Foto Frenzy - A day at the park

I woke up yesterday, and something felt...odd.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first, but then I realized something: my air conditioner wasn't on.

Oh God, I thought.  It's finally happened.  One of my major appliances has kicked the bucket and we're going to have to spend thousands of dollars to fix it and that means I won't be able to shop at the fancy natural foods store and...

Then I remembered something.  I had a vague memory of a unnaturally tanned/way too smiley weather forecaster saying something about "less humid" and "cooler temperatures".  I ran to my sliding glass door, opened it, and breathed.  YES!

A quick click to weather.com confirmed my memory, deductive reasoning, and observations:

Can you believe this?

Do you know what "78 degrees, feels like 78 degrees" means?  Sayonara, humidity! 

What a gift!  A low humidity day in August!  There was only one thing to do: lather on the SPF 30 and get my butt out the door.  I decided to go to a local park and take a walk.  I was a few miles behind on my CMCD goal anyway, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up.  I brought along my (dad's) camera and have made a little photo journal for you to peruse, especially if you were stuck in an office that day (on a side note, I believe they should make it a law to go outside on beautiful days - the increased fresh air and Vitamin D would do a lot of good for both productivity and world peace).

Yep.  It's a nice day, all right!

See why I like living here?

If this is what having one of the highest property tax rates in the country buys you, that's fine with me!

I heart bunny rabbits.

I know that these are creepy and crawly and will decimate the leaves on this tree when they break out (look away, my beloved Sous Chef!), but don't they look cool when they're backlit by the sun like that? 

I was listening to the Wicked soundtrack on my iPod during my walk.  At a break in between songs, I happened to be walking by this tree and heard a familiar cooing sound.  I decided to investigate...

I should probably warn you now: I like ducks.  They are just too darn cute:

And now, a little game I like to call "Find the winged creature":

Before you start looking, there is no winged creature in this picture (that I know of) - I just liked how the flowers looked against the water:

 Need an absolutely fabulous sparkly paddle boat for your next "River Rave"?  We've got you covered!:

Another thing I love about where I live - the friendly signs:

See how they've taken a sentiment like "Get inside, you freakin' idiot!" and turned it into a friendly rhyme?  Clever!

Oh yes - I also love water lilies:

 And cute little flowers like these:

And now, for my favorite picture of the day:

Nothing like a little fresh air and nature to put things into perspective.  This day had a somewhat magical effect on me.  I was friendlier, calmer, and more optimistic after this walk.  Tomorrow the thermometer's supposed to start creeping back up.  I'm just glad I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of this little gift.

How do you take advantage of beautiful days like this?  What are some of your favorite fair-weather activities?