The Walk Before the Storm

On Friday, prior to the gloom and rain that Hurricane Irene drove before her, Elka and I took our usual walk.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and the right temperature.  It's becoming obvious that, want it or not, fall is coming.

Fallen leaves or not, it was still 70 plus degrees, and Elka and I strolled to the park, played her new game, and had a general good time. 

Throughout the park, there are various man-made structures, like bridges and stone benches and the like. I decided to try and be artsy and get pictures of Elka by a bench, with the sunlight coming through the trees.  We had a passing audience who I didn't really pay much mind, a young-ish couple who commented on how smart Elka was, and how pretty (especially after she moved at one point and I said "excuse me, over there please", and she went where I pointed).

Then there was, of course, some fun in the creek.  Depending on the fickle weather, there is definitely  not a whole lot of creek time left.  Isn't that a Stone Temple Pilots line, "So much depends on the weather"? (The Google confirms: yes, from "Plush").  There were little fish in the creek; I think that's what Elka is looking at in the first picture below.

We also went and hunt out under the big ol' tree that's at the bottom of the park. I'm not sure what kind it is; truth be told, I'm just made strangely happy by its existence. My pernicious and pervasive need to research things to death (or at least to Wikipedia) has not reached this tree.  In college,  my friend and one-year roommate and I used to come "visit" it.

I didn't quite get the placement of Elka I wanted when I took the picture. Suffice to say, the tree is very large, and the trunk is actually the size of the Doberman, or slightly larger.