The other day one of the photo groups headed over to the ponds for a brief morning visit. It was raining, so I almost didn’t go. The morning featured a nice mist, which looked like it might turn heavier on us, but I had not been over to the ponds in a while. Braving the weather, I decided to go and meet up with the group. Even for a brief visit, it was really great to get out again.
Somehow, when I visit the ponds, even a short visit is wonderful, but it leaves me wanting more. At the end of the visit, I probably spent an hour or so at the ponds, but I did manage to make my way around and checkout a lot of things there. Luckily, I know the ponds very well, so I can make the most of a short visit.
If I think it’s going to rain, often I won’t go in part because once I got trapped in a palapa there. (You can read more about that here.) Rain be damned, I decided to go anyway. For this visit, it was really just a nice morning mist, nothing trapping us in the palapa, which is good because, as it turns out, the palapa doesn’t have a roof any longer. The last wind storm probably took it out, I don’t think it survived as this is Texas and these things happen.
No matter the reason for the lack of thatch, we did notice water pooling in some of the cactus and happened upon some great morning dew, which we managed to make the most of photographically speaking.
They had a lot of Japanese Maple trees which are always a favorite of mine. Since it was raining, the sky was different, it was different light, and that made it kind of interesting for me. I didn’t have to worry about the sun sneaking through the tree branches anyway, and I wound up with some different images. The flowers had morning dew on them, and they had some wonderful white roses, so I got to photograph a few of those as well. It was a bit misty, and the ground was muddy in spots, but that’s all part of the fun. We got to play in the dirt for a while!
While I was there, I joked that I took my regular parking spot. Yes, it’s true, I actually park in the same spot every time I go. I’m a regular, what can I say? By the koi ponds, I walked around and shot the fish a little bit. It wasn’t quite time for the water lilies to open up, so I skipped that, but I did manage to get some other images. The Japanese maples kept me busy for most of the time, as they are always a treat for me and I love photographing them.
I must confess, I rather like this idea of visiting early in the day, even for a short time. In the summertime, I may continue the practice, as it doesn’t usually get hot until about 11 and I could sneak in a short visit or two once the lilies are doing their thing.
Always a treat to enjoy a good visit to the ponds and I wanted to share a few images from the short trip. You can see more of my images from the ponds in my series called, “A Borrowed Garden” here.
Until next time…
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