A Day Late (or Thereabouts)

I'm not sure why I didn't post this sooner - just laziness, I guess.

Last Friday was a lovely day.  I'd heard there was a display of tulips being held at the Botanic Garden as a follow-up to the display of cyclamens (mentioned in an earlier post).  I like tulips so I thought I'd head on down and enjoy the weather.

I got to the Botanic Garden and decided that the first thing I would do is ride the train.  Now, this is not a full-sized train.  This is a smaller version that is designed to chug its way around a route that encompasses parts of the Botanic Garden, Tingley Beach and the zoo.  Here's a photo of the engine:

There are actually 2 different trains, usually heading in opposite directions from each other.  Each train has 4 cars, 2 that are open and 2 that are partly enclosed.  I chose to ride in one of the semi-enclosed cars, here's a photo from the inside looking towards the engine.

It's a pleasant ride, if a little noisy - some banging and clanging as the train rolls along.  It's definitely not some sort of high-speed amusement park ride.  Gauging by the people we encountered along the ride it was faster than a walker, about the same speed as a jogger and slightly slower than someone on a bicycle.  All in all, it takes about an hour to make the full ride, not a bad way to enjoy a lovely spring day.

When I got done with the train ride, I went to see if I could find the tulip display I'd read about.  I discovered nary a tulip bloom in sight.  I'm thinking there may be a display in the near future, but someone gave the wrong dates to the newspaper.

It wasn't a total waste.  There was a magnificently blooming amaryllis.

Plus, here are some photos of some of the local duck population.  First of all, a male wood duck.

I have a fond place in my heart for wood ducks.  For years I entered my needlepoint in the Texas State Fair.  And for years, the best I could do was several second place finishes.  Then, one year I entered 3 items and they ALL won first place ribbons.  One of the entries was a picture of a male wood duck.  Gotta love 'em!

Next we have a male mallard.  He's just coming out of the pond and is giving me a hard look to make sure of the following:  1) that I'm not a dangerous carnivore preying on mallard ducks, and 2) that I don't have any food to share.

I like mallards because they were one of the first ducks I could identify when I was very much younger.

Have a lovely spring!  And love to all the folks trying to survive following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Papillon