they do have fun!





And..you want to know what traction is?







Here's asakiyume's post about a squirrel and his tail...

I really wish I could write fantasy the way she, or inspirethoughts, do...but I guess I am a very factual and dry person; my fantasy life is very poor indeed!