Lovely gray morning - the park was pretty empty when we got there. Almost no birds - just a few ducks and a cormorant by the lake, and the 3 cygnets cruising around. JJ made a new friend - a delightfully happy 6 month old boy who sat on JJ for a ride. JJ kissed him several times. Not sure how much Mom liked it, but the young lad seemed fine with it. Picture attached.

Everyone seemed to be sleeping in. There's a man we see every morning with 3 dogs. Only 2 this morning - the 2 big ones. The 3rd, little one, slept in. So we went to the end of the peninsula. sat in the rustic house, watched the cygnets and the hugely growing Lakeside, enjoying the morning. There is a huge tree that came down in the Peninsula. Really beautiful. I hope they don't cut it up. Wouldn't it be nice to let nature take it's course in the Peninsula - a little Wilderness area right here in the park? With the little paths, nicely covered with shredded bark, wending their ways through it. I may have to get a bag and clippers from Tony to pick up the trash there. Apparently, according to Emily Lloyd, the park spent $40,000 keeping our end of the park clean this summer (no wonder everything looks better), but didn't do so much in the Peninsula Woods. But it was VERY clean by the ristic house - someone is doing a pretty good job!


Many, many people and dogs when we got back to Peninsula - probably in preparation for the anticipated series of thunderstorms this afternoon.

And an exuberant volunteer squash plant growing along the Prospect Park West side of the park. Very small, round yellow squashes so far. They may never grow substantially. So many plants are hybrids, and the volunteers often revert to the original breed, which is frequently not so large or tasty (hey, why do you think they were hybridized?)