The weather has been so kind after being a bit of a troublemaker for a week or so. Last night, the local weatherman said that there are signs of the drought coming back after all the rain that we have had. 'Tis Springtime in Texas. It is. Yes, sir it is. The outlook is already flirting with 90° F already. The Lucille's can not be planted until the overnight time temperatures hit 65°F nightly. That is not that far away by the looks of things. The seed need light to germinate and germination takes 7-21 days. The reward is, however, worth the wait in beauty.
Once again, getting off the train at White Rock Station, the walk down West Lawther to the trail that follows the North shoreline of the lake to Decision Bridge at East Lawther was just an absolute joy to see the wildlife, the scenery of the lake looking at both the West and the East shorelines as the lake flows South to the Dam, the Greater Spillway that flows wide to the Lesser spillway and tidal pools before returning once again to White Rock Creek, the source of the water drainage watershed for North Texas. South of the tidal pool just a few short miles, the flow sheds into the Trinity River South of Dallas where it travels to the Gulf of Mexico. Watersheds and drainage of area rivers and streams and creeks have always fascinated me in wonderment and fixation as if under some kind of spell.
The capital improvements that have been made to the lake on the East side are spectacular, especially the stone tables and new grills that will be party central and reunion plaza to many who enjoy the lake and will find the revamped stone table landmark greatly upgraded.
My goal was to make it to Highway 78 (Garland Road) and Loop 12 (Buckner) by 5:30 that afternoon, where I had planned to eat at the McDonald's that backs up to White Rock Medical Center Hospital, then walk across the street and catch the bus home. My ticket at McDonald's showed 5:59 P.M. The reason the time was so important is that I must take my meds with the same meal each day and I do carry my little travel \pill tube with me packed in my backpack.
Now, to be perfectly honest, I did cheat a bit by cutting through the hospital parking lot and garage to get to the sidewalk at the bank on the corner. The McD's is next door. So, it probably saved me some 200 steps or more had I stayed on Poppy to the old bus stop at Poppy and Buckner. So, instead of walking Poppy to Buckner, I only walked half way and then cutting diagonal across the parking garage and lot area, that is where the ~200 steps were saved. So, see, knowing the terrain does help in hiking travels.
During the month, I have been re-learning the new settings on the new camera. This camera has many more "high tech" settings than my old Olympus (which I loved). But, change does happen and it's been an eye-opening experience of such. Having said that, you might want to open the images in a smaller scale than the setting that was preset for (L) images with the expanded pixels. I've read the details but have not gotten that far to make the setting that fits into my shooting routine. It will get there in time. Patience. Patience.
