It's Fall on the Prairie Nature Trails at the George W Bush Presidential Center

Since the park that is part of the Presidential Center opened, trips were made during all the seasons. But, for my satisfaction, it is the fall that draws me like a magnet to visit the park and take in all the fall changes along the several trails. Which, to my surprise, this year, the trails have been re arranged and made even more enjoyable with more memorial benches in place to look at the native American prairie grasses and blooms. Also, now, the trails make their way to active beehives called, "Hives for Hero's" and originally were a Scout Project for a couple of Eagle Scouts at Troop 70 in University Park. 

The carvings on the bee hives, with the help of my camera's lenses reveal some amazing carvings of the hive boxes. Stunning, in fact. The place is an Oasis in the middle of a high concentrate Urbanization Area. Sitting in the park and even walking the trails you forget where you really are and how much you can sit and just observe the birds, bees,squirrels and just reflect in almost solitude.Amazing 

I rode the train to SMU/Mockingbird Station and caught the SMU shuttle bus ( it is a free service) that delivered me right to where I usually enter the park. The driver knew that I would be riding it back to the train station so, when I did exit to the bus stop, the bus was coming down the street and stopped. The short trip back to the train station was over almost before it had begun. Generally, I don't mind walking some distances but my knee is a bit puffy from my fall at the Stockyards a couple of weeks back. Actually, it was because a couple of days earlier I had done a lot of walking and over did it a bit. The next morning, the swelling was present and I had been resting an not putting much pressure on it, so at the park, I took it at a much slower pace and didn't rush. Ironically, I learned a new way to go up and down steps where my good leg touched down first then gravity put the bum knee where it needed to be without any pressure on it to aggravate it more.

I have been seeing squirrels cutting clusters of pecans from the trees and take a cluster of three on the run stopping at the base of their tree where they lived or played rather than were they cut the clusters off the stems. There were pecan hulls all around the trees where they had dined and then they would bury the other two. I had seen this in a couple of places previously---one most recently at the Arboretum. So, since the little furry tails know about things like that, I wonder if we are in for a cold winter ahead.