Riverside Park: Our Oasis

Nice weather (granted it's only two days a year) will often find us at Riverside Park, which as the name implies is  by the river.

This is our favourite spot to sit or at least the view from our favourite spot. Even on a hot day, we can almost always find comfort in the shade of the trees.

On most summer days, there is activity on the water from the venerable canoe club, which would be somewhat behind us in the above photo. On this day, I shot this girl kayaking through the grasses. To be perfectly clear, I was shooting through the grasses, and she was on the water. I like the semi bokeh effect of the grasses.

Looking back upstream a little later, here are two paddlers turning around where the river begins to widen into the lake or, actually, where the lake begins to narrow into the river.

This gentleman caught me trying to sneak a picture of him fishing. We waved and chatted a bit. He knew he was out of season and threw his catch back — not that he caught anything that day but he had on the previous day, or so he claimed.

This couple was also enjoying the shade, so I surreptitiously snapped a photo when we were leaving.

It was even hotter the next day, so back we went to almost exactly the same spot. There were more clouds in the sky, but it was still lovely.

The local high school is just behind us, and a gym class was out canoeing that day. Here they are coming into shore at the end of class. Not every high school has a boating option outside its back door.

We went for a little stroll on this day. This is the path that winds through the park. It is wide enough for grounds crews to drive on, but otherwise it is just for strollers and the occasional cyclist.

At the far end of the park, we found this couple sitting in the shade. A few years ago, the town planted shrubbery along the edge of the river, and it has grown too tall, so the lady had to stand to see what was happening on the water. They really need to trim these bushes.

We visit the park with some regularity, and I don't always take photos because they are pretty much the same every time, but sometimes I click away anyway.

Oops: I forgot this photo of a gull taking off. I lucked out as I took it from my chair.