A Day at the Park

by Amy

Three days a week I like to leave my house around 7:45am and head to the "pretty park" down the road for a brisk morning walk (that occasionally turns into a jog for a few moments.) Every morning I come home with stories about the things I saw people doing there. So, this morning, I decided to take my camera and voice recorder and see what sights and sounds I could capture. Today was a fairly warm day with the sun shining brightly so it was a great day to take pictures.

Going to this park helps renew my love for this city and it's people. The air and even the ground seem a little cleaner there than at most places around town. And, early in the morning, most people are cheerful and quick to smile or offer an encouraging word as I walk by. (I usually can't understand what they are saying, but I assume it's encouraging since I'm working so hard!)

As I enter the park I I always see a lot of old people "dancing." Some times they are holding fake swords with ribbons tied to the end and sometimes they are hands-free, as in the picture below:

Then, as I rounded the corner, I found some women, all dressed alike dancing with fans. The lady in this picture was the leader of the others.

Every morning when I walk, I see this guy. He walks the opposite direction I do, so we pass each other twice everytime we go around the whole park. He stands out to me because he is one of the few people I see in exercise clothes. We always smile and say hello.

This park has tons of pretty gazebos where people like to gather to practice singing or play an instrument.
There are also tons of blooming trees and plants at this park. It is named 100 Flower Park for a reason! They are really pretty! Peter and Alex love pointing all the flowers out to me because they know that "da Mama likes da flowers!"

Now, this is the main reason I brought my voice recorder. Every morning I'm at the park, I hear this lady, or others, doing the same thing. My local friends have told me that she's just exercising her lungs..."It's a very healthy thing to do."

As you could hear, this park is not exactly quiet. Not only are there people standing in the trees yelling, but the cicadas (locusts) love to make their presence known, as I'm sure you could hear. And, on top of that, many people like to make their own music.... It's not uncommon for people to sing, quite loudly, as they walk, or to stand under a tree and play an instrument. I'm sad to say, that I didn't push record on the voice recorder when I was taking this next picture.... The guy on the left is singing at the top of his lungs while his buddy plays the flute.... They were very pleased to pose for my camera.

Next, I came across this guy. Both of the things he's holding make a clicking and clacking sound.
And, it would not be my home town, if there were not occasionally automobiles on the walking path....

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my walk in the park! I am so thankful that it is right down the road, as we often go there to play! So, I think I'll end with showing you a few of the smiling faces I see each day! Most of these people saw me taking pictures and asked if I would take their picture too.