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
