I do love the walks I take; Forest Park is a beautiful place, but I like walking around the neighbourhoods, too. This evening, to walk off the excessively heavy masala dosa and upma that we all had at the St Louis temple, I went for a long evening walk too….

I’ll start with the birds…

The HOUSE SPARROW is not well-regarded here; a board on the golf course seems quite unfriendly to me, in a country where the Statue of Liberty says all refugees are welcome….

But the sparrows seem to thrive, nevertheless; this male seems to have an “open and shut” kind of dwelling!

This evening, I spotted this GREAT BLUE HERON in one of the small lakes: Since the PURPLE MARTINS keep swooping and hawking in the air, it was difficult to get one sitting down, but I finally managed one photograph: Though they usually look quite dark, here one can see how they got their name! Everywhere, the bushes are full of these small jasmine-like flowers which have a faint, nice scent, too: Some of the trees have these beautiful seed pods and flowers: I spotted a lot of these MUSHROOMS in the grass, but will need to tell me if they are edible..I wouldn't take a risk! Their undersides looked so beautiful.... I loved the different colour of this tree as the bark had been stripped away: </lj-cut> Looking at all of that, I mumbled to myself, "God Bless America!" and immediately saw this licence plate: